By Ron Poitras OK, here we go – gear up – one more logo, another brochure, and remember: bold captions, short, pithy phrases. Prepare your piece of good design to float as high as possible in that chaotic ocean of mediaspace. So much doubt in the process! Does anyone read this stuff anymore? Thousands of
No matter the type, it’s easy to grow cherry trees. One of the first trees I planted on my farm was a cherry tree, a ‘Bali’ sour cherry. Cherries, sweet and sour, are so beautiful; their shape; their deep wine-brown, shiny bark; their clouds of delicate pink blossoms in spring; and most of all, their
By Nicolas Lindholm Supported primarily through a grant from the Maine Dept. of Agriculture, this is the fourth in a series of five articles covering some of the most commonly produced and potentially profitable seed crops being grown by small-scale organic and biodynamic farmers in the Northeast. Nicolas Lindholm, co-founder and Executive Director of the
By Diane Schivera Eating livestock products can benefit our health and the environment, particularly when the animals are raised eating a pasture-based diet. More and more research is establishing this viewpoint. At MOFGA’s Spring Growth Conference last March, Joel Salatin from Polyface Farm in Virginia addressed these benefits as well as the profitability of raising
Toki Oshima drawing By Roberta Bailey The other day a friend telephoned me in complete exasperation. She had been trying to find something that her eight-year-old would eat other than pizza and macaroni and cheese. I wasn’t much help. My kids liked most vegetables and I let them eat a lot of macaroni and cheese
By Nicolas Lindholm Supported primarily through a grant from the Maine Dept. of Agriculture, this is the fifth in a series of five articles covering some of the most commonly produced and potentially most profitable seed crops currently being grown by small-scale organic and biodynamic farmers in the Northeast. As cofounder and Executive Director of
By Roberta Bailey When the strawberries are ripe, they are the best berry; then come the raspberries, their less acidic, more delicate flavors convincing me that they reign supreme; but full summer brings the deep purple blackberry borne on fierce red canes, and when one waits for the shiny black fruits to soften and dull
Michael Docter spoke about efficient harvesting systems at the Farmer to Farmer Conference in November. English photo. By Jean English Michael Docter runs a 600-member Community Supported Agriculture farm, The Food Project, in Hadley, Mass., that not only provides abundant and diverse produce to its members but sends a substantial portion of its yields to
By Diane Schivera, Assistant Director of Technical Services for MOFGA The new National Organic Standards have some management practices that differ from the practices that MOFGA has allowed in the past. Farmers will have to become familiar with these new requirements and begin putting them into practice before the Rule goes into effect on October
Toki Oshima drawing By Roberta Bailey The first year that I lived in Maine, I gardened on a neighboring farm. Along with plowing up the plot, the farmers showed me how to turn the heel of a knitted sock and how to make pickles. We picked an impressively large patch of cucumbers, washed them and
