Select poplars, willows, and empress trees can grow 10 to 20 feet in a single year - even in cold climates. These trees are the best tools we have for cleaning up pollution, sequestering carbon, cooling the planet, increasing biodiversity, decreasing fossil fuel use, and limiting unsustainable timber imports from across the globe - oftentimes all at once. Strategically planted and carefully managed, they can be powerful tools for any small grower.
Read MoreFarmers as far north as southern Maine can grow almonds! “Javid’s Iranian Almond” is a cold-hardy variety originally brought from the high mountains of northern Iran. It is not just disease resistant, self-fertile, and fully hardy as far north as zone 5 (parts of New York state, Vermont, Maine, and Massachusetts), it is also an incredibly flavorful almond. Out of all the other cold hardy almonds that nurseryman Cliff England has grown, none has come close to the flavor and ease-of-growing of this variety.
Read MoreEnglish ivy can be a powerful new tool for organic orchardists, a vital nectar source in autumn for native pollinators, a natural means of lowering mosquito populations, and a useful medicine for herbalists. Wild-harvested is always best, but if you must plant it, the only responsible choice is the non-invasive sterile variety ‘Woerneri’.
Read More