Farmers and climate change

Because we in NH are just coming back to agriculture, perhaps there is less resistance to overcome when talking about climate change to farmers.  But in the west where farming has been the main "industry" for over a century, changing thinking is not so easy.  Certainly the awful drought there now is a hard way to learn.  So how can we talk to farmers, who work so hard and are so subject to the vagaries of weather and the climate, about this issue?  Here are some ideas.

How to freeze tomatoes

The University of Maine Cooperative Extension has a great short video on how to easily freeze tomatoes.  For those of us who don't can, this can be a great way to preserve some of the seeming millions of tomatoes we have this year.

Climate change and food supplies

Most Americans seem to have been convinced by this year's drought and fires that the planet is warming, and fast.  Now we need to think about how these changes in our climate will affect our food supplies.  And we better start asking schools like our UNH to work on it.  That's one of the things that our public universities do very well, and have been doing for a long, long time.

And it's another reason to support our local farmers.  Small farms close by can adapt to climate change much better than enormous farms far away.  Love your farmer, s/he's going to be an important person in the not so distant future.

This article was part of the weekly e-mail from the American Meteorological Society.

Best little market around!

Last week I met another new Northwood farmer, Eric Robinson, along with JJ from Jeffrey Family Farm. It is wonderful to see agriculture coming of age again in our town! Come visit them, get some beautiful produce, and support a sustainable food supply at the same time. Remember, to have farms, we must have markets!

More produce vendors!

Today we had two new produce vendors.  Eric Robinson from Northwood is running Eric's Organics, and last week I bought blackberries from him.  He'll have more in coming weeks, plus lots of vegetables.

We also greeted Sanborn Mills Farm, another organic vendor, who had watermelons, herbs and lots of other good food.


The market has been really booming the last couple of weeks, and today I heard we got a mention in the NH Market Bulletin as one of the best small markets around!

Northwood's Own Jeffrey Family Farm

We are pleased to have JJ from Jeffrey Family Farm in Northwood at the market.  High summer vegetables fresh from the garden.  Do come do your shopping at the market on Thursday afternoons.  Fresh local vegetables last so much longer than the well-traveled ones at the supermarkets.

Do check the next post down on the blog for the Farmers Market Survey from UNH.  Fill it out, it will help all our farmers and markets.

Farmers Market Customer Survey

After you visit the market today, take a minute and take this survey.  UNH has great program for farmers and sustainable agriculture, but they need to know what we think.  Thanks!

National Farmers Market Week

How should we celebrate National Farmers Market Week?  By visiting our local farmers markets and supporting our great vendors, of course.  But how should Congress celebrate? A look at what they've been doing, and not doing, might give us some ideas to pass on to our congressmen and senators.

In the Senate, a bill passed on a bipartisan vote in late June included funding for a variety of rural development programs, including a program that would support local and regional food systems and new farmers, and one that would make it easier for organic farmers to get crop insurance. The Senate bill also would require recipients of crop and revenue insurance to take basic measures to protect soil and water resources. 

Over in the House in July, however, things got grim. While the House bill did maintain some funding for farmers market promotion, it also slashed more than $16 billion in food assistance programs for the poor; weakened insurance programs for diversified, organic, and healthy food farmers; eliminated programs that assist organic farmers with certification; and deepened cuts to programs that help farmers protect soil, air, and water resources. The combined damage led one commentator to call the bill a “full-on disaster.”

And have any of you written a letter to editor of your local paper telling your neighbors why you shop at the farmers market near you?  Everyone reads the letters to the editor!

August is NH Eat Local Month!

August is NH Eat Local Month and all the friends of the Northwood Farmers Market sure do know how to EAT LOCAL, don't we?!