By Holli Cederholm Through art, Kathryn Cody Russell of Limington, Maine, finds clarity under pressure: She started sketching her winning design, which reimagines MOFGA’s tree logo with the inclusion of fruits and vegetables significant to Maine agriculture, just days before the 2021 Common Ground Country Fair art contest deadline. “Art, for a very long time,
By Catie Joyce-Bulay Last season the confusion and safety concerns of the COVID-19 pandemic brought on a need for farmers to pivot to new marketing strategies. They worked quickly to build no-contact sales and distribution systems, rapidly changing how they got product out to customers. Many farmers turned to the internet. Although many farms incorporated
By Will Brinton One hears the phrase “soil health” so often these days it seems to be reaching a crescendo. Recently, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) formed an entire Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS) division for it. Around the same time, the Soil Health Institute (SHI) was formed, including sponsorship by USDA, agribusiness and
By Holli Cederholm On Thalassa Raasch’s outstretched palm is a rainbow of pollen – yellow, orange, gray, green and even bright blue – reflecting the colors of the early spring blooms that honeybees have collected the grains from. It is a sunny, 60-degree day in April and Raasch, clad in coveralls and a floral-print neckerchief
By Tim Nason Russell Libby wrote editorials for The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener during 1993 and 1994, when he served as MOFGA board president, and from 1996 to 2012 as MOFGA’s executive director. Most of the editorials targeted a specific topic, such as the use of persistent pesticides; the increase in toxins in our
By Will Bonsall MOFGA is celebrating its 50th year at a tumultuous time in our nation’s history. I am mindful that the organic movement was born out of tumultuous times. The year 1971 found us in a soul-wrenching war in Vietnam, a growth-thwarting oil crisis and a number of challenges to democratic institutions. So, what has
By Tim King In 1972 Ken and Roberta Horn, who were farming 140 acres near Plymouth, Maine, became the first of thousands of farms to be certified organic by MOFGA over the next half century. There were 26 more certifications granted by MOFGA that year. The number nearly doubled, to 47, the following year. That
By Sonja Heyck-Merlin Evening Song Farm, owned by Ryan and Kara Fitzbeauchamp and certified organic by the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont, offered a virtual farm tour during MOFGA’s 2020 Farmer to Farmer Conference. Located in Cuttingsville, Vermont, 11 miles southeast of Rutland, the 100-acre property is perched at 1,200 feet on a hillside
By Heather Spalding After nine years working as a member of MOFGA’s staff, Dave Colson has retired to the greener pastures of his beautiful farm in Androscoggin County. Dave joined the MOFGA staff in July of 2011 serving as the director of our agricultural services program. He led the program for eight years, providing leadership to
Emilia Carbone, Jed Beach (not shown) and their three adorable bugs are connected to the Lincolnville community through their farm and the Lincolnville Bulletin Board. Photo by Jed Beach By Diane Roesing O’Brien POST: Come join us for a traditional breakfast at King David’s Lodge on Howe Point Road Sunday April 1st from 7-9 AM Eggs,
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