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The summer of 2006, my last in high school, my mom gave me the task of filing all of our family photos. I spent those hot days in a cloud of dust, sifting through weathered shoeboxes full of photos of seemingly ancient events: my parents' "before kids" adventures in Europe; my sister's first time on a bike; my eighth grade dance.
Sitting cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by hundreds of grainy 3-by-5's and negative strips, daunted by the sheer volume of a family's worth of photos, I remembered the days of film. A time when you couldn't delete the picture of the bird that flew in front of Dad's face, when the flash robbed cousin Tim of his baby blues and gave him red devil eyes instead. When I'd finished my chore, a part of me longed for an era I thought was lost and gone forever, when one had to wait for shoddily composed, quickly snapped photos to come back from the lab.
My nostalgia has been gratified. Out-of-focus, light-streaked photos have made a second entrance. But this time such photo faux pas as darkened edges and double exposures do not condemn a shot to the scrapbook hall of shame. Whole communities have sprung up around these "happy accidents" and the lovable, crappy cameras that produce them. An entire genre of "toy" cameras, which are often no more than a plastic carriage with a single lens in a bulky, boxy shape, has taken flight. Holga, Diana, Lomo—let's not forget Polaroid. All low-tech. But all the rage. For some reason.
Aside from sharing strange but somehow charming names, the cameras that are making a comeback have more than a few things in common. Most of the models are made completely out of plastic, even the lens. Some operate on 120mm film, some have fixed lenses; all are inexpensive.
Holgas are adored for discrepancies in their plastic construction that allow light to leak into the body, often resulting in bursts of overexposed film. Both Holgas and Dianas are famous for their marginal field coverage and low-quality plastic lenses, which produce the much sought-after vignetting, or blurred-edge look, and highly saturated color photos.
In the 1980s, Holga cameras were mass-produced and widely distributed to the Chinese public. Intended to bring photography to the working class in an affordable way, the camera slowly gained international popularity a few years after its introduction. Professional photographers appreciated the image abstraction Holgas produced, as well as their affordable price, which was as low as $15.
Diana cameras predate the Holga and were brought into the United States from a Hong Kong plastic factory in the 1960s. They were widely used as cheap prizes for carnivals and fairs, and produced dreamy images with their soft focus. LOMO LC-A's are Holga's communist equivalent, developed in Russia during the '80s.
And, of course, there's the Polaroid. First introduced in 1947, the camera, which instantly produced square photos with a white margin, had its heyday in the 1960s. Ever since Polaroid announced its decision to discontinue production of the film in 2008, though, the cameras have practically become an item of lore.
In an age where digital rules, toy cameras and Polaroids should have no place. The images that digital cameras produce are ultra-crisp, and they're only getting more exact. Arguably one of the best digital single-lens reflex cameras on the market, Canon's EOS D5 Mark II, boasts 21 megapixels, eight exposure modes and can snap a photo in 1/8,000th of a second. In contrast, Polaroid cameras tend to generate images that contain the equivalent of less than one megapixel.
Digital images may be quickly uploaded onto a computer and emailed to every corner of the earth, while photos from film must still be processed, cropped and then scanned if one plans to share. For the amateur photographer, digital pictures are much more economical. Only the cream need be printed.
But despite the hassles, low-definition film cameras, or at least their aesthetics, are holding their own—and perhaps even breaking new ground—in the 21st century. The Lomographic Society International is a forum for all things toy camera, whether that entails writing about them, selling them or even selling accessories for them. Championing quick and simple snapshot photography, the group offers 10 "golden rules." The 10th one trumps all: "Don't worry about any rules."
The Hipstamatic iPhone application gives digital photos an old look, as if they were taken with a toy camera. The application's description reads that Hipstaprints, the application's resulting images, are "characterized by vignetting, blurring, oversaturation [and discoloration]," while the Hipstamatic itself "keeps the quirks of shooting old-school" with the option of switching the type of film, flash and lens used.
We get that they're crappy, we understand that they're popular. But what exactly precipitates this shift in photographic trends? Jeremiah Flynn, of Jeremiah's Photo Corner in Santa Rosa, reports that this analog obsession has consumed nearly five of his eight years in photo retail. "It's shocking how much film we're selling," he says. "It seems like it's actually ramping up." And while the standard 35mm film is still his leading seller, he's noticing that medium and large format films, like those typically used with Holga and Diana cameras, are flying off the shelves like never before.
The same is true of the Instax camera, Fujifilm's attempt at a new-age Polaroid, which alone ensures a healthy crowd around Jeremiah's small but thriving "toy camera" wall. Customers for the Instax, Flynn says, are mostly "people who didn't have Polaroids as a kid, these 16-, 17-, 19-year-olds, and they're coming in and they're like, 'Wow! Look at this!'"
One simple answer is trend. Tod Brilliant, a professional photographer who has been shooting Polaroid for some 10 years, says that instant film is, in some ways, a fashion accessory. "[Polaroids] were such a hipster item, they were so Urban Outfitters," he says. Indeed, the alternative-fashion retail store was among the first in the last decade to reintroduce Holgas to the masses.
Of course, not everyone has a Holga from Urban Outfitters. Students of film photography are flea-market- and garage-sale-savvy, but the effect is the same. These photographers are looking for older-looking instruments in the form of weathered plastic. Brilliant, who shoots in both digital and Polaroid, says, "I think I got hooked because it was such a cool object. I go out, I take my Nikon, and it takes great pictures, but it's not a cool object. Just the same damn thing everyone else has. If you have a camera that looks badass, why not use that?"
Sure, following trends sucks. But in the end, who cares? "When your favorite band becomes popular, well, did you like them, or did you not like them?" Brilliant asks. For him, it's more about the camaraderie that instant photos foster.
"There's a lot of great community in it," he says. "You're out with your friends and you're just starting to take photos and you want to share that process with your friends. It's not so geeky. It's not like you take your digital camera and take a picture, and you go home and put it in your laptop. You're out in a car, and you take it and pass [the Polaroid] to the driver, and that's that."
There's no denying that digital cameras yield excellent high-definition pictures, and do so with much less angst than their film-wasting counterparts. Perhaps it's the obsession with precision and efficiency that so often accompanies digital technology that makes digital photography feel inefficient.
Sonoma State photography major Anna Tracy certainly sees the value of film. "There are only 20 pictures on a roll of film," she says. "You want to be careful about what you take a picture of. You look around and make sure your composition is exactly what you want it to be before you take a picture."
Tracy, who previously worked primarily in digital media, took her first class in film photography in 2008 with Sonoma State and Santa Rosa Junior College photography instructor John Ferdico. Ferdico requires his students to shoot with Holgas, and, initially, Tracy was less than pleased about the process. "I was so angry," she says. "I probably took about six rolls of film, and only two pictures turned out." They later became her two favorite photos and marked the beginning of her loyalty to film.
She says, "I think photographers in general are a little more anal than a lot of other people in the art world, maybe a little controlling sometimes," Tracy says. "Everything has a light meter, and it's very 'This is how it has to be done.' [Holgas] kind of let you go a little bit. The fact that you really don't know how it's going to turn out, it lets you let go of it."
Ferdico himself found solace in Holgas at a time in his career when photography was exciting but overwhelming. "I enjoyed it because it was a refreshing change from worrying about stuff with photography," he says. As an undergraduate art student, he bought his first Holga at a Kansas City dollar store in the 1980s. At around $20, Holgas are more than affordable, especially for photographers, who are prepared to pay many times over that price just for film.
Tracy and Ferdico make it sound so easy, sacrificing to-the-very-pore exactness for the ability to capture a serendipitous moment. And really, does high-def mean true-to-life? "Polaroid is more like what you see," says Brilliant. "Your eye can't focus on more than one space. That's what I really enjoy. To me, it's more real because it's less honest, which makes it more honest."
So blurry pictures with a tiny frame taken with a camera that can't effectively shoot an object more than 10 feet away evoke a heightened sense of verity? Can the human eye do much better? Brilliant rests his case.
For experienced photographers, meticulous visual detail and overly planned shots are not the only aspect of digital that's bringing them down. There's the data, too. And just the thought of it bogs everyone down, even if we're not totally aware.
"It's like a visual overload for me," Tracy says. "I have probably 18 flash drives, full of digital photographs, just because I want to have them all backed up, but it's just so much to go through." And for someone who's trying to make a career out of photographs, this computerized burden can act as a hindrance to finding one shot among millions. Which is why Brilliant typically travels with only one lens when shooting with his digital camera.
"I really enjoy being limited," he says, "and right now we have so many choices with digital cameras." Brilliant relates this camera craze to other trends that have reverted back to older media, such as the popularity of vinyl records. He says these movements operate on a more "human scale" and praises their down-to-earth feasibility. "I can't carry 4 million photos with me. I can carry 15 Polaroids," he says.
Maybe these crazy, crappy-camera-carrying kids have something here. Sure, it's a trend. But it's a trend based on spontaneity and downsizing, which is, at best, a hopeful perspective and, at worst, an idealistic one. Ferdico, who has been teaching photography classes for over 12 years, also sees the interest in film as a desire for an authenticity in the art form, a yearning to know how it all works. "Here's this basic technology that provides the basis for all art forms," says Ferdico. "And it is very much like pottery in that way.
