By Diane Schivera Last winter MOFGA hosted two presentations about livestock health care that were well received by and very helpful to growers. One was presented by Dan Leiterman and by Paul Dettloff, D.V.M., from Wisconsin; the other by Henrietta Beaufait, D.V.M., from Albion. Beaufait will be speaking at MOFGA on a continuing basis throughout
By Jean Ann Pollard Once upon a time Maine was covered by ice a mile high. Every school kid knows that. What most of them don’t know is that even on the fringes of North America’s ice sheet, and in the cold, high Andes of Peru, a nutritious root vegetable called the potato provided people
By Jean Ann Pollard It was glorious! – the great Dvina river so still, so broad between its red banks of gravel and sand, and the grass and birch trees on the flat plain all around so green by contrast. And then there was the pungent scent of wood smoke, and we scrambled off the
By Roberta Bailey Onions are the beginning of almost every meal, a cook’s greatest ally. As a kitchen gardener I work hard to grow a variety of onions. Mesh bags of pungent bulb onions and braids of sweet Cippolini onions (the open-pollinated, Italian heirloom onion) hang from the beams, ready for the soup pot or
By Rhonda Houston (Tate) It’s a Saturday morning in late September. The remnants of a tropical storm have blown through, leaving crisp, new air, blue skies and a sun that can still warm, even in its post summer state. Entering a farmhouse through the back door, which is, after all, the only true way to
Toki Oshima drawing By Roberta Bailey “Garlic,” says the French writer Raymond Dumay, “is peasant, rustic; the onion is urban. The onion brings to the kitchens of the cities a little of the countryside. The onion offers always, and especially in winter, a little of the springtime of the soil, preserved in its bulb.” Rustic
A Narragansett turkey struts its stuff at Kelmscott Farm in Lincolnville. Bob Hawes photo. By Bob Hawes During 1996 and 1997, the seasonal poultry hatcheries in the United States were surveyed in cooperation with the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC) to determine the status of the non-commercial varieties of domestic turkey. Why worry about turkeys?
By Diane Schivera Holistic Health Care necessitates a frame of mind that differs from that of allopathic medicine. I have been reminded of the importance of that requirement often lately. One case was a question on ODairy about hairy heal warts. (Odairy is a electronic mailing group that allows organic dairy producers to interact by
Toki Oshima drawing By Roberta Bailey Once again we have come around to that time of year when our winter diets give way to spring cravings and, hopefully, lots of spring greens. First come the delicate little sprigs pinched into the palm, harbingers of hope and full salad bowls, the first fruits of those winter
This Maine Food Pyramid incorporates the Maine Local Twenty foods that can feed our state’s population. Illustration by Tim Nason, Abby Sadauckas and Cheryl Wixson. By Cheryl Wixson As a foodie, I’ve often contemplated the ideal of a local food system including products fished, foraged or grown in the Blue Hill peninsula area. In developing
