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A Spring Grafting Primer

A whip and tongue graft works well on small-diameter branches. Make a slanted cut and a tongue in a branch of the rootstock tree. Rob Lemire photo. Likewise, make a slanted cut and a tongue in the scion. Rob Lemire photo. Fit the scion into the prepared branch. Rob Lemire photo. Wrap the graft completely

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Ten Easy Species for the Edible Landscape

Cornelian cherry dogwood flowers in spring and fruits in summer. Jean English photos. By Jean English Want to increase the amount of homegrown food you produce, with very little work? Plant any or all of these 10 edible, perennial, ornamental species in your landscape. They’ll provide fresh, mouthwatering snacks and sustenance from early spring until

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Understanding Farm Food Safety

By Cheryl A. Wixson Passage of the Federal legislation S.510: FDA Food Safety Modernization Act reflects consumers’ needs and desires for assurance that their food supply is free from pathogens and contaminants that cause foodborne illnesses. Russell Libby, MOFGA’s executive director, logged countless hours in Washington, D.C., advocating for small, diversified farms as the bill

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High Tunnels

The 2010 Farmer to Farmer Conference at Point Lookout in Northport, Maine, featured a session on managing soils in high tunnels. Speakers were Vern Grubinger, University of Vermont vegetable and berry specialist; Bruce Hoskins of the University of Maine Diagnostic Lab; and Paul Volckhausen, who, with his wife Karen, grows organic tomatoes and other crops

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Maines Hoophouses

Hoophouses at Peacemeal Farm in Dixmont, Maine, and at MOFGA’s Common Ground Education Center in Unity. English photos. A Tribute to Farmers’ Innovative Instincts Tentative deadline for final year of NRCS funding: July 1, 2011 By Jo Anne Bander As crocuses and wild spring greens emerged in Maine, so did crops in an increasing number

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Local Eating

By Marina Schauffler Recent media attention on local foods has raised public awareness about the health benefits and community returns from thriving local agriculture. Often, though, stories portray local “foodies” as purists fixated on 100-mile diets that banish even imported condiments. Eating from local sources comes off looking like an extremist food fad, rather than

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Managing Nitrogen Fertility

Nitrogen deficiency often appears as a uniform yellowing on the lower leaves of plants. English photo. By Eric Sideman, Ph.D. Nitrogen (N) is the nutrient most commonly limiting crop growth and yield on organic farms. This is especially true when creating a farm from an old, abandoned field and when transitioning from conventional to organic

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Growing Winter Crops in Maine

Toki Oshima drawing The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA), the University of New Hampshire and UMaine Cooperative Extension organized a meeting of growers at Paul Lorrain’s Sunset Farm Organics in Lyman, Maine, in December 2010 to tour the farm and talk about growing vegetables in winter. About 50 attended the tour and some

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Asparagus Production in Maine

Mark Hutton ([email protected]), vegetable specialist with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension at Highmoor Farm in Monmouth, talked about asparagus cultivation at MOFGA and Cooperative Extension’s 2010 Farmer to Farmer Conference, and Rick and Marilyn Stanley of Chick Farm in Wells, Maine, talked about their experiments with using chickens to control weeds in asparagus. History

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Loans for Organic Farms

Toki Oshima drawing By Tim Nason A number of resources are available to small farmers who desire financing in the form of loans. Although debt is often anathema to farmers, those who have achieved a certain level of reliable, annual cash flow and a record of profitability will find that a loan can provide financing

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