Archives: Resources

Farm Blogs

By Polly Shyka When people think of a farmer’s tools, most conjure images of hoes, spades, seed packages and maybe tractors. They don’t readily associate computers with the farming profession, yet many farmers spend hours “at the desk” each week, speaking and e-mailing with customers, taking orders, researching, communicating with CSA members, bookkeeping. Some are

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Tips for CSA

Extra veggies were offered for the taking at Simply Grande Gardens CSA. Photo by Jean Ann Pollard. By Jean Ann Pollard From 1995 to 2005, my husband, Peter Garrett, and I ran a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) garden in Winslow, Maine. Once a hayfield, our land was perfect for growing vegetables: It was flat, cleared

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Garden Planning

Use Google Earth to print a map of your farm or garden area, then trace the outline of that map to create your own landscape design. Map courtesy of Google. Garden plan by Victoria Scanlan Stefanakos. By Victoria Scanlan Stefanakos Last spring, whenever I looked up from the mud while trying to outrun the rain

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A Dozen Storage Crops For Homegrown Food Security

One section of MOFGA’s demonstration garden highlighted storage crops that are easy to grow and can supply healthful produce throughout the winter, such as celeriac and ‘Gigante’ kohlrabi. English photo. Celeriac. English photo. ‘Gigante’ kohlrabi. English photo. A demonstration plot planted last summer at MOFGA’s Common Ground Education Center highlighted storage crops – vegetables that

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Garden Tips

Trim the tops of onion and leek seedlings to make the bases thicker. Use the trimmings in soups or salads. English photo. By Roberta Bailey Pick yourself up, dust yourself off. Congratulations on surviving one of the roughest go-rounds with Mother Nature that most Maine gardeners can remember. The fact that you are reading an

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IFOAM

IFOAM participants look at a pepper trial at the Seeds of Change Research Farm. Photo by Terry Allan. By Terry Allan Breeding Diversity, the first IFOAM (International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements) international conference on Organic Plant and Animal Breeding, was held in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in August 2009. Hosted by Seeds of Change,

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Elderberries

Edie Johnston and her son, Geo, have started Eldertide Pharm and Maine Medicinals in Dresden to develop medicinal products from organic elderberries and other antioxidant-rich berries that grow in Maine. Photo by Tina Fisher-Dark. By Rebecca Goldfine Edie Johnston is the kind of entrepreneur who doesn’t just focus on one idea. Instead, she’s cultivating several

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Amy Goldman

Noted author and seed saver Amy Goldman talked about the many pumpkins and squashes displayed in the Exhibition Hall at the Common Ground Country Fair and described in her exquisite book, The Compleat Squash: A Passionate Grower’s Guide To Pumpkins, Squashes and Gourds. English photo. By Jean English Amy Goldman is a passionate gardener, seed

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Fermenting

Vegetables can be fermented in glass jars of various sizes, with rubber gaskets and wire bails, using non-iodized salt (such as sea salt or pickling salt) and non-chlorinated water. A scale is essential to get the right ratio of vegetables to salt. By Roberta Bailey One way that I coped with the interminable rains of

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Too Much Organic Matter

Compost is great stuff. The material shown here is recycled into a vibrant soil that feeds the beautiful perennial flowers and herbs on MOFGA’s grounds. Too much compost or other organic matter, however, can increase the phosphorus concentration in soils to the point where the element may become a pollutant. So have your soil tested

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