"Photographs aren't only records, but they're actually souvenirs," he continues. "Every time you take a picture, a physical part of the world is absorbed by the emulsion of the film. And then you carry that with you on the surface of the paper. As I learned how digital photography works, it seems to me, it disappears the moment that that light energy is encoded. You actually lost that tiny physical thing."
Maybe it is the physical thing that we hold on to, even in our minds. Are we going to remember the family portrait where every strand of hair is in place long after the flash drive's been misplaced? Does a photographer really learn from her mistakes unless the mistakes are tangible? It's hard to pin it down, exactly. But I do know that those tiny physical things are not lost on me.
As I write, I have Instax photos scattered all over my room. Film canisters fill my shelves. Last night, I sat on my bed, moving the small white frames around me and wondering which one of these crappy images could possibly be used to accompany this article. I realized I probably couldn't use any—they were just that bad. And that was OK.


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4790 W. 16th Street, Indianapolis, IN 46222
(800) 822-4639 (317) 492-6700 Mon-Fri, 9a.m.-5p.m. ET
Jul 5, 2020
July 16, 2012 | By
Only two-and-a half weeks remain until the NASCAR Nationwide Series takes to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the very first time in NASCAR history. A lot of people ask me what my thoughts are about getting the opportunity to race at one of the most historical tracks in the country and all I can say is, blessed.
I'm currently spending some time in my hometown Pensacola, FL during my off week before the ML Motorsports team gets back to racing action at Chicagoland Speedway next Sunday. I moved to North Carolina about a year ago to further pursue my dreams of becoming a professional race car driver, so it's always nice to come back home and visit all my family and friends. So far, I have spent some time at the beach with my close friends and of course, jet skis and boat riding were in the equation. I also got to pull out one of my most prized possessions, my dirt bike.
My parents don't approve of my desperate need to play on my dirt bike, but its a must when I come back home. I always said that if I didn't race stock cars, dirt bikes would be second on my dream list. Its a blast! Moreover, I have enjoyed spending my downtime with my family, but I'm eager to get back in the seat next weekend at Chicagoland Speedway and then at Indianapolis Motor Speedway the next weekend. I have one prior start at Chicagoland and of course, this will be my first start at IMS, so I have a lot of studying to do these next couple weeks before I hit the track.
The ML Motorsports team as a whole couldn't be more excited about the Indy 250. Its definitely going to be a special race for the hometown team and fans. Not only is it a big week for us on the track, but we have a lot of great stuff planned for the week leading up to the big race. Mary-Louise Miller (team owner) and ML Motorsports is honored to have our partners, Keen Parts and Wish for Our Heroes join us for the 100-lap event. I can't wait to have them with us at the track and I couldn't be happier to represent them at this race.
I hope you all are getting as excited as the ML Motorsports team is about one of the most anticipated races of the season. Its going to be a great event for sure. Thanks for reading my blog and for your continued support!

subset: commoncrawl


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World Vertical Week was held last week and the hundreds of pictures tagged with #verticalweek on Instagram give a great overall look into what people have been up to during the week. Three of the most inspirational photos were taken by Hollie Holden, Sami Renner and Christoph Oberschneider. Each one of the winners will receive a new Suunto Spartan Ultra to accompany them on their future adventures.
"The Vertical Week was a great opportunity for me to start building my strength and climbing skills ahead of my upcoming training season for my 1st 50 mile Ultra Marathon - the Squamish 50 in August which is a tough, mountainous course with 11,000 feet (3350m) of climbing!
I set myself the goal of covering a similar amount of climbing during Vertical Week so I spent a lot of time on a local trail called the BCMC which starts at the base of Grouse Mountain climbing to the top. This trail has 850m of elevation gain in just 3km of climbing! I ended up doing this trail 4 times in the week (3 times within one 24hr period!) then finished off the week running trails with my local run crew, Vancouver Running Company Flight Crew, surpassing my 3k goal and hit 4000m for the week instead!
The weather in Vancouver has been unseasonably cold, with lots of snow & wet rain and I wouldn't have done anywhere near as much climbing last week if it wasn't for the awesome community of friends that I have here who are willing to come climb mountains in a snow storm with me!"
–Hollie Holden, BC, Canada
"The photo was taken on the last of three summits at the "Watzmann-überschreitung", a famous summer tour in my hometown with over 24km and 2500m of climbing. The goal for me was to do this very technical tour with skis. As I reached the third summit, I shared my last Powerbar with a bird.
A few days earlier during the Vertical Week I was in Zermatt, reaching Breithorn's (4164m) west and east summits on skis, and on two more skitours. All in all, my Vertical Week was about 7500m of elevation gain over 65km."
–Sami Renner, Germany
"I work as a backcountry skiing photographer in Austria, so my goal each winter season is to capture the beauty of backcountry skiing & ski touring, to share my passion for the sport with as many people as possible and ultimately to get more people to enjoy life in the outdoors.
So far we have had a very dry winter here in the Alps, so getting good shots has not been an easy task. So when it finally started snowing 10 days ago, I headed out to Sportgastein (a freeride spot close to Salzburg) with two good friends. We found some beautiful lines in the backcountry with lift-supported ski touring and I managed to get some good shots. And that's how I also spent the rest of the Vertical Week, ski touring in the mountains around Salzburg and trying to capture the beauty of the winter landscape and some more skiing action before the snow starts melting again."
–Christophe Oberschneider, Austria
Congratulations to our three winners and thank you very much everyone for sharing your Vertical Week moments!


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About your studies
This website will provide you with information about your studies as an exchange student at Ludwigsburg University of Education (LUE).
Ludwigsburg University of Education implements the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) to organise both its internal and external study programs.
Being an exchange student here means that you participate either in the ERASMUS program or in another bilateral agreement program between LUE and one of our many partner universities. In both cases you can study between 1 and 3 semesters at our institution. During that time you pay no tuition fees to LUE, only a small contribution to the Social Services.
The International Office (called Akademisches Auslandsamt in German) is responsible for all the exchange students. Students of universities, which do not participate in our partnership programmes, should directly contact the "Abteilung für Studienangelegenheiten".


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Leviathan, the August 2013 template release, is a visually enriched design with stunning graphics, contrasts and tones. Its sidebar adds focus and boldness, that complements and contrasts with the mainbody area to great effect.
The core of the template is based on the Gantry Framework, which provides a plethora of standardized features and functions. Also included is support for plugins such as RokSprocket.Read More


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National Public Transport Regulator (NPTR)
About us
The National Public Transport Regulator is a regulatory entity established in terms of Section 20 of the National Land Transport Act, 05 of 2009.
It's functions are to
- monitor and oversee public transport in the country;
- receive and decide on applications relating to inter-provincial operating licenses, accreditation of tourist transport services and any other service designated by the Minister;
- oversee fares charged for public transport services throughout the country and advice the Minister on the making of regulations in relation to fares or fare structures.
Overall, the NPTR has a key role to play in promoting a safe, reliable, effective, efficient, coordinated, integrated and environmentally friendly public transport system by developing norms and standards to guide the development of public transport for rural and urban passengers
Promote a safe, reliable, effective, efficient, coordinated, integrated and environmentally friendly public transport system by developing norms and standards as well as regulations to guide the development of public transport
To regulate interprovincial public transport and tourism services and monitor and evaluate the implementation of the Public Transport Strategy and the National Land Transport Act.
Our values are guided by Batho-pele principles and include:
- Maintain fairness and equity in all our operations;
- Stimulate innovation in the public transport sector;
- Ensure transparency, accountability, accessibility; and
- Upholding of the Batho Pele principles.
For Questions and Answers Click here
NPTR Helpdesk: 012 309 3227
Applications Processing: 012 309 3982
Monitoring: 012 309 3063
Please be informed that the NPTR will no longer process applications for Additional vehicle
- Statement of Oath regarding previuos convictions for offences for individual
- Statement of Oath regarding previuos convictions for offences for company
- Replacement of Vehicle checklist
- Renewal of Operating Licence checklist
- New Operating Licence checklist
- Duplicate of Operating Licence checklist
- Conversion of Permit to Operating Licence checklist
- Sworn Affidavit - B-BBEE exempted Micro Enterprise
- Amendment of route checklist
- Additional Vehicle checklist
- Additional Authority checklist
- Accreditation checklist
- Accreditation and New Operating Licence checklist
- Application for Accreditation as a Tourist Transport Operator
- Application from Accredited Tourist Transport Operator for Certification of Additional Vehicles
- Application for Duplicate Operating Licence, Permit or Decal
- Notification from courtesy Service providers who are Exempt from obtaining Operating Licenses (Section 53(1)(a) of the Act
- Application by Hirer of Vehicle to certify it for use by Tourist Operator in terms of Section 84(2) of the Act
- Referral of Application to NPTR in terms of section 21(4) of the Act
- Application for Temporary Replacement of Vehicle
- National Land Transport Act, Act 05 of 2009 (NLTA)
- National Land Transport Regulations, 2009
- Nasionale Padverkeersregulasies, 2000
- Gazette Application for renewal 21/02/2020 to 12/03/2020
- Gazette Application for renewal February 2020
- Gazette Application for renewal of Operating Licence 16/01/2020 - 30/01/2020
- Gazette for Renewal of Operating Licence: 09/10 - 29/10/ 2019
- Application for Renewal of Operating Licence: 02/08 - 02/09/ 2019
- Gazetted application for renewal of Operating Licence: 12/07/2019 - 09/08/2019
- Gazetted application for renewal of Operating Licence: 25/06/2019 - 23/07/2019
- Gazette of New applications of Operating Licence: 05 July 2019 - 26 July 2019
- Applications for Accreditation and New Operating Licences for Tourist Services
- Renewal Operating Licence Gazette
- Gazette Template for Olas Renewal Application 17/05/2019 – 18/06/2019
- Renewel Operating Licence Gazette
- Call of Nominations of members of the NPTR


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Community \ About MOFGA \ MOFGA Timeline
Here are some highlights from our four-plus decades.
