This is a Test

I am doing this to show one of our beekeepers how easy it is to use WordPress to build a website!

Let’s do a link to the Growing Small Farms website.

Now let’s link to the Chatham Beekeepers’ website.

For more information email Mort Matheny.

New Vermiculture Technology Book

One of the authors of this book is Rhonda Sherman, our North Carolina State University Vermiculture Specialist!

Vermiculture Technology: Earthworms, Organic Wastes, and Environmental Management is a 35-chapter book edited by Clive Edwards, Norman Arancon, and Rhonda Sherman.  Contributing authors are from Australia, Belarus, Brazil, Canada, China, Cuba, Hong Kong, India, Mexico, Philippines, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States.

The book explores the dramatic growth and changes in vermiculture technology since 1988.  The contributors discuss outdoor and indoor windrows, container systems, wedge systems, and low labor-requirement, fully-automated continuous flow vermicomposting reactor systems that can process more than 1,000 tons of organic waste per reactor per annum. They also highlight the science and biology behind the use and efficacy of vermicomposting, examine its importance to developing countries, and detail the technology of the past, present, and future.  This volume chronicles how vermiculture can be brought into full commercial and industrial development and find application in integrate waste management systems.

Open the flyer below to see details about the book and how to order it.  The flyer has a 20% coupon attached that is valid until the end of December.

Vermiculture Technology Book

Check out the Table of Contents on the second page of the flyer – chapters include discussions on small-scale systems and low-tech systems.

Governor highlights importance of honey bees

I was so thrilled to see this article today, especially during National Pollinator Week! Cooperative Extension played a behind-the-scenes role in this story: the Governor’s ground supervisor attended one of my pollinator conservation workshops last year, we got to talking, and he shared that he really wanted to have honey bees at the Executive Mansion to pollinate their extensive gardens. Budget cuts made acquiring hives difficult. I hooked him up with the Wake County Beekeepers and we got him a mentor and they placed two hives there this spring. I never dreamed we’d see the Governor suited up and working the bees just a few months later!

They were also interested in planting for pollinators, so I teamed up with Niche Gardens Nursery to put in an educational pollinator garden at the Mansion last fall. I’ll post current photos of the garden on the Growing Small Farms website in the near future.

Thousands of visitors tour the gardens at the Executive Mansion every year, so the bee hives and pollinator garden will help teach people about the value of our pollinators and how to help them.

Click here to read the article about the Governor’s bees.

Happy Pollinator Week!

Debbie

Curcurbit downy mildew arrives early in NC

Bad news for cucurbit growers: cucurbit downy mildew has already been detected in North Carolina. It is very early this year.

Because downy mildew can be so devastating to crops, growers are encouraged to start applying prophylactic sprays to all cucurbits as soon as downy mildew is detected in the state – that would be now. Once it is on your farm it is difficult to control organically.

Check out the web page I did last year on the Growing Small Farms website. 

This page provides organic control options and also links to conventional options and more information. Copper seems to be the best organic option and it is not great. Read the web page for details.Good luck!

Late Blight Confirmed in Three States

One of our organic specialists, Dr. Jeanine Davis, emailed today with the news that late blight has been confirmed already in 3 states: Florida, Louisiana, and Maryland. As far as we know it is not yet in North Carolina, but it is good to be aware and plan ahead.

From Jeanine: “Please tell your gardeners and farmers, especially organic farmers, to be alert and prepared. The best single source for info on late blight management with good pictures that I have found is by Meg McGrath at Cornell.” 

I posted some photos and info last year on late blight when it showed up in the Triangle. Normally late blight is only a big problem in the western part of the state but it did show up here in the Triangle last September.

Check out Jeanine’s blog for more updates on late blight.

NC Farmers Respond to Increased Local Meat Demand

News: College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY

May 17, 2010*
*Media contact: Meg Ryan O’Donnell, 919.755.3804 or Meg@capresults.net**

Consumer demand for locally produced foods is encouraging more farmers to produce pasture-raised meat and poultry, according to NC Choices, a Center for Environmental Farming System‘s initiative that promotes sustainable food systems through the advancement of local, pasture-based animal production, processing and marketing.

NC Choices points to the increase in the number of farmers it works with — 45, up from 10 when the initiative launched in 2005 — as well as the number of farmers who are licensed to sell meat directly to consumers.

“Today, there are more than 330 meat producers selling directly to consumers,” said Casey McKissick, coordinator for NC Choices. “This is a three-fold increase over the past 6 years; the market for local foods is strong and growing stronger.”

Sales in natural and organic meat, which represent approximately 2 percent of total red meat sales, are forecast to increase at an annual rate of 11.3 percent through 2012, a much greater rate than total red meat sales sold, according to research by Mintel, an independent market research provider.

In response to the increase in participating farmer and consumer interest, NC Choices recently revamped its website to provide updated farmer profiles and contact information for pasture-based meat producers throughout North Carolina. It also spotlights N.C. Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture meat-processing facilities, contains an embedded Google map that enables the user to search geographically for producers or processors and hosts a calendar of educational workshops and events focused on local, pasture-based meat production and marketing.

NC Choices is committed to supporting farmers and consumers through education and outreach. For more information and to learn how to become involved in NC Choices, contact Casey McKissick at 828.216.2966 or casey@ncchoices.com.

