Year: 2012
Message from the Managing Editor Happy Summer! I’m always surprised by the speed of lush growth this time of year, especially with the rain and bouts of early warm weather we had in the Northeast. Before I know it, I’ll be humming the lyrics to my favorite song from the musical, Oklahoma: “The corn is…
Like many small-scale vegetable growers, Anton Burkett couldn’t afford a large, expensive walk-in cooler compressor to cool his produce before market. Then he found the CoolBot. When he started Early Morning Farm near Ithaca, N.Y. in 1999, he built a small, eight foot by ten foot walk-in cooler powered by a small refrigerator compressor. With…
We associate spring time with newborn lambs and kids frolicking on green pastures. However, Northeast sheep and goats often give birth indoors in winter. This makes sense for farms targeting the Easter market for suckling lambs and kids or providing show prospects for the summer show circuit. If you do not sell to these early…
Chickens are an easy way to raise your own meat and eggs. They don’t require a lot of work or time and flocks are great for kids to care for, from collecting eggs to feeding and watering. Birds need to get off to a good start; healthy chicks, proper nutrition, water and shelter equates to…
The Northeast Beginning Farmer Project presents a webinar opportunity for ag. professionals in the Northeast who serve beginning farmers, or for new and aspiring farmers in MA or NY seeking to learn about programs that could benefit them. Next Mon, June 25, you can learn from two amazing organizations here in the Northeast, both offering…
Address: 227 Green Road North. Charleston, NY 12072. Website: https://sites.google.com/site/highlandhillsfarm/ Description: Jan and Ron Bever operate their house, barn and sugar shack entirely off the grid. They use two Southwest Windpower microturbines that generate 400 watts each and six 120 watt solar panels, along with 12 Trojan T-105 batteries to store the power. Jan and…
The Cornell Small Farms Program and Tompkins County Cooperative Extension will host a small dairy field day titled “Staying Small Through a Century of Dairy Farming” on Wednesday, June 20th, from 1 – 3pm in Brooktondale, NY, Tompkins County. The farm has been in the Snow family for three generations. A year and a half…
Earlier this month, the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), released the latest count of farms in the United States. The nation has nearly 2.2 million farms, a number that has held pretty steady for the past decade. While this number is important, it doesn’t tell the whole story. Agriculture is undergoing major changes. Not only…
The Small Farms Update includes small farm announcements, events, job and internship opportunities, grant and loan opportunities, and latest handbooks, tools and other small farm resources. It is intended for farmers and agricultural service providers in New York and the Northeast. If have an item to be included in the update, please contact Violet Stone…
Address: 158 Marabac Rd. Gardiner, NY 12525. Website: http://users.bestweb.net/~fourwind/ Description: Jay and Polly Armour operate a 24 acre diversified organic farm. The farm raises produce, heirloom seedlings, grass-fed beef, pasture raised turkeys, and intermittently pasture-raised pork and eggs. The centerpiece of the operation is passive-solar heated and earth-cooled straw-bale vegetable barn with attached greenhouse. A…
