farmer

Green Mountain Yogurt: The Smallest Licensed Vermont Dairy
FarmPlate Dec 27, 2012 farmer 0 comments
By Diane Wyatt, founder of Green Mountain Yogurt When we first got Clover, she was barely 5 days old.  She fit nicely in the back of our minivan, looking bony and frail and in my uneducated opinion, rather small for a baby cow considering her mother had to weigh close to 1000lbs. She was awfully cute though and I couldn't help but feel pride welling up inside of me as I realized I was to become the proud mother of this needy little thing who was anxiously trying to get its next meal by sucking on my fingers.   I paid the Jersey farmer $100 while taking mental notes on what he told me she required for feed, care, housing, etc. At least I had the housing part figured out since I...
For Thanksgiving, FoodCorps Service Member Brings the Sweet Potatoes
Sebastian Naskaris Nov 21, 2011 farmer 0 comments
The FoodCorps MissionGetting local food into local schools is not impossible. In fact, on November 22nd — for the first time since anyone can remember — my county school system will be serving local sweet potatoes. I am a young farmer and cook who is taking a year to serve with FoodCorps, a great new national nonprofit made up of fifty leaders who are trying to foster some much-needed change in our nation’s school food system.  One of the ways we do this is through getting local produce into our school cafeterias. Our goal is to make a big impact on the health of our nation’s kids, while making a smaller impact on the health of our nation’s environment. Side effects include stronger...
On Veterans Day, Farmer Veteran Coalition Honors Both Military & Agricultural Service
Jeff Gangemi Nov 11, 2011 farmer 0 comments
On this Veterans Day, Marine Corps veteran Chris Ritthaler does much more than lament the ongoing military conflict and violence around the world. Nor does he stop at saluting the extreme sacrifice our fallen countrymen have made. More than that, Ritthaler gives us some great perspective on the ongoing impact many of our country’s veterans have, via the great food site CivilEats.   Ritthaler describes how military veteran and organic farmer Michael O’Gorman founded the non-profit Farmer Veteran Coalition (FVC) in 2008, and how the organization is working to mobilize military veterans in the sustainable agriculture movement through programs like the FVC Fellowship Fund. Check out this...
Vilsack Works to Boost Rural Economies
FarmPlate Jun 08, 2010 farmer 0 comments
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack spoke on the continuing need for an economic rehabilitation of the nation's rural communities at last week's National Summit of Rural America held in Hillsboro, Missouri. At the summit, Vilsack announced $22.5 million in USDA funding for small farmers through the Value-Added Agricultural Producer Grant program, which was added in the 2008 Farm Bill. Said Vilsack, "This new program will help provide access to capital, business-based training and technical assistance to the smallest of small businesses. We need to embrace new strategies to help create a thriving rural economy.” The grants can be used for enhancing business plans, executing feasibility...
Rocketry 101
FarmPlate May 12, 2010 farmer 0 comments
It's May and it's Vermont. The dribs and drabs of snow left over from Mother's Day have finally disappeared from everywhere but the highest elevations. It's time to get something, anything in the ground. It's still too early for beans and tomato starts will have to wait until Memorial Day. But there's one plant whose seeds almost blast off even in cold soil, and that plant is arugula. The English call it rocket, a perfect name for this cool-season salad green that grows at a rate approaching lightspeed. The plants are often ready to harvest as early as four weeks after seeding. If left to set flowers and seedpods, arugula will easily self-seed. It's unstoppable. Arugula may look like baby...
Hen of the Wood's New Private Label Wine
FarmPlate Apr 09, 2010 farmer 0 comments
Waterbury, Vermont's Hen of the Wood restaurant is busy making room in its wine cellar for the delivery of some out-of-the-ordinary Oregon wines. Anne Amie Vineyards, the Willamette Valley winery best known for its world-class Pinot Noirs, has collaborated with the restaurant to release two private label bottlings of its Pinot Noir red and Müller-Thurgau white. (Shred heads and wine lovers alike will appreciate the new Anne Amie/Hen of the Wood release. Stowe's Lance [caption id="attachment_3278" align="alignleft" width="231" caption="Wine Label Designed by Lance Violette"][/caption] Violette, best known for his graphic work on Shaun White's most recent medal-winning snowboard, designed the...
Feds Investigate Possible BigAg Antitrust Violations
FarmPlate Mar 16, 2010 farmer 0 comments
The U.S. Justice Department and the U.S. Department of Agriculture are joining forces to investigate potential violations of antitrust laws in the agriculture industry. Attorney General Eric Holder and USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack traveled to Iowa last week speak to farmers, ranchers and industry leaders at a public meeting. The first of five workshops on competition and consolidation in the agriculture industry took place on Friday in front of a crowd of about 700 people. The central question to tackle is, Holder said, “Is today’s agriculture industry suffering from a lack of free and fair competition in the marketplace.” Public relations executives from Monsanto Company were also at the...