Garden & farm

A caterpillar clings to fresh blade of grass in an Orono field. | Photo by Gabor Degre No matter where you are, pests are the bane of every grower’s existence. Asparagus beetles, squash vine borers and cabbage worms are among the many…
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Soil health is the foundation of productive farming. Increasingly, farmers are turning to conservation tillage in order to maintain the long-term health of their soil. Bob Guerette of Carmel rototills his garden at his home. | Photo by…
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Zachary Zeigler, owner of Zeigler's market garden. | Photo by Sarah Visnick Whether you are an aspiring full-time farmer or a homesteader looking to earn extra money, starting a market garden is a great way to begin selling your own…
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Market garden stand. | Photo by Zachary Zeigler After years of successfully and deliciously self-sustaining, some homesteaders explore avenues to sell their harvest. A market garden -- a small-scale production of produce usually sold…
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Image by Dayoung Seo from Pixabay By keeping roots in the ground through the off-season, cover crops offer seasonal farmers and homesteaders a wide range of benefits, from soil health to weed control. If you have decided to add cover…
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In the winter, many fields and garden plots lay fallow. Come spring, those spaces are usually filled with weeds. Cover cropping is an easy and sustainable fix -- not only to keep weeds at bay, but also to maintain soil health during the…
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Photo by Julia Bayly A working farm has a lot going on. It can be a place that harvests produce, raises animals, grows landscaping plants or trees. But when it comes to what qualifies as a farm, there are very specific criteria. The…
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Aerial view of The Living Centre, a rewilded property in London, Ontario, Canada. | Photo by Shantree Kacera Many homesteaders choose their lifestyle in order to be closer to the natural world. Rewilding, or allowing natural processes…
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You’ve read the books, done the research, observed your proposed growing area and selected what you hope is the perfect location. Now that you are ready to put the philosophies of permaculture into the practice of growing food, what are…
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Carrots are often grown in fall vegetable gardens because they're especially cold hardy. | Photo by Kate Garland, University of Maine Cooperative Extension If you’ve always planted vegetables solely in the spring, planting a fall garden…
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Sunny skies over rice at the Dabbs family farm in Stuttgart, Arkansas. | University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture photo by Ryan McGeeney Grown throughout the world, rice is a staple food for more than half of the world’s…
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Hobby farmer Fawn "Tarma" Richardson based in Greenfield, Maine. Richardson breeds Turkish Kangal Shepherd dogs and two breeds of heritage sheep. She works remotely as an accountant for a hardware store in Arizona at night. | Photo by Sam…
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