Halcyon Grange in Blue Hill has a state-licensed kitchen and bulk storage bins for grain. By Betsy Garrold Photos by the author What has sprung dance floors, a stage and nurtures local agricultural traditions? The Grange, of course. In Maine the Grange is seeing a resurgence of interest and relevance. As Maine continues to grow
Peter Kellman’s portrait by Robert Shetterly. From AmericansWhoTellTheTruth.org. In August, Maine artist Robert Shetterly unveiled his portrait of longtime labor leader, historian and working class hero Peter Kellman at the Good Life Center in Harborside, Maine. The portrait is part of Shetterly’s Americans Who Tell the Truth series. (MOFGA’s Russell Libby was also included in
Toki Oshima drawing By Grace Oedel Lately I have been wrestling with the dynamic tension between patience and action. How are we to balance the urgency that motivates us to do our work with the need for rest and rejuvenation? For farmers, the warm season flies by furiously with chores from before sunrise to after
Toki Oshima drawing By Jean English, Editor, The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener Ben Falk, in his keynote speech at the Common Ground Country Fair, called for a billion new gardeners, because “we have everything we need right here, right now” to re-establish the perennial-based, diverse and integrated food-producing ecosystems that were here for thousands
John Bunker is a common site – almost always with an apple – at the Common Ground Country Fair. Join him in an apple taste test at the Fair to determine the favorite variety for 2013. English photo. By John Bunker and Cammy Watts ‘Canadian Strawberry’. ‘Chestnut’. ‘Cox’s Orange Pippin’. ‘Liveland Raspberry’. What do all
Mondrian “Moe” Shumate (left) and Andrea Boothby continue Danya Klie’s care for the environment and people at Toads End Farm. Photos by Marta Madden, martamadden.com. By Betsy Garrold This is a story about women, community and music. When Danya Klie was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in 2011, she knew that her time was short
John Bunker of Super Chilly Farm talked about all the miracles in life, at a MOFGA Farm Training Project workshop. English photos. Visitors at Super Chilly Farm going to see a hugelkultur mound. A long hugelkultur mound at Super Chilly Farm. By Jean English Everything around us is a miracle. That was John Bunker’s message
Rosey Guest, harvesting tomatoes in mid-October in her unheated hoop house. All photos by Holli Cederholm. After the tomatoes are done, Rosey runs a fence down the middle of the house and keeps her layers in there for a month. They scratch for bugs and add fertility for the following season. Greens and tomatoes are
Genna Cherichello and students at Oceanside East High School prepare a meal incorporating school garden produce. One student who worked with Cherichello on gardening and cooking in the previous academic year went on to work as a gardener over the summer and enroll in Midcoast School of Technology’s Culinary Arts Program. Photo by Marina Schauffler.
John Augustus Sutter’s once-thriving farming community in California fell victim to the Gold Rush. Portrait of John Sutter by Frank Buchser, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/. The current high price of gold is wreaking environmental destruction in many places around the world, sometimes interfering with local people’s ability to farm and garden. This isn’t a new situation, as John