Back-to-the-landers and others interested in organic growing meet at locations around Maine to share information, visit gardens and make cooperative orders.
Cliff and Helen Parsons host meetings of the Promised Land Organic Club in Poland, Maine.
Organic growers decide to have a statewide organization. Abbie Page (now Abbie McMillen) starts organizing the membership and starts the monthly MOFA News for the Maine Organic Foods Association; the newsletter later becomes the tabloid, The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener. Another original MOFGA member, Mort Mather, gives Abbie credit for starting MOFGA.
The first meeting of the Maine Organic Foods Association occurs at the Maine Agricultural Trades Show.
Ken Horn is the first president, followed by Jim Luthy; Mort Mather is second treasurer.
Charlie Gould, a Cooperative Extension Agent in Lewiston, calls a gathering at Thomas Point Beach in Brunswick of the many people who had been calling him with questions about organic gardening and farming. Scott and Helen Nearing were guest speakers, and from that meeting, over the winter, came the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA).
Gould offers the space and facilities of the Cooperative Extension office to produce the newsletter.
University of Maine professor of plant and soil sciences Frank Eggert supports MOFGA, helping the organization connect with the resources of the University. He serves two terms as Board president.
MOFGA certifies 27 farms as organic, following Rodale Organic Garden certification guidelines. Ken and Roberta Horn, who farmed the 140-acre Ken-Ro Farm in Plymouth, are the first certified-organic farmers in Maine. They work closely with Cooperative Extension to promote organic agriculture.
MOFGA begins its public policy initiatives with a "No-spray Register," organic food labeling, and a campaign focusing on hazards of pesticide drift.
MOFGA becomes incorporated and achieves tax-exempt status.
The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener, Vol. I, No. 1, is published in August by volunteers Abbie McMillan, Mort Mather and Tim Nason. Nason also serves as editor, solicits articles, writes many himself and sells ads. The paper quickly gains popularity for its thorough, practical articles about farming and homesteading.
MOFGA certifies 47 growers. Its certification program is self-supporting. Certification Standards take up less than one column on one page of The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener.
Even in 1974, Eliot Coleman, in a MOFGA-sponsored address at the Maine Agricultural Trades Show, urges growers to go beyond organic. He laments the "aspirin-oriented culture" of organic agriculture, i.e., looking for a cure to a problem instead of understanding the source of the problem and correcting that. Instead he recommended "optimum farming," i.e., growing plants in soils that provide what they need to fend off pests.
Chellie Pingree (then Cheli Johnson), while studying agriculture and land sciences at College of the Atlantic under Eliot Coleman, becomes a MOFGA Board member. She applies to apprentice with Tony Bok for the summer, thus starting MOFGA's apprenticeship program. Pingree helped set up the formal program in 1975 and ran it while serving as treasurer of MOFGA. (Informal apprenticeships had occurred previously; for example, students from Antioch College apprenticed at KEN-RO Farm and earned college credit.) Later apprenticeship program coordinators were Paul and Molly Birdsall, Bill and Cynthia Thayer, Barbara Eggert, Don and Joan Lipfert, Rebecca Stanley, Sue Sargeant and Rosey Guest. Pingree went on to become a state legislator and now is president and CEO of Common Cause, the national nonprofit that holds elected leaders accountable to the public interest (commoncause.org).
Déjà vu? In the March-April 1975 Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener, Eliot Coleman reported on his trip to Europe for a conference on biological agriculture, followed by several farm tours. "I consider the European term 'biological' agriculture to be superior to 'organic'," he reported. "If there is going to be an overall term for the concepts of non-chemical farming it must communicate the idea clearly to others and be free from the semantic misunderstanding and commercial associations that plague 'organic.'"
"Secretary Butz says it can't be done. Now read about the people who are doing it!" Rodale's ad for Organic Gardening and Farming in The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener, May-June 1975.
Rob Johnston advertises Johnny's Selected Seeds' needs in the May-June issue of The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener: "Based upon our projected seed needs for the 1976 season, we cannot possibly raise all of our own seed here at Peacemeal Farm. We have a need for growers…"
Chaitanya York, (later MOFGA's first executive director), throws out the idea of a Fair at various times but is told it can't be done. Ken Horn suggests that MOFGA have a presence at agricultural fairs, but again, MOFGA wasn't ready.
MOFGA's Executive Director, Vice President and Treasurer are standing around a compost heap in Union one day, musing on the fact that MOFGA was broke. "We needed a miracle," recalls then director Chaitanya York. Vice president Nick Lore suggests a fair.
L.C. Goldman of Rodale's Organic Farming and Gardening Magazine calls MOFGA "the most effective group of its kind in the country."
Chaitanya York, Albie Barden and Ron Poitras found Northeast Carry, an appropriate technology enterprise. They get a two-year Kendall Foundation grant for rural community development that funds a central office and paid staff for MOFGA. York is the first salaried Executive Director, working in the same Hallowell office where the first edition of the Farmer's Almanac had been written.
Photos of KEN-RO Farm, MOFGA's first certified organic farm, appear in the USDA Yearbook of Agriculture.
A survey of MOFGA members asks whether MOFGA should buy and manage its own research farm. 43% say yes; 40% say no; 16% don't respond. The same survey asked, "What are the three most important attitudes to have for a successful homestead? Members think of seven:
1. Enjoy hard work.
2. Be patient; go slow. Plan realistic goals.
3. Be persistent and committed.
4. Be willing to learn, be flexible, be open, have a sense of humor.
5. Think in terms of cooperation and of serving others.
6. Understand and accept nature, the land and weather. Live your garden—not just plant it.
7. Have a pioneering spirit and be aware of the value homesteading has in today's world.
Members add two "essential ingredients":
1. A cooperative partner or partners.
2. Good health.
MOFGA holds its first Common Ground Country Fair, a harvest celebration, in Litchfield. "A group of hippies, back-to-the-landers and organic zealots gathered in Litchfield to welcome 2,000 fairgoers and got 10,000 instead!" Bill Whitman later writes. Chaitanya York, founding Fair Director, later calls the Fair "one of the most joyous and satisfying experiences in which I have had the privilege to participate… A unique and warm spirit permeated the grounds and dispelled rain when it was showering all around us."
The first Fair grossed almost $19,000, "and after expenses about $11,000 of right livelihood money is available to pay staff and operating costs for another four months" and to pay back staff who had worked at half salaries for the previous two and one-half months, according to York. Mort Mather credits Allen Powell for raising much of the funding leading for the first Fair.
Paul Chartrand is Assistant Fair Director for two years, then Director for three more years. (Chartrand later serves in the Maine legislature and now runs a business importing organic wines.)
After the Fair, Lloyd Ferriss writes: "…it seemed that everyone who was here felt that something unusual and something good was unfolding in Litchfield. It was a fair that did indeed show the revival of the American country spirit. It also educated people in a lot of fascinating ways and…it was good pagan fun." About the great food, he writes: "How much better than cotton candy and soda and their sickly aftertaste!" About Phillip Johnson's display of grain harvesting tools and machinery, and his sacks of homegrown wheat, Ferriss says: "…he put to rest the notion that Maine people must depend on the West for all their grain. They can grow it in their fields."
After Ferriss won the 10 km foot race (currently the only organic foot race that we're aware of) at the 1977 Fair, he noted that "people make opportunities for such things to happen… MOFGA made it all happen at the Common Ground Country Fair."
Wendell Berry is the keynote speaker at the second Common Ground Country Fair. In a pre-Fair interview, he is asked: Do you see a significant transition to organic methods occurring—over what time frame?" Berry responds:
"The change will come when farmers are convinced that it makes economic sense. When it is clear that farmers can grow food by organic methods cheaper than they can grow it by chemical methods, and when, as a consequence, organic farmers can undersell the chemical farmers… Organic methods will have to prove to be cheaper. I think they will, as the cost of petroleum rises… I am sure that it is wrong for organic farmers to assume that they are entitled to higher prices than chemical farmers. I don't think they can hope for a general success by making themselves dependent on an exclusive market.
"The organic idea, as I understand it, is not just a way of growing crops without chemicals. It has to do with the idea of independence. It proposes to make the farm so far as possible independent of the corporations. It proposes, by correct methods, to make the farm itself the principal source of its own energy and fertility. It proposes to strengthen a farm's economy by lowering the overhead and by practicing economies of thrift and care -- not by buying more land and more machinery according to the so-called 'economy of scale.'
