A sampling of Shalom’s fruit wines. Photo by Frances Idlebrook. by Craig Idlebrook So you want to start a vineyard in Maine. Before you plow up your squash patch, you might want to talk to some farmers who have tried growing grapes. Dennis King has a small organic vineyard at King Hill Farm in Penobscot.
With attention to variety, siting and soil, many varieties of grapes can be grown in northern New England. Photo by Dierdre Fuchs. By John Fuchs Grapes are an ideal, but often challenging, crop for the homeowner or homesteader to grow in far northern climates. They are amazingly productive, grow in a wide variety of soils and need
The Seed Swap and Scion Exchange drew almost 300 people to MOFGA this spring. English photos. A small sampling of the scionwood available – free! By CR Lawn On a bleak late-March Sunday morning, MOFGA Executive Director Ted Quaday counted more than 250 folks who braved the torrents of spring to attend the 15th Annual
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
Apple varieties displayed at the Fair. English photo Voice your opinion about apple varieties in the Hayloft Tent at the Fair. English photo By John Bunker In 1993, needing something to spruce up the brand new Fedco Seeds tent at the Common Ground Country Fair, we assembled three modest displays. One featured assorted potatoes; the
The Heck family – Josh, Natalie, Caroline and Kirsten, left to right – savor apples set out for tasting at the Great Maine Apple Day. English photo By John Bunker In the autumn of 1852, a farmer named N.T. True of Bethel, Maine, packed up and headed for the Oxford County Agricultural Society fall fruit
Abbey Verrier is one with an heirloom apple tree. Photo by John Bunker By Abbey Verrier For the past four years, I’ve spent my fall seasons driving through Maine’s countryside, one eye on the road and the other scanning the landscape, searching for apple trees. I started doing this while apprenticing with John Bunker and
David McDaniel with the retort oven, where biochar is made. Stowell Watters photo By Stowell P. Watters It would do you good to drive to Jackson, out in Waldo County, where the roads go up and down forever and the silent mountains line the horizon. Somewhere between the lowland bogs and the towering hemlocks, between
1996 Farmer to Farmer Conference Bill Spiller of Spiller Farms in Wells tells beginning farmers to diversify. “Don’t raise too much at first of any one item,” he told his audience at the Farmer to Farmer Conference in November. “This is hard. It takes a lot of expertise to grow many crops, but it seems
Charlotte Young and Jim Baranski offer a diversity of crops and products at Shalom Orchard in Franklin, Maine. Jane Lamb photo. By Jane Lamb Not many turkeys, organic or otherwise, can enjoy a 360-degree view of scenic Hancock County and beyond, from the Schoodic hills to the east, the Acadia mountains to the south, the
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