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There's a constant hum and bustle of activity at Rodale Press in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, where Robert Rodale carries on the work his father started: chiefly, the editorship of both Organic Gardening and Farming and Prevention magazines, but—in addition—a great number of other worthwhile efforts.

One such ongoing enterprise is a thriving book publishing operation. Then there's a new Rodale Press division called Rodale Resources, under the auspices of which the Energy-Cyclea pedal-powered generator for rotary-driven tools such as grain mills-has been developed. And, for garden work, Rodale Resources has come up with the Mechanical Mule "' , a plow, row-maker, cultivator, etc., that's also pedal-powered.

The Research and Development division has a successful tempeh project underway, with over 14,000 packets of starter-and instructions for preparing the fermented soybean food-already distributed to readers of Organic Gardening and Farming.

What else? The company's 305-acre New Organic Gardening Experimental Farm has just completed its fourth year of growing amaranth, an ancient crop now being cultivated for its high-protein grain and nutrientrich greens. Work with a freestanding solar greenhouse, a methane digester, Colonial herb gardens, and garden interplanting is also being done at the farm. And the original 76-acre Rodale Press farm is gradually being planted in trees and converted to a demonstration of edible ornamental tree plantings.

But that's not all. At the Emmaus company's Mountain Springs site, 18 backyardsized ponds and five indoor tankswith capacities ranging from 2,000 to 3,200 gallons-are being set up for aquaculture experiments. Such fish as trout, catfish, bluegills, and carp will be raised in these facilities, and project findings will be relayed-along with aquaculture instructions-to interested backyard gardeners.

While overseeing all of this, Robert Rodale still finds time for travel and public speaking. If you asked him, he'd probably tell you that his energy comes from his optimism, because he's quite earnest when he says, "My vision of our future is a hopeful one. We're going to survive ... as a nation and as individuals."

THEODORE ROSZAK