"farms" news and stories

Eleven generations of Tuttles have worked the land at the family farm in Dover, N.H., but this generation may be the last.

The family has put the 378-year-old farm on the market, CNN reported.

"We've been here for 40 years, doing what we love to do," Lucy Tuttle, 65, told the Associated Press . "But we're not able to work to our full capacity any longer, unfortunately." She runs the 134-acre farm with her brother Will, 63.

The farm, started in 1632, grows sweet corn, cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, blueberries, raspberries and strawberries. It was listed last Tuesday for $3.35 million, the AP reported. The farm carries a deed restriction stating that as conservation land, it cannot be developed into strip malls or a housing development.

Sign at a Southern farm. Photo: moonlightbulb, Flickr

Farming may be an endless tale of drought, pests and blight, but North Carolina agriculture officials are encouraging their state's farmers to find more succinct ways to tell their stories.

The state recently held a social-media seminar for farmers, a group that's been notably reticent in the tweet department. While experts aren't sure whether to blame spotty network coverage in rural areas or the exhaustive pace of farming for farmers' near-invisibility in Twitterville, they're hoping to encourage growers to join chefs and restaurant owners in promoting their products via online networks.

"Agriculture is starting to recognize the value of social media," says Karlie Justus, public information officer for the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

According to Justus, workshop enrollment so exceeded expectations that the class had to be moved to a bigger venue.

Cherry tomatoes. Photo: ccharmon, Flickr

Whether in a Topsy Turvy planter, a backyard garden or a proper farm, it seems growers (and eaters) everywhere are anxiously awaiting prime tomato time, when it's safe to finally pick the ripe red, orange and yellow fruits straight from the vine. Unfortunately, the cold and rainy summer that's plagued many regions of the United States has delayed tomato season for some. But not for Flickr user ccharmon, who got hold of the cherry variety and managed to make the tiny critters seem larger than life. Not only that, each seems to contain a million little flecks of the sunshine that helped make it so perfect.

Until we find such sun-kissed tomatoes of our own, we'll settle for gazing at these scarlet beauties -- even if that means a little drool ends up on the keyboard.

[Via Flickr]

Farmers Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell. Photo: Michael Hnatov.

Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell are the farmers and innovators behind Beekman 1802, a 200-year-old estate and farm in upstate New York. We'll be running recipes, gorgeous photos and tales from the farm as their crops come into season. Here's how they got their start!

One evening last winter we sat down to dinner in a little pied-a-terre on the Upper East Side of Manhattan: Beef roast braised with rosemary and onions; pureed celery root and parsnips; crackling-fresh sautéed green beans. For dessert it was goat milk cheesecake with elderberry coulis. We washed the whole thing down with bottles of hard apple cider.

Had we ordered in -- stereotypical Manhattanites -- from the overpriced local gourmet grocery? Nope. Everything we consumed we had raised, herded, grown, plucked, cultivated, canned and cooked all by ourselves.

Could any other of the millions of inhabitants of New York City make that same claim that night? How about anyone else in the United States? OK, probably a couple, but for us, this was a meal just about 40 years in the making.

A photo of the farm and the rest of the introduction, after the jump.

The UK's Soil Association has just put forward a proposal to exclude any foods imported by air from using the "organic" label on their products. In theory, the proposal is based around the "food miles" theory, which states that the nearer to the point of sale that food is grown, the better for the environment it is. The theory assumes that emissions from airplanes and long-haul trucks will be greater than any of the pollutants that result from shorter journeys. There are many situations in which the theory does hold up, but by and large, it has been debunked, so even though it is given as the primary reason for this suggested policy change, the real motivation is simply money.

The demand for organics is very high. Stores can charge more for organics, as can growers. By effectively prohibiting imports in a country where the farmland is so limited (compared to some other countries, such as New Zealand, Chile and the US), the Soil Association is simply driving high prices even higher. Such a move may support local farms, but unless their production is able to match demand, consumers are really going to feel the effects of a change like this one.

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