Farm News
Harvard University Farmers Market Refuses Silverbrook Farm Entry in 2011
Our pride in helping start the Tuesday Harvard Farmers Market five years ago was severely diminished this spring by the Harvard Dining Services Committee decision not to invite us to this year’s market. Amazingly, we have not been able to find out the real reason. The door of communication slammed shut immediately. If we were [...]
Apprentices and the Future of Farming
The average age of the American farmer is 58. While that makes me feel young, it is a distressing statistic. I believe that the future of farming will not be with the industrial food producers, we are beginning to see a shift already. However where do we find the next generation of growers? This year [...]
How We Select Seeds
We use seed catalogues that specialize in seed diversity. Our top 3 sources are: Fedco – a funky 1960 like cooperative whose black and white catalogue is full of quips. Based in Maine they offer lots of old varieties appropriate for our region with great prices. Johnny’s – Seeds, also based in Maine, they are [...]
Isaiah, Silverbrook Farm and Autism
For my Son Isaiah, Silverbrook Farm is a place to purchase beautiful chemical free fruits, vegetables, and is his place of employment. Organic farming is the perfect employment for a young man with Autism who cannot be exposed to processed foods or toxins. He enjoys working with his hands, the slow paced environment as well [...]
Local vs. Industrially Produced Food
1. 20% of all petroleum in the US is used in Agriculture – Equivalent to the petroleum usage of all the autos in the US. 2. Each American consumes 400 gallons of petroleum/year just eating! For every One calorie of Food at Shaws – You consume 5-10 calories of Petroleum to get it there. This [...]
It Takes a Village, or 300 Acres
Why a CSA using six farms? Why not do it ourselves? It took me one season to realize that we did not have the land (Although we are farming almost every inch of 30 acres and looking for more land.) nor the equipment to grow what we needed to be competitive. I also saw local [...]
How We Farm
We use interesting and sustainable methods for fertilizer, weed control, planting and winter field cover. Fertilizer – In the winter and early spring we spread manure, as much as we can find. Our sources are elephant, (really!) horse and chicken. We spread in February and March to reduce the chance of runoff. We do not [...]
University Fed Chickens – Barrels of Petroleum Saved!
The sustainability office of the University of Massachusetts in Dartmouth works with us to reduce their food waste while we acquire an organic source of food for our chickens. One year ago we started collecting the preparation food waste from the university food service including vegetable, fruit and bread scraps. Previously the waste had been [...]
Horses, Chickens & Elephants
Winter work is crap. Literally! We partner with the local zoo and every week collect a large truck load of elephant poop from two sweet Pachyderms named Emily and Ruth. We retrieve their manure all year long. It used to go to the dump. What a waste! In February we clean out a large pile [...]
