About Us

Margaret Lloyd is a former apprentice and assistant garden
manager of Ecology Action's Mini-Farm Demonstration and
Research Center in Willits, California. Under the guidance of
John Jeavons and Carol Cox, she learned the sustainable methods
of food raising known as Biointensive agriculture.

Following her time at Ecology Action, she took her interest and
knowledge to road. In Ireland, she worked with Bernie Winters, a
traditional farmer on Clare Island, learning the old ways of living
off the land. She also spent some time at the more formal
intensive gardens at the Ballymaloe Cookery School and Gardens ,
in Co. Cork.Both of these gardens rely on sustainable methods of
food raising, and include practices like double digging,
composting, intensive planting, and open-pollinated seed raising.

Margaret also became a technical agriculture volunteer for
Opportunities Industrialization Centers International (OICI), in
Guinea, West Africa. There, she worked with rural farmers,
providing support in sustainable techniques of food raising, to
increase their yields, decrease dependence on outside sources and
improve the soil fertility on an on-going basis.

Upon returning from West Africa, she began her Home Farming
business in the San Francisco Bay Area, serving those who wish
to raise food sustainably in their backyard. She works as a
consultant, teacher, private tutor, and project manager.

Nutritional and caloric requirements for one person can be met with small area (4,000
ft2).

Uses 70 to 90% less water (than conventional agriculture).

Uses 50 to 100% fewer purchased inputs (than conventional agriculture).

Uses 99% less energy (fossil fuel) (than conventional agriculture).

Rebuilds depleted soils and soil organic matter.

Uses mainly resources available to the most people (works on marginal land with hand
tools and indigenous knowledge)


	Home Farming