Small Farms Quarterly
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Photo by Shona B. Ort One of the first vegetables to arrive, nothing says spring like the crisp, fresh taste of peas. Our photo feature this issue comes to us from Ort Family Farm in Bradford, NY. Roger and Maria Ort primarily produce free range meats and open pollinated vegetable plants. However, a significant portion of their…
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An earlier version of this article was written in October 2011 for our farm blog. October 2012 marked our second year of life at Rod and Staff Farm. As I re-read it and look around us, I remain amazed by how far we’ve come in what feels like such a short time. The seasons seem…
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I spent most of 2011 working and living in Brooklyn, NY with my boyfriend. I manned phones and servers in the semi-glamorous world of mail-order meat, while he managed an independent ice cream store in mid-town. We were trying our luck at post-graduate success, although it seemed our luck was running out; the effects…
Read MoreThough the internet has the potential to help grow a business, many farmers have trouble finding the most effective ways to utilize their time and energy online in order to get the best return on their efforts. Wholeshare is an online marketplace for local and sustainable foods that allows groups of people to buy local and…
Read Moreby Kim Mills, Sue Rau, Jason Evans, and Jim Ochterski In this article, we draw on our experiences with two local food markets operating with Local Food Market Software to describe how software can be used to help build and support a local food market. Schoharie Fresh is an online consumer retail market in Schoharie County,…
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I get many questions about equipment needed to raise sheep – be it electric fencing, hay and mineral feeders, panels, or the chute. While all these items can be purchased, many of them are in my opinion overpriced or at least not affordable for a smaller sheep operation like mine. A couple hundred ewes don’t…
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Adding a cut flower share can do a lot for your small farm. Whether you use it as a main-stay or just to add an aesthetic element, growing flowers can be a nice addition to your business. Flowers can be used for wedding arrangements, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) flower shares, property beautification, farmers’ market…
Read MoreWhen small farmers consider planting fruits, their thoughts typically turn first to apples. After that, peaches, plums, and other familiar fruits may come to mind. In this two-part article, I’d like to make a case for considering growing some uncommon fruits in addition to, or instead of, these more common ones. One major problem…
Read MoreHistorically, pastures have been seen as low yielding land and little, if anything, was done to increase their productivity. However, in recent years management intensive rotational grazing has done much to change this perspective and high yielding, high quality pastures now form the backbone of many profitable livestock farms. This article describes one of the…
Read Moreby Paul Curtis, Gary Golf, and Jason Boulanger Have you ever wondered what it takes to regenerate your forest? Do you think that all you have to do is let nature take its course, or plant some seedlings to help things along? Some New York forest owners have discovered that forest regeneration is not so…
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