Serious Grower

I will be including brief field reports in the feed through the growing season, featuring real-time reports from extension specialists in New England, New York, and the mid-Atlantic states. Pay close attention to where some of these reports are coming from because we’ll be covering a wide region and please reach out if you need help connecting with your local extension specialist wherever you are....

Caleb Goossen (MOFGA) provides some practical guidance on understanding the good and bad byproducts of microbial activity, while we traverse current and historical approaches for capturing heat for indoor lettuce production.  Listen to the full interview with Dr. Md Sazan Rahman about UNH's Manure Heating Project .    Music: With the Homies, Sarah the Illstrumentalist; Mt. Fiji, Ryan James Carr; U...

I will be including brief field reports in the feed through the growing season, featuring real-time reports from extension specialists in New England, New York, and the mid-Atlantic states. Pay close attention to where some of these reports are coming from because we’ll be covering a wide region and please reach out if you need help connecting with your local extension specialist wherever you are....

Do you want to know more about where your tomatoes come from and the experts who are supporting our vegetable farmers to grow us the freshest, tastiest tomatoes possible, using the most economically & environmentally sustainable practices? Watch this video of large-scale processing tomato harvest . So neat! This discussion includes many pre-season topics including the economics of reflective m...

I will be including brief field reports in the feed through the growing season, featuring real-time reports from extension specialists in New England, New York, and the mid-Atlantic states. Pay close attention to where some of these reports are coming from because we’ll be covering a wide region and please reach out if you need help connecting with your local extension specialist wherever you are....

Kasi is a non-commercial farmer in Montana's Bitterroot Valley. We discuss the potential for growing figs in northern climates and are joined by organic crop specialist, Caleb Goossen, who holds us by the hand and gently explains soil chemistry as we "Monday morning quarterback" a hugelkulture venture that went wrong.  Dr. Becky Sideman's Research Report on Figs for Northern Climates   Music: With...

I will be including brief field reports in the feed through the growing season, featuring real-time reports from extension specialists in New England, New York, and the mid-Atlantic states. Pay close attention to where some of these reports are coming from because we’ll be covering a wide region and please reach out if you need help connecting with your local extension specialist wherever you are....

Susan is a professor of agriculture at the University of New Hampshire... but just like the rest of us she has many interests, including knitting! In this wide-ranging conversation, we discuss how to avoid bringing pests into our home when we are repurposing second hand items, as well as an instagram reel from @rachelisknitting.   Please reach out to your local extension office if you think you ha...

I will be including brief field reports in the feed through the growing season, featuring real-time reports from extension specialists in New England, New York, and the mid-Atlantic states. Pay close attention to where some of these reports are coming from because we’ll be covering a wide region and please reach out if you need help connecting with your local extension specialist wherever you are....

Kasi is a non-commercial farmer in Montana's Bitterroot Valley. In this wide ranging conversation we discuss what it takes to live on the cutting edge of art and science, how we adopt new ideas, and how we develop our own systems for doing things. This one is mostly heart and very little science.   Music: With the Homies, Sarah the Illstrumentalist; AAH!, TAGE; Lock Stock, The Big Let Down

I will be including brief field reports in the feed through the growing season, featuring real-time reports from extension specialists in New England, New York, and the mid-Atlantic states. Pay close attention to where some of these reports are coming from because we’ll be covering a wide region and please reach out if you need help connecting with your local extension specialist wherever you are....

Seth is a commercial grower in mid-coast Maine and he is getting serious about managing cabbage aphid infesting his organic Brussels sprouts. We discuss the challenges and opportunities of chemigating with overhead irrigation to apply insectical soaps with the frequency required for good control, as well as the potential non-target effects on biocontrol agents living on the farm.   Check out all t...

I will be including brief field reports in the feed through the growing season, featuring real-time reports from extension specialists in New England, New York, and the mid-Atlantic states. Pay close attention to where some of these reports are coming from because we’ll be covering a wide region and please reach out if you need help connecting with your local extension specialist wherever you are....

