High Mowing Organic Non-GMO Seeds
-
A Garden Seed Worth Saving
Many years ago, I was working on a farm, and happened by a group of people who were gathered around for a workshop. The man giving the workshop, who was about my age, was talking excitedly about plant sex which was enough to make me take pause! I listened for long enough to learn that they were talking about saving... -
Introduction to Seed Saving, Part 2: Wet Seed Production
This article is a follow-up to the article from last week about High Mowing’s production of dry seed crops, highlighting Ruby Streaks mustard. The Seed Production Farm grows approximately 26 acres of seed crops each year. What are “Wet Seeded” Crops? The majority of our late season crops are wet seeded. Wet seeded crops are those that house the seed... -
Introduction to Seed Saving, Part 1: Dry Seed Production
Dry seeded crops are quite easy to grow, clean, and save. On High Mowing Organic Seed’s Production Farm, we produce multiple species and varieties of dry seeded crops each year. As always, we are happy to disseminate all information about our seed growing and saving techniques. To positively impact your community and local food supply, we encourage you to engage in... -
Musings on the Ethics of Organically Approved Pesticides
Flossing Your Way to Organic Health: Musings on the Ethics of Organically Approved Pesticides (and why you should visit the dentist) When I first began flirting with farming, it was closely tied to my commitment to a natural and organic lifestyle. It came about at the same time that I stopped washing my hair regularly, sprinkled nutritional yeast on my... -
Optimizing Your Backpack Sprayer
Backpack sprayers being discussed by John Grande, Ph.D., from the Rutgers Synder Research and Extension Farm. Most farms have at least one backpack sprayer. They are cheap to buy, easy to run and are an efficient way to get the sprays on the crop. My farm is small enough that I will probably never use a tractor-mounted spray rig but... -
The Unique Challenge of Colorado Potato Beetles
It wasn’t until about 150 years ago that Colorado potato beetles began to play such a dramatic role in potato production in the US. Before then, this harmless insect fed on a handful of weed species in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. As the first pioneers brought potato production to the western territories, the potato beetle found a new... -
Downy Mildew Got You Down?
Downy Mildew is a type of foliar plant disease that spreads under cool, wet conditions and affects many different crops. Ornamental flowers, grapes, onions, basil, lettuce and cucumber all get Downy Mildew, a parasitic pathogen in the Peronosporaceae family. Although they all come from the same “big, happy family”, different species of Downy Mildew attack different crops. For example, Bremia... -
Medicinal Herbs
At the height of the summer when the days are long, the trials field is full and our harvests are overflowing, it’s easy to let exhaustion creep into the few spare moments not spent hoeing, transplanting, collecting data, or harvesting. On the production farms I’ve worked on, this time of year is what we call good for napping, since there’s... -
Cover Cropping on the High Mowing Organic Seed Farm
I first heard the old adage of “no bare ground” while working for Gordon Tooley and Margaret Yancy at Tooley’s Trees in Truchas, New Mexico. Gordon espouses many philosophies on life and farming. However, the philosophy of “no bare ground” didn’t completely resonate with me in dry-land New Mexico. Not long after I started on the Seed Production Farm at... -
Don’t Forget About Fall! Seeding Now for Autumn Abundance
Growing is an act of faith and foresight. Faith because you plant these seeds, tiny embodiments of life, small parcels of potential, and you trust that with the proper conditions and care, they will grow. Foresight because in farming and gardening, you are always thinking seasons ahead, anticipating the earth’s next rotation. We choose varieties and plan successions while the...