production practices

March 8, 2022Lauren Olson

Wild Farm Alliance: How to Support Birds

Are you a farmer or gardener with love for our winged bird friends? Did you know that there are ways to support them when thinking about what you’re going to plant, or what structures to build? The Wild Farm Alliance is offering a FREE online 5-track course, made up of 10 individual classes and is designed to have participants learn more about how to support bird species while farming or gardening. Courses begin in March and continue until July.

You can register for one class or take all 10. All the classes are an hour long and start at 8:00 am (EST).

Track Topics Are:

Introduction: Birds as Pest Control Allies
Nest Boxes and Other Structures and the Birds That Use Them
Managing and Co-Existing with Birds
Designing a Farm to Be Bird Friendly
Seeing Land Through the Eyes of Birds

Sign Up HERE, the first class begins on March 14th!

October 24, 2021Lauren Olson

Cranberry Harvest at Deer River

You may not think of cranberries as a North Country crop, but we have one commercial bog producing over 80 acres of this autumn fruit. Deer River Cranberries was established in Brasher Falls over 20 years ago and the Local Foods team at Extension caught up with the managers to learn about and photograph the entire harvest.

So how do cranberries get from the bog to your table?

Each ‘bog’ is like a garden bed that’s sunk a foot or two deep and is 5 acres in size. With 15 bogs currently in production, Deer River produces 1 million pounds of berries in an average year (though this year’s crop was earlier and smaller than usual due to cranberry tipworm).

The harvest starts with water being released into the bed, flooding the plants with enough water to just cover the vine tips. Water is reused between bogs, by opening and closing the flumes connecting each bed.

July 6, 2021Carolyn Filippi

5 Garden Watering Tips

It is nearly impossible to have a successful garden without watering. There may be times when the perfect amount of rain falls, but nearly every growing season brings a stretch of hot and dry days when garden irrigation is essential.

Under drought stress, plants may produce small fruit, such as undersized tomatoes or melons, or they may produce no fruit at all. They may become tough, fibrous, or bitter, as with cabbage and turnips. They may bolt, sending up a flower stalk and stopping growth, as with lettuce and spinach. Or they may wilt and die. For the best and tastiest yield, it is important to pay attention to the watering needs of your plants.

But watering is a no-brainer, right? You simply follow common watering rules like “gardens need 1 inch of water per week” or “water once or twice a week“… that works, doesn’t it? Well, the truth is, when it comes to watering there are no hard and fast rules that apply in all situations.

Here are some factors to consider when deciding when to water: