Vote for our market!

Help the Northwood Farmers Market win $5,000 (or weekly prize of $250) in Care2’s online "Love your Farmers Market Contest."

Use the link below to vote for the Northwood Farmers Market - your favorite Farmers Market!
http://www.care2.com/farmersmarket/27116

Pass the message along to your friends, family, and email buddies to help make your market even better.

Our musicians

Our musicians at the previous markets have been the Faiellas and Sandra Koski. We thank them for making our market most festive.

Non-profits

Our non-profit for June 25 was NALMC, a collaborative of local land owners. You can learn more about them at their website, just follow the link. They are hosting a celebration of Northwood Meadows State Park on July 11th from 11-4, and all are welcome.

If you are a non-profit or community organization and would like to participate in our market please contact us. Contact information under About Us.

The Wisdom of Small Farms

Friends of the Northwood Libraries to Host Free Program:

The Wisdom of Small Farms and Local Food: Aldo Leopold's Land Ethic and Sustainable Agriculture

July 14, 2009 - 7:00 p.m.

This event will take place at the Chesley Memorial Library in Northwood, NH, and will feature John Carroll of the University of New Hampshire department of Natural Resources.

John E. Carroll is professor of environmental conservation in the department of natural resources at the University of New Hampshire. In three decades at UNH, he has taught and done research on national and international environmental policy, diplomacy, ethics, and values as they pertain to sustainable agriculture and food systems.

"It is not meant for all of us to farm. But it is meant for all of us to eat. And we all have a right to nutritious food to keep us 'healthy, wealthy and wise.' To the greatest extent possible, this means local food." -- John E. Carroll

Using his book "The Wisdom of Small Farms and Local Food: Aldo Leopold's Land Ethic and Sustainable Agriculture", Professor Carroll explores with the audience the theoretical and practical underpinnings of the growing movement toward sustainable agriculture. Focusing on the land grant universities, particularly in New England and in Leopold's own Midwest, their work in sustainable agriculture and their increasing attention to small-scale farming and local food, this book, provides a vision of where our public land grant universities might go, in research, in teaching, in outreach, inspired by the farmers who know best from their own experience, and providing vision and hope for many who want to play a role in increasing their own food security. The book is available through the author who can be reached at carroll@cisunix.unh.edu.

This program was made possible by the University of New Hampshire Speakers Bureau which connects faculty and staff speakers with non-profit organizations to share the research and knowledge of the university with the people and communities of New Hampshire. For more information on obtaining a speaker for your organization, contact the UNH Speakers Bureau at (603) 862-4401 or on the web at www.unh.edu/speakersbureau.

For more information on this event, contact the Chesley Memorial Library at 603-942-5472 or chesley1@worldpath.net.

Market in the rain - June 18

Yes, we can!

More pictures

Pictures of the second market on June 11th, 2009.

First market of 2009

Pictures of the first market can be found here.

Looking for a place to farm?

New Hampshire Farm Link to Merge with New England LandLink

Today, more than ever, there is a need to match farmers who want to sell or rent their farms with people who want to go into farming. Farmland is expensive and hard to find, and there is a younger generation with a desire to farm and supply local food. Some landowners might even make special arrangements for people who showed promise of carrying on their enterprise.

The New Hampshire Farm Link program was organized on June 21, 2000 with the purpose of joining willing farmers to willing renters or sellers of farmland; however, it never really had the financial backing or staffing to fully do the job. After several years of being somewhat dormant and looking for a home, the New Hampshire Farm Link program is going to merge with New England LandLink, run by the New England Small Farm Institute (NESFI) in Belchertown, MA.

The New England LandLink program serves all of New England and eastern New York. Its database currently has 510-plus seekers and over 60 farm offerings. Merging with this regional program will provide a considerably larger pool of prospective farmers and available land and be a win-win situation for everyone involved. There will also be a director, Warren Hubley, available by phone and email, to provide personal contact (warren@smallfarm.org or 413-323-4531).

People who want to list their property or who are looking for land can obtain application forms from any UNH Cooperative Extension office or other cooperating agricultural agencies around the state or from NESFI’s website, www.smallfarm.org, under NE LandLink. It costs $10 to register for the standard LandLink services, which include contact information for any web site listings and advice about new properties.

The New Hampshire Coalition for Sustaining Agriculture, a committee comprised of a cross-section of people dedicated to preserving agriculture in the state, originally proposed the idea of the Farm Link Program. 

Tony Mincu, a member of the committee and law student at the time, took on the task of formally organizing the New Hampshire program as part of a community law project in coordination with Franklin Pierce Law School. There have been a few applications kept on file over the years and some informal match-ups, but there wasn’t enough staff time to maintain a full-service program.

New England LandLink is a great way to match up new farmers with those wanting to exit the business and maintain a viable agricultural industry in the region. Be sure to take advantage of this opportunity.

For more information, contact John C. Porter, UNH Cooperative Extension Dairy Specialist/Professor, Emeritus at john.porter@unh.edu.

UNH Cooperative Extension programs and policies are consistent with pertinent Federal and State laws and regulations on non-discrimination regarding age, color, handicap, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or veterans status.