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Homestead Reflections March 2019 My Homestead Journey- part 1
By Sharon Gensler On this sunny but bitterly cold February morning, I thought I’d write about my journey as a homesteader. Since placing our NOFA classified ad seeking to transition the care of Wild...
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Homestead Reflections April 2019 My Homestead Journey Part 2
By Sharon Gensler Last month I started my story about how I became a homesteader. (Read Part 1 here.) I wrote about growing up on a small family farm, fleeing the country for a big city job, only to...
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Learning Your Way into the Fungal Kingdom: A Conversation with Willie Crosby...
By Caro Roszell, NOFA/Mass Education Director Caro:Willie, we first met as farm apprentices at Simple Gifts Farm in the spring of 2012. I have this memory of you experimenting with growing mushrooms...
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Homestead Reflections June 2019
By Sharon Gensler for NOFA/Mass The baby chicks arrived today- May 16. We got the call from the post office at 8:30am and shortly there after they were installed in their new home. We’d already...
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Soil Health in September: Statewide Events Educate Farmers on Assessment &...
By Caro Roszell, NOFA/Mass Education Director This September we are focusing on Soil Health, with statewide events focusing on healthy soils practices and indicators taking place on the first and last...
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Plan Now to Collect Fall Leaves—Nature’s Cover Crop
By Richard Robinson, Farmer at Hopestill Farm, Sherborn MA www.hopestill.com One of the central tenets of no-till organic gardening and farming is to never leave soil bare, especially through the...
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Goodbye Grandmother Porcupine
A poem by Judy Hall Some people may not have much love for porcupines. And I understand why. We have experienced the frustration of Erethizon dorsatum ("the animal with the irritating back") attacking...
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Homestead Reflections- October 2019
By Sharon Gensler Today is another glorious, late summer day. It is especially a blessing in light of the recent weather-related disasters, occurring in other areas around the world. Having these...
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Increasing Days in Living Cover through Innovative Approaches to Spring-Sown...
By Caro Roszell, NOFA/Mass Education Director While spring planting of cover crops is not an uncommon practice on organic farms and gardens, many farmers and market gardeners are experimenting with...
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Soil Test Math Made Simple
By Richard Robinson, Farmer at Hopestill Farm Soil test results are the key to planning your soil fertility program. Adding the right amendments in the right amount can dramatically improve your...
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Soil Amendments – Fall Preparation
By Laura Davis, NOFA/Mass Soil Technical Assistance Coordinator No matter how early I think about adding fall amendments, this job always falls to the bottom of the to-do list below some bigger...
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Eight Bulk Order Items NOFA Farmers Love
By Richard Robinson, Farmer at Hopestill Farm For me, the arrival of the NOFA bulk order is, like the arrival of the seed catalogs, a harbinger of spring, and an opportunity to stock up on things I...
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Homestead Reflections- February 2020
By Sharon Gensler It’s a major transition time here at Wild Browse Farm and we’re feeling both excited and terrified. We have made a commitment to moving and have just finalized a “Purchase &...
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Homestead Reflections - March 2020
By Sharon Gensler Spring is in the air. Yesterday, my heart leapt and then sank, after seeing sap buckets hanging on sugar maples up the road from us. Pru and I had discussed when, or if, we’d tap...
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Homestead Reflections May 2020
By Sharon Gensler Sorry about my sabbatical from writing a homesteading article last month, but we were up to our eyeballs with MOVE preparations. Yes, after 40 years, we have finally left our...
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