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
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
A panel discussed Maine’s GMO labeling bill at the Fair. From left to right, Jim Gerritsen, Laura Murphy, Sen. Chris Johnson and Rep. Lance Harvell. English photo. Maine’s GMO labeling initiative, LD 718, is alive and well. Foods made with genetically modified organisms are often called GMO foods – or GE (genetically engineered) foods. Last
Organic farming and gardening can feed the world, said André Leu: “For a fraction of the cost of developing a few GMOs, we could use that money for education and training, and we could take that 800 million [food insecure] people out of poverty within two to three years.” English photo. André Leu, president of
Ben Falk called for a billion new gardeners to create healthy, food-producing ecosystems. English photo. Ben Falk, founder of Whole Systems Design LLC and author of “The Resilient Farm and Homestead,” has been testing resilient water, food, heating and medicinal systems in the context of land regeneration at the farm and homestead scales for more
Don Hoenig, V.M.D., (far left) said, “This idea that there is rampant resistant bacteria moving from livestock and poultry into the human population and resulting in treatment failures and disease in the human population is just not true.” He is optimistic about FDA’s voluntary guidelines regarding antibiotic use in livestock. Photos by Jean English. 2014
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