Organic crop advisor Amigo Bob Cantisano enlightened Farmer-to-Farmer participants with stories of the ‘Californication’ of organic production. He advised growers to stay under the radar and sell to local consumers as much as possible. A 35-Year Personal Retrospective In November 2007, MOFGA welcomed keynote speaker Amigo Bob Cantisano to the Farmer-to-Farmer Conference. As a farmer,
CSA Farms Grow Beyond Summer Veggies by Jean English Pete Johnson of Craftsbury, Vermont, and Jeff and Amy Burchstead of Wiscasset, Maine, described their Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms at MOFGA and Cooperative Extension’s Farmer-to-Farmer Conference in November. Working with horses at Buckwheat Blossom Farm. Photo courtesy Jeff and Amy Burchstead. The Burchsteads of Buckwheat
by Alison LePage If you asked me five years ago where my food came from, I probably couldn’t even tell you what state it was grown in, much less the actual farm that produced it. But when my husband and I left “big city living” and moved to Maine in 2002, something changed in the
Roll Out the Rye Socking It to Strawberry Root Rot Garlic’s Goodness Best Released With a Crush Vitamin K for Bone Health Disinfectants for Fruits and Vegetables Planting Wheat Blends Means Higher Yields Roll Out the Rye Ecologist Adam Davis, with the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Urbana, Illinois, is experimenting with a no-till system
by Melissa White Pillsbury When I think of school lunch (or “hot lunch,” as we called it when I was a kid), I have visions of variegated, colored plastic trays, side compartments filled with some canned fruits and/or vegetables, and an entrée, fresh from the bag and into the oven. Since school food service programs
by Diane Schivera Cooperative Poultry Processors, COOPP, became a licensed, Maine State-Inspected poultry processing facility on October 15, 2007, and it plans to be certified-organic by MOFGA Certification Services LLC for the 2008 season. The facility is housed in a 42-foot refrigerated trailer at Snafu Acres farm, 259 Tillson Rd. in Monmouth. Snafu Acres is
Maine strawberry growers typically use the matted row system to grow their crop. Photo by Eric Sideman. by Eric Sideman, Ph.D. As with any crop, producing strawberries organically entails a systems approach to the whole farm rather than just substituting approved organic materials for synthetic materials. Of course, many practices are the same in organic
Onions at MOFGA’s Common Ground Education Center, ready for harvest in September. English photo. by Roberta Bailey After living most of my adult life without running water, hoses are an absolute marvel of technology and a blessing to me. I never cease to find joy in the ease of running a hose to the garden
by Ann Currier It has been encouraging to see the attention that Ramial Chipped Wood (RCW – chips of deciduous tree branches that are smaller than 7 cm in diameter) is getting in The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener. I first read about RCW in this paper in an article written by Tom
By Merry Hall At a “Word of Mouth” conference convened by Heart of Maine to help local farmers optimize marketing, a 12-person focus group was asked why they buy from local farmers. The consumers responded: • Freshness!• It supports the local economy … The money stays here.• Flavor!• Convenience• The food isn’t coated with pesticides.•
