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“HOW TO GROW EPIC POTATOES” Episode 302 of “The joe gardener Show” in which Public Television’s Joe Lamp’l interviews J


“HOW TO GROW EPIC POTATOES” Episode 302 of “The joe gardener Show” in which Public Television’s Joe Lamp’l interviews Jim from Wood Prairie on his podcast (59:03) about how to grow America’s favorite vegetable. https://joegardener.com/podcast/how-to-grow-epic-potatoes/?utm_campaign=meetedgar&utm_medium=social&utm_source=meetedgar.com&fbclid=IwAR2UjAw7NGC68Qkp86O_hEws2CuOeca5jSKodLzxfo-tyh8oAL-J9DamsEM
Joe calls this episode one of his favorite podcasts from 6 years of podcasting. Caleb, Megan & Jim

“Jim is a third-generation farmer who started Wood Prairie Family Farm in Northern Maine when he was 21 years old, and in recent years, he passed the baton to his son, Caleb. The farm is 115 acres and has been certified USDA organic since 2002. It also has the Maine Seed Potato Certification Program’s seal of approval, meaning it can sell seed potatoes — the little tubers that farmers and gardeners alike plant to grow a new crop of potatoes — that are state certified to be free of disease and damage.”


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SHIPPING OUT PALLETS OF WOOD PRAIRIE ORGANIC SEED POTATOES. One reason Caleb must keep the yard plowed out is that ever


SHIPPING OUT PALLETS OF WOOD PRAIRIE ORGANIC SEED POTATOES. One reason Caleb must keep the yard plowed out is that every week throughout the Winter we have trucks and tractor-trailers come in to either pickup Potatoes or to deliver supplies.
Here, on a recent cold morning, hooded Caleb has added a final layer of 50-pound cartons of Organic Seed Potatoes to finish up a full 2500# pallet. Surrounded by Canada on three sides, it’s a sure bet that when Potatoes leave Aroostook County, Maine, they are headed south to someplace warmer.
Caleb keeps his feet warm with thick insulated pull-on rubber boots. If you can keep your feet warm you are halfway towards being comfortable in extreme cold weather. Conversely, if your feet are cold you won’t ever get warm.
Caleb uses our reliable, always-starts ‘New Holland’ Skid Steer loader, outfitted with tire chains, to navigate the crusty yard and load those heavy pallets onto the awaiting truck. Caleb, Megan & Jim




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VIDEO – HOW TO GROW POTATOES AT HOME! Jessica McCollum of ‘From Dream to Seed” interviews Jim from Wood Prairie Family


VIDEO – HOW TO GROW POTATOES AT HOME! Jessica McCollum of
‘From Dream to Seed” interviews Jim from Wood Prairie Family Farm in this NEW video (35:58) just posted (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=780wFbl2kKo).
Jessica has been an enthusiastic Wood Prairie customer for years. Her channel is dedicated to helping gardeners learn the easy methods which will help you grow a successful garden.
Don’t miss it! Caleb, Megan & Jim




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WILL A NEW WIND TURBINE PROJECT BE A REAL BENEFIT TO NORTHERN MAINE? The proposal calls for a massive new 170 Wind Turb


WILL A NEW WIND TURBINE PROJECT BE A REAL BENEFIT TO NORTHERN MAINE? The proposal calls for a massive new 170 Wind Turbine project. First off, who will prosper from that generated power? Massachusetts?
Number Nine Mountain, Maple Mountain and Hedgehog Mountain are likely wind turbine sites. Those three mountains are located six miles away on the western edge of the Township where we farm and reside, Township D Range 2 WELS, Unorganized Territory. These mountains can be seen from our farm and from US Route 1.
Another question is, if this is truly a “Green Energy” project, just how many coal- and gas-fired electrical generating plants will be shut down once the wind project is up and running? Jim

“‘That troubles me. I have no problem with wind power as a concept, but if we’re going to be making a sacrifice for southern New England, I don’t feel like we’re being fairly compensated,’ Hines said during Monday’s Houlton Town Council meeting. ‘In fact we’re sacrificing our future, our children’s future and our grandchildren’s future.'”…

“Bridgewater organic seed potato grower Jim Gerritsen said on Monday night, following the council meeting, he’d like to see a map that shows where the wind turbines will be located and where the transmission lines will run.

