Tag: Horticulture

Open Pollinated Deli

By Roberta Bailey Seed saving is rapidly becoming a national craze, hot on the heels of football and baseball. Well, not quite, but it is gaining popularity. It’s making the newspapers, and when it gets its own section, I’m convinced that it will have a place before the sports section. I’ve stated it before but

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Hazelnuts for the Maine Homestead

American hazel (C. americana) grows well in Industry, Maine. Yaicha Cowell photo. By Will Bonsall I’ve always loved filberts, those roundish nuts found in boxes of holiday mixes. They always tasted more substantial than the pecans and Brazil nuts, more evocative of northern forests. In fact, those European types (Corylus avellana) aren’t very hardy here.

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Cut Flowers

Growing cut flowers can be management- and labor-intensive, but they are a high-margin crop if managed well – and they beautify your fields. At the November Farmer-to-Farmer Conference in Bethel, Maine, Barbara Murphy of the University of Maine Cooperative Extension in South Paris, Nancy Stedman of Little River Flower Farm in Buxton and Don Beckwith

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Hummingbirds

Solomon’s seal is one of dozens of flowering plants that support the ruby-throated hummingbird. English photo. by Deb Soule Hummingbirds of North America, by Sheri Williams, lists 31 species of hummingbirds, but the ruby-throated hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) is the only breeding hummingbird living east of the Mississippi River. It is found in Maine between May

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Growing Roses

“Der Rosenmeister,” Leon Ginenthal (sitting on his rose bench), owns Der Rosenmeister in Ithaca, New York, a source for hardy roses for local folks and of information on hardy roses for the rest of us. Photo by Sue Smith-Heavenrich. by Sue Smith-Heavenrich While I love roses, I have been intimidated by the idea of actually

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Growing Nursery Stock for Fedco Trees

Growing Nursery Stock for Fedco Trees Growing fruit or ornamental trees or shrubs can be a lucrative diversification for a farm, the sole purpose of a farm, or a rewarding hobby. John Bunker, coordinator of Fedco Trees, discussed growing stock for Fedco Trees at the Maine Agricultural Trades Show in January. Fedco is a worker-consumer

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Growing Housetrees from seed

Growing “Housetrees” (and Other Houseplants) from Seed Copyright 2006 by Larry Lack and Lee Ann Ward We really enjoy having plants in our house. They clean and freshen the air, they’re beautiful, they remind us of our bond with nature many times each day, they cheer us up. Where long winters and dark days are

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Growing Christmas Trees Organically

This article appeared in the Spring, Summer and Winter 1998 issues of The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener. By Jean English Twelve years ago, my husband and I planted our first Christmas trees. We planted the last of the first on May 6, a date I remember because on the next day, May 7, our

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Keynote Ben Falk

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

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Growing a Good Life

Wendy Green outside the house she built and next to the mullein plant that just appeared. Photo courtesy of Wendy Green Live simply that others may simply live. – Gandhi By Joyce White Wendy Green, 61, has spent the years since adolescence creating her own life from an underlying philosophy of taking responsibility for herself

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