A 20-year-old short black poplar that Paul Hand has pollarded in England. Photo by Shana Hanson Two comparable ash trees in September 2016 – one initially pruned in summer 2015 and thriving, the other suffering from drought until it was pruned after the photo was taken. Photo by Shana Hanson Cut fodder is first browsed
Increasing Carbon Sequestration and Decreasing Carbon Emissions By Mitch Lansky In 2015, 196 countries agreed to act to limit global warming. To meet their climate goals, just reducing emissions may not be enough. We also need to increase carbon sequestration. While sequestration opportunities exist with farm and pasture soils, Maine, which is 82.5 percent forested,
Heather, Tyler and Atom Omand resting a few feet away from happy cows at a Cornell agroforestry training at Angus Glenn Farm in Watkins Glen, New York. Black angus cattle eagerly grazing after being released into a fresh paddock in a black locust/black walnut silvopasture system at Angus Glen Farm, Watkins Glen, New York. Photo
Connect with MOFGA’s Low Impact Forestry Project to learn about carbon sequestration in our woodlands. English photo By Mitch Lansky and Peter Hagerty Years ago the Low Impact Forestry (LIF) Project surveyed MOFGA members who owned forestland. We asked for feedback from landowners, whether they owned 1 acre or 500. The survey was not scientific, but it did reveal that
By Denny Gallaudet At Millbrook Farm in Cumberland, we have a mix of activities, including raising vegetables, sheep and chickens, supported by pasture and hayfields and a 25-acre woodlot. Over the years the woodlot, which is enrolled in the Maine Tree Growth Tax Program, has provided firewood for home use and periodic harvests of saw
By Stephen J. Barr, M.D. The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now. – Chinese proverb Perhaps you have some woods behind your house, or perhaps you’re fortunate and have a fair amount of land. Maybe you’re a member of a local land trust and would like
Nick Zandstra By Nick Zandstra One of the underlying premises of MOFGA, I think, is relationships: apprentices with mentors, interest groups with politicians, people with their food, people with the state of Maine. Relationships of all sorts that bring people together, that form connections, that create community. When MOFGA purchased its site in 1996, the
Brad Johnson Ben Coerper Elizabeth Koltai By Peter Hagerty This is the first of a regular column that will note what graduates and instructors of MOFGA’s Low Impact Forestry program are doing. For more about our work, please visit https://mofga.org/Programs/LowImpactForestry/tabid/227/Default.aspx and look for us at the Common Ground Country Fair. Brad Johnson, Randolph, Vermont, LIF
Toki Oshima drawing. By Céline Caron The 68th UN General Assembly declared 2015 the International Year of Soils, and one of the themes for the 2014 permaculture convergence held in July in Frelishburg, Quebec, was “Solutions are in nature.” A good part of the permaculture conference was devoted to soils. Here are the main points
Natural forests affect soil formation and may act as biotic pumps, affecting rainfall and climate. English photo. By Céline Caron Two recent areas of research may have turned our knowledge of the forest upside down. They are pedogenesis (soil formation) applied to agriculture – i.e., the idea that much of our quality soil fertility derives
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