Eliot Coleman's the New Organic Grower

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Crop Rotation & Cover Crops Resources UT Organic Crop Production Workshop Series April 13, 2009 ATTRA http://www.attra.org/ Organic Crop Production Overview Overview of Cover Crops and Green Manures Rye as a Cover Crop No-Till Vegetable Production: Non-Chemical Methods of Cover Crop Suppression and Weed Control Field Bindweed Control Alternatives Resource Guide to Organic and Sustainable Vegetable Production Conservation Tillage Center for Environmental Farming Systems http://www.cefs.ncsu.edu/resourcesorganicproduction.htm Cover Crops for Organic Farms Crop Rotations on Organic Farms Eliot Coleman’s The New Organic Grower- http://www.fourseasonfarm.com/main/books/books.html Chapter 7: Crop Rotation Chapter 8: Green Manures Kansas Rural Center Sustainable Agriculture Management Guides- Crop Rotation http://www.kansasruralcenter.org/publications/rotation.pdf Natural Resources Conservation Service- Cover and Green Manure Crop Benefits to Soil Quality http://soils.usda.gov/sqi/management/files/sq_atn_1.pdf NCSU Summer Cover Crops http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-37.html Rodale Institute- How to zap pests, build soil with cover crops in strategic crop rotations http://newfarm.rodaleinstitute.org/features/1002/crop_rotations/index.shtml SARE Managing Cover Crops Profitably http://www.sare.org/publications/covercrops.htm UC SAREP Cover Crop Resource Page http://www.sarep.ucdavis.edu/ccrop/ USDA National Organic Program http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop/ UT Forage Research http://forages.tennessee.edu/ Virginia Association for Biological Farming http://www.vabf.org/publications.php Cover Cropping: On-farm, Solar-powered Soil Building, No. 1-06 Caring for the Soil as a Living System, No. 2-06 Cover Crops for All Seasons, No. 3-06 Using Manually-Operated Seeders for Precision Cover Crop Plantings on the Small Farm, No. 4-06 .

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Saturday, February 14Th, 2008
Vermont Vegetable and Berry News – January 20, 2009 Compiled by Vern Grubinger, University of Vermont Extension (802) 257-7967 ext.13, [email protected] www.uvm.edu/vtvegandberry ANNUAL MEETING OF THE VERMONT VEGETABLE AND BERRY GROWERS ASSN. Feb. 9th, Capital Plaza Hotel, Montpelier. Pre-registrations must be received by Feb. 5. Details are on line at: www.uvm.edu/vtvegandberry click on „meetings and events‟ or call 802-257-7967. TECHNICAL WORKSHOPS FOR GROWERS AT NOFA-VT CONFERENCE ON FEB. 15 More conference info at: www.nofavt.org or call 802-434-4122 or e-mail [email protected] 9:15 - Worker Protection Safety Handler Certification Training. Anne MacMillan,Vermont Agency of Agriculture. Do you use organic pesticides on your farm? Have you been trained to meet the pesticide Worker Protection Standard? If not, this workshop will certify you and allow you to train your workers so your farm is in compliance with Vermont State Laws. 9:15 - Better Safe than Sorry: Addressing Food Safety Issues on Your Farm. Cheryl Wixson from Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners, Steve Gilman from NOFA-NY, and David Rogers from NOFA-VT. What practical, credible, and cost-effective steps might growers take to satisfy the food safety concerns of consumers, buyers, and regulators? How can growers evaluate food- safety “risks” in their operations? Regional efforts are examining these issues. MOFGA‟s ongoing work in developing new food-safety protocols (HAACP) for organic growers in Maine is a promising new approach for smaller-scale organic growers in the Northeast. 9:15 - Alternative Greenhouse Heating Systems.
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Year-Round Radicals (Pdf)
Year -round radicals A pair of practical farmers in the wilds of the Midcoast Profile eliot Coleman & Barbara Damrosch By Joshua Bodwell 60 Photography Darren Setlow 60 SEPTEMBER 07 MH+D “earth is so kind—just tickle her with a hoe -round and she laughs with a harvest.” Douglas Jerold radicals eir Cove Road wends and rolls along the water’s edge in Harborside. It is little more than a car-length wide, and for long stretches the dense evergreens on either Wside give the road a tunnel-like quality. Glimpses of Penobscot Bay appear through breaks in the tree line, and the air is ripe with the scent of salt. After a sharp bend, which is punctuated by a small swath of sandy beach, Weir Cove Road gives up its humble attempt at hot- top and turns to gravel. Before long, the forest opens to fi elds, rows of plastic-covered hoop-style greenhouses, and a large round sign that proclaims, FOUR SEASON FARM . It’s down this far end of the winding road, in a place well off the beaten path, that organic- gardening gurus Eliot Coleman and Barbara Damrosch have been creating their own version of the good life. At Four Season Farm—which is, as the name implies, a year- round farm—there is an acre and a half of land under cultivation, one-quarter acre of which is covered by greenhouses. That seemingly diminutive acre and a half, however, yields enough produce to supply fi ve to ten restaurants in the region (depending on the time of year), two markets (the Blue Hill Co-op and the Bucks Harbor Market), and an on-site farm stand.
