Scrap Farm- Starting an agroecological farm from scratch

Hi. I'm Magda. I’m a farmer. This is my fifth year farming and my first year farming for myself, on rented land. This is Scrap Farm, the newsletter/podcast where I document starting a farm and all of the intricacies and problems that come with it. This episode is called Dandelion Whine , because I'm being funny and also because I quite recently finished reading Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury. When...

My partner and I were out celebrating a friend’s birthday, and of course, collapse came up. Something about us having 5 years tops left on democracy. And Zach, my partner, made a joke about our budgeting. That really it won’t matter if we spend a little over the budget on food, if in a few years’ time society as we know it will fall. Which honestly, vibes. Welcome to Scrap Farm, the newsletter/pod...

Hello and welcome to Scrap Farm, the newsletter/podcast where I document starting an agroecological farm in Michigan. If you’re new here or are not sure if this is something you would be interested in, then here’s a rundown of some things I have talked about over the past year or so: * The UK VISA process and our unsuccessful attempt to move to the UK * The death of a mentor * Burnout and cooprati...

Hello again. Here’s some unscheduled chatter, which I am endeavouring to do more of this year. Not just week-by-week reporting of starting a regenerative agriculture business with my partner, but also the thoughts that come up from it. This particular piece is inspired by a recent (but also recycled) post from Kollibri terre Sonnenblume about feeding ourselves out of our vegetable gardens. It’s we...

Hello again. Welcome, or indeed, welcome back. Scrap Farm is the newsletter/podcast where I detail how my partner and I are starting an agroecological farm. I’ve had an influx of new subscribers over the past few weeks, which has been wonderful. But I thought I would re-introduce myself and what I’m trying to do here. Hi, I’m Magda. I spent the past 4 years learning to farm. The most recent two in...

Welcome to Scrap Farm, the newsletter/podcast where I discuss starting a farm, its realities, and the work towards a fairer and more just food system. I’m Magda and this one is going to be a difficult one. I’ve had a bit of an influx of followers recently which, if anything, has made it harder to write. This is coupled with the fact that I have no news, nothing, nada. No job. For those of you unaw...

Welcome to Scrap Farm, the newsletter/podcast where I discuss living seasonally, adapting to climate chaos and whatever else, all in the context of trying to start a farm in the UK (probably, maybe). If you’re new here, hello, hi. To those returning, welcome back! I report to you live from the trenches of job applications. For those of you unaware of my current situation, I need to get a job that...

Welcome to Scrap Farm, the newsletter/podcast where I discuss living seasonally, adapting to climate chaos and how to make jam, all in the context of trying to start a farm (possibly in the UK but at this point who knows?). If you’re new here, hello, hi, welcome. The next few weeks are likely to be less farm-centric and will harken back to my older writings for this newsletter. Writings on ‘ weeds...

Hello all, In the vein of thanking people instead of apologising, thank you for your patience. It has been, what some people are calling, one hell of a month. For those of you who are new here, welcome to Scrap Farm, the newsletter/podcast where I discuss running a farm while setting up a farm. But now, dear listener/readers, we are no longer even running a farm. And we don’t quite know what count...

Welcome back to Scrap Farm, the podcast/newsletter where I talk about starting a farm, while running a farm, amid a climate in crisis. First off, Happy Birthday to my Father. Here’s a cute picture of him and my baby sister next to some Dahlias that were definitely never smuggled. I have very fond memories of being on the allotment with him, too small to understand the magnitude of plants but big e...

Hello all, Welcome to Scrap Farm, formerly Scrap Kitchen, where I talk about starting a farm while also running a farm. Why the name change you ask? Or maybe you didn’t. Mostly because, while I love the kitchen, hell I’ve spent most of today there making salves and Paprika, I am actually trying to make a farm. As wonderful as the kitchen is, I’m sure it’s pretty confusing to pretty much anyone try...

Hi all, I’m back on schedule. And more importantly, I can speak again (to read this out). I had my final wisdom tooth out last Thursday and can only just eat toast and stand up. Both of which I do pretty slowly. Oop, getting ahead of myself. Welcome to Scrap Kitchen, the newsletter/podcast where I detail the running of a farm (in the US), the starting of a farm (in the UK) and all the mess in betw...

Hello, I’m here. I’m fine. I’m tired. Welcome to Scrap Kitchen, the Podcast/Newsletter where I (intermittently) talk about running a farm, starting a farm and growing good food in this mixed-up climate. For a moment there, as my partner and I ventured North to drink wine and swim in lakes and not work for 4 days, it felt like Autumn. The air chilled, the leaves began their tantalising dance of cha...