“‘Then it should be explained what benefits people in the Unorganized Territory and Aroostook County will receive in exchange for project burdens such as degraded landscapes, the impact on quality of life and an expectation that local ratepayers should help pay for those transmission lines,’ Gerritsen said.”




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MAINE TALES. TOURNAMENT WEEK SNOWSTORM. MEDWAY, MAINE. Circa 2002. Thinking back, it would have been a better


MAINE TALES. TOURNAMENT WEEK SNOWSTORM. MEDWAY, MAINE. Circa 2002.

Thinking back, it would have been a better idea just to pull off and grab a piece of Blueberry pie at the diner and read the paper.

Maine does have its quirks. Elsewhere, folks may call it “President’s Week,” but here in Maine that holiday week which contains Washington’s Birthday is known by everyone as “Tournament Week.”

With the piles of snow Maine receives for practical reasons the outside game of Football never caught on. However, Basketball is a whole ‘nother kettle of fish. For many generations Mainers have developed an extreme affection towards High School Basketball. Truth be told, it’s more mania than moderation.

Boys and Girls teams play a packed schedule of well-attended Basketball games against other area High School teams for a couple of months during the early portion of Winter. Then, come Tournament Week, top local teams travel down to Bangor, one-hundred-fifty miles south, to compete in Quarterfinals and Semifinals. Local enthusiasts, family and friends make the long trek to Bangor to cheer their team on.

Way back decades ago, Jim was a cooper and made Potato barrels at Bridgewater Barrel Company. Ken was a co-worker, kind, easy-going, quick-to-pull-out-his-pipe-and-commence-to-setting-and-telling-stories. He was also pushing retirement age. During his high school years at ‘Bridgewater Classical Academy’ Ken had been the Basketball star who led his team to miraculously win the State Championship. Blockbuster Potato crops and Spelling Bees aside, that one State Basketball Championship was acknowledged to be the most fame to ever grace our little farming Town of Bridgewater. As a result of his achievement, for the rest of his life Ken was revered by townspeople. Basketball had allowed Ken to peak while still a teenager living at home with his parents. Amidst our small and proud community Ken was able to rest on those laurels for the rest of his life.

Now, for a string of years two decades ago, USDA’s locally-directed ‘Heart of Maine’ RC&D (Resource Conservation & Development) demonstrated vision and would hold inexpensive, intensive, three-day-long Soils Schools in Bangor. They were always held during Tournament Week. Each year world class Soil Health experts from all over the USA, including legends Neal Kinsey, Arden Anderson and Gary Zimmer, were brought in to see if they could teach fortunate Maine farmers a thing or two.

One Winter, our three-day-Soil-School concluded on a Tournament Weekday about mid-afternoon. Outside it was snowing at a good clip. Because there were still a couple of hours of daylight left, it made sense to hit the road and head up the interstate towards Aroostook County while we still enjoyed the benefit of light of day.

It was snowing hard on I-95 and the snow was getting ahead of the snowplows. After about thirty miles of making good progress we came up behind the red tail lights of a veritable convoy of turtle-speed homeward-bound Tournament goers. It turns out our talented local Central Aroostook High School Basketball team had completed their playoff game ahead of when our Soil School got let out. Apparently, rusty at driving long distances under snowy conditions, the CA convoy was traveling en masse at an overly-cautious 30 mph through the hundred miles of woods between Bangor and Houlton.

With the slow lane decently free of snow thanks to the work of State plow trucks, there really was no need to creep along so slowly. However, any attempt to pass meant switching over to the unplowed passing lane which contained four inches of untouched sticky snow. Trying to pass the slow-moving horde meant changing lanes and speeding up in treacherous snow which grabbed at the tires and made any effort to pass a potentially careening and risky proposition. We tried to pass several times then gave up.

