Archives: Resources

What Apple Is This Identifying Apples in 2020

Illustration by John Bunker By John Bunker “A further knowledge of the facts is necessary before I would venture to give a final and definite opinion.” Sherlock Holmes, “His Last Bow” Although we usually begin to identify apples each year in August and early September, the Common Ground Country Fair weekend is the official kickoff

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Harvest Kitchen Kids in the Kitchen

Toki Oshima drawing By Roberta Bailey How strange not to be gathering for a celebration of Common Ground. For so many of us, the Fair has been a place to catch up with friends from afar, to listen to talks and learn how to do it all better, to eat great food, to sell or

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How to Make Cannabis Salves

Making cannabis salves requires just a few ingredients.     By Roberta BaileyPhotos by the author As cannabis has become legal and more readily available, people are embracing its uses. Slowly, we are coming back to a plant that was our ancient medicine. We’re relearning its delicate secrets, its diverse strengths. Cannabis has so much

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Crop Tree Management Managing for Value Not Volume

A red oak crop tree with double flagging surrounded by competing red maple, oak lacking quality and diseased beech (not pictured) marked to be cut. Crown view of the same red oak crop tree. Note the crown competition and lack of available growing space. “The crop tree crown in the center of this illustration has been

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Controlling Pest Insects in the Organic Garden

One way to manage pest insects is to create habitat in your garden for beneficial insects such as ladybugs. Oxalic acid in the leaf blades (not petioles) of rhubarb can help repel flea beetles. Row cover, although a synthetic material, can last several years with care. An infusion of tansy, growing here with goldenrod, may

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MOFGA El Salvador Sistering Committee

Don Raúl hosts the MOFGA Delegation at his beautiful organic coffee nursery and parcela. Photo by Heather Spalding. Members of MOFGA’s Delegation and the Carasque Sewing Cooperative met to discuss sales of beautiful, hand-made string bags. Photo by Heather Spalding. Paul Volckhausen stocks up on the wonderful dried organic fruit from a women’s cooperative in

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Harvest Kitchen Mushrooms The King of Umami and More

These shiitake mushrooms grown by Toshio Hashimoto of Rumford won a judges’ award in the Exhibition Hall at the Common Ground Country Fair. English photo By Roberta Bailey Mushrooms have come into the spotlight lately. They are strutting their stuff. Once they were thought of as just another white food, flavorful and filling but void of much

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Further Adventures in the Search for Sarah

Possibly the Sarah apple. Photo by John Bunker By John Bunker Readers of this column will recall my search for the Sarah apple – an old Franklin County variety that originated on the East Wilton farm of John Tufts and was named after his daughter. Old literature described it as “vigorous … productive, an annual bearer [that]

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To Cut or Not to Cut Is That the Question

Large diameter cavity trees provide bird habitat, enhancing the overall value of a forest. English photo By Noah Gleason-Hart When the topic of forestry or land management comes up, the first question people often ask is, “Should I my cut my woodlot?” or, “Is my land due for a harvest?” It’s a daunting question with huge implications.

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