Banatka wheat with a dense understory of Dutch white clover, and no weeds. Hand harvesting Banatka wheat. Temporary storage in a drying cart. Threshing uses a modified MacKissic chipper-shredder. By Ben Hoffman After struggling for 10 years trying to grow and process cereal grains, I joined forces with an equally frustrated Bob Mowdy. We worked
Turmeric grown by students at the Troy Howard Middle School in Belfast and entered in the 2018 Common Ground Country Fair Exhibition Hall. By Roberta Bailey High tunnels have changed the cycles of Maine’s local food systems, extending our live food harvests to year-round bounty. Along with cucumbers, greens, sweet potatoes and tomatoes come the
Top buds are the most potent part of the plant. Plenty of trimming and pruning in September enables plants to put more energy into the top buds and increases the overall proportion of top buds in the harvest. Most of our garden beds have been no-till for five years and are surrounded by comfrey (bottom
Patty Manson with baskets of peas alongside her 1812 house in Washington, Maine One of the vegetable gardens, bordered by an old apple tree Cole crops and asparagus grow in another garden plot. Manson cans over 300 quarts of fruits and vegetables each year for her family. 100 meat birds are raised each year for
Among the piles of screens, sieves, fans and motorized contraptions that we’ve cobbled together over the years to clean seed on our farm, the aspirator seed cleaner we built based on Real Seeds open source plans (https://www.realseeds.co.uk/seedcleaner.html) is one of the more efficient and versatile processing tools at our disposal for dry seeds. A vacuum
All the different organic logos in Europe, displayed at Biofach in Nuremberg. Photo by the author. By Jacomijn Schravesande-Gardei, Associate Director of Crops, MOFGA Certification Services, LLC A few years ago I had the pleasure of attending an IFOAM organic leadership course in Europe. IFOAM, the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements, is the worldwide
Photo 1 – Each frame was fitted over a 2-foot-long, half-inch re-rod driven into the ground. Re-rods were covered with half-inch plastic pipe for added rigidity. Longer re-rods would be an improvement, and 3-foot 4-inch sections of half-inch conduit might be even better. Photo 2 – Frames were assembled on the ground, left and right
Drawing by Toki Oshima By Roberta Bailey Happy Anniversary to me! This spring marks the 35th anniversary of my time writing this column. My entire adult life has evolved around the full flavors of homegrown food straight from the garden, pantry and root cellar. I have never thought of myself as a fancy cook. Instead, I feature
Pakaraka Farm raises beef, sheep and pecans. Mustering the sheep at Pakaraka In addition to working hard in the farm fields at Pakaraka, I played duets with my host, Jeanette (right), every afternoon. By Amy LeBlanc Photos courtesy of the author. If you had asked me 20 years ago if I would be traveling, and
Lauren (left) and Carole Mapes of Flywheel Flowers. Photo by Ashley Jardim, She of the Woods, sheofthewoods.com Karen Volckhausen. Photo courtesy of Happy Town Flowers Dahlia flower protected from tarnished plant bug by an organza gift bag. English photo Zinnias grow tall in a hoophouse at Happy Town Flowers. English photo By Jean English This session at
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