Joseph Lofthouse makes seed saving low-stress and relevant to local conditions. Instead of keeping seeds “pure” which causes inbreeding depression (loss of genetic diversity), he encourages crossing to create the best qualities for ones particular climate. We discuss his book Landrace Gardening and some tips for breeding several different crops that will thrive in your area, rather than buying seeds from long ago and far away that may do poorly in your garden of farm. Recorded in February, it will play at berkshireradio.org Mondays 10-11 AM Feb 26-March 18, streamed via spinatron from 11 AM Feb 26-March 31or you can listen right here now!
Jaye and I conducted the original interview in April, 2018. I added updated information to the interview in January, 2024. Dr. Johnson discusses an inexpensive static composter that is filled in one go, left a year (with ample moisture added daily or as needed), that creates a fungally-rich end product that can be used as a seed treatment, a transplant treatment, or a soil drench to ensure plants will have all the microbiology needed to grow to their maximum potential (as long as growing conditions allow this biology to come to life and thrive)
(updated Jan 20, 2024) I spent 3 amazing weeks with composers, performers, conductors at the Mostly Modern Festival in Saratoga Springs, New York, from June 4-24, 2023. What a great place to hear my music and works by 28 other composers in attendance, played by an orchestra and various chamber groups. Also to get lessons from 6 composer-teachers, have classes on writing for harp, percussion, brass; and learning many other aspects of music. Then there were plenty of concerts that included works by the 6 composers attending as faculty, including Samuel Adler, author of The Study of Orchestration, and Robert Paterson, music director for the festival. His Triple Concerto expressed the complexity of the climate chaos issue and moved me to tears. I wrote an ensemble piece for flute, clarinet, bassoon, viola, bass, and piano which depicts monoculture industrial farming in the first movement and regenerative farming in the second. I am attaching the score of “Regenerate, Heal, Cool” Regenerate, Heal, Cool 5-4ensemble for Jun 2023 and also a 4th movement of my piano concerto piano concerto mvt 4 mmf shortened edition of which the Mostly Modern Orchestra did a reading. Recordings of the orchestra piece reading and chamber piece performance are here:
Piano Concerto Movement 4 was read by Mostly Modern Orchestra, Mason Lubert, conductor, Yun Hao, piano, June 6, 2023.. Regenerate, Heal, Cool was performed by American Modern Ensemble, Sebastian Serrano-Ayala conductor, June 9, 2023. As we move towards a new Farm Bill in the US, I would love the Regenerate, Heal, Cool piece to be performed and distributed far and wide. If some of the words are hard to hear on the recording, refer to the score for them. Ultimately an alto would sing these, rather than the musicians who sang or spoke in the recording. Please let me know if you would like parts for recording this work!.
At the festival I started work on a horn-piano duo, with elements of salsa. Here is the score: horn=piano duo
and here is the recording with synthesized instruments
Here is a brass quintet piece written in honor of the Atlantic Brass Quintet, rearranged from a string piece followed by synthesized audio: Swedish brass band dream
