Al Rose | Red Apple Farm | Phillipston, Massachusetts
A towering, craggy old McIntosh tree in the center of the orchard at Red Apple Farm in Phillipston, Massachusetts, has weathered 113 winters, borne many tons of crisp, tart apples, and fed generations of customers. Planted in 1912, it’s the oldest commercially planted McIntosh tree in New England and possibly the country, and still produces fruit today thanks to more than a century of care by the Rose family.
Al Rose and his wife Nancy, who operate the fourth generation farm, have introduced an innovative growing system just a stone’s throw from the centenarian McIntosh tree. To ensure success in an area that sees its share of dry summers, Rose sought the help of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.
A Symphony of Songbirds at Red Apple Farm | Phillipston, Mass. | early successional habitat
Early one morning, in the summer of 2018, Bill Rose was walking through a forested area of his family’s farm in Phillipston, Mass. The area had been clear cut as part of a forest conservation project. With just six to 10 trees per acre left standing and scattered brush piles everywhere, the land looked very different than before the cut.
But, it wasn’t what he was seeing that got Rose’s attention. It was what he was hearing. He whipped out his smartphone and started recording video, narrating as he scanned his surroundings. “I'm down here on the brand-new oak regeneration cut. And, with this brand-new cut, I think you can hear what it does: I'm bringing all the birds in. What a symphony, huh?”
Read more at ma.nrcs.usda.gov.
Apple Picking at Carlson Orchards, Harvard, MA, USA
Apple Picking at Carlson Orchards, Harvard, MA, USA. On a glorious Autumn day, I went for Apple picking at Carlson Orchards in Harvard, Massachusetts. Took this video using iPhone XS. Not bad, good quality video, and the audio was clear. Within 4 feet away, the sound was coming through clearly. Carlson Orchards do not charge for admission. Apple Cider donuts were notably delicious. Highly recommended to visit, and watch my video to see what you are missing.
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Carlson Orchards, Harvard, Mass
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How is the drought impacting the apple harvest in western Mass?
22News found out how the summer's dry weather affected apples at local farms
When was Phillipston, Massachusetts founded?
When was Phillipston, Massachusetts incorporated? What county is it in?
375 Petersham Road, Phillipston MA- MLS 71982606
Your peaceful, country oasis is right here! This 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath home is spacious, warm and beckons you to move right in. Every room has plenty of natural light and many great features that today's buyer is looking for. The master suite is generous in size and the bath features a jetted tub, separate shower and double sink with a vanity. There is room to expand in the walkout basement with widows to let in the sunshine. This home is a gem and is a place where dreams really can come true!
Nuestro Huerto Community Farm | Worcester, Mass.
When Amanda Barker arrived in Worcester, Massachusetts in 2009 to start graduate school at Clark University she knew that she wanted to grow food and build community. “My hope was to figure out a way to connect people with food, get people talking to each other,” said Barker.
Seven years later, she is one of the nation’s urban agriculture pioneers who raise crops on tiny patches of land wedged between city buildings, used car lots, highways and railroad tracks, and even on rooftops.
As Director and Farm Manager of Nuestro Huerto Community Farm, Barker and her corps of volunteers are raising vegetables, fruit, herbs and greens on a third of an acre behind a church in Worcester’s south end. The land was previously used as storage grounds for an iron foundry; the soil was tested and found to be free of contaminants. Nuestro Huerto is Spanish for “Our Garden.”
In addition to the usual challenges that go with farming: weather, labor and pests, urban farming brings its own unique concerns such as security. A car wreck recently damaged a fence and nearly took out crops at Nuestro Huerto.
Barker’s biggest hurdle was inadequate irrigation. The drip irrigation system that she connected to the church’s water supply wasn’t getting enough water to the crops. So, she contacted the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service for help.
Massachusetts Dairy Farmer Mark Duffy
Mark and Tamma Duffy don't run your standard spread, and they didn't come to dairy farming by the beaten path. Mark and Tamma are first generation farmers. Their daughter Marlow, a graduate of the University of Vermont, is working the farm with them, so they are now moving into the second generation. Their two younger sons, Christopher and Blake, seem to have caught the dairy-farming bug as well and help out as much as possible.
Apples: A New England History
Rowan Jacobsen, Author; Knight Science Journalism Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
No other fruit embodies the horticultural and cultural range of the apple. Originally from the mountains of Kazakhstan, apples have seduced bees, intoxicated monks, nourished colonists, and inspired artists, from Paul Cézanne to Rudolf Blaschka, who created Harvard’s collection of botanically precise glass apples (now on view in the Glass Flowers gallery). James Beard Award-winning author, Rowan Jacobsen, will discuss his book, Apples of Uncommon Character, and will explore the surprising ways in which the apple has shaped New England history. Recorded May 3, 2018.