"Food produced by chemical farming is an industrial product, and has to be priced according to the cost of oil, machinery, labor, etc. Organic methods provide at least a start at making food again an agricultural product which can be priced a different way.
"Agriculture is not good if it is not indefinitely good, maintaining the health and fertility of the soil generation after generation. Real agriculture is focused on human centuries, not on man-hours."
After the very successful 1978 Fair (20,000 people in attendance and $22,000 added to MOFGA's coffers), Chaitanya York wrote in The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener: "Well, we've already had our first meeting for Common Ground '79, and let me dispel some fears by saying that consensus is, with minor exceptions, not to enlarge the fair but to perfect it." About those minor exceptions... Attendance has since grown to about 50,000 each year, and the event outgrew both Litchfield and Windsor; but in fairness to York, the Fair still being perfected!
MOFGA hires Mark Hineline to redesign MOFGA's newspaper.
Tim Nason asks Jane Lamb to write profiles of small farms for The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener, and the reputation of the paper goes up yet another big notch. Lamb's insightful, informative, highly readable farm features formed the backbone of the paper for 23 years. She is now retired in northern California.
In his farewell letter (The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener, Nov.-Dec. 1979), York notes that for an organization to function in complete service to its purpose, it must stay true to its purpose; be viable in the world (i.e., achieve its goals and get the job done); and nurture the people who participate in it to the degree that they choose to come in contact with it, rather than using or sacrificing people, making them less than they are.
York worries that MOFGA's financial survival is crowding member service for importance; that some older members are no longer participating and others are grumbling about MOFGA; and that top-down decisions have increased because of lesser member participation and input. These problems seem hidden behind MOFGA's successes (the Fair, co-op orders, establishment relations), notes York. Thus MOFGA undertakes a self-assessment that brings greater clarity and order. More members become active participants, especially in the Fair, in The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener, and with fundraising. The office is restructured. Staff is increased to meet membership needs. Members become happier and sense their joint ownership in MOFGA. York sees a need to serve gardeners more, especially since they form the majority of MOFGA's membership.
York notes that starting the Common Ground Fair took courage and irrational behavior to penetrate the "it can't be done" and "where's the money coming from" attitudes. "Money always has secondary importance to the idea, and that's precisely why money is discovered to make it happen. Quite irrational!"
Noting that the Fair is outgrowing the Litchfield Fairgrounds, he suggests that the fair planning team form a special committee to begin to create a Common Ground Country Fairground. (He notes that others, including Mike Haskell, had proposed this previously.) York's vision for a permanent fairgrounds stems from his knowledge that "in ages past, particularly during the Renaissance, the major (often only) question before building something was, 'Will it be beautiful? Will it uplift the spirit?' I'd like us to proceed in that spirit and begin the process of discovering how to make it happen. Beautiful solar design barns, exhibition hall, children's sculpture, gaming fields, model dwellings…"
MOFGA Solar Greenhouse Project workshops, directed by Ron Poitras, Harvey Lorber and Conrad Heeschen (designer), build nine greenhouses in Maine.
Mort Mather and the Manure Spreading Society of Maine (MSS of M) start the "Grand Pitch-Off" at the Common Ground Country Fair, preceded by manure pitching contests around Maine. Mather, president of MSS of M, makes up the rules for the contest, including one that politicians cannot enter because they might have an unfair advantage in a manure slinging contest. The contest is named after Harry S. Truman, for his down-to-earth style, As Mather explains: A society lady once asked Mrs. Truman if she could get the president to stop using the word 'manure.' Bess replied, "You don't know how long it took me to get him to start using that word." The contest continues to this day.
Arthur Whitman serves as executive director of MOFGA – at the same time as he serves as executive director of the World Affairs Council of the Council of Churches in Biddeford-Saco. In the latter capacity, he works "to raise people's consciousness on world issues: energy; the situation in Iran, the falling of the dollar."
Whitman brings new energy to the idea of a permanent site for the Fair. He and the Fair Steering Committee envision a Rural Education Center to house the Fair and the MOFGA staff; to demonstrate building energy-efficient, solar structures; to educate about rural skills and thus help rebuild the rural agricultural economy and return Maine to a state of food security; to teach about soil and crop health, growing and storing food, marketing, raising livestock…and much more.
Members of the planning team and other interested MOFGA members visit educational farms in the Northeast, including the Coolidge Center for the Advancement of Agriculture (Topsfield, Mass.), Maine Audubon's Gilsland Farm, The Rodale Organic Gardening and Farming Research Center, The Ark (on Prince Edward Island), the New Alchemy Institute and more. They write about these places for the Feb. 1981 issue of The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener.
These visits fill Whitman with program ideas and enthusiasm. "There is evidence of an explosive public interest in organic agriculture," he reports. "We were all dealing with an idea whose time had come. The common thread that motivated the leaders of each program was the growing awareness that many in our society are drifting away from what had been a fundamental characteristic of American rural life: the fine art of caring.
When Whitman steps down in late 1982, MOFGA president Mort Mather praises him for "a much needed focus and continuum, as well as management of the many diverse functions necessary to keep MOFGA on the road and progressing. Art has won respect for himself as well as for MOFGA in its growing stature and influence within the state."
Whitman goes on to work for the Laudholm Trust in Wells. Now approaching his 80th birthday, Whitman serves as treasurer of Maine Veterans for Peace. If you see him at the Veterans' booth at Common Ground, say "Thanks!"
Having outgrown the Litchfield fairgrounds, the Common Ground Country Fair moves to the Windsor Fairgrounds and enjoys a crowd of 25,000.
After his third year as Fair director, Paul Chartrand prepares to hand over the reins at the end of the year to Bill Whitman, who, Chartrand says, has a "capacity for endless work and assistance to others" – perhaps learned when he grew up on a dairy and poultry farm in Turner, Maine.
Regarding the 1981 Fair, Chartrand adds: "The lack of coffee was also widely noted and your feelings on this issue are very welcome."
The news that laboratory scientists are splicing genes from different life forms together (aka recombinant DNA or genetic engineering) is mentioned in The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener for the first time. A "sunbean" – a combination of a sunflower and a bean plant, is noted.
Organic Growers Supply, Inc. (OGSI) forms under the direction of Ben Wilcox as part of MOFGA to bring bulk supplies to the state. It later becomes part of Fedco Seeds. Seeing the success of OGSI, farm supply stores start stocking organic goods. (Previous to OGSI, Ken Horn, Ben Wilcox, the Nearings and others cooperatively order the first boxcar loads of organic amendments to come to Maine.)
Eliot Coleman tells Jane Lamb (reporting in the Feb. 1981 Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener): "Most intelligent people see agriculture falling in the organic direction. It's going to become the conventional method when it becomes national policy to conserve fossil fuels and chemical resources. Vested interests will only slow the process down temporarily, because they see the handwriting on the wall."
While MOFGA has been engaged in legislative actions from its inception, 1981 marks the beginning of a formal legislative committee, with core members Tony Bok, Beedy Parker and Jeannie Hollingsworth.
MOFGA adopts a "pay as you go" budget philosophy. Chapters are asked to hold bake sales or other fundraisers to help support the organization.
A MOFGA survey finds that 30% of Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener readers meet over 50% of their food needs from their own farms or gardens; another 30% meet 25 to 50 percent; 20% purchase all of their milk directly from a dairy farmer.
The University of Maine studies organic vs. conventional plots of vegetables for the first time, thanks in large part to Dr. Frank Eggert.
Item in the Feb. Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener: To Love, Honor and Radish. Rob Johnston, of Johnny's Selected Seeds, received the following communication from Lora Fanshel of Santa Rosa, California: "My daughter, Lupine, who is five, calls you 'Johnny's Galactic Seeds.' She hasn't seen Star Wars, but she knows plenty about gardening. When some friends decided to get married, we asked her if they knew what getting married meant… 'they're going to have a garden together.' Hope springs eternal."
Mark Hineline edits The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener, continuing finessing the paper, as Tim Nason was doing previously.
MOFGA moves its offices from Hallowell to a roomier space in Augusta.
"It is nuclear energy, in its fission and fusion forms, that is at the opposite poles of the energy debates. Those who see the sun as an energy producer are on one side of the table; those who would split and disintegrate the atom in an earthbound replica of the sun's core are on the other." John Cole, in the Oct. 1982 Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener.
"Agriculture is the most dynamic geological event ever to occur," Wes Jackson says at his keynote speech at the Common Ground Country Fair. "The plowshare may well have destroyed more options for future generations than the sword" through loss of soil – "the greatest danger facing the earth." Jackson was and still is working on a polyculture of perennials at The Land Institute in Salinas, Kansas.
The Organic Farming Act, which would have funded research on organic methods, is voted not to pass by the U.S. Congress. Rep. Olympia Snowe votes against the bill; Rep. David Emery is absent for the vote but had expressed support. Opponents say organic farming has been "studied over and over again to death."
Market gardener Jay Adams serves as executive director of MOFGA, bringing strong ties to other Maine agricultural organizations, such as the Small Farm Assoc. and Agricultural History Society.
Two "bona fide MOFGA members from Auburn" – Republican Harriet B. Lewis and Democrat John M. Michael – join the Maine House of Representatives.
