At a time of year when many farmers markets are on hiatus, one is at its peak: Emory Farmers Market.

The market is tied to the academic schedule, so it’s closed during university breaks, including summer. But when class is in session—right now—the market is at full throttle. The arrangement gives vendors and consumers another way to connect during the lean winter months.

On Tuesday, 18 vendors were set up on a main walkway at Emory University, and business was hopping. Because a large percentage of the clientele is students on the go, the market leans toward ready-to-eat food: tamales, hummus, baked goods. But it’s all produced with a preference for local and sustainable ingredients.

“No one buys in bulk here,” says Debra Hays, owner of Red Cactus Café, which sells tamales and empanadas. “They grab it and eat it on the way to class.”

The vendors love the foot ...

If you spent any time in 2011 worrying about your food supply, then I encourage you to make 2012 your Year of the CSA. Now is the time to sign up.

You’ve probably heard of CSAs. The acronym for “community supported agriculture” has become a shorthand term for local food subscription programs, in which one commits to pay a farm (or farms) for a share of the harvest. The arrangement provides the farm with seed money—literally—and takes some of the financial risk off the farmer’s shoulders.

I know you have doubts. You worry that a weekly supply of locally grown food may be too big of a commitment. You might get inundated with vegetables you hate … or just inundated with vegetables in general. And you’re not sure your schedule can hold one more errand a week. But I assure you that even if you try a CSA for only ...

I don’t want to upset you, but there’s something wrong with that chicken you’re eating. I don’t mean the way it was prepared (though, seriously, breaded-deep-fried-meat-on-white-bread-with-mayo is just NOT a good idea). I’m talking about the way it was raised and slaughtered, the effect those tasks have on the workers who perform them, the poultry industry’s impact on our environment, and its toll on human health.

The thing is, once you start thinking about common practices of the poultry industry—the largest segment of Georgia agriculture—it’s pretty hard to swallow. That’s why there’s growing interest in pastured poultry, a more natural method for raising birds. And why a new group wants you to know what’s wrong with most of the chicken you’re eating.

Georgians for Pastured Poultry, an advocacy group whose members include Compassion in World Farming, Georgia Organics, Sierra Club and White Oak Pastures, prefers pastured chickens, which are raised ...

The free-wheelin’ fruit-tree foragers of Concrete Jungle are settling down—sort of.

They still plan to spend their summers biking from tree to tree, gathering unclaimed bounty to donate to folks in need of some fresh fruit. But now they’ll also intentionally grow produce, on land set aside just for them ... that is, once they get it cleared and planted.

“It’s actually a friend of mine that owns it,” explains Craig Durkin, who with Aubrey Daniels launched Concrete Jungle in 2009. “He’s been using it as a farm, but he just got a really sweet job in San Francisco.”

Now the owner is letting Concrete Jungle give farming a try. The empty lot in Sylvan Hills, just a few minutes from downtown Atlanta, could be used to grow produce during low-fruit months, raise honey bees, and serve as an example of how small properties tucked into the urban landscape can ...