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Just How Sustainable Is Local Agriculture in the Midcoast? - Freepress Online

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Freepress Online

Just How Sustainable Is Local Agriculture in the Midcoast?
Freepress Online
When a student asked if my farm was sustainable, I told her that I was certified organic, I managed my soil fertility through crop rotations and compost applications … [but] I didn't think my farm was sustainable. Like all the other farms I knew, my ...

In West Falls, first-time farm owners feel at home on the range - Buffalo News

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Buffalo News

In West Falls, first-time farm owners feel at home on the range
Buffalo News
A new vendor also has entered their midst: Tioga Valley Farm operators Chris and Beth Leipler, first-year farm owners who in recent weeks pulled their first crops off a 6-acre swath along Davis Road in West Falls. They grow 160 ... He grew up in the ...

PROFILES: Little Big Sky Farm combines community and agriculture - Southernminn.com

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Southernminn.com

PROFILES: Little Big Sky Farm combines community and agriculture
Southernminn.com
Their farm gives others access to fresh, locally grown vegetables that might not always be available at the average supermarket. From red Russian kale to cherry tomatoes and a range of peppers, the pair puts together 18 ... Dan Kapernick said that he ...

Week 13 from Valley Flora!

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Week 13 from Valley Flora! Sweet Peppers! Beets!
Thanks for eating locally from our family farm!
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What's Cookin' on the Farm...
  • Dry-Farm Trials at Valley Flora

Dry-farmed Early Girl tomatoes and North Georgia Candy Roaster winter squash, grown without irrigation
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What's Probably In Your Share This Week:*
  • Walla Walla Sweets
  • Carrots
  • Beets
  • Zucchini
  • Cucumbers
  • Tomatoes
  • Eggplant
  • Sweet Corn
  • Head Lettuce
  • Jalapeños
  • Sweet Peppers
On Rotation:
(Some locations will receive it this week; others in a future week)
  • Green Beans
*Harvest Basket contents may vary between pickup sites in a given week depending on what's ripe and ready on the farm. Don't worry - if something is on the list but not in your tote, you'll get it soon!

The VF Crystal Ball - What Might be in your Share Next Week...
  • Onions
  • Lettuce
  • Carrots
  • Cucumbers
  • Zucchini
  • Strawberries
  • Collards or Chard
  • Tomatoes
  • Eggplant
  • Potatoes
  • Sweet Peppers
  • Cilantro?
Dry-Farm Trials at Valley Flora
Drought has been in the news aplenty the past few years, with growing concerns about implications for agriculture in Oregon. A quick glance to our south doesn't paint a pretty picture of what could be in store for us. In drought-plagued California water wars have been raging fierce as the state grapples to balance the demands of urban centers, native salmon runs, and farm production. At the peak of water shortages a couple years ago, almost 2 million acres of prime farmland in the Central Valley - which produces almost half of the nation's fresh fruit and vegetables - were left fallow for lack of irrigation water. Meanwhile, communities were setting up portable community shower facilities to deal with water rationing and many of the state's native salmon runs were - and still are - teetering on the brink of extinction.

A similar scenario is playing out in Oregon's Klamath basin and climate change predictions are suggesting that we're in for less rain in the future, not more. In response, Oregon State University has spearheaded a project with 30+ farmers around the state to conduct on-farm trials growing a few specific crops without irrigation. We're one of those farms this year.

On Memorial Day, OSU professor and researcher Alex Stone arrived at the farm in her pickup, loaded with soil moisture probes, ten winter squash plants and five tomato plants. She took a six foot deep soil profile sample of our field, installed 4 soil moisture probes at 1', 2', 3' and 4' depths, planted out the winter squash and tomatoes on five foot spacing, and handed me a soil moisture reader to collect data with each week.

We got the plants established with drip tape for the first few weeks, but by the end of June had removed all irrigation from the plot. Every week I record the soil temperature, the soil moisture at each depth, and the percentage of squash plants with female flowers and send the data off to the OSU team.

