By Diane Schivera, M.A.T. The Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance (NODPA) Field Days, held in Mansfield, Penn., in September, featured talks on innovative ideas, current research and practical strategies for enhancing the health, productivity and profitability of organic dairy farms. Here are some tips from that event. Fodder from Sprouted Grain John Stoltzfus of Be-A-Blessing
The rabbitry at Rabbit Hill Farm. All photos by Cheryl Wixson. By Cheryl Wixson For the urban gardener or homesteader, domestic rabbits can be valuable livestock. Rabbit meat is an excellent source of protein; the pelts can be used in numerous applications including hats, lap robes, cushion covers, vests and coats; and rabbit manure is
Starting from a single shoot, chufa soon forms a sedgey clump. John Paul Rietz photo. By Will Bonsall Many years ago I dabbled with a new crop I found in the novelty section of a seed catalog: chufa, or nutsedge (Cyperus esculentus). Doubting it would crop well in Maine, I planted some anyway. The results
A large farm growing a variety of foods in Vietnam. Photo by Dennis Jarvis (2009), from Wikipedia Commons. By Cory Whitney When Sir Albert Howard visited the farmers of India in the 1940s and brought back to the United Kingdom ideas about composting and other agricultural practices, he planted the seeds of a real agricultural
This low garden bed was made with leaves, twigs, tree branches and compost – similar to a hugelkultur bed but lower, and without very large logs. Bobbie Goodell photo. Produce from the garden bed. Bobbie Goodell photo. Hugelkultur mounds can be higher – like this one made by Jack Kertesz of MOFGA and Unity College
Onion thrips (left) and western flower thrips (right). Alton N. Sparks, Jr., University of Georgia. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Thrips_tabaci,_Frankliniella_occidentalis.jpg By Tom Vigue Before 2002, I had seen the insect called thrips only under a microscope in entomology lab. Then in early July 2002, my onion crop was withering when the bulbs had just begun to size up,
Organic blueberry grower Doug Van Horn, left, and insect ecologist Frank Drummond, Ph.D., of the University of Maine, Orono, stand by a newly installed native bee nesting box at Twitchell Hill Blueberries in Montville. Lynn Ascrizzi photo. A leafcutter bee (Osmia atriventris), commonly called the Maine blueberry bee, forages on blueberry blossoms. This native bee,
Fire blight in apple. Photo by Sebastian Stabinger, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Apple_tree_with_fire_blight.jpg By C.J. Walke The Debate Since the inception of the National Organic Program (NOP) in 2002, the antibiotics tetracycline and streptomycin have been approved for use in apple and pear production to combat fire blight (Erwinia amylovora), a bacterial disease that affects the pome family.
Developed by Richard Brzozowski, Extension educator, University of Maine Cooperative Extension; Diane Schivera, livestock specialist, Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association; and Jean Noon, sheep producer, The Noon Family Sheep Farm, Springvale, Maine. April 2013. O designates organic management. Management Your primary goal is to reduce stress through good management, nutrition and proper health care.
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