June 1, 2011

By Josh Volk I learned to hook up implements to the tractor when I was an apprentice. I’ve always remembered that Andy, the farmer I was learning from, told me that hooking up an implement was the most dangerous job on the tractor, especially when two people are involved. Not only is it the task […]

While a few energetic and competent farmers manage to run CSAs by themselves or with only their families and employees, they are missing the opportunities for broader participation and support that CSA offers. Building solidarity has practical advantages and at the same time contributes to deep social transformation.  To build a future for ourselves and

Before being introduced to the beautiful world of fragrant and uniquely flowered Narcissus I thought all daffodils looked like the standard King Alfred type, plain, big, bright and kind of ugly — not to mention cheap and widely available in the spring. Here our local wholesalers sell big bunches of them for less than a

Okra is a tropical annual in the mallow family, widely adapted where the frost-free season is long enough. Those in cold climates should choose fast-maturing varieties and transplant into black plastic. Those in hot climates will need to deal with its exuberant growth in mid-summer. Okra is heat- and drought-tolerant and has few serious pests

USDA researcher Fumiomi Takeda has demonstrated that strawberries can be coaxed into fall production in an unheated hoophouse with no loss of yield the following spring. But he is not aware of any commercial growers who have adopted his system to date. This seems like something that hoophouse growers might find worthwhile, at least on

Growing in winter. What would cause a market grower to even THINK about growing in winter? After all, one of the “perks” of market growing is having the “off season” to rest up, rejuvenate, read a book or something. But in late December 1993, something made me think about growing out of season. In my

Farmers markets have blossomed across America; on any Saturday, it seems there is one on every street corner; so, why would anyone write about re-invention of something so successful? Because beneath the booming success of the farmers market there lurks another side, an uncertain, anxious feeling, perhaps in both farmer and customer: Are these markets

Demand for local food has increased dramatically from all corners of American society in the past few years. And no one has been more active in demanding it than college students, who are required by contracts or practical necessity to eat at campus dining services. Many have decided they are sick of the usual cafeteria