How to Grow More Vegetables : And Fruits, Nuts ... - Shroomery

American Biointensive mini-farming
demonstration, research, and educational
site is established at Tizapan, Hildago,
Mexico. Translation of the Mini-Series
booklets into Spanish is begun. Forty-four
agronomists from El Salvador, Nicaragua,
Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Honduras
attend a tour at the Willits site. Representatives
from Mexico’s University of Chapingo
visit Willits and Ohio University to
prepare for a Biointensive program they
will initiate in Mexico. A project in
Ethiopia reports success in combining
Biointensive practices with aquaculture
ponds. After 13 years of testing, the Shri
A.M. M. Murugappa Chettiar Research
Centre in India reports it is ready to teach
Biointensive mini-farming throughout
India.
1991
The Kenyan Minister of Agriculture
expresses support for Biointensive
training. Fifty-two apprentices are
reported to be enrolled in the Manor
House Agricultural Centre 2-year
Biointensive Training Program. The
Center for Biointensive Mini-Farming is
established in Moscow, Russia. The
Mexican president’s Solidarity Program
funds additional training for Biointensive
promoters. The Huertos Familiares video
on Biointensive practices in Mexico is
produced. The University of Chapingo
creates a Department of Biointensive
Mini-Farming. A 5-day workshop is given
at Mexico’s University of Chapingo, a
class series is held at Mendocino College
in California, an accredited course is
offered at Stanford University, a workshop
is held at Mexico’s University of
Oxochimilco, including Bolivian and
Haitian participants, and courses continue
at Ohio University. A 7-day workshop is
offered at Willits, with participants from
Mexico, Togo, Ireland, and the United
States. Presentations are made in Portland,
Oregon; Seattle, Washington; and
Vancouver, British Columbia. Classes and
presentations are given throughout the
year. Three new Ecology Action booklets
are written. How to Grow More Vegetables
is expanded and revised, and the 4th
edition is published in English and
Spanish.
1992
IIRR in the Philippines publishes illustrated
Biointensive gardening booklets
in the Tagalog and Cebuano languages.
The Mexican Institute of Social Security/
Solidarity Program reports 70,000 new
Biointensive family gardens are initiated
in 1991. The Mexican National Institute
for Adult Education distributes 1,100
copies of the Biointensive video Heurtos
Ecologicos (The Ecological Garden)
throughout Mexico. The Colombian
Ministry of Agriculture uses some
Biointensive techniques for their vegetable
garden programs. The Janus Project
in North Carolina begins training single
mothers in Biointensive economic minifarming.
The Ford Foundation makes a
$221,000 3-year grant to the Manor House
Agricultural Centre’s Biointensive Training
Program in Kenya so the program
can be more effectively expanded nationwide.
Presentations on Biointensive minifarming
are given at the Congress of
National Academy of Sciences in Cuba.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization representative in Ethiopia
commends Ecology Action on its work.
Biointensive sustainable mini-farming
classes and workshops are given: a
6-week workshop at Willits; courses at
Ohio University; a 7-day workshop in
Willits; a 3-day workshop in Seattle,
Washington; and a 5-day workshop in
Saltillo, Coahuilla, Mexico, cosponsored
by ECOPOL, Ecology Action, and
Ohio University.
1993
Three-day workshops are given at Stanford
University and in San Diego, with 55
participants from 7 states, Canada, Mexico,
Iran, Argentina, and Nepal. Linda Sickles
of Pennsylvania attends the March 3-day
workshop; begins using her farm for
Biointensive demonstration, research, and
teaching; and gives workshops at the
Philadelphia Community Gardens and at
Graterford State Prison. Helene Huber
turns her enthusiasm for Ecology Action’s
work into a gardening network, Gardeners
in Community, and encourages Habitat for
Humanity to establish Gardens for
Humanity—gardens to accompany the
houses that it helps to build. Gardening
classes are given almost weekly at Ecology
Action’s Common Ground Education
Center in Palo Alto. John Jeavons gives
public presentations for the Sierra Club
Agriculture Committee and delivers a keynote
speech at The American Horticultural
Society’s National Symposium, Washington,
D.C. Four half-day garden tours are
held at Willits Research Garden, several
series of classes are given for Mendocino
College for Beginning and Intermediate/
Advanced gardeners, and 2 Ohio University
5-day courses are taught. A 7-day
workshop is held in Willits, with participants
from the United States and Mexico.
A Russian translation of How to Grow More
Vegetables is completed, and Lazy-Bed
Gardening is published by Ten Speed
Press. Training Centers have now been
established on each of 5 continents—
the fulfillment of a 1983 goal. The new goal
is to catalyze the establishment of training
centers in each country in the world. Biosphere
II, using techniques based on
Ecology Action’s work, raises 80% of its
food needs for the last 2 years within a
“closed system.” This experience demonstrates
that a complete year’s diet for one
person could be raised on 3,403 square
feet ( 1 ⁄ 6– 1 ⁄ 13 of what commercial agriculture
is using to feed one person). In India,
village women gardening with Biointensive
methods on their own small plots raise
enough food to feed their families and
bring in a whole year’s income. In Mexico
thousands of new people each year are
taught Biointensive methods for nutrition
intervention for themselves and their
families. Publications and videos in Spanish
spread Biointensive techniques in Latin
America. The Manor House Agricultural
Centre in Kenya is directly and indirectly
responsible for training over 30,000 minifarmers
during the past 7 years. The
Centre opens its training programs to
international students.
1994
Biointensive research focuses on producing
complete nutrition, sustainable soil
fertility, income, resource conservation,
and the preservation of genetic diversity.
Classes, tours, and lectures are given
throughout the year, including presentations
at the Social Ventures Network,