Press

Lodestar Gardens has penned its fair share of articles over the years, as well as being independently featured. Below you’ll find a growing archive of our articles and press clippings.

Selected Articles on Food Production & Homesteading

White Mountain Independent: NATURAL LIVING Supplement Submissions

FALL 2012

  • “Visionary Farmers and Ranchers Working Together to Strengthen Food Shed” by Barbara Hockabout, facilitator for Navapache Growers and SDFAA gatherings
  • “Lodestar Gardens: More Than Just Growing Things”

SPRING 2014

  • “Lodestar Garden Learning Center: An Art-Farm-Laboratory Village”
  • “Northern Arizona Food Groups in Apache and Navajo Counties Networking, Wisdom, Generosity, and Common Sense”

SPRING 2015

  • “Calling All Positive Deviants: Finding Local Wisdom for Greater Food Security”

FALL/WINTER 2015

  • “Be In Charge of Your Health: Create Your Own Food Village” and “Food Consciousness – An Explosion on the Mountain”

SPRING 2016

  • “Reconceiving Sustainability”

FALL 2016

  • “Lodestar Gardens Offers Self-Reliant Health and Lifestyle Strategies”

SPRING 2017

Farm & Ranch Issue 2025

Lodestar Gardens’ cover feature and special issue in the Maverick Magazine

Research Collaborations & Experiments

Johnson-Su Bio-Reactor Composting Process (Ongoing)

We built a Johnson-Su Bioreactor––a static, aerobic composting system using a wire mesh cylinder designed to produce highly microbial, fungus-dominant compost in about a year without turning––and began the year-long biofurcation process of compost material. The amount of nutrition that emerges from this composting process is staggering, backed up by the data. This simple botanical biological process creates intensive composting even having success in Arizona.

IMO Soil Enhancements (Ongoing)

We’ve also experimented with using indigenous microorganisms. This is a fermentation-style compost that enhances the soil. The duff underneath our trees serves as the perfect fodder for this.

University of Arizona @ Yuma
  • Study: Post-harvest Sanitation Methods Utilizing Natural Cleansing Agents

Lodestar Gardens has enjoyed collaborating with growers and researchers across the state of Arizona. Notably, we worked with a research team headed up by Professor Kurt Nolte from the University of Arizona in a study of post harvest sanitation methods utilizing natural cleansing agents.

The first phase of this project took place in the fall 2013 and 45 lbs of lettuce was grown at Lodestar Gardens for the project. The second phase of the research is scheduled for the spring of 2014. The goal is to find the most effective, yet least harsh cleaning agents and sanitation techniques for produce grown for markets. This is the first official scientific study with the attempt to verify the viability of alternative sanitation agents such as vinegar and peroxide. We are excited by the pure science being applied to the cleaning procedures we have used for years.

Project pg#5. photo #1
Project pg#5. photo #3
Project pg#5. photo #4