Archives: Resources

Backyard Selection Dabbling in Plant Breeding

‘Pink Princess’ tomato is a selection from ‘Honey Drop’. Photo by Roberta Bailey ‘Matchbox’ pepper is now an open source selection. Photo by Roberta Bailey By Roberta Bailey Photos by the author Every farmer and gardener can be a plant breeder. Humans have dabbled with plants since they started harvesting and later cultivating them. You

Read More »

Biological Restoration in the Forest

By Stephen J. Barr, M.D. The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now. – Chinese proverb Perhaps you have some woods behind your house, or perhaps you’re fortunate and have a fair amount of land. Maybe you’re a member of a local land trust and would like

Read More »

Next Years Pest Management Begins Now

Seedcorn maggots feeding on young spinach. Seedcorn maggots in soil amended with soy meal. European corn borer overwintering in a corn stalk. Early blight on lower leaves of tomatoes. Close-up of early blight on tomato. Late blight on potato. By Eric Sideman, Ph.D. Fall garden care is the beginning of spring  garden pest management. Many

Read More »

Evaluating Sericea Lespedeza and Big Trefoil

Goats grazing lespedeza at Little Falls Farm. Photo by Katy Green Goats grazing big trefoil at Little Falls Farm. Photo by Katy Green Pots of lespedeza (left) and trefoil planted by Jean Noon. Photo by Jean Noon Trefoil regrowth in 2017. Photo by Diane Schivera Trefoil regrowth in 2017. Photo by Jean Noon Lespedeza regrowth

Read More »

Harvest Kitchen Connecting with Fungi

By Roberta Bailey Lately I have been focusing on connections. I have been reading about mycorrhizal relationships between plants and fungi and thinking about the deep connections between our ecosystem and our mental and physical health. Our culture tends to isolate things in order to study them, from insects attacking a plant to an animal’s

Read More »

The Value of MOFGA Certification

The offices of MOFGA Certification Services LLC are now at 38 School Street in Unity Village. Photo by Chris Grigsby By Chris Grigsby, Director, MOFGA Certification Services LLC As many know, MOFGA has been certifying organic operations for decades. We are proud to have been one of the first in the nation and well ahead

Read More »

Farming and Logging with Horses

Richard Lee and Kate Del Vecchio with their daughter, Samara. Photo courtesy of Tender Soles Farm By Richard Lee The day before writing this, I spent what I thought would be a leisurely Sunday on a forecart driving my team 4 miles down the road to pick up a free horse-drawn hay loader. I had

Read More »

Buckwheat

The author’s mother in a field of buckwheat at the author’s grandfather’s farm in Canaan in the early 1900s. Photo courtesy of Joyce White Buckwheat grown as an alley crop in a young orchard at MOFGA’s Common Ground Education Center. English photo By Joyce White When a neighbor extolled the health benefits of buckwheat, I

Read More »

Kitchen Herbs

Cabbage, garlic, rosemary, sage and thyme – just some of the kitchen herbs and vegetables that promote health. English photo By Roberta Bailey As farmers, gardeners and overly busy people, we barely make time to feed ourselves well, let alone truly nourish and support our bodies. Our lives are a constant juggle of making time,

Read More »

Two Emerging Fruit Pests

Winter moth adult, male. Photos from gotpests/bugs/winter-moth Winter moth caterpillars. Winter moth adult, female. By C.J. Walke Winter is settling in, and our trees and gardens lay dormant – soon, we hope, to be under a blanket of snow for a little insulation for the soil and for a foot or 2 of higher reach

Read More »
Categories
Scroll to Top