This story appeared in the 2021 spring issue of The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener in response to the theme, “Breaking Ground.” “That’s not the way we do things in Aroostook” was an expression I heard my share of times in the early years. In search of good soil to farm, I’d moved to the
This story appeared in the 2021 spring issue of The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener in response to the theme, “Breaking Ground.” Pasture pine, gray birch, old field juniper and poison ivy – all of these “undesirables” managed to survive on a meager 2 to 3 inches of poor topsoil over bedrock shale at the
This story appeared in the 2021 spring issue of The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener in response to the theme, “Breaking Ground.” When I first began thinking about what to write for the “breaking ground” theme, I decided to look up what “breaking ground” means. From a quick Google search, the results were: 1. Do
This story appeared in the 2021 spring issue of The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener in response to the theme, “Breaking Ground.” Gasping for breath I let myself fall backwards to lie on the ground next to the taut and straining come-a-long. I gave it everything I had but the roots of the stump were
This story appeared in the 2021 spring issue of The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener in response tothe theme, “Breaking Ground.” We bought the land in 2012: a 9-acre field, once sheep and cow pasture, that had fallen into a decade of annual brush hogging. That September, we sowed oats and peas into newly tilled
Here’s a memory from Laurie and Jack Davis: “We went to the Common Ground Fair back when our twin sons were 6 or 7 years old (1990-91). They loved it. They tried walking on wooden stilts. One of the boys got the hang of it very quickly. His brother, however, just couldn’t figure out how
Here’s a memory from Jennifer McKendry of Hallowell, Maine: “I’ve gone to the Fair every year except for two or three. I’ve sloshed through downpours, tramped through mud, inched along on the Unity roads, and been burned by the sun, but never once have I been deterred by anything less than a funeral. I soak
Here’s a memory from Roberta Bailey: “My involvement with MOFGA came because there was, at the time, the tri-county chapter of MOFGA. [It] was fairly active and I became quite active in it [in] 1976 to about the mid to late 80s. And the tri-county chapter, we could have monthly meetings, sometimes they would be
Here’s a memory from Helen York: “Years ago, when we had over a hundred wool sheep, and when I had the skills and speed and stamina to handspin much of the wool we grew into yarn, we would sell our yarn and fleeces and spinning equipment from an old arch-top converted 1930s french-fry trailer. It
By Sonja Heyck-Merlin Evening Song Farm, owned by Ryan and Kara Fitzbeauchamp and certified organic by the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont, offered a virtual farm tour during MOFGA’s 2020 Farmer to Farmer Conference. Located in Cuttingsville, Vermont, 11 miles southeast of Rutland, the 100-acre property is perched at 1,200 feet on a hillside
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