Steve Cartwright, becomes Publications Director for MOFGA, a job that includes editing The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener. Dedicated organic farmer, Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener writer and MOFGA chapter founder Pam Bell becomes Associate Editor. After one issue of The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener, Cartwright steps down, Bell takes over as editor until 1988, and Tim Nason returns to producing the paper – a job he continues to do (beautifully) today.
Common Ground Fair director Bill Whitman accepts awards for MOFGA from the Annual Meeting of the International Assoc. of Fairs and Expositions – a 1st prize for Advertising Specialties and another 1st for Printed Promotional Materials, for the Fairbook, the Sept. edition of The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener, posters, brochure, bumper stickers, etc.
By majority vote at the 1983 MOFGA Annual Meeting, a land search for a permanent home for the Common Ground Country Fair is initiated. Again. Common Ground Fairgoers donate $3,000 toward the cause.
The number of paid gate admissions to the Fair is 32,282, another high.
MOFGA proposes and helps pass state legislation requiring that a member of the Board of Pesticides Control must have knowledge and practical experience in Integrated Pest Management.
Scott Nearing dies shortly after reaching his 100th birthday and after inspiring so many to "grab life with both hands," as Tim Nason writes in his eulogy in The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener.
Maine Commissioner of Agriculture Stu Smith, a keynote speaker at the Common Ground Fair, tells MOFGA members what they've been waiting to hear from an agricultural policy maker: that for Maine to be self-reliant in agriculture, we need public support; support from Cooperative Extension; financial credit from the state for small and part-time farmers; marketing assistance; a state policy about what Maine farmers can reasonably be expected to produce for Maine citizens; and assurance that sufficient land will be preserved for agriculture.
Tina Blanchard is hired as Director of Special Events for MOFGA, which includes directing the Common Ground Fair.
Friday becomes MOFGA Day at the Common Ground Fair: MOFGA members get in free.
MOFGA receives the Affiliate of the Year Award from the Natural Resources Council for "outstanding and distinguished service in the field of natural resource management."
Senator George Mitchell co-sponsors the Agricultural Productivity Act, which would fund research on organic practices with $2.1 million from the USDA budget. His testimony comes from letters prepared by MOFGA members Beedy Parker, Pam Bell, Frank Eggert, Rob Johnston and David Vail.
More than 40,000 people attend the Common Ground Fair. Advance ticket sales at 15 Maine outlets significantly reduce the ticket sales waiting lines at the Fair.
As repercussions of Union Carbide's deadly pesticide factory explosion in Bhopal, India, surface, Union Carbide considers changing its motto – "Today, something we do will touch your life" – reports The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener.
Bonnie Lounsbury, MOFGA member and environmental lawyer, is appointed to Maine's Board of Pesticides Control, despite opposition from Farm Bureau, Lucas Tree, blueberry growers and others.
Kent Whealy of the Seed Savers Exchange tells the audience at his Common Ground keynote speech that 80% of the vegetable varieties available at the turn of the century have disappeared from commerce.
Under direction of MOFGA board president Bonnie Miller, the organization develops its first five-year plan.
MOFGA becomes the first organic farming organization to hire its own "Extension Agent," Eric Sideman (currently our Organic Crops Specialist). With a B.S. in agriculture from Cornell, an M.S. in biology from Northeastern Univ., and a Ph.D. in plant ecology from the Univ. of N.H., Sideman brings just what MOFGA wants: an ecological approach to agriculture. This move earns MOFGA wide recognition as a serious farming and gardening organization. Sideman is still on the job.
Stirling Kendall becomes MOFGA's Director of Special Events.
Lynn Miller, an Oregon farmer and publisher of The Small Farmer's Journal, is the keynote speaker at the Common Ground Country Fair. He says, "Without exception farming is the noblest and grandest vocation -- one which affords countless opportunities for humankind's best qualities and skills to contribute to the endurance and betterment of our fragile world. Farming must not be 'evolved' out of a humanly guided, spirit-filled process of creativity and nurturing into an abstract, corporately-controlled industry."
The Maine Association of Agricultural Fairs presents MOFGA's Common Ground Country Fair with an award for excellence in demonstrations and educational exhibits.
Jay Adams resigns his position of Executive Director. Paul Volckhausen, MOFGA's Board President, serves as acting Executive Director. MOFGA hires a consultant to help assess its structure and needs. Bylaws are revised, the organization becomes more centralized, and chapters have less to do with day-to-day operations.
Beedy Parker and Jeanne Hollingsworth receive the Natural Resources Council of Maine's Conservation Award for their work on pesticides. They attend meetings of the Board of Pesticides Control; establish the MOFGA No-Spray Registry to protect landowners from spray drift; and force the issue of pesticide drift, which led to a pesticide drift conference in Portland in 1984.
Nancy Ross is Executive Director of MOFGA. Her planning and analytical background, and her expertise in communications are just what MOFGA needs now. She doubles membership to 3000 by 1995. Ross also serves on the national Organic Farmers Association Council (OFAC) and on the Agricultural Council of Maine, which she helped found. While on OFAC, Ross and Maine farmer Dave Colson lobby for the federal Organic Food Production Act. Ross leaves MOFGA in 1995 to earn a Ph.D. in Agriculture, Food and Environment at Tufts University. She is now a professor at Unity College.
Susan Pierce leaves her jobs as a consultant with the Univ. of Santa Cruz Agroecology Program's farm conference and as coordinator of the large farmers' market in Santa Cruz to move to Maine and become MOFGA's Director of Special Events. "…an organization that runs very much on volunteers and has been around for 15 years is pretty fascinating," she says.
Pam Bell leaves her position as editor of The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener to pursue a degree in International Affairs and Spanish at the University of Maine, "to learn about the people who inhabit and cultivate other lands." Her parting words to Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener readers are "to keep your love for the land and its people, and for your own self, always alive in your heart."
Jean English becomes editor of The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener.
The University of Maine starts its degree program in sustainable agriculture. MOFGA's Eric Sideman and Jay Adams participate in the hiring process that fills three vacancies at UM in the past two years with faculty who could meet the needs of the program.
MOFGA hires Janice Clark as Office Manager.
MOFGA begins composting leftover resources at the Common Ground Country Fair. Less than 3% of materials thrown into recycling and composting bags go to a transfer station.
Hurricane Hugo devastates the Fair on Friday night, destroying wooden stalls, sending signs flying, downing tents and flooding walkways. In the wee hours of Saturday morning, 500 volunteers show up to pump water, hammer nails, erect tents. Miraculously (meaning, with lots of volunteer help), the Fair opens just an hour and a half late on Saturday.
At his keynote speech at the Common Ground Fair, Texas populist Jim Hightower says that solutions to the farm crisis are diversification, direct marketing and local processing of foods.
MOFGA members Jill and Charlie Agnew of Willow Pond Farm and Orchard in Sabbatus start the first Community Supported Agriculture farm in Maine.
At MOFGA's initiation, Maine passes two laws requiring that produce be labeled regarding country of origin and postharvest chemical treatment.
In Washington, D.C., Nancy Ross accepts the National Environmental Achievement Award in Food Safety for MOFGA's work on Maine produce labeling laws (work done by Ross, Beedy Parker, Jeannie Hollingsworth and others). Ross shakes hands with the first President Bush. MOFGA also receives the Maine Nutrition Council's Public Service Award this year, "in recognition of [MOFGA's] contribution in nutrition and health to Maine people."
More than 200 people travel to New Leaf Farm in Durham, Maine, to view trials of hairy vetch as a winter cover crop – work supported by a USDA-LISA (Low-Input Sustainable Agriculture) grant to MOFGA, the New Alchemy Institute and the University of Massachusetts. The trials result in specific recommendations for using hairy vetch and winter rye, published in the Sept.-Oct. Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener.
MOFGA holds its first Farmer to Farmer Conference, enabling growers from our bioregion to exchange information in a relaxed, comfortable setting. The conference attracts 82 attendants. Russell Libby tells the audience that sales from Maine's organic farms are close to $2 million per year. One grower calls the event "a real shot in the arm." The highly successful event was supported by a USDA-LISA grant in its second and third years, and continues today, now cosponsored by MOFGA and Maine Cooperative Extension and held at Atlantic Oakes-by-the-Sea in Bar Harbor. While this is an unmatched opportunity to learn, many of us are not-so-secretly there for the delicious Maine-grown food that is so beautifully prepared by Atlantic Oakes' chefs.
MOFGA starts its "Grow Your Own" program to encourage and support home gardeners to produce more of their own food. Workshops, community gardens, a "Grow Your Own" column in The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener, other publications, and a Seed to Table demonstration at the Fair, support this effort.
98.3% of the Common Ground Fair waste is recycled.
Fourth graders in Pownal, Maine, raise $50 for reading over 50,000 pages. They give the money to MOFGA, because, "We are concerned about how many pesticides are going in and on the food that we grow. We would just like to say, Good luck and Thank you for caring."
Prof. Matt Liebman, from the University of Maine Sustainable Agriculture Program, tells Common Ground Fairgoers in his keynote speech that the [first] Gulf War highlighted some "important realities"—that oil is going to eventually run out and/or become very expensive. He says that 17% of the national energy budget is used for agriculture, and that 80% of that is for irrigation, transportation, packaging and distribution. "If the price of energy goes up, it's going to be more expensive to irrigate, ship, refrigerate…so growers in Maine might have the opportunity to be more competitive with growers in the West."
