Helen Atthowe is author of the newly published book: “The Ecological Farm: A Minimalist No-Till, No-Spray, Selective-Weeding, Grow-Your-Own-Fertilizer System for Organic Agriculture”. She has worked for 35 years to connect farming, food systems, land stewardship, and conservation. Helen has owned and operated or co-operated with her late husband, 3 certified organic orchards and vegetable farms ranging from 30-211 acres, in 3 states; California, Montana, and Oregon. She currently farms and does no-till soil– and natural enemies’ habitat– building research on her new 5-acre farm in Western Montana. Her on-farm research includes ecological weed and insect management, best plants for beneficial insects, organic no-till and minimum soil disturbance systems for vegetable, dry bean, and fruit crops, and growing your own fertilizer with living mulches and cover crops. She is a contributing writer to The Organic Gardener’s Handbook of Natural Pest and Disease Control and other books. Atthowe has a master’s degree in horticulture from Rutgers University and has worked in education and research at the University of Arkansas, Rutgers University, and Oregon State University, and served as a horticulture extension agent in Missoula, Montana for 17 years, where she annually taught an organic master gardener course and ran an IPM program for horticulture crops in western Montana.