Hi y’all, Welcome back to Scrap Kitchen the newsletter/podcast where I chat to you about my endeavours to run a farm, start a farm and stay sane in the process. You may have noticed, eagle-eyed followers, that it has been nearly 3 weeks since my last update. If you haven’t noticed, or you’re new here, welcome. And now you know. My reasons for this absence are multiple and various; the heat, an ann...

Hi All, Welcome to Scrap Kitchen. The newsletter/podcast where I document managing a farm in the US, while trying to find a future farm in the UK. Where I find joy in the privilege of getting paid to work outside while the planet burns around us. Sounds a bit dire, doesn’t it? And at times it feels a bit dire. With temperatures reaching over 50°C in India (reminiscent of the horrific opening chapt...

Hello all, It’s been a moment. Well, honestly it’s only been two weeks. But they certainly feel like a long while. This is Scrap Kitchen, the podcast/newsletter where I detail the managing of a farm while planning for next year’s farm (one of our very own). I feel it important to say, because I am not an island and also because interconnectivity keeps us alive, that I am not doing this alone. My b...

Hi all, We’re trying something a little different this week. I’m not sure if you’ll be able to tell. But we’re trying it anyways. Instead of me stream of consciousness-ing into a voice note and transcribing, I’m flipping the script. Or more accurately I’m writing one. Whether or not I can read this well is another matter. Yikes. Anyhow, welcome to Scrap Kitchen. The Podcast/Newsletter where I deta...

Hi Everyone. Welcome to Scrap Kitchen, the podcast/newsletter where I start a farm while managing a farm (while thinking about farms all the time). And then I tell you about it. I'm not doing this alone, I'm doing this with my partner. With a farm team and supportive family and friends and boss/mentor. It's not just me. I needed to state that straight up. This episode is the 10th, I wanted to call...

Hello and welcome back to another episode of Scrap Kitchen. This is the podcast/newsletter where I talk about running a farm while starting one, while navigating climate chaos. It's pretty fun if you're interested in any of those things and if you're not, it's probably quite boring. This episode is the ninth so far and I'm going to be calling it Solarpunk. The reason I didn't record an episode las...

Dear b*****s, hello all, I'm back. This is Scrap Kitchen. I was off last week. Not really on purpose, but because I was doing a lot of things last Sunday (which is when I record these) and I just couldn't get around to it. This week I am getting around to it! Thank goodness. I'm gonna do a bumper update since it's been a while. This is Episode 8, I think I'm calling it Ostara , which is pagan-ish...

Hi all, Welcome back to Scrap Kitchen where I, Magda, take you through the process of my partner and I managing a farm while also trying to get a future farm sorted out. I’ll take you through the farming season; what we're getting up to and thinking about. This episode is the seventh (I'm pretty sure) and I'm calling it Little Shoots (because I am soppy and it's spring). I thought I'd start this e...

Hello and welcome back to Scrap Kitchen. This is episode 6 and I think I'm gonna call it Snow Fall. Or maybe Slow Fall. For those of you in the United Kingdom, a Happy Mother's Day (especially mine)! I'm about to go on a call with my mother so I have half an hour to type this s**t out and get it ready. So I'm gonna do a short one this week mainly because it is our final week before the staff start...

Hello, and welcome back to Scrap Kitchen. This is episode five, I'm calling it Needful. Right now I'm recording/writing this in the sunny back garden of the house that I'm house-sitting. So if you hear some wind or some rustling leaves that's because they're are. Recently I've been thinking about the poem A Small Needful Fact by Ross Gay which talks about the murder of Eric Garner at the hands of...

Hi, all. It's me. I'm back. I just came back from the farm, and since it's Sunday, I'm going to be recording one of these little voice notes for you. This one I'm calling Coopetition , named after the concept that was introduced to me by our mentors/bosses on Broadfork Farm , Janet and Dan. The idea of Coopetition is that it includes both cooperation and competition. It's an interesting way of thi...

Hi, welcome back to Scrap Kitchen. This is my third episode so far. I think I'm going to call this one Commons and the myth of burnout. Previously I have had some things to say about burnout. I have previously written about avoiding it , but I had an interesting reframing recently. Please note I don’t want to be all click-bait-y but more share what was presented to me. Im going to hopefully ration...