Kasi is a non-commercial farmer in Montana's Bitterroot Valley and a Granger! In this conversation we discuss what it takes to build community, what happens when winters get less wintery, and some insider information about the winter Olympics. Learn more about the Grange!  Find my conversation with UNH Extension's Jeremy Delisle about what could go wrong when starting and maintaining a home orchar...

I will be including brief field reports in the feed through the growing season, featuring real-time reports from extension specialists in New England, New York, and the mid-Atlantic states. Pay close attention to where some of these reports are coming from because we’ll be covering a wide region and please reach out if you need help connecting with your local extension specialist wherever you are....

Will is an extension educator in northern New Hampshire and he's helping his growers manage a new and unusual pest attacking broccoli. We talk to experts in NH, ME, and VT to understand the state of the art in monitoring and management of swede midge.  Vegetable IPM Reports for New Hampshire   Watch the full interview with Dr. Tom Rounsville, Director, Applied Genetics and Genomics Lab at the Univ...

Kasi is a non-commercial farmer in Montana's Bitterroot Valley, and she's been reading about Luther Burbank alongside a pile of seed catalogues. We discuss what makes crops "true to seed".   Music: With the Homies, Sarah the Illstrumentalist; Libertalia, Arc De Soleil; Overture, Dozeoff; Can't Handle It, Ryan James Carr

Susan is a professor of agriculture at the University of New Hampshire. We discuss the ins and outs of growing in unconventional situations and talk spiders.  Learn more about the Farm2You program at UNH   Learn more about the research project Optimizing pest management in high tunnels to increase the resiliency of local food systems Learn more about pesticide regulation     With the Homies, Sarah...

Kasi is a non-commercial farmer in Montana's Bitterroot Valley, and accidental grasshopper rancher. The ins and outs regarding the rearing and farming of insects is discussed. One of many popular ant forums can be found on Reddit  Learn more about the Schmidt Pain Index   With the Homies, Sarah the Illstrumentalist; The Doom and Gloom Choir, Luella Gren; Drinkin' & Jivin', TAGE

Caleb Goossen joins us for a deep dive into the interplay between fertilization and pest severity. TL;DR Overfertilizing your crops might make some pest infestation worse, but underfertilizing won't solve all your pest problems.    We review data from Laybourne & Aradottir 2022 and Nowak & Komor 2010 .    Music: With the Homies, Sarah the Illstrumentalist; Overture, Dozeoff; Riding High, J...

Kasi is a non-commercial farmer in Montana's Bitterroot Valley. In this episode we live react to an interview with Will Hastings about his work developing the Growing Kiwiberries in the Northeast guide.  Learn more about how kiwiberry is resistant to infestation from the invasive fruit fly, spotted wing drosophila! Music: With the Homies, Sarah the Illstrumentalist; La Belle Nini, El Flaco Collect...

Jason is turning his Oregon home into an edible landscape and a terrific place for his family to hang out. In this "garden coaching" session we exchange advice on topics, both mechanical and botanical, touching on hops, pole beans, melons, and luffa sponges. Resource from Oregon State University on Growing Hops in the Home Garden   Music: With the Homies, Sarah the Illstrumentalist; Libertalia, Ar...

Kasi is a non-commercial farmer in Montana's Bitterroot Valley, where its been pretty windy lately. We discuss the history of hedgerows, bramble maintenance, wild fruits, and landscape alterations on the farm.   History of hedgerows in the UK The Hedgelayer Documentary   Music: With the Homies, Sarah the Illstrumentalist; Aquatic Flower Dance, Ryan James Carr; Summertime Madness, Matt Large; Disco...

Susan is a professor of agriculture at the University of New Hampshire. She brings a ton of commercial experience to her college classroom but she also runs a community garden and has been extending her expertise to the on-campus daycare. We're joined by a fellow parent from Susan's daycare and we discuss how gardening in the classroom has long term benefits for young children, why principles of f...

Kasi is a non-commercial farmer, growing in Montana's Bitterroot Valley, and she recently lost quite a few apple trees to rodent damage despite her best efforts to protect them. We discuss behavior & pest management of voles and deer causing injury to trees, with the help of publicly-funded research brought to us by the US Department of Agriculture .   Music: With the Homies, Sarah the Illstra...