A well-made lane guides sheep to pasture at Susan Littlefield’s Yknot Farm in Belmont, Maine, which is transitioning to organic. Photo by Diane Schivera. By Diane Schivera, M.A.T. Raising sheep and goats organically can be a challenge, so many farmers who support organic principles have not transitioned their animals to certified organic. Presently MOFGA Certification
Georgian Fire garlic. Nason photo. By Roberta Bailey The late psychologist James Hillman once said that our duty is not to rise above life but grow down to it. He believed that each of us has a purpose or calling in life that reveals itself at an early age and reappears until we heed it.
Toki Oshima drawing By Roberta Bailey Another fall has come, time to give up the quest to keep the garden watered and weeded. Many of the plants have faded to golden hues already. The brown of skin fades. We welcome a sweater and jeans. It is a time of surrender, yet it can be the
‘Phillips’ garlic grown by Roberta Bailey. Rob Lemire photo. By Roberta Bailey For me, the Common Ground Fair is a continuing conversation that winds through each day and back over 30 years or more. As a celebration of rural living, it draws together many creative minds, and I try to keep my days open enough
Toki Oshima drawing. By Roberta Bailey Have you been through the Exhibition Hall yet? Common Ground Fair’s Exhibition Hall is a hall of marvels. You walk from the hustle and bustle of the fairgrounds into the cool quiet sanctum of mellowed wooden timbers and high ceilings. The outside world falls away. You focus on rows
Drawing by Toki Oshima. By Roberta Bailey On his show “A Prairie Home Companion,” Garrison Keillor once did a monologue about four people who went for a car ride in order to see the odometer turn to 200,000 miles. He took listeners through the town and out to the country, where our attention was turned
by Roberta Bailey It’s going to be a long, hot winter – or it can be if you spice up your winter fare with flavorful and fiery hot sauces from around the world.I’ve been interested in growing hot peppers and making condiments with them for a long time, but I was drawn to growing hot
Wendy Karush’s squash, a Burpee butterbush, reads, “Cook me, mash me, add me to pancake batter.” The squash was displayed at the Exhibition Hall at the Common Ground Country Fair. English photo. by Roberta Bailey Last fall defied all that I know to be true of weather in New England. After waiting until mid-October for
English photo. by Roberta Bailey Around the end of June or the very beginning of July, the garden changes dramatically from a plot full of fragile seedlings and newly seeded rows into a full-blown summer garden. This year the shift occurred on July first in my garden. I was absent-mindedly walking through it on my
By Roberta Bailey Copyright 2006 As the first frost came, I must admit that I breathed a sigh of relief. This has been the most trying gardening season of my life, and now I can begin to put it behind me, but not without an eye toward the sky. You may recall that the garden
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