*About the Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS): *CEFS is a partnership between North Carolina State University, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and the North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services. Its mission is to develop and promote food and farming systems that protect the environment, strengthen local communities and provide economic opportunities in North Carolina and beyond. CEFS has also developed a strong outreach and education program that reaches out to all North Carolina residents. CEFS recently published From Farm to Fork: A Guide to Building North Carolina’s Sustainable Local Food Economy, which provides goals and strategies to put North Carolina on the fast track to achieving a sustainable local and regional food system.

Dr. Nancy Creamer Named Distinguished Professor of Sustainable and Community-based Food Systems

News: College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY

Media contact: Dr. Nancy Creamer, 919.515.9447 or nancy_creamer@ncsu.edu

*Dr. Nancy Creamer named distinguished professor*

Dr. Nancy Creamer, North Carolina State University horticulture professor and director of the Center for Environmental Farming Systems, will occupy one of two endowed chairs made possible with a $3.15 million endowment established last year by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

The endowment, announced last November, funds the creation of endowed chairs at N.C. State University and at N.C. A&T State University and supports Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) efforts to increase production, processing, distribution and consumption of local, sustainably raised foods in North Carolina.

As holder of one of the chairs, Creamer becomes a distinguished professor of sustainable and community-based food systems.

Creamer joined the N.C. State faculty in 1995 as an assistant professor and North Carolina Cooperative Extension specialist in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Department of Horticultural Science. She became coordinator of the CEFS organic unit in 1997 and was named director in 2000.

CEFS, located in Goldsboro, is a partnership of N.C. State University, North Carolina A&T State University and the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Its mission is to develop and promote food and farming systems that protect the environment, strengthen local communities and provide economic opportunities in North Carolina and beyond.

As one of the nation’s largest centers for the study of sustainable food and farming systems, CEFS has focused on advancing the scientific research base necessary to enable farmers to adapt successfully to emerging ecological issues and market trends. CEFS has also developed a strong outreach and education program that reaches all North Carolina residents.

CEFS is committed to building North Carolina’s sustainable, local and organic food economy as a way to stimulate economic development and job creation, bolster the viability of local farms and fisheries and help address diet-related health problems. Through its Farm to Fork initiative and a State Action Guide (From Farm to Fork: A Guide to Building North Carolina’s Sustainable Local Food Economy), CEFS has energized and connected thousands of North Carolinians and hundreds of local, regional and statewide organizations that share this commitment.

Written by: Dave Caldwell.

Pastured Poultry “Pasture Walk” April 29

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Pastured Poultry “Pasture Walk” at Brafford Farms in Liberty, NC

6:00 pm 

Sponsored by NC Cooperative Extension, Randolph County Cooperative Extension, American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC)

Hosted by Brafford Farms 

Topics:

• Niche Marketing for Range-raised Eggs – Trey Brafford
• Facilities/Costs – Trey Brafford
• Summer Forages – Adam Ross, Randolph County Cooperative Extension Livestock Agent
• Is Your Hen Producing Eggs? – Jeannette Beranger, ALBC
• ICE CREAM BREAK – from Homeland Creamery

RSVP – Please call Jane Tripp at 919-542-8202 by April 27, 2010 so we have enough ice cream for everyone.

Registration Cost – $10 to be collected the night of the pasture walk. Please have correct change.

Persons in Charge:

• Dan Campeau, Cooperative Extension Area Poultry Agent, dan_campeau@ncsu.edu
• Adam Ross, Randolph County Cooperative Extension Livestock Agent, adam_ross@ncsu.edu

Directions – From Hwy 421, take exit 180 east towards Liberty; go through town and stay on Old 421. Go past Allen’s Hatchery on left. Go about 2 miles and you will see the address on mail box at driveway.  Braffords, 7611 Old 421, Liberty, NC. (on left)

New Distillery Wants Local Grains

Top of the Hill Restaurant & Brewery in Chapel Hill is opening a distillery on Franklin St. in late summer. They want to be able to have their grains locally grown within 200 miles of Chapel Hill. They would like wheat, corn, and possibly sorghum and barley. They will be producing vodka, gin, and rum.

 If you can provide grains or know someone who can, please contact them:

 George Dusek: 919-448-7907 or george@thetopofthehill.com

 John Withey: 919-448-7843 or john@thetopofthehill.com

Conservation Workshops for Landowners

Triangle Land Conservancy is proud to host a series of workshops entitled Conservation Options for Triangle Landowners.  These workshops are free of charge and are intended to provide information on conservation opportunities for landowners interested in keeping their land available for farming, forestry, and /or wildlife habitat.  Topics covered will include conservation easements, with a focus on tax benefits as well as the newly created Wildlife Conservation Lands Program, which allows landowners to enroll qualifying lands into a present use value program specifically for wildlife habitat protection.  Resource professionals will be on hand to talk with participants before and after presentations to answer specific questions.

Workshop Dates and Locations:

• April 26, 2010 at the Little River Community Center Complex, 8307 Roxboro Rd., Bahama, NC
• April 29, 2010 at the Archer Lodge Community Center, 14009 Buffalo Rd., Clayton, NC
• May 3, 2010 at the Lee County Farm Bureau Auditorium, The McSwain Center, 2420 Tramway Rd., Sanford, NC
• May 4, 2010 at Bestfood Cafeteria, 220 East 11^th St. Siler City, NC
• May 6, 2010 at the Agriculture Building Auditorium (behind the Courthouse Annex), 45 South St., Pittsboro, NC

All workshops are from 5:30 to 8:00 pm and include dinner free of charge.

Pre-registration is required - please visit www.triangleland.org/workshops to register.