Apple Orchard, Bridgewater, NY
Apple Orchard, Bridgewater, NY at the Windy Farm Apple Orchard. Nice peoeple, short drive from Utica, Herkimer, and other nearby towns....Pick your own apples or buy right from the store. Great Cidar !!!!
Frank and Lisa Kokoski | F&L Farm | Ware, Massachusetts
Frank Kokoski and his daughter Lisa established F & L Farms in 2004, starting small with chickens, pigs and a few cows. The farm, located in Ware, Massachusetts, a small rural town located in Hampshire County at the southern end of the Quabbin Reservoir, grew quickly with additional livestock being added each year and with a small land base, so did the livestock’s impact on the farm’s natural resources.
After a few years raising livestock, Frank and Lisa realized they could use some help and contacted the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) for conservation planning and program support. Read more at ma.nrcs.usda.gov.
Part 1 Proposed Marijuana Farm Massachusetts Bloom Market Garden Inc.
First look tour of this beautiful farm located in Whately MA. The company is moving forward with plans to permit the largest marijuana cultivation facility allowed by MA state law. Watch as BMG takes you through the public process, behind the scenes and on this journey.
Jim and Nancy Faulkner, Phalla Nol | small farmers | Boxborough
When Jim and Nancy Faulkner bought their small farm in Boxborough, Mass. in 2009, the place was a mess. Buildings were falling down, the soil was poor and the land was covered with invasive plants. Nonetheless, they wanted to turn it into a sustainable farm.
Help came from two very different directions: a government agency and another small farmer.
I really needed a farm plan, said Jim Faulkner, who wanted to ensure he complied with town by-laws. I wanted to show that I was serious and that I had a plan.
So, he went to his local USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service office. There Faulkner met Liz McGuire, a conservation planner with the Mass. Association of Conservation Districts, which works with NRCS to provide conservation planning to farmers.
We talked about what kind of soil it is and what it had the potential for, explained McGuire, adding that invasive buckthorn, bittersweet, multiflora rose were flourishing.
We started by clearing invasive plants, said Faulkner, who enlisted goats to do the job. Then we started to improve the soil health.
Faulkner worked the land alone for a few years, raising chickens and growing vegetables. Then he met Phalla Nol, whose family farmed in Cambodia before they immigrated to the United States. She was looking for land to farm and Faulkner was looking for someone with farming expertise. So, they struck a deal.
We grow Chinese broccoli, pea tendrils, long beans, bok choy, yu choy, all kinds of choy, Nol said, laughing. She sells the produce at local farmers' markets and shares it with the Faulkners.
A couple of years earlier, Faulkner had received funding through NRCS for a high tunnel. With the high tunnel and row covers, I was taking spinach out of it in January, said Faulkner. Not only does the high tunnel extend his growing season, Faulkner says that water efficiency is much better.
Most of my knowledge comes from NRCS to tell you the truth, said Faulkner. And I've been lucky enough to watch Phalla and her family. They're pretty good at it.
The admiration is mutual. He's just like my dad was; he loved farming, said Nol.
Phillipston - AASHTO.wmv
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation's (MassDOT's) Phillipston Heavy Lift Bridge Replacement Project, completed in November 2010, was the fastest bridge replacement in Massachusetts history and the state's first use of Self Propelled Modular Transporters for bridge replacement. It is an excellent example of how a highway project can be managed efficiently to provide superior customer service, durable infrastructure improvements and a safe work zone. The use of heavy lift technology, coupled with design-build procurement, and strong project controls, demonstrates MassDOT's bold transformation into an innovative, customer-focused and performance-driven organization.
MassDOT replaced the superstructure of the structurally-deficient, low-clearance bridge that carried Route 2 over Route 2A (State Road) in Phillipston, Massachusetts. The replacement superstructure provides adequate clearance for local truck traffic, a modern safety rail system, and has a 75-year design life. MassDOT replaced the superstructure using prefabricated bridge elements and accelerated bridge construction methods. The design-build entity constructed the 310-ton concrete-and-steel replacement superstructure just north of the bridge, which continued to carry 16,000 vehicles per day. Once complete, the specialized Self-Propelled Modular Transporters lifted the new superstructure into place in less than five hours.
The contract limited the bridge closure period to just 202 hours. The project surpassed expectations and the bridge was reopened 81 hours ahead of schedule. The entire project was completed in a single construction season, less than half the time conventional, cast-in-place construction methods would have required. This project is a perfect example of how MassDOT's Accelerated Bridge Program is using new methods to provide the best possible customer service to Massachusetts' road users and communities.
