NCAT Southeast staff members. Back row, left to right: Linda Coffey, Livestock Specialist; Luke Freeman, Horticulture Specialist; Margo Hale, Southeast Regional Office Director. Front row, left to right: Nina Prater, Sustainable Agriculture Specialist/Outreach Coordinator; Robyn Metzger, Program Assistant; Guy Ames, Horticulture Specialist. The NCAT Southeast Regional Office NCAT opened an office in Fayetteville, Arkansas,… Continue Reading
Incubator Farm Project in its Second Season
By Luke Freeman, NCAT Horticulture Specialist Photo at right: Sunflowers bloom in the farm plot of Jenni Vaughn, who joined the Incubator Farm Project in 2019. New Incubator Farmers We are excited to announce that we have two new incubator farmers participating in the Woolsey Incubator Farm program in Fayetteville, AR! Their names are Lucy… Continue Reading
Selling Meat During the COVID-19 Pandemic
By Margo Hale, NCAT Southeast Regional Director and NCAT Livestock Specialist When the COVID-19 pandemic started, I, like many of you, was focused on working from home while also homeschooling my daughters. I was busy postponing and rescheduling several NCAT training events and figuring out how to best serve our ATTRA Sustainable Agriculture clients. As… Continue Reading
Pear Trees Exemplify Resilience
By Guy Ames, NCAT Horticulture Specialist Photo: New leaves provide a startling and beautiful contrast to the diseased leaf on the left. “Resilience” is the latest buzz-word in the lexicon of sustainable agriculture. . .and for good reason. Resilience is the ability to recover or bounce back after a challenge or setback. In agriculture, it… Continue Reading
What the Brown Rot Hath Wrought
By Guy Ames, NCAT Horticulture Specialist I don’t grow peaches. That unhappy confession is despite the fact that I grow peach trees. And rot. I grow a lot of brown rot. In the humid eastern half of the United States, if you don’t somehow protect your peaches from both brown rot and the plum curculio, chances are your… Continue Reading
Dairy Goats for the Farm
By Linda Coffey, NCAT Livestock Specialist Photo at right: Caramel and Rosie Petunia with Caramel’s new owner. Photo: Courtesy Paula Hartgrave. This week, I will be sending a young dairy goat named Caramel to a lovely family. The seven-year-old girl who will be in charge of the goat is so excited; she and her parents… Continue Reading
Wine Cap Mushroom Production: Getting Started
Photos and text by Nina Prater, NCAT Sustainable Agriculture Specialist Image at right: Jeremy Prater practicing his shiitake mushroom inoculation skills at the mushroom workshop in Fayetteville, AR. Last year, the NCAT Southeast office partnered with the University of Missouri’s Agroforestry Center to host a one-day mushroom cultivation workshop in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Gregory Ormsby Mori… Continue Reading
Peach Leaf Curl
By Guy K. Ames, NCAT Horticulture Specialist In Northwest Arkansas I’m seeing peach leaf curl in my orchard. It’s April, but the calendar date is not as important as the growth stage of the peaches. The professionals call this time “shuck split.” The “shuck,” or the last remnant of the flower, is splitting and falling… Continue Reading
Electric Deer Fence Tips and Resources
By Luke Freeman, NCAT Horticulture Specialist Photo at right: Kenny Simon presenting at NCAT’s Deer Fence Workshop on October 15, 2019. Photo by Colin Massey, Arkansas Extension. Last November we hosted a workshop in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on constructing a low-cost, solar-powered electric deer fence for a farm, garden, or food plot. Since people are planting… Continue Reading
Elderberries: Easy to Grow Medicine
By Guy K. Ames, NCAT Horticulture Specialist I can hardly think of a perennial fruit easier to grow than elderberries. And I can hardly think of a food item with a stronger claim to health benefits. Coupling the ease of growing with this fruit’s new popularity as an effective medicine, this could be an opportune… Continue Reading