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Toki Oshima drawing By Diane Schivera, M.A.T. Conferences and workshops are rich sources of tips for livestock care, pasture management, marketing and more. Here are some ideas gleaned from 2011 events that I attended. At the Maine Grass Farmers Conference, Jim Gerrish of American GrazingLands Services LLC in May, Idaho, said that to raise meat,

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Mago: Father of Farming

Drawing by Toki Oshima. By John Koster When the vengeful Romans plowed salt into the smoldering ruins of Carthage in 146 B.C., the conquerors left a message that the world gradually forgot: Farming, rather than maritime trade and commerce, had been the real source of strength in the city that once rivaled Rome for control

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Nitrate Accumulation

A Growers’ Guide By Eric Sideman, Ph.D. Director of Technical Services, MOFGA Local production for local consumption is a guiding principle for sustainable organic growing, but winter months are challenging for us in New England. Most growers hang up their tools and park their equipment, and consumers are left buying vegetables that have traveled thousands

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Season Extension

By Roberta Bailey For the past four winters, I have eaten fresh kale and other greens every day from a growing bed in my attached greenhouse. Often I stop on my way to work and pick greens for lunch. If not, I stop on my return and pick part of supper. Just walking past the

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Apple Calendar

By C.J. Walke Growing organic tree fruit can be a bit of a challenge, considering the various insects and diseases that like to call your fruit tree home and the relatively short efficacy window of organic control materials; so being attentive to stages of fruit development and biological cycles of pests in your orchard is

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Invasive Plants

Barrie Brusila of Mid-Maine Forestry showed Japanese honeysuckle, one of several potentially invasive plants in Maine’s woods, to fairgoers at the Common Ground Country Fair and showed how to remove the plant with a powerful tool. English photos. Invasive plants haven’t taken over Maine’s woodlands yet, so now is the time to control them, said

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Ewe Scorecard

Drawing by Toki Oshima. By Tom Settlemire, professor emeritus, Bowdoin College, and sheep producer, Brunswick, Maine Dr. Charles Parker, a good friend of many of us in the sheep industry, has a simple but very important guiding concept: We should be breeding sheep that are working for us; we should not be working for the

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Estrogen Rich Dishes

Toki Oshima drawing Read the review: Estrogen the Natural Way By Roberta Bailey Of the three primary forms of estrogen, plant estrogen (lignans), appear to protect against breast cancer, while the other two stronger forms of estrogen promote cancer. Soy and flax are excellent sources of plant estrogen for menopausal women. Relief from meno­pausal symptoms

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White Runner Beans

White runner beans look and taste like lima beans, but are plumper and grow better in cooler weather. Top photo by Yaicha Cowell. Lower photo by Arika Bready. By Will Bonsall A few decades ago while I was helping an elderly farmer friend, Orlando Small, with his haying, he chanced to comment on his fine

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Growing Ginger

Daniel Price of Freedom Farm in Freedom, Maine, digs ginger. Photo by Polly Shyka. By Polly Shyka As Maine’s farmers’ markets proliferate and more farmers are selling at those markets, consumers seeking local foods have more shopping choices. Markets feature more value-added products and longer availability of produce, thanks to season extension structures. And sometimes,

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