Small Farms Quarterly
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Winter has arrived! What can you do with those long evenings? Learn something new with distance learning! ‘Distance learning’ is the delivery of instruction through electronic means where the instructor and learner are geographically separate. There are a wide variety of types of distance learning but this article will focus on some of the on-line…
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I have been in 4-H for 4 years. I enjoy making and showing my projects. In 4-H, you get to try different activities like public presentations and community service. In public presentations, you pick a topic, create a speech about it, and present it to an audience. In community service, you do voluntary service for…
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When’s the last time you saw “locally grown” stamped on a chicken at the grocery store? How many restaurants do you know that tell you who raised the duck on their menu? The market is out there—pasture-raised broilers can fetch over $30 per bird—but the supply isn’t keeping up. So what’s the holdup? If you’ve…
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My father is a butcher. He doesn’t have a potbelly or drape strings of sausages from his hands. He doesn’t have a mustache or wear one of those little straw hats, either. He does boast that he could skin a cow at the age of 10, can strip the meat from a carcass down to…
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The age old question of, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” is typically directed towards children, but has been coopted by a much older population these days. There are many factors influencing the decision to pick up all that you have known and choose a second career. Corporate loyalty gave way…
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Through forest farming, I can help to save the Unicorns (Aletrisfarinosa) and you can too. Forest farming is the cultivation of high value specialty crops under the forest canopy. For those of you not familiar with Aletrisfarinosa, also known by ‘Unicorn Root’, it’s a perennial flowering herb found in open woodlands. Here in Ithaca, NY…
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When planning to profit from an agricultural activity like selling raw milk, farmers often fail to take seriously the risks of regulatory non-compliance. Meteorological or market risks figure far more prominently in the minds of farmers everywhere. Yet the business of food production, and dairy in particular, is one of the most highly regulated industries…
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The sickle makes its way quickly and quietly through tall, healthy green foliage. The air smells pleasantly of ginger and earth. I hear the sound of roots giving way as Hugh Johnson and Dan Kelly pull hands of young ginger from the soil. Bright pink bud scales adorn the creamy white rhizomes of the freshly…
Read MoreWelcome 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…
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Being born and raised on a farm has taught me many things. One of the most important is probably my work ethic. I hate to leave things unfinished, or not do my best at whatever I’m doing. I take my work ethic with me to school. My schedule is full and my classes give a…
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