By Eric Sideman, Ph.D., MOFGA’S Director of Technical Services How quickly an apparently unknown disease can arise and cause widespread fear. The disease is called Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) but is more commonly referred to as “mad cow disease.” The fear spread worldwide as we watched Great Britain, the only country with a major outbreak,
One symptom of brown rot is an oozing canker, as shown on this ‘La Crescent’ plum tree. Photo by C.J. Walke. By C.J. Walke Over the past few years, interest in cultivating organic tree fruit has steadily increased, as has the general desire to integrate these perennial crops into backyard garden and farm ecosystems. This
By Roberta Bailey All that seems predictable with the weather and seasons is that they will be unpredictable and erratic. Winter was a bit of a no-show. We tapped our maple trees in February and pulled the taps by mid-March. Red maple buds swelled in early March, usually a sign that the sugaring season is
Artichokes. Photo from wiki.com/healthyrecipes. Growing Artichokes in Maine By Cheryl A. Wixson The impressive and mighty artichoke is actually the flower bud of a large thistle-family plant. This delectable but formidable-looking vegetable dates backs for centuries and was prized by Romans as food of the nobility. Widely grown France, Italy and Spain, and California, Maine
By Diane Schivera, M.A.T. On the first Friday of every month, MOFGA hosts its “Common Ground” radio show on WERU (89.9 Blue Hill, 99.9 Bangor, weru.org). I was on that show in April discussing backyard chickens. The information below follows up on a couple of interesting questions that callers asked. Lighting for Pullets One caller
By Melissa White Pillsbury Maine’s natural food stores and co-ops, among the pioneers in the local organic foods movement, have been buying food from Maine farms for decades. In April MOFGA met with buyers and managers from these establishments to explore ways to expand their marketing and sourcing of local organic foods. Representatives came from
A comfortable, practically fly-proof humanure privy. Photo courtesy of Will Bonsall. By Will Bonsall For much of modern history, we humans have not assumed much personal responsibility for our own body wastes. Instead, we’ve had collective solutions that have always created more problems than they’ve solved. We’ve had lower class people emptying our latrines and
Leafhopper burn on potato foliage. Eric Sideman photo. Phosphorus deficiency in corn. Eric Sideman photo. The Season is Beginning. Don’t Misdiagnose Your Problems. By Eric Sideman, Ph.D. This is a good time of year to study up on the biology and symptoms of problems that may later arise in your crops. Problems will arise, and
‘Hannah’s Choice’ melons. Adam Tomash photo. Half-gallon milk cartons with their tops and bottoms removed make good containers for starting melons, tomatoes and other transplants. A flap at the top of the carton can be cut, folded down and used as a label. Adam Tomash photo. When plants are ready to be transplanted to the
Peppers are among the easiest of crops from which to save seed. Just be sure the fruit is mature, as is this ‘Klari Baby Cheese’ pepper. English photo. By Roberta Bailey When people first visit my farm, many are surprised by how little space it takes to grow seed crops. On the home scale it
