Organic and Sustainable Agriculture News

Farmers turning cranberries into comeback crop Maine Sunday Telegram - 11/1/2009. By Beth Quimby – Turner: The rush was on in the deep-maroon cranberry bogs at Ricker Hill Orchards last week. A dozen men pushed harvesting machines atop the spongy mat of vines, scooping up the tart red fruit before rain shut down the operation, putting off the already late harvest for yet another day. Winners and losers in a soggy season Maine Sunday Telegram - 11/1/2009. By Tom Atwell – Leeks love liquid. So this was a great year to plant our first crop of leeks. May, June and much of July were soggy months, with much more rain than normal. As a result, the leeks are tall, round, fat and tasty. Granddaughter Maeve and I planted the King Richard leeks from Johnny's on the last weekend of April. America’s sweet tart Boston Globe - 11/1/2009. By Adam Ried – Apple cider, whether it’s freshly pressed and sweet or fermented and hard -- which is to say earthy, dry, fizzy, and lightly alcoholic -- is an enticing ingredient for cooking. With cider used in every course, I hope this menu offers an inkling of its complexity and sweet-tart, fruity potential in many types of dishes. Putting farm animal protection on the map, one state at a time Alternet - 10/31/2009. By Paul Shapiro – At the beginning of this decade, not a single state in the nation had an anti-cruelty law that explicitly prohibited any standard agribusiness practice, regardless of how much suffering the practice may cause. Today, seven states have banned and are phasing out some of the most extreme forms of farm animal confinement. Don’t skimp on mustard in baked beans Bangor Daily News - 10/31/2009. By Sandy Oliver – As a child of southern New England, I owe my understanding of Maine baked beans to my Belfast-raised husband, who was taken aback when I served him baked pea beans early in our marriage. He likes big beans, and in Maine the standard is the lovely large yellow eye, though Jacob’s cattle, soldier and others have their adherents. In Washington County, the wonderful little Marifax, a nice flavorful all-brown bean, is a favorite and I love them, too. Backyard can produce rare jewel of a crop Bangor Daily News - 10/31/2009. By Janine Pineo – The lingonberries have fruit this year. I had just hauled an armload of trellis supports up to the gardening shed last weekend and happened to look down — way down — as I turned to walk back to the vegetable garden. Glistening like tiny red pearls among shiny evergreen leaves were lingonberries, more than I’d ever seen on the diminutive bushes. Screen plant choices for invasive potential Bangor Daily News - 10/31/2009. By Reeser Manley – My favorite plant in Marjorie’s garden at the moment is a redvein enkianthus, Enkianthus campanulatus, planted 10 years ago and pruned to form a multitrunk small tree. Current  Archive     Page: 1 2 3 4 5