Category: Community

American Plains Indians As Farmers

John Eastman’s “Guarding the Cornfields” shows Indian women scaring birds away from the crop. The Dream That Might Have Been By John Koster American Mythology 101 holds that the Plains Indians had to be subdued and constrained to reservations because they were too proud or too lazy to take up farming. The myth permeates Hollywood

Read More »

John Bunker

John Bunker finds and saves heirloom varieties of apples in Maine; his dog, Tessa, keeps deer away from the orchard. Jane Lamb photo. “To Be of Value While I’m Here” By Jane Lamb “Core and slice thickly, with skin. Fry in pork fat. Add water as necessary till soft. Then add ‘a few dollops’ of

Read More »

Payson

Louise Payson She is considered a pioneer of American landscape architecture. Her prominence in the “Golden Age of American gardens” was acknowledged in some of the leading publications of her time. As a woman practicing in what historically had been a male-dominated field, she helped redefine the character and qualities that established the distinctiveness of

Read More »

Community Farms

Dr. Brian Donahue. English photo. By Jean English Brian Donahue enjoyed the Common Ground Fair last summer. “The type of activities seen at the Fair should be part of our daily lives,” he said. For many of us who live in rural Maine, they are; but Donahue goes a step further: “We should do them

Read More »

Mike & Margie Shannon

By Jean English Mike and Margie Shannon are happier living off-the-grid in Knox and raising most of their vegetables than they’ve been any other place they’ve lived. Jean English photos. Margie Shannon’s father would approve of the life that his daughter and son-in-law, Mike Shannon, have built on the north side of Frye Mountain, at

Read More »

Green Wedding

Jessica Garrett and Ben Ligon in Garrett’s father’s vegetable garden before the wedding. This photo was used on a welcoming program of events. Garrett photo. by Jean Ann Pollard Garrett When our daughter, Jessica Garrett, and Ben Ligon from Massachusetts decided to marry, they wanted their commitment to each other to reflect their commitment to

Read More »

Scythe Supply

Carol Bryan, with help from Richard Scott, has continued Scythe Supply, the business Bryan’s partner, Elliot Fishbein, started before his death. Scythe Supply now provides scythes to growers in every U.S. state and to many abroad. Photo by Larry Lack. Preserving and Reviving a Timeless Technology by Larry Lack The scythe, an ancient harvest tool

Read More »

Poem Fall 2009

Common Ground by Mary F. Bunker God’s controversial Apostle St. Paul Found common ground with duplicity Between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians With food and its cultural ethnicity Maine’s annual Common Ground Fair In the appropriate town of Unity Attracts thousands to learn and enjoy local food Organically grown with impunity Paul the Apostle and

Read More »

Russell Libby Poem

“If you’re going to farm a piece of land, you ought to farm it for all it’s worth.” – Tim Hassinger, vice-president, Dow AgriSciences   For how many bluebirds it’s worth? For how many monarchs? What price the elusive fireflies? I pulled the early peas today, tossing the vines in the compost bin, then carried

Read More »
Categories
Scroll to Top