Here’s a memory from Roberta Bailey: “My involvement with MOFGA came because there was, at the time, the tri-county chapter of MOFGA. [It] was fairly active and I became quite active in it [in] 1976 to about the mid to late 80s. And the tri-county chapter, we could have monthly meetings, sometimes they would be
Here’s a memory from Helen York: “Years ago, when we had over a hundred wool sheep, and when I had the skills and speed and stamina to handspin much of the wool we grew into yarn, we would sell our yarn and fleeces and spinning equipment from an old arch-top converted 1930s french-fry trailer. It
By Sonja Heyck-Merlin Evening Song Farm, owned by Ryan and Kara Fitzbeauchamp and certified organic by the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont, offered a virtual farm tour during MOFGA’s 2020 Farmer to Farmer Conference. Located in Cuttingsville, Vermont, 11 miles southeast of Rutland, the 100-acre property is perched at 1,200 feet on a hillside
By Heather Spalding After nine years working as a member of MOFGA’s staff, Dave Colson has retired to the greener pastures of his beautiful farm in Androscoggin County. Dave joined the MOFGA staff in July of 2011 serving as the director of our agricultural services program. He led the program for eight years, providing leadership to
By Tim King Sheep shearing is largely men’s work in some parts of the country. That’s not so in Maine. Arla Casselman, who farms MOFGA-certified organic blueberries near Warren, believes that’s due in part to MOFGA. “With the MOFGA apprenticeship program I feel like it’s easy as a female to get on a farm,” she
Here’s a memory from Buffie Whittaker: “I am writing to you on behalf of my father, Francis ‘Eli’ Whittaker. MOFGA meant a lot to my father. He passed away in July 2020. As far back as I can remember my father always had a passion for the outdoors and especially gardening. From growing his plants
Here’s a memory from Beedy Parker: “I thought the Social Action [area] was really important to have at the Fair – that that was partly what the “Common Ground” was about. And so, I sort of wanted a parade that would unite the Fair in some way, and that could be for the children and
Here’s a memory from Jim Gerritsen of Wood Prairie Family Farm in Bridgewater, Maine: “Wendell Berry was keynote speaker at the Common Ground Country Fair at the fairgrounds in the small central Maine town of Litchfield in 1978. This was the second Common Ground Fair ever, the first occurring just one year prior. Wendell gave
By Holli Cederholm Like many small- to mid-scale certified-organic vegetable farms, Ararat Farms in Lincolnville, Maine, aims to provide quality, healthy products to the surrounding community. Farm managers Emilia Carbone and Jed Beach have an additional goal: They want their produce to outshine the standard grocery store vegetables in terms of flavor, nutrient density and
The beginning of De Re Rustica by Varro. Text from https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Varro/de_Re_Rustica/1*.html By John Koster Marcus Terentius Varro wrote some 620 books, but only the nearest and dearest to his heart – Rerum Rusticarum Libri Tres, Three Books on Farming – survived in complete form. That’s probably because enough people had one copied out to increase the odds of its survival
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Contact Jennifer Wilhelm jwilhelm@mofga.org
