By C.J. Walke, Orchard Program Manager Sometimes I feel like a broken record, skipping back to the same themes and concepts, but always out of concern for organic growers and backyard orchardists who are just as susceptible, if not more so, to the common challenges of growing organic tree fruit in the Northeast as we
By Roberta Bailey Tucked in the back corner of many New England sheds or barns is a dusty old-fashioned ice cream maker. It has a wooden slat bucket held together with salt-rusted wire. The same rust is on the handle. There is a rust-frozen latch that holds the cranking mechanism on top of the bucket
By Candace Gilpatric Ponds are desired for many reasons. Some people want a pond for aesthetic purposes, others want it for the peaceful joys of watching wildlife or recreating, and then there are some folks who want a pond for availability of water. Ponds can be a water source for fire protection, livestock watering, or
By Jack Kertesz, MOFGA’s Landscape Coordinator In my role as landscape coordinator at MOFGA’s Common Ground Education Center in Unity, Maine, I encounter numerous instances where a handcart of some type becomes invaluable in the movement of materials and tools around the grounds. I am particularly sensitive to the shortcomings of some commercially made models
By Emily Springer One of my favorite pastimes is dreaming up new herb gardens. Just ask my husband and kids, who patiently help bring those dreams to life each season. Over the years at Meeting House Farm, I’ve experienced both glorious successes and some humbling flops. I want to share four tenets of herb garden
After retiring and moving home to Maine in 2019, I embarked on a project in natural dyeing: Dyeing Maine Fibers with Maine Plants. I had begun my exploration of natural dyeing in the 1970s when I had a small flock of sheep in New York’s Hudson Valley and continued to learn while living in California
By Eric JB von Wettberg, Sandrine Dincki, Jasmine Hart, and Alexis Yamashita Did you know that we can eat the shoots, leaves, and flowers of many of the crops we typically grow for seeds or roots? For example, sweet potatoes, well loved by many Americans for their tubers, are prized for their green leaves in
Pest: Aphids Aphids are perhaps the soft-bodied insect pest most well-known to both farmers and gardeners. There are many different species of aphids, but green peach (Myzus persicae), melon (Aphis gossypii), potato (Macrosiphum euphorbiae), and foxglove (Aulacorthum solani) are the most common aphid species of concern in the Northeast. Some aphid species may have greater
Cows are remarkable creatures, capable of turning something as simple as grass into high-quality, nutritious protein that sustains millions of people. They also play a role in sustainable farming systems, cycling nutrients back into the soil through manure, which acts as a natural fertilizer. Beyond their productivity, cows are gentle, social animals. Here’s four reasons
By Caleb P. Goossen, Ph.D., MOFGA’s Crop Specialist Climate impacts are already impacting your garden — whether that’s temperature fluctuations, or periods of drought, or severe or prolonged precipitation. Here I will discuss what impacts have already been observed, and what to expect moving forward. Though I have an interest in matters of weather and
