Women are joining the farming community at unprecedented rates, with more than 1 million in the United States and Canada describing farming as their primary source of income and many more incorporating elements of farming – from gardening to husbandry and more – into their lifestyles as a hobby or pastime. This is the world that Lanier explores in her most recent book, with a view towards inspiring other women to get involved and become part of this growing female farming community.

Featuring interviews with a host of woman farmers from a variety of backgrounds, the book delves into important elements of hobby farming, including assessing your resources, taking care of yourself while you take care of the land, and the diverse ways in which a hobby farmer can perceive a profit.

While the book’s title references “hobby farming,” an early review in the Library Journal noted that this was “somewhat deceptive” because the book referenced farming, not as a hobby, but rather as a profession. Indeed, many of the women in the book make farming their full-time career, and many of the resources offered in the book pave the way towards this sort of lifestyle.

However, the decision to use the term “hobby farming” is an interesting one in terms of scale: while these farms often pay for themselves – and even make a profit for the women or couples running them – none of the farmers featured in the book run commercially-sized or industrial farms.

Lanier doesn’t exactly explore this line between hobby and professional farming in the text, but she and the women featured illustrate how one can walk it quite successfully: a naturalist, documentarian, teacher, artist, and gardener, Lanier spends most of her time working the land, but she is not a professional farmer. This is the difference – and this is what creates the almost-utopian reality described throughout the book.

This is a world of people who work the land who rely on regular bartering to make ends meet, a world of people who graze their horses on their neighbor’s land so that he doesn’t have to mow. This is a world defined by community. And while the book at first glance targets an extremely specific part of the population – women who want to start their own hobby farms – the stories are intriguing even for someone for whom farming is a far-off dream that may never become a reality.

The book’s approach is less “how-to” and more an illustration of the stories of several women who have succeeded in farming – with a variety of definitions as to what constitutes success – interwoven and organized based on general themes. Nevertheless, the book offers a host of activities and surveys to help the reader work out her own farming goals, from exploring financial restrictions and resources to discovering what our own bodies are capable of (and when they’ve had enough).

The book’s organization is unfortunately a bit haphazard, especially at first: the prose feels guided by the stories featured in the interviews rather than by Lanier herself, which means that it can jump from topic to topic with seemingly no transition. More troublesome is this same theme reflected in the organization of the book itself: the first 40 pages encourage readers to think about the specific land that they are working with before a section on renting versus buying (that is to say, the acquisition of this land) is even discussed.

These small structural issues aside, this book is not only brimming with concrete resources for women interested in farming as a profession or merely a lucrative hobby, but it is also an inspiring tome exploring just how far women have come in farming today.

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There are a lot of cool toys and gifts for girls out there, but sometimes, the choices at stores are limited. If you want to diversify your daughter’s toy chest, we’ve got some DIY gifts for girls that any little lady would love to play with.

Marvel (among other toy producers) have yet to create a vast array of female superhero and character toys. So, one hardworking and incredibly creative mom took matters into her own hands and decided to make her daughter a one-of-a-kind Black Widow doll. Her kid liked it so much, she made a few other DIY female superhero dolls, too. That mom’s inspiring actions lead us to think up a few more gifts for girls that are not store-bought, but totally inspiring.

1. Store Bought Doll vs. DIY Doll of Your Choice

If you want to gift your kid a doll that can’t be bought in a store (we’re thinking a real superhero here — maybe Malala Yousafzai or Rosa Parks), recruit yourself, or a creative sister or friend, to hit up the local craft store. Get some dolls and paint, and make a gift that is in that hero‘s likeness.

2. Garden Tool Set vs. Female Farmer How-To Gift Pack

Yes, there are plenty of garden tool sets out there, but none of them come with added inspiration for budding girl farmers. So, what’s a mom or grandma to do? Invest in a colorful garden tool set (we like that Growums features boys and girls on its kits), include a book about girls who farm in the gift, and add on a trip to a local organic farm that features female farmers. (A great place to find female farmers is at the local farmers’ market.)

3. Princess Bag vs. “Explore Your Interests” Book Bag

Girls need to know that they can study whatever they want. And while no one at school is telling your daughter or friend’s kid that she can’t be a scientist, the CEO of a fashion house, or the president, girls aren’t always encouraged to study things that allow them to rise to the top. Encourage the little girl you know to do whatever she wants by buying her a gender-neutral color book bag that’s filled with books about girls doing amazing things. If she picks an interest, such as construction, put together a starter carpentry kit, and get building.

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Shutterstock image of girl playing

The post 3 Empowering Gifts For Girls Moms, Friends, and Aunts Should ‘Remake’ appeared first on EcoSalon.

Women farmers are everywhere. They own the local dairy farm outside of town, operate the hydroponic greenhouse down the street, and tend to and sell the organic produce you buy at your local farmers market.

But while the fields are full of women farmers, sometimes life in the country can get a little lonely. To combat that occasional loneliness, the innovative female farmers of Wisconsin have cooked up a way to connect with each other. According to Civil Eats, women farmers in Wisconsin are throwing potlucks to gab, network, and just kick back.

The concept, now called the Southeast Wisconsin Women in Sustainable Agriculture, was recently thought up by Christine Welcher, and organic farmer. (Although, the potluck movement, overall, started in its grassroots form in Wisconsin about five years ago.) “In December, she [Welcher] began sending out emails to a handful of local women, suggesting that a grassroots movement fueled by simple potlucks would form a needed network. The idea traveled by word-of-mouth. Slowly, the farmers learned of one another, even if they were miles apart,” reports Civil Eats.

The women cook and serve the food they grow and raise at each potluck. While all the women in attendance consider this gathering a lifeline, they also use the potluck as a venue to share information. The farmers discuss where to buy farm equipment, farms that have gone up for sale, and other items of farming business.

Every potluck is held at a different farm. “Each potluck includes a tour of the hosting farm, formal introductions, and requests and offers of help and resources. Throughout the year, guests stay in contact through a listserv,” reports Civil Eats. And in addition to helping connect women, the potlucks can also be quite lucrative. Sometimes a business partnership can be born. According to Civil Eats, that’s what happened when Anna Landmark, a cheesemaker and goat farmer, met Anna Thomas Bates, at a potluck. The two now run the Landmark Creamery near Albany, Wis.

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