In the end it became clear that trying to pass the entire turtle-convoy was not going to be possible until a State plow truck with a driver’s side left-wing-plow would take at the snow-covered passing lane. However, in the middle of a snowstorm clearing that passing lane was a low priority. High priority was keeping open the single slow lane our wagon train was proceeding upon.

So, we settled back and acted as caboose at the end of the long turtle-train in the snow-plowed and very, very, very slow lane. In hindsight, had we pulled into the diner in Medway for a piece of pie and plenty of refills of hot tea, we could have let the slow-traveling convoy gain many miles on us. In the end we would have gotten home no later than we actually did and with a lot less exasperation.

Lesson learned. Blueberry pie is often the right answer. But it helps when you have figured out what the question is.

Caleb, Jim & Megan




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NEW ‘WOOD PRAIRIE SEED PIECE’ JUST POSTED ONLINE! In this issue’s ‘Maine Tales’ entitled “Tournament Week Snowstorm,” le


NEW ‘WOOD PRAIRIE SEED PIECE’ JUST POSTED ONLINE! In this issue’s ‘Maine Tales’ entitled “Tournament Week Snowstorm,” learn how Blueberry Pie has become a reliable cure-all. Plus, to help you on the path, enjoy Megan’s Recipe for ‘Fresh Blueberry Muffins.’ Also, a show-stopper Offer for FREE Organic Fertilizer, NEW Farm Photo Stories and a NEW Lazy Video about Planting Potatoes in Raised Beds. Plus savvy from Socrates, Good Bug Heaven and Much More!
Catch our new ‘Wood Prairie Seed Piece’ here:
https://www.woodprairie.com/newsletters/022423.html
Caleb, Megan & Jim Gerritsen
Wood Prairie Family Farm
Bridgewater, Maine www.woodprairie.organic




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Seed Potatoes arrived today!! Will get these planted this weekend. We will have 8 different types this season!! We lov

https://www.facebook.com/twostraycatsandahotdog/posts/pfbid02mkGP1XA7USXQFHDbLrGNWEMsq9BPBY7tXLuPJwfTUNH6yq2rU7LLmRw1iDVXLbuol

Seed Potatoes arrived today!! Will get these planted this weekend. We will have 8 different types this season!! We love Wood Prairie Family Farm 🥔 #twostraycatsandahotdogfarmetteandorchard #potatoes #farmette #smallfarm




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FELLED REDWOOD TREE. CALIFORNIA. Circa 1892. It was a mighty job to fall a giant Redwood. They might be three-hundre


FELLED REDWOOD TREE. CALIFORNIA. Circa 1892. It was a mighty job to fall a giant Redwood. They might be three-hundred feet tall or even taller.
‘Necessity is the mother of invention’ applies here. To get sufficient length to work, the loggers welded together two crosscut saws.
In order to prevent the mammoth Redwoods from shattering the wood due to their fall, loggers often would line an enormous trench with tree boughs as a cushion.
Even as recently as 50 years ago it was common in Humboldt County, California, south of the Oregon border, to see logging trucks carrying just three Redwood logs, each forty feet long. There would be (2) two-foot diameter ‘cradle logs’ spaced as far apart as the truck allowed. Then, a single Redwood log, 8-10 feet in diameter, would have been placed to lay on top of the cradle logs. Caleb Megan & Jim




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‘LAZY DOG FARM’ PRIMER ON PLANTING ‘WOOD PRAIRIE FAMILY FARM’ ORGANIC SEED POTATOES IN RAISED BEDS. Our friend Travis K


‘LAZY DOG FARM’ PRIMER ON PLANTING ‘WOOD PRAIRIE FAMILY FARM’ ORGANIC SEED POTATOES IN RAISED BEDS. Our friend Travis Key of Lazy Dog Farm just released a short video, “This Was Too Easy!” offering the details of how he plants his crop of Organic Potatoes (www.woodprairie.organic) in double-rows in twin trenches in south Georgia where it’s now Tater Time.
We know Travis from the old days of the ‘Direct Gardening Assn’ conferences. In this video he is assisted by his wife, Brooklyn and newborn baby, Essie. Caleb, Megan & Jim




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