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Profitable Winter Crops in High Tunnels at Pleasant Valley Farm
Profitable Winter Crops in High Tunnels at Pleasant Valley Farm February 2016 Paul & Sandy Arnold ARGYLE, NY ZONE 4 Land purchased in 1988-60 Acres Rent Neighbors 120 Acres 5 Acres Mixed Diverse Vegetables ½ Acre Large Fruits ¼ Acre Small Fruits 3-4 Acres Cover Crops Hay fields used by local Beefalo farmer CNG certified Sell at 3 local weekly farmers’ markets in summer & 2 Saturday winter markets-82% Wholesale: Restaurants 12% Other 6% 1. A healthy, challenging, financially successful, family centered lifestyle. 2. Consistent, high quality, organic fruits and vegetables that make us proud. 3. A way of life that is an example to those around us. 4. Time to be an educator of environmentally sound agriculture to our employees, customers, and the community. 5. A rural environment that teaches good moral values and work ethics to our children, while providing time for fun and interesting opportunities. MISSION STATEMENT 12/94 OUR 10 KEY FACTORS TO REACHING OUR GOAL OF PROFITABLE FARMING • INEXPENSIVE START-UP WITH SMART EXPENDITURES • GOOD BUSINESS MANAGEMENT & RECORD KEEPING • LABOR EFFICIENCIES TO MAXIMIZE PROFITS • EFFICIENT PRODUCTION SYSTEMS & SOIL MANAGEMENT • MULCHING AND WEED CONTROL • PEST AND DISEASE MANAGEMENT • SEASON EXTENSION-ROWCOVERS & FIELDHOUSES • YEAR-ROUND HIGH TUNNEL PRODUCTION • POST-HARVEST HANDLING AND CROP STORAGE • CREATIVE MARKETING • STAY ON THE FARM • LEVEL OUT THE INCOME • CUSTOMER IMPACTS • YEAR-ROUND WORKERS SEASON EXTENSION • Row Covers • Field Houses • High Tunnels APRIL 10TH HIGH TUNNELS HAVE SITE WORK
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By George Kuepper and Staff at the Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture 24456 Kerr Rd
By George Kuepper and Staff at the Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture KERR CENTER FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE 24456 Kerr Rd. Poteau, OK 74953 918.647.9123 phone • 918.647.8712 fax [email protected] www.kerrcenter.com Market Farming with Rotations and Cover Crops: An Organic Bio-Extensive System by George Kuepper and Staff at the Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture PHOTO 1. Killed cover crop mulch and transferred mulch on an heirloom tomato trial at Kerr Center’s Cannon Horticulture Plots, summer 2012. Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture Poteau, Oklahoma 2015 MARKET FARMING WITH ROTATIONS AND COVER CROPS: AN ORGANIC BIO-EXTENSIVE SYSTEM i Acknowledgements This publication and the work described herein were brought about by the past and present staff of the Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture, with the help of many student interns, over the past seven years. Throughout, we have had the vigorous support of trustees and managers, who made certain we had what we needed to succeed. A thousand thanks to all these wonderful people! We must also acknowledge the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service for its generous funding of Conservation Innovation Grant Award #11-199, which supported the writing and publication of this booklet, in addition to our field work for the past three years. We are eternally grateful. ©2015 Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture Selections from this report may be used according to accepted fair use guidelines. Permission needed to reproduce in full or in part. Contact Maura McDermott, Communications Director, at Kerr Center for permission. Please link to this report on www.kerrcenter.com Report Editors: Maura McDermott and Wylie Harris Layout and Design by Argus DesignWorks For more information contact: Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture 24456 Kerr Rd.
