URI Master Gardener Radio Podcast: Organic Gardening

WADK 1540 AM out of Newport, Rhode Island has just made available more podcasts for our URI Master Gardener radio show "For the Love of Gardening." My latest show is about organic gardening and my guest Sanne Kure-Jensen and I discuss organic practices, pest control and soil amendments, among other things, in this thirty minute podcast. Enjoy!

Organic Gardening part 1

Organic Gardening part 2

Sue

Connecting with our food: raw milk from Buttercup Farm

It's hard to believe that not that long ago most food was locally grown and knowing the farms and farmers that fed our families was common place. Farmers were our neighbors. They lived in our communities and were part of the fabric of people's daily lives. The meal on the dinner table was crafted from ingredients representing the skills, blood, sweat and tears of local farming families. We saw the crops growing in the fields and the animals that provided our milk and meat grazing in the meadows. Our food had meaning for us because the farmers that toiled to provide the food were meaningful to us.

 Megan, on the far right, giving me a tour of the farm.

This connection with our food and farmers is so important and is sadly missing from our modern industrialized food system. Happily, a result of the blossoming local food economy is a resurgence of small farms serving their communities and I jump at any opportunity to meet local growers and producers and to see their farms. I recently had the chance to visit Buttercup Farm in Sterling, Connecticut and to meet Megan the owner and her beautiful Jersey Cows.

Garden and Kitchen Chores for March

Under that pile of snow is the garden gate.

The start of March feels like deja vu. This time last year, here in New England, we were complaining about the never ending winter. It was cold and snowy and the ground was completely frozen. Ha! Fast forward a year and we are wishing for the winter we were gripping about twelve months ago. Will I  get to do any of the outdoor chores on my list this month? Who knows. Here is perhaps my overly optimistic March Garden and Kitchen To Do list.