Farmer Authors

Most all of the carrots grown for seed in North America and Europe are biennials. This means that the plants will take two seasons to fully mature and require a period of cold temperatures to induce flowering and the production of seeds. Biennial crops can be tricky; their extended stay in the field can further expose them to the damaging...

You may have noticed that some of your favorite carrot varieties have become temporarily unavailable or backordered. This issue is being caused by a surging population of a pest that has a particular taste for Umbellifers, the family of plants that carrots belong to. Lygus Bugs, an insect categorization with over 40 unique species, are common across North America with a notorious reputation for...

As the unprecedented year of 2020 comes to a close, growers across North America are studying seed catalogs, reworking their crop plans and using the lessons learned this season to bring more abundance into the New Year. We wanted to send you into 2021 with some heartfelt thoughts from growers preparing for the New Year, hoping they will inspire you...

Growing Lettuce in the Winter When we think of winter crops, we think of tough, leafy greens and durable roots that grow close to the ground and survive the low light and cold temperatures of winter, in part due to their robustness and strength. These crops are often delicious, sweetened with the frosts and hardy to the difficult growing conditions of the cool seasons. One crop that...

Have you ever accidentally ordered too many hot pepper plant varieties and then accidentally planted too many hot pepper plants out of pure excitement for summer flavors? Of course you have! We've all been there; the seed catalog is open and the varieties are impossible to pass up. You think one or two plants of each type will be just...

While we busily harvest the great bounty of fruiting crops, nutritious leaves, roots, flowers and herbs erupting from the garden in mid July, the sneaking thought that winter is coming plays like creepy horror film music in the back of my mind. We're all doing our best to can our tomatoes and make our cabbage into sauerkraut for use in...

There’s a new pest entering the scene and it is wreaking havoc on brassicas crops such as cabbage, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, broccoli and kale. It’s called the swede midge and it's larvae feed off of and destroy the growth point of plants.  As a new and invasive pest that currently has no organic approved pesticides that work to eradicate it, early detection and...

There's no labor of love on the farm quite as time consuming and stressful as attempting to raise a healthy tomato crop. After years of honing in on a system, we find what methods work best for our spaces and what varieties outperform others. This cumulative experience of growing tomatoes, season after season, serves as the wisdom that ultimately leads...

The gardening season is here! It's an exciting time and has been made even more so by all of the new gardeners getting growing this year as a means of supplying their families and communities with fresh food during these uncertain times. Below we've put together some friendly first-timer tips and, as always, we encourage you seasoned gardeners out there...

As we've each dealt with the difficulties and uncertainties of life amid a global health crisis individually, we've also been forced to carry the burden collectively with disruptions to foodways, resource distribution, healthcare and our local and national economies. It has affected everyone, though not equally, and each community has had to make tough choices about how to move forward...