Chellie Pingree is elected to the Maine Legislature, where she serves on the agriculture committee and is lobbied by MOFGA.
Maine becomes the only state with a moratorium on recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) after MOFGA members and others speak against the genetically engineered hormone before a legislative committee. The genetically engineered hormone is later approved for use in the state.
Eliot Coleman tells Common Ground Fairgoers about 18 crops that were available to him on Jan. 15 of 1991 from his coldframes inside a hoop house.
In an interview for The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener, Tim Nason tells Jane Lamb: "People don't join an organization for what they can get out of it. It's what they feel they belong to. I've always thought of MOFGA as home, that I belonged there…"
The search for a permanent site continues… A Permanent Site Committee, chaired by Ellis Percy, investigates possible sites, while a Fundraising Committee, coordinated by Anu Dudley, seeks funding.
The Maine Legislature defeats An Act to Require Labeling on Genetically Engineered Foods, despite a noble fight by Rep. Conrad Heeschen. Rep. Bob Tardy counters, "You feel a lot better about your food if you are not reading a lot while you are eating it." The Legislature calls for a Commission to Study Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering. Rob Johnston and MOFGA board member Sharon Tisher are appointed to the Commission. To this date, after repeated attempts at labeling legislation, Maine consumers are not told what is in their non-organic food.
Russell Libby becomes Executive Director of MOFGA, now the largest organization of its kind in the country. He starts his campaign to get Maine families to buy $10/week worth of Maine-grown food in order to keep $100 million more in the state economy each year.
MOFGA wins the Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce Community Service Award for its involvement in Augusta's new farmers' market, its community garden program for low-income families, for free advice for farmers and gardeners, for the Common Ground Country Fair and the income it brings to the area, and other work.
Helen Nearing dies on Sept. 17, when her car leaves the road and hits a tree. A memorial for her at the Common Ground Fair is attended by hundreds of people, as two gorgeous red damselflies -- Helen and Scott, some wonder -- flit about. At the Fair, Eliot Coleman calls Helen and Scott the "life parents as opposed to the birth parents of those of us who came to Maine." He encourages people who have extra land to sell it to new farmers at the price they originally paid, as the Nearings did for Coleman, and Coleman later did for others.
Using good Ailsa Craig onion seeds, attention to weeding and watering, and "killer compost," Jason Kafka turns 1-1/2 ounces of seed into "over 5,000 pounds of nice, marketable onions" that are famous at the Fair, both served from various food booths and shown in the Exhibition Hall.
After years of having a Vision Committee looking for a permanent site for the Fair and for a year-round agricultural education center, MOFGA purchases more than 200 acres in Unity and Thorndike from Donald and Bertha Maxim. Dozens of MOFGA members gather there on March 22 to celebrate. The next year involves site planning and town and state permitting.
Two new areas come to the Fair: The Youth Enterprise Zone, coordinated by Bob Egan, gives young people a chance to show and sell their arts, crafts, foods, seedlings and more; the Native American Arts and Education Area serves to address concerns raised by Native Americans about representation of their culture at earlier fairs. The new area benefits from input by Richard Silliboy, Theresa Hoffman, and the Fair Steering Committee and Planning Team.
MOFGA certifies 126 organic farms.
MOFGA receives the national Harry Chapin Self Reliance Award.
Despite being overly influenced by industry, Maine's Biotech Commission, formed in 1994, recommends labeling of genetically engineered foods—but at the federal level. We're still waiting, which is why labeling legislation continues to be proposed at the state level.
Based on the highly spirited and successful Children's Garden Parade at the Common Ground Country Fair, Genny Keller organizes a costume coloring/instruction book for people who want to make costumes seen in the parade. Volunteer artists who work on the book include Beedy Parker, Leane Boynton, Sheila Carter, Genny Keller, Toki Oshima and Kristen Salvatore.
Ellis Percy, Susan Pierce and Russell Libby stake out a preliminary plan for MOFGA's Common Ground Education Center. Everyone's impression: "It's big!" Among those helping plan the site are David Neufeld, Conrad Heeschen, Tom Hepp, Brian Kent, Rick Kipp, Ellis Percy, Keith Whitaker, Bob Lamontagne, CR Lawn, Russell Libby, Susan Pierce, Steve Plumb, Bob Sewall and Matthew Strong. Mort Mather begins coordinating a capital campaign to help fund the site and its development. Cynthia Hamlin makes a "Twenty Years of Common Ground" quilt from 20 Fair T-shirts for MOFGA to raffle to raise money for the Unity site. Sarah Holland and David Foley are hired to design MOFGA's main office building and Exhibition Hall. Rene Burdet is hired as project manager.
Russell Libby continues his $10/week campaign, urging consumers to buy more Maine-grown foods. "I continue to think that the most important market for any farmer is right at home, starting with the household economy (feed yourself first) and moving out to friends and neighbors. I listened to Governor King's State of the State speech, emphasizing the need for rapid transitions to a global economy. If that's the economy we want to be joining, then I'm in the wrong place. Every dollar we keep in Maine is just as important as the dollars that we bring in through exports."
The economics of organic farming start to look good to many Maine dairy farmers. The Organic Cow and Stonyfield Farm meet with farmers in Maine to discuss conversion, and MOFGA's certification committee reviews livestock standards with growers to make sure they're workable and appropriate. Jack Lazor of Butterworks Farm in Vermont tells farmers at the Maine Agricultural Trades Show: "Organic is not about Rule A, B or C, but about life" – about putting minerals back into the land and building soil life. Almost 10% of Maine dairy farmers attend this MOFGA-sponsored talk.
Rep. Paul Chartrand submits MOFGA's bill to require labeling of genetically engineered foods.
In response to a proposal by MOFGA, the Maine Board of Pesticides Control (BPC) considers revising its mission statement to target pesticide use reduction as a goal. Jo D. Saffeir of the BPC calls MOFGA's proposal the "most extensive" and "concrete" proposal received after the Board asked for input on addressing citizens' concerns regarding aerial spraying. Eventually the Board rejects the proposal and decides to have a public information campaign to reduce cosmetic use of pesticides on lawns. On MOFGA's behalf, Sens. Marge Kilkelly and John Nutting then propose "An Act to Reduce Reliance on Pesticides" to the Maine Legislature, which passes it. So Maine now has a policy requiring that reliance on pesticides be minimized in the state, but the BPC has had difficulty collecting and synthesizing pesticide sales data that would make the policy a reality.
Heather Spalding is hired as MOFGA's Assistant Special Events Coordinator, following her graduation from Dartmouth College, internship with the National Wildlife Federation, and jobs with the Sierra Club and Greenpeace.
Several MOFGA members join the "trip of a lifetime"—the Sustainable Agriculture & Community In Cuba trip with MOFGA member Richard Rudolph to learn more about organic methods. "Their organic methods are pretty much the same as ours," reports Paul Volckhausen. "But it was their whole sustainable food system that was eye-opening."
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ross Gelbspan, author of The Heat is On, tells an audience at the Common Ground Fair that we need a "10-year Manhattan Project" to "rewire the entire globe" and replace all oil, gas, coal and other polluting sources of energy with environmentally friendly sources of energy in order to counter climate change.
Comedian Jackson Gillman becomes a border collie's "colliegue" and tries to herd sheep at Dave Kennard's sheep dog demonstration at the Fair. "I… drop to the ground and try to make eye contact with the ewe… Hey, ewe, look at me. This is by far the most vivid moment of the whole experience. I become acutely aware of the strange, horizontal, rectangular pupils of my sheep's eyes, and her eyes are so wide apart that I can't possibly stare at both of them at the same time. So, I pick one, and with all the force I can muster behind my eyes, I concentrate on pushing this sheep back with brute focus."
Volunteer Eric Rector starts www.mofga.org, our Web site.
Maine's Board of Pesticides Control stuns big seed and chemical companies by denying an application to market a genetically engineered Bt corn variety here. MOFGA testifies that organic growers – the fastest growing segment of Maine agriculture – would be the first to suffer if insects develop resistance to Bt in the engineered corn.
On March 25 and 26, timber framers Robert Engdahl, Mike Smiley, Richard Krause and John Connolly raise the timbers for MOFGA's Exhibition Hall. The Gardner family of Shivanarth Farm in Washington brings its falafel booth to the site and serves lunch, drinks and snacks to the framers and about 50 volunteers – becoming the first food vendor at MOFGA's new home.
"In the Heart of a Seed," a design conceived and planted for MOFGA by volunteer Sue Belding at the Portland Flower Show, wins the Lyle Littlefield Award for Underutilized and Unusual Plants from the Maine Landscape and Nursery Association.
Animal scientist Diane Schivera becomes MOFGA's program assistant (now organic livestock specialist), helping Eric Sideman with organic certification and helping farmers and gardeners raise livestock organically.
