Agriculture

I think about food so much this time of the year because vegetables abound. I just came home from working at Courtney Farms in Bagdad with a load of vegetables that will be presented to Community Supported Agriculture subscribers for a weekend gathering of shared experiences and shared food. We are combining our farming efforts to bring food to local families, and that includes the pretty things that can be added and eaten in the mix.

If you have a garden, chances are you appreciate nature in all its glory. But sometimes nature gets in the way of our desires to cultivate.

Deer browsing, rabbit munching, squirrel digging, bird pecking, mole trenching and resident vole feasting have all come up in the last two weeks. I have no silver bullet for any of these problems. but I do have some practical approaches to offset the shared use of our gardens.

After the heat-wave in late May the blueberries ripened like wildfire, the Colorado potato beetle larva peppered the Pontiac potato patch and the cabbage worms nearly devoured my kale.

I would pick and squish and drown, but so much was happening at once I needed a little assistance.

As you know, I do not use chemical pesticides in the vegetable garden. I will reach for a bio-insecticide if I must, however.

Thomas named state’s most

influential agriculture figure

An informal poll of more than 100 individuals from across the state by Keeton Communications has determined that Roger Thomas of Smith’s Grove is the state’s most influential person in agriculture.

Those surveyed ranged from farmers to leaders of commodity groups, and for the past four weeks plus, the Ag Report has counted down the top 10.