By C.J. Walke, MOFGA’s Orchard Program Manager As we move into 2025, the Maine Heritage Orchard, MOFGA’s 10-acre preservation and educational orchard, is well rooted in the reclaimed soils of a former gravel pit. Terraces constructed to hold back steep eroding slopes have stabilized and are home to nearly half the orchard’s apple trees, with
By John Welton, Certification and Quality Specialist with MOFGA Certification Services MOFGA certifies seaweed as organic for human consumption and livestock feed, and we refer to any seaweed intended for human consumption as a “sea vegetable,” or “sea veg.” “Kelp” is a catch-all term that could refer to any of the seaweeds growing in Maine’s
By Jordanna Feely and Rebecca Rundquist Much like food banks, firewood banks are designed to meet a basic human need: in this case, it’s warmth during the cold season. Firewood banks can provide a safety net for people in Maine who rely on heating their homes with wood but find themselves suddenly unable to access
By Tim King The Kearsarge Food Hub, in Bradford, New Hampshire, will celebrate its 10th year in 2025. Since its founding as Sweet Beet Farm a decade ago it has been transforming the concept of what a food hub is. Many food hubs center their activities on being what the United States Department of Agriculture
By Sonja Heyck-Merlin Possibilities greet customers as they step into Replenova Farm’s store and take-out counter on busy Route 136 in Durham, Maine. And they change with the seasons. In the summer, there are cucumbers to pickle, jars of fresh local strawberry jam ready to be slathered onto a slice of freshly baked bread, and
By Martha Leggat, Growing to Give Education Coordinator If you arrive at Growing to Give early enough on a summer morning, you’ll find a quiet moment to savor the brilliant purple amaranth, the 6-foot-tall sunflowers, and the dahlias of every color and variety. You’ll observe contrasting rows of companion-planted vegetables filling the garden beds and
By Aleta McKeage I am sitting in my small house in the dark, watching the fire, and I can see stars and planets through the windows. It may be one of my favorite sights. There is nothing but water and woods for a half mile in any direction. Soon, the sunlight will hit the tops
By Lauren Cormier, MOFGA Orchard Assistant While the past season was a bit of an off-year for fruit production at the Maine Heritage Orchard, the orchard’s five bearing European pear trees, each planted in the spring of 2015, had a dozen or so fruit. These oldest pears are Buffum, Doyenne Boussock, Louise Bonne d’Avranches, Beurre
By Maddie Eberly, Low-Impact Forestry Specialist My spouse, Johnny, and I bought our first home last year and with it came nearly 8 acres of forested land. I am a forester and botanist. Johnny is a farmer and agricultural weed ecologist. Our individual knowledge pools and curiosity have merged into a great resource as we
By Kathleen McLaughlin In October, when many Maine farmers are harvesting their last summer crops and preparing fields and beds for winter, Lee Cline is busily planting seeds and bulbs at Fox Hollow Farm in Lamoine, near Mount Desert Island. Time is of the essence: In a few short weeks the hard cold will set
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