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Loon Organics Case Study
!"#$%&'(#)* !,-./012-3*4-.567*83.*4519-.7* The exact combination of crops that Laura and Adam grow varies from year to year, as they acquire favorites and learn which varieties are a match for their growing conditions and markets. An excerpt from their 2007 seed list (Table 3) hints at the complexity of a CSA operation – and the organizational skills needed to plan for and manage production. Laura and Adam obtain their seeds from varied sources, including Johnny’s Selected Seeds, High Mowing Organic Seeds, Fedco Seeds, and Wild Garden Seed. !"#$%&'()%*+,")-& Adam and Laura combine a bed system with succession planting for their field production. Bed planting allows for more intensive production than standard rows and also provides flexibility for growing a diverse variety of crops with different spacing needs. While rows are more efficient at a larger scale, such as at Gardens of Eagan, the bed system works well for the smaller scale of Loon Organics (Figure 23). Figure 23: The production system at Loon Organics is based on beds that are 4' wide (or 5', including the tractor tires), allowing for more intensive farming than the standard row spacing used at Gardens of Eagan. !"#$%&'(#)* ++* '8;65*:<**=--3*#,>83207?*+@@A*0,-B*6271* 4& 4& ./,#0)(1& .()2&312#& 5/("#,"#6& ./,#0)(1& .()2&312#& 5/("#,"#6& Leek 4 Sage 2 Allium Herb (con't) Shallot 1 Thyme 1 Dry 1 Arugula 2 Green 3 Komatsuna 1 Mustard Bean Pole 1 Mibuna 1 Purple 1 Mustard 3 Wax 1 Bunching 1 Seedless 1 Cippolini 1 Cucumber Slicing 2 Onion Red Storage 1 Eggplant Globe 1 Sweet 1 Cosmos
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About the Author About the Book Read On
P. S. About the author 2 Q&A with Melissa Coleman About the book 5 Why Now? Insights, Interviews Read on & More . 11 Author Recommendations 13 Questions for Discussion ThisLifeIsInYourHandsPS_4P.indd 1 1/18/12 7:54 AM About the author Q&A with Melissa Coleman Q: Tell us about your life after you left Greenwood Farm. A: While leaving the farm was devastating at the time, it brought a myriad of life experiences. After the book ends, I joined my father, sister, and stepmother, Gerry, in Topsfield, Mass., where my father ran the Coolidge Center for Experimental Agriculture. We lived in Topsfield for three years, during which time my brother, Ian, was born, and my sister Clara and I visited our mother, Sue, in California on vacations. In 1981, we moved to Vershire, Vermont, where my father became the farm manager at The Mountain School, a high school semester program owned by Milton Academy in Milton, Mass. I attended Milton Academy as a boarding student from 1984–’87. After getting a BA in English from the University of Vermont, I interned at Chelsea Green Publishing, where my father’s first book, The New Organic Grower, was published. I then headed west and worked as a park ranger, magazine fact-checker, and dog musher before becoming the managing editor at Aspen magazine in Aspen, Colorado. In 2002, at age thirty-two, I moved back to Maine with my future husband, Eric, and we got married near my birthplace, where my father and stepmother, Barbara Damrosch, have built a modern house and developed what is now Four 2 ThisLifeIsInYourHandsPS_4P.indd 2 1/18/12 7:54 AM Season Farm into a model of sustainable agriculture.
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Eliot Coleman
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Steel in the Field a Farmer's Guide to Weed Management Tools
SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE NETWORK Handbook Series STEEL BOOK 2 IN THE FIELD A Farmer’s Guide to Weed Management Tools EDITED BY GREG BOWMAN A publication of the Sustainable Agriculture Network with funding by the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program of CSREES, U.S. Department of Agriculture Sustainable Agriculture Network Beltsville, Maryland 20705 Printed in 2002 by the Sustainable Agriculture Network Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data (SAN), with funding from the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program of the Steel in the Field: a farmer’s guide to weed CSREES, U.S. Department of Agriculture. This book management tools / was supported by USDA-CSREES project award no. edited by Greg Bowman. 2001-48546-01236. Contact SAN before reproducing p. cm. — (Sustainable Agriculture any part of this book. Network handbook series; 2) SAN is the national outreach arm of USDA’s SARE Includes bibliographical references and index. program. Since 1988, SARE has worked to advance ISBN 1-888626-02-X (alk. paper : soft cover) farming systems that are profitable, environmentally 1. Agricultural implements. 2. Weeds—Control. sound and good for communities. For more information I. Bowman, Greg, 1952 - . II. Series. about SAN and SARE, see www.sare.org or contact: S676.S69 1997 Andy Clark 681'.7631—dc21 97-8406 SAN Coordinator CIP National Agricultural Library, Room 124 2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 10301 Baltimore Ave. Beltsville, MD 20705-2351 Printed in the United States of America on recycled (301) 504-6425; (301) 504-6927 (fax) paper [email protected] The USDA-SARE program provides information to Material for this book was researched, written, illustrated, everyone, without regard to race, religion, national edited and produced by the Rodale Institute, Kutztown, origin, sex, age, disability, familial or veteran status.
