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Navigating snowy, ice-covered roads on the way to market is among the challenges facing a new type of raspberry grower. A few innovative producers are harvesting up to 60 flats (720 half-pints) of fresh raspberries from a 20 X 30 ft. house between February and May, and selling them for $2,000. Greenhouses have been used […]

Without a market manager, no farmers’ market will be as good as it could be. Every orphan market I’ve seen would be better with a hands-on manager. Inevitably, these markets work well because one or two producers do the essential management tasks – often grudgingly and without recognition, and always without pay. London Farmers’ Markets

Every year I trial a half-dozen or more new kinds of flowers and I have to say that most aren’t great hits. But every year there is at least one plant that gives me a thrill, a new discovery in the never-ending quest to grow the beautiful and unusual for my cut flower business. One

Birds can become a serious problem on vegetable and fruit farms, plucking corn seedlings from the soil and feeding on ripening fruit. Because of the steep financial losses caused by their feeding, farmers have employed a wide range of tactics to repel and frighten birds. They range from low-tech strings to expensive booming cannons and

A CSA farmer in New York has started an alternative certification program for growers who don’t want to be certified under the new USDA National Organic Program. Ron Khosla of Huguenot Street Farm in New Paltz, NY, has created Certified Naturally Grown, a certification program loosely based on organic crop production standards. Certified Naturally Grown

When customers flock to markets in search of sweet corn, they want it to be of the highest quality – sweet, fresh and worm-free. Yet in ecological or organic production of sweet corm, achieving worm-free corn is one of the most difficult challenges. Three major caterpillar pests – corn earworm, European corn borer, and fall

I had completed a Master Gardener course in North Carolina but we had no other formal plant-related education. We have been organic vegetable gardeners for 20 years but had never grown flowers. As a result of on-the-job chemical injury from paint solvents, I had to give up my tenured faculty position at a university where

The hoe seems to be the most ancient and widespread farming tool. Wheel hoes are one giant step up the evolutionary ladder. They add comfortable handles and a wheel so that you can work faster and easier. Instead of clearing a little patch with every swipe of a hand hoe, you push a wheel hoe

The view from the crest of the hill is stunning. The road ahead curves to the right, sweeping past rows upon rows of grape vines. Across the road from the vineyards, acres of fruit trees stand, following the road as it dives into a valley. Surrounding the vineyards and orchards, the plowed ground in the

Thunderstorms are a way of life in summer. In the Midwest, we’re fortunate in that we can see them building when they are several counties away, so we usually have plenty of time to organize our work around impending storms. We don’t mess around with lightning. Lightning is the leading cause of weather-related deaths in