Saving Water in the Home Saving Water in the Garden and Landscape Saving Water in the Home Most people use 50 to 70 gallons of water indoors each day, 75% of it in the bathroom, according to Michigan State University. Compare this with the 5 gallons per person per day used in Pennsylvania at the
Part II: Harvesting and Propagating Wheat Toki Oshima drawing [Part I of this article, covering types of wheat, weed control and planting, appeared in the March-May 2010 MOF&G] By Will Bonsall The last time I wrote about home-scale wheat growing, I referred in passing to other crops occupying the same ground at the same time.
‘Shuyo Long’ cucumbers growing in a hoophouse. English photo. By Roberta Bailey Cucumbers are back in style. They are all the rage! Haven’t you noticed? Hmm … maybe it’s just in my backyard or in my mind. Or maybe the buzz just hasn’t reached your town yet. But more likely, I am just catching up
Requires Creative Strategies By Holli Cederholm In talking with friends from my suburban childhood home about my post-college career path as an organic farmer, the last quality that any of them attributed to farmers is business savvy. In fact the composite group consisting of graphic designers, yoga instructors, plumbers, bartenders, and more than one office
By Gwyneth Harris, dairy certification specialist, MOFGA and Diane Schivera, M.A.T., organic livestock specialist, MOFGA The National Organic Program’s new Pasture Rule becomes law on June 17, 2010. It will be enforced for currently certified producers on June 17, 2011, while new applicants for livestock certification must meet all aspects of the new rule when
Pea plants infected with Fusarium oxysporum. Note the downward curl of the leaves on the plant that is still green, and the progression of the yellowing of leaves from the plant base toward the tip on the plant with the more advanced disease. Photo by Eric Sideman. By Eric Sideman, Ph.D. Have you ever had
A well mulched apple tree at MOFGA’s Common Ground Education Center. English photo. By C.J. Walke One of the foundations of organic agriculture is the belief that healthy soils grow healthy crops. We can spend a lot of time battling insects and diseases in the orchard, but if the tree is not rooted in a
Cut and simmer rhubarb to extract the juice, then sweeten it, add other fruit juices to it and can it for later use. English photo. By Cheryl Wixson Note: Many recipes mentioned in this column are posted at www.mofga.net. One of the joys of local, seasonal, organic eating is anticipating the bounty of summer. Once
Milkweed in summer and fall. Many parts of the plant are edible. English photos. By Jean Ann Pollard Ralph Waldo Emerson: “A weed is a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.” Quoted by Bradford Angier in Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants. Stackpole Books, 1974. Loren Eiseley: “… there passed before my eyes
June Zellers with lettuce grown safely inside the protection of a low electric fence. Note the charger housing in the background. Tomash photo. Strategies That Work: Fences and Traps © Adam Tomash 2010 When the corn is coming in or the cabbage transplants just went out, I have trouble sleeping unless I know my “babies”