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Intensive Vegetable Production on a Small Scale, Pam Dawling
Intensive Vegetable Production on a Small Scale ©Pam Dawling 2016. Author of Sustainable Market Farming, New Society Publishers SustainableMarketFarming.com facebook.com/SustainableMarketFarming Planning is Circular, Just Like Farming 1. How much money do you need to earn? 2. Which markets to sell at 3. Which crops to grow 4. How much of what to harvest when: Harvest Schedule 5. How much to grow to achieve your harvest goals 6. Calculate sowing dates to meet harvest dates: Field Planting Schedule 7. When to sow for transplants: Seedlings Schedule 8. Where to plant each sowing of each crop: Maps 9. Packing more in: succession plantings, intercropping, relay planting, double cropping 10. Tweak to make your best possible plan 11. What to do if something goes wrong: Plan B 12. Record results for next year’s Better Plan Steps to Creating a Permanent Crop Rotation 1. Figure out how much area is needed for each major crop (the ones needing the largest amount of space). 2. Measure and map the land available 3. Divide into equal plots 4. Group compatible crops together to fill each plot 5. Determine a good sequence 6. Include cover crops 7. Include no-till crops 8. Try it for one year, then make improvements Winter Squash Late Corn June- undersown with planted oats (1/2). Potatoes Sweet Potatoes (1/2) Mid-season March-planted Corn, then rye Potatoes, followed & crimson by fall-planted clover broccoli & cabbage, undersown with clovers Water- All-year Green melon Fallow Early Corn followed by No-till paste Garlic followed fall Garlic Tomatoes by Carrots (1/2).
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The Local Dairy Issue
FREE! SUMMER 2019 the local dairy issue IN THE SPOTLIGHT Larson Farm & Creamery BETWEEN THE ROWS Mighty Mulch THE DEEP DISH Real Organic Dairy FOOD FETISH Yogurt...Savoring the Sweetness of Sour Milk Mercy Larson Larson Farm and Creamery under the sun QUARTERLY SUMMER 2019 2 CO-OP CONVERSATIONS OPEN 8:00AM TO 7:00PM EVERYDAY A Letter From Glenn, GM 9 WASHINGTON STREET MIDDLEBURY, VERMONT (802)388-7276 middlebury.coop EVERYONE WELCOME! 3 A WORD FROM THE BOARD Meeting Satoyama WHY DOES THE CO-OP EXIST? 5 IN THE SPOTLIGHT The Co-op exists to help our member-owners Larson Farm & Creamery customers and the community beneﬁt from: • HEALTHY FOODS BETWEEN THE ROWS • VIBRANT LOCAL ECONOMY 7 • ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE & Mighty Mulch ENERGY EFFICIENT PRACTICES • COOPERATIVE DEMOCRATIC OWNERSHIP 9 CENTERFOLD • LEARNING ABOUT THESE VALUES Economic Impact of Organic Dairy in VT WHAT IS OUR BUYING CRITERIA? Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op strives to select products that are local, organic, and free of: 11 THE INSIDE SCOOP • ARTIFICIAL PRESERVATIVES, COLORS, FLAVORS Meet Caroline, Dairy Buyer • ADDED HORMONES AND ANTIBIOTICS • TRANSFATS • PARABENS 13 THE DEEP DISH • HIGH FRUTOSE CORN SYRUP Real Organic Dairy • ANIMAL TESTING 16 RALLY FOR CHANGE To contact the Board of Directors: Living Well Residence [email protected] (802) 388-7276 17 FOOD FETISH Yogurt...Savoring the Sweetness of If you would like to receive an electronic Sour Milk copy of this newsletter, or if you have any questions or comments please contact: Karin Mott [email protected] (802) 388-7276 x307 BECOME A MEMBER! DISCOUNTS AT LOCAL BUSINESSES MEMBER DEALS PATRONAGE REFUND A VOICE AND A VOTE CONTRIBUTORS [email protected] Shannon Foster Emily Landenberger Glenn Lower Karin Mott Tam Stewart 1 When I think of the Vermont landscape, I think of the Green Mountains, maple trees, Lake Champlain and the farms in Addison County.
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Endowing Future Generations
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Season Extension
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