Home Grown Cow: An Easy Way to Get Into Online Sales for Meat, Poultry, and Cheese Producers
“Where did you get these steaks? They’re fantastic!” is the usual reaction from friends from out-of-town to eating beef at my dinner table in South Central Wisconsin. Some of these dinner guests have even asked me to mail meat to their homes in places as far away as Miami and Atlanta because they loved it…
Read MoreGrowing Communities
In the beginning of our humble American nation, we had strong communities tied around local family farms. As we grew in population, the farms decreased along with the community connection. There is a resurgence lately to not only source locally, but to once again re-establish our communal connections to farms and each other. Growing your…
Read MoreGrow Berries for All Seasons
by Cathy Heidenreich and Laura McDermott There are many reasons that growers would choose to extend the cropping season for berries. The earliest berries notably capture the best market prices – which is what growers strive for. On the latter end of the season, there may be late season marketing opportunities, and certainly creating as…
Read MoreGrazing Management in the New Normal
As a veteran grazier, I’m concerned about the phrases, “The 300 year flood, Peak Soil, Peal Oil, Climate Change and The New Normal” frequently heard in the news. Should I discount them as just an anomaly or should I be planning on how this will affect my grazing operation? For me, it boils down to…
Read MoreFaces of our Food System: Garden Gate Delivery
This article is the third in a series highlighting distributors of New York State farm-grown products. For our third spotlight, I spoke to Marlo Capoccia, the Owner of Garden Gate Delivery, located in Ithaca, New York. I wanted to feature Garden Gate as they recently made the decision to shift their business model to focus…
Read MoreCornell Small Farms Program Update- Summer 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…
Read MoreCoolBot Enables Small Farmers to Build Do-it-Yourself Coolers
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…
Read MoreConsiderations for Pasture Lambing and Kidding
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…
Read MoreBackyard Poultry 101
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…
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