Year: 2012

April Small Farms Update

By Violet Stone / April 16, 2012
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Announcements Summit Resources Posted Online Workshop Highlights Opportunities for New York Cheese Makers, Small Dairies Upcoming Events Sponsored Events Beginning Farmer Events Other Events Career etc. Opportunities Livestock Resource Educator (CCE Ulster County) – Apply by April 20, 2012 Organic Farm to Restaurant Coordinator (NOFA-NY) – Apply by April 30, 2012 Farm Start-Up Opportunity –…

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Using Foster Mother Hens to Raise Chicks on the “Cheap”

By Elizabeth Rosen / April 4, 2012
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Welcome to the Northeast SARE Spotlight!  SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education) offers grants to farmers, educators, universities and communities that are working to make agriculture more sustainable – economically, environmentally, and socially.  Learn about whether a SARE grant would be a good fit for you. How do you raise chicks without investing in expensive…

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Cornell Small Farms Program Update- Spring 2012

By Violet Stone / April 4, 2012
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Message from the Managing Editor Happy Spring!  Looking out the window of the Cornell Small Farms Program office here in Ithaca, NY, the crocuses and aconites have burst into bloom, and students are luxuriating in the warm, kind breezes arriving earlier than usual.  For many, the surprise descent of warm weather is a reason to…

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The “Perfect” Sheep Pasture

By Ulf Kintzel  / April 2, 2012
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“The perfect is the enemy of the good.” Voltaire In a sheep farming operation that relies on grazing alone without feeding any grain, the pasture is of utmost importance. If the demand is such that the lambs should be finished in a time as short as possible, the pressure is high. I am in that…

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Photo Essay: Spring Peeping

By Maryn Carlson / April 2, 2012
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Welcome to our new photo essay feature! For 2012, we’ll be bringing you seasonal images from the Whole Systems Design Research Farm in the Mad River Valley region of Vermont. The farm is a demonstration site to test out regenerative food, fuel, and shelter systems that operate on current solar energy. Learn more about the…

Recirculating Farms: Growing healthy, fresh food and a new local food culture

By Molly Davis / April 2, 2012
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Facing an average nightly low of 21 degrees, most Boston-area farmers throw their hands up in January and take a break. But with recirculating farms — which can grow plants (hydroponics), fish (aquaculture), or a combination of both (aquaponics) — a farmer can continue generating revenue throughout the worst conditions that winter brings. “They can…

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Pricing Your Meat Cuts

By Brian Moyer / April 2, 2012
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So, you’re thinking about raising livestock for direct-to-consumer sales. You’ve figured out what kind of livestock you want to raise, what kind of infrastructure you will need, soil tested your pastures, the works. One question remains; how much should you charge your customers? It doesn’t matter if you are selling halves, quarters or single cuts,…

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Is Your Honey Green? New Apiary Certification Program for Natural Beekeepers

By Alice Varon / April 2, 2012
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by Dr. Buddy Marterre and Alice Varon We all know honey bee health is threatened by pesticides, monoculture crops, in-hive chemical treatments, pests and diseases, and colony collapse disorder, among other things. One result has been a rise in natural beekeeping, regarded by many as the surest way to support the health of honey bees.…

Gleaning More of New York’s Harvest

By Rebecca Schuelke Staehr / April 2, 2012
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A new collaboration among farmers, Cornell University and New York’s food banks aims to increase the amount of gleaning, or food donated directly from farms to the state’s hungry. Gleaning is an ancient concept, thought to date to Old Testament times, and carried through the medieval feudal system, when farmers and large landowners were encouraged…

Faces of our Food System: J. Kings

By Becca Jablonski / April 2, 2012
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Get to know a local food distributor in our 2012 feature series. This article is the second in a series highlighting distributors of New York State farm-grown products. For our second spotlight, I spoke to Joel Panagakos, the Executive Vice President for Produce at J. Kings, located in Holtsville, New York, on Long Island. J.…