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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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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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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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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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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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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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Intercropping

Will Bonsall spoke about intercropping and succession planting at the Common Ground Country Fair. English photo. By Jean English Will Bonsall’s original inspiration for growing crops intensively on his farm came from the book Farmers of Forty Centuries, by F.H. King. Paraphrasing a point from the book, Will told an audience at the Common Ground

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Low or No Sugar Jams

Many fruits grow in Maine and can be preserved easily. Grow your own or purchase produce at farmers’ markets or at the Common Ground Fair for making low- or no-sugar jams and jellies. English photos. By Roberta Bailey From spring through fall, Maine cranks out the fruit. Our winter weary palates get shocked awake with

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Comfortable Cows

Comfortable livestock will be happier, healthier and more productive. English photo. By Diane Schivera, M.A.T. Robert Graves of Penn State University, the featured speaker at the Maine Dairy Improvement 2011 meeting, talked about cow comfort. His information applies to other livestock as well. Comfortable livestock are likely to be healthier and less stressed than uncomfortable

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