FROM SCRATCH CLUB

If you caught my previous post, then you already know I’m trying to start a micro farm this year called Little Sparrow Farm. In mid March I started my seeds with some grow lights in my basement. In late March I went out-of-town for a week and my husband was in charge of the seedlings. […]

April is a transitional month in my neck of the woods. At the start of the month, cold winds still blow and snowflakes dot the air. By the end of the month, the tulips and daffodils are in full blossom, and everything appears a bit hazy from the delicate buds that start to pop open […]

FSC Contributor Amy Halloran takes on an a podcast journey to explore the Northeast grain system. Amy’s series on scaling up the northeast grain system provides a wealth of information and serves as an incredible introduction to the world of local grains, and in this episode we continue that conversation. Grains are often left out of the locavore […]

The following is the very basic tale of how I’m starting my own micro-farm in Ballston Spa. It’s called Little Sparrow Farm, and yes, it’s named after Dolly Parton. Last summer I was telling a friend how I was going to be ordering a lot of garlic. The amount I ordered ended up being over […]

I recently got back from a crazy five-day trip to the D.C. area. In that time, I spread some DIY Bacon love to Maryland where I taught a private lesson on bacon curing, I got to hang out with the wonderful Celia from On Cardamom and Cast Iron, and see the sights from the windows […]

There has been a lot of discussion, and media hype, about the Stanford University School of Medicine Meta Analysis published in the Annals of Internal Medicine on September 4th, on whether organic food is more nutritious than conventionally grown food. (Definition Note: A Meta Analysis focuses on contrasting and combining results from different studies, in the hope of identifying patterns […]

MEET OUR MAPLE SYRUP FARMER: MOUNTAIN WINDS FARM Farmer: Randy Grippin Location: Berne, NY Produces: Light and Dark Maple Syrup, Maple Cream and Candy, Pastured Eggs and some berries/vegetables. # Acres: 140 55,000 linear SF of pipeline 1291 taps hung with tension wire, on 1291 trees of Sugar and Black Maple In Business: 6 years […]

The idea for these summer farm tours started a long time ago, when my husband and I began baking bread for farmers markets in 2004, meeting farmers and enjoying their fresh wares, while simultaneously learning more about the toxins that are an inarguable by-product of our industrialized food-system. As the years progressed, we asked questions, […]

Editor’s Note: Welcome Josh & Stefanie Rockwood of West Wind Acres, a meat farm in Charlton, NY, as Community Voice Guest Contributors. They will bring us insight into the world of being sustainable and humane meat farmers using a full-fledged rotational grazing system with all their animals. If you haven’t listened to our latest podcast, […]

I can’t stress enough how important farm tours are to customer education & enlightenment, customer-to-farmer relations and community ties. To actually see & hear, in detail, up-close, how your food is grown or raised is an empowering experience. You walk away with a better understanding of the farmer & crew’s grueling-never-ending-job in rain, in snow, […]

The Somerset Grist Mill has a week left in its Kickstarter campaign , Flour with the flavor of home, so I have to tell you again how much I love this project.  Visiting Skowhegan, home to New Balance shoes and under 9,000 people, I felt like I was stepping onto a movie set. A slightly […]

Editor’s Note: So I’m back from my quick trip to DC for 2012 Farm Policy lobbying. There is so much to report on that there will be multiple posts on the trip, including MANY interviews with farmers & food advocates that were apart of NSAC’s Farmer Fly-In. I will also have an entire post dedicated […]

Recently I was able to interview two friends of mine, Ejay Carter and Kim Eisen, who are gearing up for the inaugural CSA season at R’Eisen Shine Farm. I am excited to share their story because although they are south of Albany, their CSA program will service people in the Albany area. Plus their CSA […]

Recently, I had the privilege of attending the NOFA-NY conference with Erika. From NOFA: “The theme of this year’s conference, The Cooperative Economy, gives us an opportunity to explore the current of cooperation that runs deep in our organization and movement and the hopes that we have for a more sustainable future“. The 3+ day […]

*I find it interesting that in the same week as I’m writing this post, our biggest local paper, The Times Union, ran a story on a local farm, Dharma Lea farm in Sharon Springs run by the Van Amburgh family, on the cover of their Sunday edition Business Section. Granted, we do have some great farmland […]