May 1st, 2020 By Richard Robinson, Farmer at Hopestill Farm farm@hopestill.com When I started gardening, I thought everything got planted only once; when it was harvested, you waited until next year to get more. But over time I learned nothing could be further from the truth—with succession planting, you can reap multiple harvests of the…
Read MoreDandelions
May 1st, 2020 By Julie Rawson, NOFA/Mass Executive Director The gifts of nature are all around us, and in the springtime they are constantly reappearing. Right now I am spending a lot of time with dandelions. Probably you knew already that dandelions are good for you. But did you know all the names it has…
Read MoreCan I Plant My Tomatoes Now? How About Now?
April 1st, 2020 By Richard Robinson, Farmer at Hopestill Farm Most of the gardeners I know are optimists, and there is nothing quite as tempting to the optimistic gardener as getting the earliest possible start on the tomato season and, one hopes, the earliest possible harvest. But after a number of years of succumbing to…
Read MoreMarch Madness (and Gladness!) in the Garden
March 1st, 2020 By Richard Robinson, Farmer at Hopestill Farm I begin planting spring crops inside in late January, and by the beginning of March I’ve already got lettuce transplants, arugula, and radishes growing in the hoop houses, along with fall-planted spinach which is ready to harvest. But the month of March brings an exponential…
Read MoreFinding Your Way in the Modern Dairy Market with Pam and Ray Robinson of Robinson Farm
February 1st, 2020 By Christy Bassett, Dairy Program Coordinator for NOFA/Mass Dairy cows have been dubbed “the heart of the homestead” throughout American history because of their high productivity and ability to provide sustenance for so many other beings on a small farm. On a diet of grass, hay and perhaps some supplemental grain, a…
Read MoreKnow, and Test, the Viability of Your Seed
February 1st, 2020 By Richard Robinson, Farmer at Hopestill Farm For the ambitious gardener, there is nothing quite as frustrating as planting seeds that never come up. You watch and wait, and wait some more, and wait some more, and…nothing. Precious weeks can slip away before you accept that you’re going to have to replant. For any crop, this is…
Read MoreWhat We Mean When We Talk About Tillage
November 2nd, 2018 By Caro Roszell, NOFA/Mass Education Director What do the terms tilling and plowing mean to you? Furrow-slices rolling away behind you like a smooth wake in calm waters; a clean seedbed, chocolate-brown soil nearly ready for the crop? Or perhaps a machine, ripping through a quiet field, soil clods flying, dust rising…
Read MoreNOFA/Mass, CT NOFA and NOFA-NY to Expand Soil Carbon Proxy Testing with SARE and Farmer Support
January 6th, 2021 By Caro Roszell, NOFA/Mass Education Director Farmers manage about 37% of the world’s land mass. As NOFA/Mass followers well know, a significant proportion of the excess carbon in the atmosphere has been lost from the world’s soils due to farming practices that are ecosystem-degenerative. Or, stated another way, the loss of life in the soils…
Read MoreCaring for Your Soil: Understanding Soil Aggregation and Compaction
March 16th, 2022 By Christine Manuck, NOFA/Mass Soil Health Projects Manager I’m frequently telling my kids, “you get what you get and you don’t get upset.” With soil, however, you get what you get and you can learn how to deliberately make it better. Soil aggregation and compaction are two key competing components of healthy,…
Read MoreA Primer on Sustainable Soil Management
July 7th, 2021 By Christine Manuck, NOFA/Mass Soil Health Projects Manager As with every living thing, what you get out of soil is related to what you put into it. Transitioning our mindset of soil from an inorganic growing medium to a diverse, living ecosystem can allow us to treat our soil as the essential…
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