by Alyssa Hartman, The Artisan Grain Collaborative In May we celebrated a birthday—our grain value chain illustration has finally come to life and is ready for use as an educational tool. We saw the need for a visual aid to describe the many intersecting relationships required to sustain our regional grain chain in the […]
Reporting and Documenting Symptoms of Herbicide Drift on Plants and Trees
by Kim Erndt-Pitcher, Habitat and Agricultural Programs Specialist at Prairie Rivers Network The warm weather is here again… While you are getting ready to plant, weed, and harvest the fruits of your labor or when you pause to taste some spinach, smell a flower, or watch a bee, please take a moment to look closely […]
Springtime for Peaches, and Nectarines Too!
By Lisa Mileur, Mileur Orchard It was a beautiful day here at the orchard so my husband and I decided to go out and check some buds. The purpose of this is to see what has survived the cold temperatures we had 2 weeks ago in addition to the wind and hail storms we had […]
The Art of an Urban Garden
By Joan Y. Jach My little corner of the world is small but mighty. It’s a deep lot in Old Town Champaign on a brick-paved street. All in all, it’s about ⅛ of an acre, including the house. What it lacks for in square footage, it provides in diversity and abundance. It’s mid-March and I […]
Organic Farmers Need More Technical Advisors – OATS is Here to Help!
By Mallory Krieger, OATS National Program Director Navigating organic transition and managing certified organic production of grain crops is a complex undertaking full of challenges and potential pitfalls. Farmers who are considering organic production seek information wherever they can find it: field days, workshops, conferences, online forums, YouTube videos – the list goes on and […]
Love & Farming – A Letter from Molly & Ben Oberg
by Molly Oberg, Co-Owner of Meyer Produce It was the end of June, and I was just one month into my first summer season of working on the farm. Ben and I were newlyweds, and we were both working under Jeff Meyer – the owner of the farm at the time. We were taking a […]
