By Holli Cederholm Through art, Kathryn Cody Russell of Limington, Maine, finds clarity under pressure: She started sketching her winning design, which reimagines MOFGA’s tree logo with the inclusion of fruits and vegetables significant to Maine agriculture, just days before the 2021 Common Ground Country Fair art contest deadline. “Art, for a very long time,
By Will Bonsall MOFGA is celebrating its 50th year at a tumultuous time in our nation’s history. I am mindful that the organic movement was born out of tumultuous times. The year 1971 found us in a soul-wrenching war in Vietnam, a growth-thwarting oil crisis and a number of challenges to democratic institutions. So, what has
By Leah Penniman Leah Penniman is the author of “Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land,” and serves as founding co-executive director of Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, New York, a people-of-color-led project that works toward food and land justice. The first part of Penniman’s 2020 Common Ground Country Fair
Noted author and seed saver Amy Goldman talked about the many pumpkins and squashes displayed in the Exhibition Hall at the Common Ground Country Fair and described in her exquisite book, The Compleat Squash: A Passionate Grower’s Guide To Pumpkins, Squashes and Gourds. English photo. By Jean English Amy Goldman is a passionate gardener, seed
Susan Barrett Merrill’s husband, Richard, made the old cedar EarthLoom that stood in the pocket park and dye garden at MOFGA’s Common Ground Education Center for many years. English photo The new granite EarthLoom. English photo Joe Auciello of the Maine Stoneworkers Guild created the new EarthLoom. Merrill designed the EarthLoom and makes Zati masks
Barbara Damrosch Power to the People: Drawing Strength from the Pandemic By Barbara Damrosch Barbara Damrosch is a farmer and co-owner of Four Season Farm in Harborside, Maine; author of “The Garden Primer” and “Theme Gardens” and co-author of “The Four Season Farm Gardener’s Cookbook”; and a past MOFGA president. Her keynote address at the
Leah Penniman By Leah Penniman Leah Penniman is a Black Kreyol farmer, author, mother and food justice activist who has been tending the soil and organizing for an anti-racist food system for over 20 years. Author of “Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land,” she currently serves as founding
Winona LaDuke Relocalizing and Restoring Traditional Food Varieties: Building a Regional Indigenous and Local Food System By Winona LaDuke Winona LaDuke is a rural development economist and author working on issues of Indigenous economics, food, and energy policy. She lives and works on the White Earth reservation in northern Minnesota and is the executive director
Heather Spalding, MOFGA’s deputy directory, introduced Deb Soule at the 2013 Fair. Soule talked about the contributions women have made to organic agriculture. English photo. Deb Soule is an herbalist, biodynamic gardener, teacher and author of the newly released book How To Move Like a Gardener: Planting and Preparing Medicines from Plants. In 1985 she
George Siemon, CEIEIO of Organic Valley Cooperative, told Fairgoers that a cooperative serves a community of owners, not a rising stock price, allowing the cooperative to focus on service. Photo courtesy of Russell French. By George Siemon One of the nation’s foremost organic agriculture advocates for nearly two decades, George Siemon is best known for
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