The vigor of the dry-farmed plants has been astonishing. They are side by side with our drip-irrigated squash plants and the dry-farmed plants are actually larger than their irrigated counterparts. They are on wider spacing - 5' instead of 2' - which allows them to forage more widely for water and nutrients. The ground is bone dry these days but the plants don't show any sign of mid-day wilting and the fruit load on both the tomatoes and the squash is startling.

We're keeping yield data on the tomato harvest each week, and will do the same once winter squash harvest commences in September. Those numbers, taken together from thirty different sites, will be key in determining the overall economic viability of dry-farming for farmers around the state. We're expecting the flavor of both the tomatoes and the squash to be superior to that of irrigated plants (less water concentrates flavor in the fruit), and research to date has shown that dry-farmed squash keep in storage significantly longer than irrigated squash.

I'll let you know what we learn later this fall. Hopefully the research will help contribute to evolving solutions in the face of shrinking water resources.
The dry-farm trial plot planted to North Georgia Candy Roaster winter squash, Winter Sweet winter squash, and Early Girl Tomatoes
The Farmstand is Open for Summer Hours!
Every Wednesday and Saturday from 9 am to 2 pm, rain or shine!

Fresh Produce
U-pick Strawberries
Homemade Jam & Hot Sauce

Please bring your own bags and u-pick containers!

Please note our hours are slightly changed from year's past, closing at 2 pm instead of 3 pm

 
For Recipes & Cooking Inspiration:
 
Valley Flora Recipe Wizard
Our own collection of recipes gathered over the years.
 
Epicurious
A vast collection of recipes, searchable by one or multiple ingredients
 
Full Belly Farm
Recipes from one of my favorite farms in California, pioneers of the organic movement since the 80s.

Farm Fresh to You
A storehouse of recipes, searchable by ingredient.
 
Helsing Junction Farm
A Washington farm that has a good collection of seasonal recipes geared toward CSA members.
Copyright © 2018 Valley Flora, All rights reserved.


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Lifelong dream blossoms in retired gardening guru's Coppell flower farm - Dallas News (blog)

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Dallas News (blog)

Lifelong dream blossoms in retired gardening guru's Coppell flower farm
Dallas News (blog)
She also composts all garden refuse and raises worms, whose castings go into compost tea, a home-brewed, organic fertilizer rich in microbes that feed the soil. Vanhoozier is undeterred by the extreme heat, ... The proprietor of Bishop Hill Farm ...

Customer At Chase Bank ATM in Short Hills Robbed At Gunpoint - TAPinto.net

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TAPinto.net

Customer At Chase Bank ATM in Short Hills Robbed At Gunpoint
TAPinto.net
SHORT HILLS, NJ - Millburn Police announced that a patron of Chase Bank in Short Hills was robbed at gunpoint last night at 9:30 p.m. while using a drive-up ATM. Two men in masks are seen from security cameras approaching the bank's customer from the ...

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Island to Table: Zach Rude of Verde, Coastal teams with the HOG Farm - GreaterBabylon (blog)

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GreaterBabylon (blog)

Island to Table: Zach Rude of Verde, Coastal teams with the HOG Farm
GreaterBabylon (blog)
Below, chef Zach Rude of Verde Kitchen & Cocktails and Coastal Kitchen & Daiquiri Bar and Sean Pilger of the H.O.G. Farm in Brookhaven Hamlet talk about the importance of variety and the power of fresh, local ingredients. You'll also find out what they ...

Island to Table: Zach Rude of Verde, Coastal teams with HOG Farm - GreaterPatchogue

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GreaterPatchogue

Island to Table: Zach Rude of Verde, Coastal teams with HOG Farm
GreaterPatchogue
Below, chef Zach Rude of Verde Kitchen & Cocktails and Coastal Kitchen & Daiquiri Bar and Sean Pilger of the H.O.G. Farm in Brookhaven Hamlet talk about the importance of variety and the power of fresh, local ingredients. You'll also find out what they ...

Community-supported agriculture seeks outside-the-box solutions - Gazettextra

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Gazettextra

Community-supported agriculture seeks outside-the-box solutions
Gazettextra
That was really their option,” Huth said. “Fast forward to today, you can go to Kwik Trip and things there will have a certified-organic stamp on them.” Even nonorganic operations have recently struggled to compete as local produce becomes more available.

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