Sept. 25, 1998 - THE DAY WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR! MOFGA opens its permanent site to the public on this opening day of the Common Ground Country Fair. With one year of planning and 11 months of hands-on work (much from volunteers), MOFGA had: a road network and almost a mile of underground water and electric lines and nine transformers installed; a well drilled and pump house, water tower and septic system constructed; a peaceful walking trail through the woods to the parking lot; two fields prepared for parking; a meeting space, office building and exhibition hall designed and built; a shop/maintenance building and four livestock barns erected; a comfort station/bathroom built (with Women Unlimited); two donated ticket booths erected; 30 acres of ground seeded; an amphitheater and cover crops for two orchards started; the Common Ground Fair laid out and set up. Then, it hosted a fabulous Fair!
Four hundred bicyclists collectively pedaled 7,000 miles to the Fair, where the Bicycle Coalition of Maine offered the first Valet Bike Parking in Maine's history.
Former Aroostook County Potato Queen Aimee Good receives (and accepts) a marriage proposal from Josh Margolis as both stand atop the Amphitheater mound.
MOFGA begins moving its offices from Augusta to Unity.
With its new facility in place, MOFGA revives a tradition from the '70s: the Spring Growth Conference, which quickly becomes a popular and important event for farmers, gardeners and those interested in agricultural policy. The delicious catered lunch is an added attraction.
Under the direction of Ernie Glabau, the Dedicated Tree Planting program starts planting trees at MOFGA's site. This is the fruition of an idea that had been mentioned when MOFGA started talking about a permanent site. MOFGA's grounds are also planted with perennial, herb and vegetable gardens and orchards.
Maine's Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Conservation recommends that genetically engineered foods sold in Maine be labeled as such. At the hearing, MOFGA member Will Bonsall, director of the Scatterseed Project, notes that the arguments are "lining up on two sides…those of us dressed like hippies and those of us dressed like Mormons," referring to the dark suits on the "anti" labeling side of the room. "Just purely from a food industry point of view," he continues, "I think this is an incredibly pro-business bill. If I'm a businessman and I'm producing something I want to sell you, I want you to know everything possible about the [product]. Your confidence is extremely important to me… Those who don't want you to know – that's not a businessman, that's a crook."
After arranging over 500 apprentices on members' farms over the years, MOFGA starts its Journeyperson Program as a next step for people who have some agricultural background but are not yet ready to buy a farm and start their own business.
MOFGA starts an organic farming course for new farmers, a Small Farm Field Day, and hosts the Low-Impact Forestry Workshop and the scion exchange.
Long-time MOFGA member and volunteer Barrie Brusila of Mid-Maine Forestry in Warren is hired as MOFGA's consulting forester. She develops a forest management plan for the MOFGA woodlands.
Sue Belding brings another award to MOFGA from the Portland Flower Show: the Palette Award for the garden that best demonstrates the skillful use of color. This is the only organic garden at the 1999 show, and all of the flowers were grown at Belding's Old Stage Farm from seed she'd saved there. The fragrance of the old varieties drew many admiring people to MOFGA's garden.
MOFGA board members Eric Rector and Sharon Tisher bring $10,000 to our organization after their recipes for Chocolate Sin and Newman's Own Southwestern Rosti Pancakes win a Newman's Own Recipe Contest.
Susie O'Keeffe joins the MOFGA staff to help with the Capital Campaign for the permanent site. In November, MOFGA member Cordelia Lane helps Susie and MOFGA through a fundraising gathering at her home in Yarmouth and by becoming the Campaign's first Collective Challenge Leader. O'Keeffe left MOFGA to work for Maine FarmLink.
A generational event: Long-time MOFGA member Ben Wilcox and his partner Song Emery retire from selling produce at the Camden Farmers' Market. Among the pieces of advice Wilcox offers in an article by Jane Lamb in the Sept.-Nov. 2000 Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener: "We found it more profitable to make our mistakes as we could afford them, rather than borrowing a lot of money to make them all at once."
CR Lawn delivers a keynote speech at the Common Ground Fair entitled "Mow Me Less: Tales of a GE-Resistant Lawn." He recalls how, a quarter of a century ago, he "plunked down five bucks to join MOFGA and shared my intentions to start an organic market garden. I've never forgotten the warm reply I received from Tim Nason. Tim also sent the first three issues ever produced of The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener. I still have Vol. 1, #1… It has a column by Eliot Coleman and a letter from then-MOFGA president Mort Mather… Mort has since graduated to judging the Harry S. Truman manure pitch contest here at the Fair.
MOFGA begins working with the University of Maine Folklife Center to conduct oral history interviews at the Common Ground Fair with people who have played key roles in the history of the organization. Over time, the recorded interviews are being transcribed to produce a rich historical account of this vibrant organization.
Jack Kertesz receives a USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education grant to explore the potential of interplanting shorter-term crops (vegetables, herbs, nursery stock, flowers) in MOFGA's to-be- planted orchard. The study is called, "Improving Financial Returns Early in an Orchard's Life Through Alley Cropping." The plantings become a beautiful focal point at MOFGA's site and a major draw at the Fair.
MOFGA starts "Grow Your Own Organic Garden" programs around the state – one-night class to help beginning gardeners.
Again! Sue Belding, with help from coworker Carol Walker, brings another award from the Portland Flower Show to MOFGA for the MOFGA-sponsored display entitled "Harvesting Dreams." The "Kitchen Door Award," sponsored by Johnny's Selected Seeds, is for the garden's creative use of vegetables, herbs and other useful plants among a profusion of brilliant flowers and ferns.
Maine passes legislation requiring manufacturers and dealers of genetically engineered plants or seeds to deliver written instructions to all Maine growers of GE crops sufficient to minimize potential cross- contamination. This is a weakened version of MOFGA's original proposed legislation. An act to require labeling of GE foods is voted down, but an act providing for voluntary labeling of GE foods passes. MOFGA opposes the latter, calling it inadequate.
Fewer than two weeks after 9/11, Indian activist Dr. Vandana Shiva flies to the United States to present a keynote speech at the Common Ground Fair. "For me this is truly a journey for peace," she tells her audience. "I undertook it in spite of everyone worrying—about taking a flight, coming to this country at this point of history. But that's precisely why I got onto the flight, because if you give up hope, what chance is there for peace? But it's also my tribute to all of you who built this amazing movement here out of a peace movement. After all, those of you who came to Maine, built the organic movement, did it as an extension of fighting in a peaceful way against a war mentality."
Keynote speaker Jim Hightower tells Fairgoers that we have to "return to the concept of the common good. What works for all of us – the notion that we're all in this together – that's the organic way. The organic, political notion that we are a whole, as a people...We can have any kind of food economy we want. One that embodies our values of economic fairness, social justice, equal opportunity for all people, rather than the current ethic of global corporate greed… This requires us to be willing to challenge the powers that be on behalf of the powers that ought to be… And we're at another one of those 'When in the course of human events' moments in this country when we've got to ask [who the hell is going to be in charge]…and we've got to be asking it even more after last week's horrific bombing and the equally horrific return that we're getting out of some of our leaders in Washington, D.C."
After almost 14 years, special events director Susan Pierce leaves MOFGA to direct the National Folk Festival in Bangor. After 23 years of writing much-loved feature stories for the Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener, Jane Lamb retires and moves closer to her daughter in California.
MOFGA president Eric Rector spearheads the organization's final push to raise $3.1 million for its permanent site: only $203,000 left to raise by this time! The Capital Campaign is complete by January 2003, with the help of nearly 3,000 members and friends.
USDA regulations regarding labeling of organic foods go into full effect on Oct. 21. Any farmer selling organic food in quantities greater than $5,000 per year must be certified. MOFGA makes substantial changes in its structure to comply with USDA requirements, including forming MOFGA Certification Services LLC, headed by Mary Yurlina, who streamlines the application process greatly. Eric Sideman and Diane Schivera no longer have responsibility for certification and can focus on advising farmers and gardeners.
Ten percent of Maine dairy farmers are shipping organic milk.
The Wednesday Spinners celebrates its 25th year at the Common Ground Fair by carrying out a "Sheep-to-Shawl" demonstration.
In a letter expressing his regrets that he could not attend a candidates' forum at the Common Ground Fair, now-Gov. John Baldacci expresses the opinion that "organic agriculture represents the brightest spot in the future of Maine's agricultural industry," and, regarding genetically engineered crops, observes that "cultivation of natural products is at the heart of the agricultural tradition, and I believe it is very important that we recognize the potential drawbacks to GMO use… The silver lining of GMO use may be that Maine's blossoming organic agriculture industry will grow into an increasingly valuable segment of our rural economy as consumers seek out GMO-free produce."
At the Farmer to Farmer Conference, Eliot Coleman defines organic agriculture as "a system of agriculture which pays maximum attention to the effects of agricultural practices on the nutritional quality of the crops produced and the well being of the environment in which it takes place." Hardy Vogtmann, Deputy Minister for the Environment for Germany, also speaks – 25 years after he first addressed a MOFGA audience. He says that "everyone should be a year abroad, be a stranger for one year in another country. It would make all the difference in the world. If people will talk and eat and drink [together], they won't make war, [they] will have a good time. That's what organic farming is all about: It's about joy."
Heather Spalding becomes operations director for MOFGA. Barbara Luce, who has been involved in the Fair since the Litchfield days, becomes Fair director.
Andrew Marshall starts as educational programs director for MOFGA. His first official act was judging samples from food booths at the Fair!
MOFGA receives funding from the Maine Community Foundation and Common Good Ventures to work on organizational development for three years, so that the organization can continue to be effective while its physical structure develops and the number of members and certified growers increases.
