Elegant, delicious, and easy to digest, quinoa (keen-wa) is a small disk shaped seed that looks a lot like a sesame seed. Classified as a grain, quinoa is actually the seed of a leafy plant related to spinach.

Quinoa is simple to prepare and cooks in just 15 minutes to a light, fluffy consistency with a delicate, nut-like flavor. The germ is external and pulls away slightly when cooked, forming an attractive, delicate ring around the perimeter. Quinoa makes a lovely presentation and can be used in place of most other grains in any recipe.

Revered as sacred by the ancient Incas, quinoa has been recognized as a “superfood” because of its remarkable nutritional value. Like soybeans, quinoa is exceptionally high in lysine, an amino acid that is rare among vegetables. This versatile grain is high in protein, calcium and iron, a good source of phosphorous, vitamin E and several of the B vitamins. In addition to all this, quinoa tastes terrific! …read more of Quinoa: Super Grain with Environmental Benefits here

In most New England farms like mine, April is a month of greenhouse work, plowing and planting.

However it also represents the beginning of the spring season for delicate greens, both cultivated and those found in the wild. Found underneath row coverings to keep them warm, or within hoop-houses, spring salad greens have emerged to provide the first harvest of the season.

Our first cuttings will offer such delicate lettuce varieties like Lola Rosa and Red Oak, Japanese greens such as Mizuna, and the ever popular Arugula. These extremely tender leaves are best eaten with very little dressing. I suggest some good extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice (with a little salt and pepper).

Ramps are a crop my farm does not cultivate, but we have found them all over the wooded hillside on our property. …read more of Ramps and Other Spring Goodies here

CSAs are hot right now, really hot.  CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture and is an investment in a farm for a season and in return you receive a fresh, weekly box of produce (some offer meats and dairy) during the growing season.

Prices range depending on the length and type of a program. It is important the consumer to understand and accept the risks before hand. However, should the season prove to be a productive one, then the reward is a bounty of goods for your kitchen.

At a recent conference (www.harvestnewengland.org), one of the panel discussions was about CSA programs. CSAs have long been associated with organic farms, but recent trends show that conventional growers are recognizing the benefits of offering CSA programs as well (which could lead to fewer chemical applications being used as the growers sees the consumer willing to carry higher costs of organic food sources, and the shared risk associated with CSAs). …read more of The Farmers Conference Part II, CSA here

It’s probably not news to anyone that pesticides have been shown to have carcinogenic and other adverse health effects on humans and that organic produce is the best choice for people and for the planet.

Mounting evidence confirms that many commonly used pesticides can suppress the normal immune system response to invading bacteria, viruses, parasites and tumors.¹ The immune system is the body’s first line of defense and weakening its response can increase the incidence of disease.

A study by the National Cancer Institute identified pesticides as a likely cause of elevated rates of several forms of cancer among farmers². Farmers are at higher risk for certain cancers, such as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, skin melanomas, multiple myeloma, leukemia, and cancers of the lip, stomach, prostate and brain. Exposures to a number of pesticides have been linked to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, while exposure to insecticides has been associated with leukemia, multiple myeloma and brain cancer³. …read more of Shoppers Guide to Pesticides in Produce here

I recently took a trip to the Harvest New England Agricultural Marketing Conference & Trade Show in Sturbridge, Mass, where I took part in a panel discussion on institutional purchasing from local growers.

There were panel discussions on topics as wide ranging as how to use the Internet for marketing and increase sales, the emergence CSA programs, to agricultural energy conservation and land transfer programs for the family farmer.

What struck me most, however, was how many people from the public were looking into starting small growing operations. It was also interesting to see how many conventional growers see organic in the larger context of farming in the US. …read more of The Farmer Attends a Conference here