Straw or hay mulch can protect and feed your garden over the winter
Straw, hay, grass clippings or cardboard and compost: what to put on your garden beds before winter, and what to watch for.
Pies and Pawpaws, Worth the Time
A crate of pawpaws, a handmade pie crust class, and what gets lost when food is made to ship. From Red Shirt Farm Market in Lanesborough, MA.
Asian Greens: What’s in the Mix
Mustard, mizuna, Chinese cabbage and tatsoi: what each Asian green tastes like and how to cook it. Grown in our Lanesborough, MA greenhouse.
What the Squash Field Wouldn’t Say
The spaghetti squash rotted on the vine. A birthing-class checklist for a fussy baby turned out to be the same list I run on a failing field.
Winter Squash Beyond Butternut
Honeynut, kabocha, Koginut and Georgia Candy Roaster: where each winter squash came from, how it tastes and how to cook it.
She Picked Up the Worm
A teenager screamed at an earthworm. The next session she held one out in her hand. A Roots Rising story from Red Shirt Farm in Lanesborough, MA.
Greens in February
Winter greens that came through the cold sweeter, and a Berkshires CSA that works like an account in your name instead of a box.
The September Slump
Two cars in the lot on a Tuesday, and what it takes to keep a year-round farm store in Lanesborough, MA open after the tourists leave.
Nobody Ordered These Bees
Both hives died over winter and we didn’t order new bees. Wild ones moved in anyway. A look at what goes on inside the hive.
The Real Cost of Real Food
A question at the building supply store sparked this: what real, local food actually costs, and where the money goes.
It’s not the cow, it’s the how
What pasture-raised beef costs and why, as the White House works to make hamburger cheaper. From a regenerative farm in Lanesborough, MA.
Meet Your Honey: Fahey Family Honey Farm
A Vermont family keeps more than 300 hives. Their raw wildflower honey is now on the shelves at our Lanesborough, MA farm store.
Racing the Daylight
We pulled the tomatoes out of a greenhouse and put the winter greens in behind them. Here’s why, and what’s next.
A Helping Hand from Nature: The Wasp That Does Our Dirty Work
A hornworm in the garden looks like a goner. Look at its back before you squish it. The tiny wasp that kills it is the reason we don’t spray.
Grow Something That Feeds You
August is the week to plan next year’s garden: cover crop the empty beds now, order the fruit and berry plants now, plant them in spring.
Digging for Treasure: Fingerling Potatoes
A new potato is any potato dug young. A fingerling is a shape. This week’s dig is both, and they fry up crisp in a hot pan with oil and salt.
The Lettuce Outbreak, and Why Ours Isn’t Part of It
People asked whether our lettuce was part of the Cyclospora outbreak. Here is how it gets from seed to bag, and what you can do.
Are These Organic?
Our peaches aren’t organic. The honest answer is about when a grower sprays, and why.
Why Your Cucumber Has Scars
Pale scars on a cucumber are healed beetle bites. They don’t change the taste.