This video was used for MassDOT's application for AASHTO's ATA Award.
Vets & Veggies farm in Athol
Chip Pinder and Jake Alexander talk about creating a care farm in Athol, Massachusetts. (Republican Video by Diane Lederman)
Sean Stanton | Blue Hill Farm | Great Barrington, Massachusetts
When Sean Stanton started improving the pastures surrounding his small farm in Great Barrington, Mass., his efforts not only benefited the natural resources of this scenic southwest corner of Berkshire County, but also diners at an upscale eatery on the lower west side of Manhattan.
That's because he supplies the Blue Hill Restaurant in Greenwich Village with pasture-raised beef, veal and pork, as well as eggs and farm-fresh tomatoes. Standing among his 20 head herd in a field skirted by the Appalachian Trail and the rolling Berkshire hills, Sean explains how his farm products found their way to the Big Apple.
I started farming because I wanted to know more about food, where it comes from, how it's produced, explains Sean. I started on 10 acres that my parents own in Great Barrington. Then I met Dan Barber, a chef who owns Blue Hill Restaurant and Blue Hill at Stone Barns in New York City.
Dan and his brother David own the 135 acre Blue Hill Farm, which Sean now leases from the Barber family. It's a relationship that goes beyond customer and supplier, tenant and landlord. They share a belief that sustainable agriculture produces high quality food.
For help achieving his sustainability goals, Sean turned to the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).
I've been working with Sean since 2006. He came in as a beginning farmer, says Kate Parsons, District Conservationist in NRCS' Pittsfield office. We looked at all the issues on the farm and helped him with a milk house waste system and a nutrient management plan.
In the conservation plan that Kate developed with Sean, she included 35 acres of rotational grazing -- a management system where livestock is moved from one field to another -- to improve pastures that were dominated by vegetation that the cows had no desire to eat.
It's been amazing to watch the pastures change here, says Sean, explaining that the action of the cows on the pasture -- the regular grazing down and regrowth, and added nutrients from cow manure -- has turned the grass into a nutritious food source for his herd.
It's been exciting to work with a new farmer who's willing to try new things and to see him succeed and improve his farm and his business, says Kate.
Sean agrees. It's really been quite a pleasant experience.
Mill River Farm | New Marlborough, Massachusetts
Steep land and a short growing season? Not a problem for Jan Johnson, owner of Mill River Farm, a 32 acre certified-organic produce and livestock farm in New Marlborough, Massachusetts, in the heart of the Berkshire hills. She’s tackling those challenges with a little help from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Read more at ma.nrcs.usda.gov.
600 Highland Ave, Phillipston MA 01331 - Single Family Home - Real Estate - For Sale -
600 Highland Ave, Phillipston MA 01331 Single Family Home Real Estate For Sale Need space? Need Bedrooms? A nice private yard? We got that... Just lovely is this 35 bedroom Reverse Garrison Colonial sitting on just under 2 acres. Entertaining at it's best in this stunning sun drenched family room, featuring cathedral ceilings, pallidum window, ceiling fan and open concept living. Fully applianced kitchen with lots of cabinets and recessed lighting a breakfast bar and dining area, beautiful formal dining room, den or formal living room leads to your private deck and great level yard. This home has so much to offer with a finished third floor walkup and a totally finished basement, with an office, recessed lighting everywhere in the basement, play room and another bedroom. Pride of ownership abounds, come see it for yourself. No Showings until the Open House April 10th, 2016 1200200. See you then...
Nancy Whitehouse-Bain
RE/MAX Property Promotions
978-360-2872
nancyw@propertypromotions.net
For more information on this property go here:
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69 Winchendon Rd, Royalston MA 01368 - Single Family Home - Real Estate - For Sale -
69 Winchendon Rd, Royalston MA 01368 Single Family Home Real Estate For Sale Enjoy nature? Watch the Deer in the wildlife Management Area across the street. Pride in ownership shows throughout this lovely home. It features wide pine floors throughout most of this home. Kitchen with a brick cooker in the middle. Wainscoting and open beams are just a few of the features in this home. The Kitchen is open to Dining Room making this a home great for entertaining! Large Living Room with built in cabinets, Cozy family room, and a Beautiful Huge Game Room with tile floor and gorgeous walls! Plenty of storage in the 2 attics, basement, storage under Game Room and a shed with a dog kennel! Back deck overlooks your rolling field, and the Eagle Preserve.
Liberty Real Estate
978-652-5261
thelibertyway@comcast.net
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Parlee Farms Tyngsboro MA
This place is pretty cool. Pick fruit. Feed critters. Watch goats in their Ewok Village. Listen closely to the story in the beginning.