Sam Schipani

Fragrant flowers make a lovely, aromatic addition to any garden. If you are accustomed to growing primarily edible crops, though, there are a few considerations for fragrant gardening for your first foray into these beautiful blooms. The…
Read more...

Sugar maple trees at Coopers Maple Products in Windham, Maine. | Photo by Abigail Curtis Temperature plays an important role in determining where plants can and can’t grow. In fact, growing zones are determined primarily by minimum…
Read more...

Mealworm in an oat substrate. | Photo courtesy of Robert Nathan Allen & Little Herds Good news: if your mealworms eat something nasty, you can still feed them to your chickens — even if they’re munching on plastic laced with toxic…
Read more...

Prepared for dermatological disaster. | Photo by Sam Schipani The scourge of acne snuck up on me in my early twenties. I was able to escape high school with little more than the occasional forehead zit, but midway through college, I…
Read more...

Photo by Linda Coan O'Kresik Inexpensive, simply stored and packed with protein, fiber and essential vitamins, beans really are the magical fruit -- or legume, rather.  Though beans are purchasable pre-cooked and ready-to-eat from a…
Read more...

This is part two of a two-part series about stress on the farm. Read about the causes of stress among farmers here. James Gagne and Noam Brautigam relax for a few minutes after the morning chores were done at Dickey Hill Farm in Monroe.…
Read more...

When I was a child, I used to sneak into the pantry to enjoy an illicit snack: peanut butter, straight from the jar, usually scooped with a spoon but just as often dug out with my sticky kid fingers. I wish I could say that I left…
Read more...

This is part one of a two-part series on stress on the farm. Brian Wright, one of the owners of the Wright Place Farm in Burnham, Maine, in a field of corn stunted by exceptionally cold, wet weather. | Photo by Gabor Degre For…
Read more...

Photo by Gabor Degre This year, multinational health supermarket giant Whole Foods named regenerative agriculture first in its top food trends for 2020. “Farmers, producers, academics, government agencies, retailers and more are…
Read more...

A month or so ago, when brainstorming ideas for my column, my editor approached me with a challenge: spend $10 at the local Goodwill and wow her by upcycling thrift store finds into new treasures. I am a regular denizen of the thrift…
Read more...

Image by 15299 from Pixabay The Rodgers & Hammerstein musical “Oklahoma!” is all about the drama that ensues between homesteaders and ranchers living in the Oklahoma plains. The musical is not only classic and catchy, but tells a…
Read more...

Image by skeeze from Pixabay Agriculture is central to life in chilly North Dakota. About 90 percent of the state’s land is used for agriculture, and 24 percent of the state’s population is employed in the agricultural sector. The…
Read more...