Tim Nason suggests in The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener that MOFGA members promote organic practices at the town level, by serving on town committees, providing MOFGA publications to towns, posting information about organic practices, promoting local food production and marketing, and more.
MOFGA's Common Ground Education Center has been planted with two orchards, over 120 shade trees, a perennial garden, various shrubs, and vegetables and nursery stock within an orchard. In its woodland, pines have had their first selection thinning; much of the wood will be used for MOFGA projects. A sugarbush is being managed, with removed wood heating the Modern Homestead. Planting for a SeedSchool results from a grant received by CR Lawn and Eli Kaufman.
MOFGA hires Steve Plumb to coordinate buildings and grounds logistics at MOFGA's Common Ground Education Center. After many years and countless hours volunteering his services for major infrastructural work essential to the functioning of our 250+ acres and 12 buildings, Plumb was finally on MOFGA's payroll.
The Maine Grass Farmers Network forms under the leadership of MOFGA's Diane Schivera, Rick Kersbergen of Cooperative Extension, and Paula Roberts of Meadowsweet Farm.
Saskatchewan farmer Percy Schmeiser receives a standing ovation after his heartfelt keynote speech to hundreds of Fairgoers at Common Ground. Schmeiser has been made a folk hero by Monsanto, which sued him after its genetically-engineered canola apparently contaminated his crop. Schmeiser sued back. Sharon Tisher asks the quietly determined senior citizen which was harder for him: climbing Mount Everest or fighting Monsanto. Schmeiser says that's a "really hard question."
MOFGA starts its fall "Tastings" event to highlight local foods prepared by Maine chefs. Sam Hayward is the first renowned chef to take part in this event. He now serves on the MOFGA Board.
MOFGA joins the Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine, a group of environmental, health and labor groups committed to reducing Maine citizens' exposures to toxic chemicals.
Jason Kafka gives the farmer-keynote speech at Common Ground, ending with words that could define MOFGA as well as farmers: "I tend to be an optimist. Being a farmer, you have to be. Sometimes I'm pleased, sometimes I just wait till next year."
Lynn Miller, publisher of the Small Farmers Journal, tells Fairgoers that Common Ground is "absolutely phenomenal… Our dreams have won out! I don't know how many of you realize what a phenomenal force organic agriculture, appropriate technology, right livelihood is in this country now. A lot of us think we're alone until we come to an event like this." Although organic farming "is a market force felt with increasing vitality all around the world," the movement "faces a grave threat from corporate fascism and an entrenched federal government of simian puppets. Our dreams won out, we're here, but if we aren't careful, we'll be passing through a collapsing building."
MOFGA creates a seasonal landscaping position to oversee the living collections at the Common Ground Education Center and to work with the budding volunteer Landscape Committee. Amanda Jamison is hired as our first landscape coordinator.
MOFGA's Spring Growth Conference focuses on the pull between local and global food economies. Russell Libby notes that the United States now has more prisoners than farmers…and "about one-quarter of those are probably there for growing things they shouldn't be growing." Jim Amaral of Borealis Breads says that "it is important to honor and value the people who are creating and growing your food for you. They're doing something amazing. I look at what Matt Williams is doing in terms of growing wheat for us; our product is much, much better for it, and it gives us the opportunity to differentiate our product in the marketplace." Twelve years ago, Amaral added, no bread in Maine was made with locally grown wheat. "As individuals we can all take those small steps to make those things happen, and Maine will be an amazing place to live in 20 years."
MOFGA's educational program director Andrew Marshall starts Farm Training Workshops for apprentices and others.
Peace Action Maine presents its Peacemaker Organization Award to MOFGA, highlighting the organization's work on and support of sustainability with respect to one of our most basic needs—food. Peace Action notes that MOFGA has a "steadfast commitment to supporting ecologically sustainable development and progressive issues" and has been a "tremendous inspiration."
As the Maine Department of Agriculture updates its 20-year-old food policy, Russell Libby offers input: Maine should have the capacity to provide 80% of the calories needed by its citizens. We should have healthy food available to all. We need to build alliances between fishermen and farmers. Maine could carve out a strategic place in the market by setting a goal of being the first state with at least 50% of its farmers being organic in 10 years. (It is now 4%.) The Department agrees…until Libby pushes the "O" word.
After being a powerhouse of public policy initiatives and a highly energetic board member of MOFGA for 12 years, Sharon Tisher steps down from the board (but remains on the public policy committee) to become president of the Natural Resources Council of Maine. Of MOFGA, she says, "I've been involved in many nonprofit organizations, but never have I seen such a transformative process as the acquisition and development of the [Common Ground Education Center] site." Public policy initiatives led by Tisher resulted in significant victories: Maine is the first state with a policy to reduce pesticide use; MOFGA proposed a survey of pesticide use in Maine schools, which led to a regulation requiring parental notification and use of IPM in schools; Maine is the only state that does not permit cultivation of genetically-engineered Bt crops; the Maine Commission to Study Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering called for federal labeling and other reforms; and Maine is the first state to require specific instructions to reduce genetic contamination of wild and conventional crops by engineered crops. In 50 years, Tisher says, she expects most of Maine agriculture to be organic or close to organic. The Public Policy Committee is now in the good hands of Alice Torbert Percy.
Congressman Dennis Kucinich, in his powerful and eloquent keynote speech at the Fair, tells us: "You have something special here in Maine. There is a purity of intention that I've sensed in this state that is different from many places around the country. Preserve that: It's something very important, and it is our path to the future."
At the Fair, Carol Bryan of Scythe Supply sells her snath to an 88-year-old mower/scyther who insists upon taking a snath home with him because he has mowing to do. (Normally Scythe Supply only takes orders for snaths at the Fair.)
The Resource Guide for Organic Insect and Disease Management coauthored by Eric Sideman is well received by organic growers.
The Maine Council of Churches and MOFGA receive a three-year SARE grant to bring together CSA farms, provide technical expertise, share their stories, recruit and train growers, and use congregations as hubs for local foods. The immediate goal is to increase the 2,500 CSA shares sold by Maine's 60 CSA farms by 50 percent.
Jerry Sass of North Anson donates his homestead and 75 acres of forest, which he has carefully tended for 40 years, to MOFGA.
MOFGA receives funding from the USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program to focus on marketing local organic foods, emphasizing participation in Community Supported Agriculture farm programs. Melissa White is promoted from educational programs assistant to organic marketing coordinator, and MOFGA contracts with Cheryl Wixson to develop a strategic plan for marketing sustainably grown foods in Maine.
Russell Libby writes in The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener: "We know we are addicted to oil. Each seed we plant this year is another way to capture sunlight and convert it to food. Let's get growing!"
In his report at MOFGA's annual meeting, MOFGA treasurer Dave Shipman said, "I think this was the year that MOFGA consciousness reached the tipping point. No longer a 'fringe' group, MOFGA carries the banner for sane and sustainable agriculture and living." Members saw plenty of evidence for Shipman's view in the 2007 annual report. For example:
Common Ground Country Fair
Agricultural Services
MOFGA-El Salvador Sistering Committee
Public Policy Committee
Buildings and Grounds
Our membership stands at 6,218 – or 13,415 members when we include the average number of people in a family membership – and we now have a staff of 36. Each year more than 2,850 people volunteer tens of thousands of hours to MOFGA – at the Common Ground Country Fair, at organic gardening classes held statewide, while serving on MOFGA committees and more.
MOFGA Certification Services LLC (MCS)
Agricultural Services
Earned income (Fair, certification, other) – 52
Foundations – 7
Government grants – 13
Individuals and businesses – 15
Membership – 8
Endowment – 5
Maine Harvest Credit Project
Our membership stands at more than 4,600. Counting our 2,380 family members, that number encompasses more than 10,000 individuals in 44 states. Half of our members are farmers or gardeners. Local MOFGA chapters are active in Penobscot, Sagadahoc and York counties, and MOFGA is interested in growing its local networks. We now have a staff of 43. More than 3,000 people volunteered tens of thousands of hours to MOFGA – at the Common Ground Country Fair, at organic gardening classes held statewide, while serving on MOFGA committees and for other efforts.
Our leadership changed this year, as Ted Quaday retired in August and Sarah Alexander took over as executive director. Sarah brings wonderful energy and strong leadership skills to MOFGA. "We are fortunate to have her," said David Shipman, MOFGA board president. In her first few months, Alexander met with all staff members individually, with board members, visited 15 farms and met with more than 100 MOFGA volunteers and stakeholders.
MOFGA now has more than 40 staff members and, as of December 2019, we have 4,167 memberships, which represents approximately 8,000 members.
With the shift in political leadership in the state, Amanda Beal, a former MOFGA president, was appointed Commissioner of the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry.
MOFGA completed its 10-year strategic impact plan, which outlines how we can truly transform our relationship to food in Maine and blaze a path for other organic organizations around the country. In the next 10 years, we will work to transform our food system by focusing on building common ground; supporting organic gardeners, homesteaders and eaters; promoting the environmental and health benefits of organic and sustainable practices; and growing and supporting organic farming and production.
Farmer Programs
Community Education
Public Policy
Administration and Fundraising
Communications and Outreach


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