Whether you’ve been climbing for years, a few months or you read our last climbing post and are eager to begin your climbing journey, you’ll need a few pieces of gear to get started. Rock climbing has a simple objective, move upwards until you can’t anymore. Sometimes that goal is the summit of a mountain, sometimes it’s the top of a cliff face, and other times it’s the highest point on an indoor boulder at your local climbing gym. As we mentioned in our last rock climbing post, Rock Climbing 101: Farm Brand’s Guide to Rock Climbing for Beginners, there are several types of rock climbing. There’s bouldering, where climbers ascend boulders no more than 15 feet high and do so without ropes. There’s top-rope climbing, where climbers are secured by a rope connected to the top of the wall linking them via their harness to their belay partner. There’s sport climbing, often called lead climbing, where climbers secure the rope to the wall as they climb using prefixed bolts and clips called quickdraws. Lastly, there’s trad climbing, where climbers place their protective gear as they ascend and remove it on the way down. Each climbing discipline requires unique equipment, and for a beginner walking into the climbing gym or REI for the first time, it can be difficult to know where to start. Fortunately for new climbers, we’ve decoded the rock climbing gear mystery. Continue reading below for Farm Brand’s Guide to Rock Climbing Gear.

This blog post. Some people will hate it.

They won’t relate. They’ll think it’s boring. They might even think I have no idea what I’m talking about.

Some will love it. They’ll feel like they’re talking to a friend.

Two completely different responses from the same blog post. This is why I can’t be living my life worrying about what others think. If I changed for one person, I would lose another.

Easier said than done, am I right? Okay, let’s get into how to stop caring what people think.

For surfers in North America, summer is a time we both dread and look forward to. While summer may seem like the perfect surf season to most, it’s the time of year where oceans in the Northern Hemisphere lay dormant. Most major swell activity is caused by winter storms. So, during summer our oceans often experience long period flat spells. Fortunately for surfers everywhere, there’s a simple solution— a good, old-fashioned surf trip. Surf trips aren’t the voyage into the unknown they once were. There are few undiscovered surf destinations left, and waves around the world no longer break without a soul around. However, surf trips are still an incredible adventure that every surfer should prioritize. For surfers in the US, Central America is a convenient destination with year-round surf and a fascinating mix of cultures well worth exploring. To learn what Central American surf destinations you should visit next, continue reading below for Farm Brand’s Guide to the Best Surf Destinations in Central America.

How did your last long road trip with kids go? Were you defeated? I’ve been there. I had possibly the most high-strung child you can imagine. Luckily she has grown out of the worst of it but I have mastered my road trip with 18 month old strategy.

A car trip with children is all about preparation. You can’t run into battle without a whole lot of tricks up your sleeve and expect it to go well. You need strategy. Here are my best road trip ideas for kids.

As we’ve stated over and over again, being outdoors is engrained in our DNA. At Farm Brand, we work to live, not the other way around. Our life is defined by our passions we pursue outside of work, not in the office.  Those passions often take us into to nature. When we’re not diligently working, you can find us in the water, on the trail, or around the campfire. Farm Brand employees live all over the country, but no matter where we are, we find a way to get outside. Working in a city doesn’t mean you have to give up outdoor adventure. Some of our favorite US’ cities our phenomenal adventure destinations. In Outdoor Cities We Love Part 1 and 2, we dove into some of our favorite coastal and mountain towns, in Part 3, we’ll round off our list by featuring exciting adventure hubs, as well as a few cities you wouldn’t think of as outdoorsy. Continue reading below for Outdoor Cities We Love Part 3.

Hopefully, when you think of eco friendly products you don’t think of money bags. Sometimes we get confused between doing something new, and doing something extra. When we think we are being fancy or extra we often mistake that for expensive!

Let me tell you that there are a lot of sustainable kitchen swaps that are simply changing your habits. This is hard to do at first, but once you become the kind of person who grabs a reusable water bottle, it would feel strange to buy bottled water. See how that works?

So let’s be the kind of person who has an eco kitchen. Start with one sustainable kitchen swap at a time, and before you know it, your old ways will feel foreign.

Ah, the hoodie. The effortless look of casual cool. The look of defiance. The look of athletes. The hoodie’s reputation has had quite a ride as it has traveled through the decades. You could argue that monks were wearing hoodies in the Medieval age, but don’t worry, we’re not going back that far.

The hoodie as we know it today was first made by the Knickerbocker Knitting Company (later became the brand Champion) in the 1930s. It was originally created to help keep warehouse workers in upstate New York warm during the cold winters, but it wasn't long until athletes took over the historical hoodies.