Many farms are exploring market diversification and season extension by drying or “curing” herbs and flowers. Whether the crop is culinary herbs (e.g. sage, rosemary, thyme), traditional herbal medicines, decorative flowers, hops for brewing, or CBD hemp the basic approach is the same. Drying boils down to removing water from plant matter by evaporating it …
Continue reading “Drying and Curing Herbs and Flowers (Hops, Hemp, and Everything Else!)”
The AZS Rinse conveyor is a versatile machine as explained in Innovation in Small Scale Vegetable Washing Equipment which goes through its features and benefits. Now you’ve made the decision to purchase one, or already have one on your farm you don’t know where to start. Little paperwork comes with the machine so we’ve put …
As the days shorten and we turn the clocks back, it may be a great time to think about installing or improving lights in some of our indoor spaces. Maybe you could use a bit more light to see the drill size marking in the workshop. Or, perhaps, you’d like to be able to sort …
Continue reading “Shedding Some Light in the Shed – Lighting for Indoor Work on the Farm”
The UVM Extension Produce Safety Team has developed a video series focused on postharvest upgrades for your farm. Whether your project is organizing a relatively simple outside wash station or building a full packshed from scratch, we share the principles and practice with examples to help you make the most of it. An outline of …
Where we talk tools, tips and techniques to improve the sustainability of your farm Andy was awarded a 2019 Northeast SARE Grant to produce The Ag Engineering Podcast. In this podcast, we share tools, tips and techniques to improve sustainability on your farm. It was launched in December 2019. This podcast features short-format, easy to …
While in Pennsylvania for a conference, I made a side trip to Market Farm Implement in the south western part of the state. They are a popular manufacturer, importer and dealer for small scale vegetable crop machinery. Market Farm Implement have ads in publications like Vegetable Growers but their online presence is limited which poses …
Washing machine greens spinners are often used for drying greens on small farms. They do require attention to cleaning and maintenance in order to keep them in sanitary working condition. This blog post highlights some tips to cleaning your greens spinner and provides links to six videos that focus on how to best clean these …
Continue reading “Washing Machine Greens Spinners: Cleaning Tips”
Across The Fence recently featured one of the latest projects we’ve been working on: “Improving Handwashing Stations“. This project focuses on a hands-free, mobile handwashing station for use on farms, at farmers’ markets, or in other public spaces. This work was also highlighted in the Bennington Banner on June 9, 2020.
A downloadable PDF of this blog post and assembly guide is available here. Handwashing has been shown to be one of the most effective ways to reduce the risk of transmission of human pathogens between people. But, sometimes we are inconveniently far from the closest wash room and sink. Hand washing stations provide a portable …
If we apply the principles of hygienic design to a spray table it becomes clear that we should think about the cleanability of the materials and the assembly while also thinking about how the materials will hold up over time with repeated use.
