Last summer, MOFGA joined a lawsuit with Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility to hold the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency accountable for regulating sludge, which is the main pathway for PFAS entering farmland, under the Clean Water Act. Known as “forever chemicals,” PFAS linger in the environment indefinitely and can now be found in the air, water, and soil; and in our bodies. These chemicals are damaging to human health at even the lowest levels. Today, our lawsuit against the EPA is more important than ever.
PFAS chemical contamination on farmland is still a crisis in Maine and across the United States, and MOFGA remains committed to fighting to turn off the PFAS tap. Join us in taking action on PFAS by sharing this video with your family, friends, and larger community.
Visit mofga.org/pfas to learn more.
Registration for Maine Apple Camp is open! 🍎🍏🍎
From August 28 - 30, join us on the gorgeous Megunticook Lake, at Camp Bishopswood in Hope, Maine. We’re looking forward to gathering for another year of apple and fruit tree appreciation: through panels with orchardists and nursery operators, apple geneticists, cider makers, foragers, and food producers.
Take a look at what we’re planning, and get your tickets, at the event calendar linked in our bio.
With warmer temperatures heating up the soil, it’s time to get your gardening plans finalized. MOFGA has all of the resources you need to grow a successful garden!
From planting calendars and interactive maps to a series of how-to videos, we’ve got your gardening needs covered. Learn where to buy certified organic seed and seedlings, which seeds to start indoors, which to start outside, and when. How to select the right growing location, manage pests, build soil, and so much more!
Click the Gardening How-To's link in our bio for more information!
Join MOFGA for “Pocket-Sized Pastures,” an in-person workshop about managing small pastures. This workshop will cover best practices for pasture and livestock health, whether your pastures are home to one horse, a chicken flock, a few goats – you name it. Participants will see a tight rotational grazing plan in action at a small homestead.
Learn more and register at the event calendar linked in our bio.
MOFGA is celebrating the 50th annual Common Ground Country Fair this year, with an art exhibition titled, "Fifty Years of Common Ground," where all five decades of posters will be displayed.
Want all of the posters in bite-sized format to take home with you? Reserve a copy of the accompanying poster catalog, now available for pre-order in our online store. Visit the Store link in our bio for more information!
Join us at the exhibitions at the Maine State House in Augusta, June 1 through August 30, and at Waterville Creates in Waterville, September 4 through 30.
Late last week, the House of Representatives passed the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026, known simply as the Farm Bill.
This version of the Farm Bill includes cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and conservation funding. It also favors big ag, with no additional support for specialty crop farmers, who produce the majority of fresh fruits and vegetables we eat. Additionally the Farm Bill would strip individual states’ ability to set their own food production standards, including how livestock are raised.
While we’re disappointed with this outcome, we are grateful for Rep. Chellie Pingree’s leadership on this issue, and MOFGA will continue to advocate for the Senate version, which includes the Relief for Farmers Hit with PFAS Act and more of our organic priorities.
If you’re interested in, or currently, raising livestock alongside your vegetable or ornamental garden: we have a webinar for you! Join us on May 14 for “Livestock & the Garden,” a webinar with MOFGA’s Livestock & Dairy Specialist, Jacki Martinez Perkins.
Register at the event calendar linked in our bio.
Pest o' the month! "Squash bugs (Anasa tristis) are a common frustration for organic vegetable growers throughout North America. Even in a good year they’re usually around, and in a bad year — or following a lack of management — they can cause significant damage. They’re difficult to control with pesticides and being a cousin to the stink bug family, they emit a foul odor when disturbed or squished.
Squash bugs can be serious pests of cucurbits, especially pumpkins and squash. Plant damage, and bug survival, are low on cucumber and melons, and highest on squash and pumpkin. Squash bugs seem to be most attracted to Cucurbita pepo squashes (zucchini, summer squashes, acorn squash, pumpkins, etc.) and also C. maxima squashes (buttercup, hubbard, etc.). C. moschata squashes (butternut, etc.) are less attractive and a bit more resistant to squash bug damage."
-Excerpt from this month's pest article about squash bugs by @mofga@organiccropspecialist Caleb Goossen from the May Growing for Market Magazine. Comment "SUBSCRIBE" to start a subscription or subscribers can keep reading at growingformarket.com! Photo by Eric Sideman.
Mark your calendars for Farm & Homestead Day: Saturday, June 20th! 🫘🧵🛠️
Each year, we look forward to gathering outside to spend an early summer day with community, at this volunteer-run event. Featuring 40+ skill-building workshops, tea and crumpets, and a potluck and stone soup lunch: Farm & Homestead Day is packed with all-ages fun, food, and learning.
Would you like to teach a skill-building workshop at the event? Submit a proposal by May 15th. If teaching isn’t your thing but you’d like to help out with the event, check out our range of volunteer shifts for the day. Find more info at the Farm & Homestead Day link in our bio!
At our last Gardening Q&A, many of you asked for a Q&A specifically focused on fruit trees (and other perennial fruits). We’re excited to make it happen on May 13! Join us then for a Fruit Tree Q&A webinar with MOFGA’s Orchard Manager, C.J. Walke. 🍒
Register at the event calendar linked in our bio.
As we celebrate the milestone of the 50th annual Common Ground Country Fair, we’re looking ahead to the next 50 years. But we can’t get there without you.
TODAY is the last day: Every gift you make is being matched 1-to-1 up to $50,000.
Whether you love the Fair for the knowledge shared, the local food, or the resilient community we’ve built together, now is the moment to show your support.
⏰ The clock is ticking! The match expires at midnight tonight.
Help us grow a thriving organic future for Maine. Click the donation link in our bio to double your gift!
Do you have photos from your time at the Fair… before there were cell phones? Before coffee was allowed? Back when you had to load a canister of film into the back of your camera?
To help us document and celebrate 50 years of the Common Ground Country Fair, we are collecting archival photos of the Fair! Help us out by digitizing your photos and sending them to communications at mofga dot org.
