That's some serious learning!

Nate Nourse will be speaking at the upcoming annual meeting of the New England Vegetable & Berry Grower's Association. The group, founded in 1886, will be holding it's 602nd annual meeting on January 7, 2022.  It will be held in Northampton, MA.

https://nevbga.com/winter-growers-meetings/

Nate's Newsletter

Nate Nourse has published his newsletter on Substack - Here's how to get the latest on Agricultural Issues and Trends!  

https://natenourse.substack.com/?fbclid=IwAR3zpVXkzQKv312J9MsaL6XbolQzkMzYdKA5nhhRnRe4TSEYbWeLmQBdVA8

It includes articles on "Double Cropping Raspberries" and "Water and substrate management for soilless strawberry production."

Enjoy!

Also in Western, MA

Let's not forget some of our W MA residents! Pics from Facebook - looks like Beaubien ran a race and Nate Nourse made friends with a Minuteman at a UMass hockey game...

Leaders get followed!

Did you catch the recent DA Magazine "Comments" section?

"The mountain climbers of the Class of '83 are an inspiration to us all" wrote Tom Wilson '48.  Then he included a photo of his 2013 summit of Mount Kilimanjaro (about age 86?)!

As usual we crushed the classnotes section including Nate Nourse's latest ski adventure getting its own page!!! And how 'bout the three page spread on the work Mark Beaubien is doing to track hurricanes?  The blog has had a few posts in the past as interesting things happened but the article compiles it all.

Our lives go their own ways but we're forever connected.  Thanks for sharing whatever is going on in your life - it all adds up to '83 leadership.. Screw the class of 1980 and their King...

Hey, Hey RJ!

RJ Harrington continues to work on his new company: NationalCarCharging and likes to wear branded clothing when in public.  Can't begrudge him that!  He also won a raffle for subscribers to the DA Club of the Rockies blog and was able to take his son to his first college lax game at defending national champs Denver Univ! Big wins all around.

At the same time he was sad to have missed Nate Nourse during his last minute ski trip to Colorado...Hope it was fun, Nate!
(Update from Nate: "My friend and I skied 7 mountains in 11 days, driving from central Pennsylvania and back. We logged 5,000 miles driving and almost 100,000 vertical. Next year our goal is 10 mountains in 14 days. Hopefully we’ll catch up with you then.")

Fresh Berries

Paul Magee made his annual pilgrimage from Mexico to Whately, MA to sample Nate Nourse's finest berries.

Nate continues his advancements in the science of small fruit plants, with his newest R&D building pictured in the background. He is also wearing his Penn State hat in honor of the recent post on RJ Harrington.

Paul is scheming a move back to the NYC area but is looking for a couch to crash on in the meantime.

Thanks to Mark Beaubien for the pic!

Nourse and pattee

Thanks Nate!

Plus, Minus, BIG PLUS

Paul "Pablo" Magee was in New England recently from his home in Mexico and seems to have added some hair. He visited with Nate Nourse, for whom the opposite seems to be true.  Seeing them both was a treat, even though Pablo says he will not be able to return for reunions. He did make time for a gift to the annual fund though!  With the April Donor Challenge on the horizon, you should consider making your gift in April and making it a three year recurring gift to score more points for the class and to help sustain Deerfield's excellence!

Field Notes

It was raining on the way home today so I stopped by Nourse Farm to see how Nate was doing. He said business was good, having suffered none of the ill effects of the hurricane and flood waters last fall, the effects of the Halloween snow storm or any of the freezes of budding fruit plants of this spring.  The center of the country has not been so fortunate he says (pictured) and there will be a lack of local apples and peaches especially in the Great Lakes region.

Whately Wisdom from Nate Nourse...

Here’s to fat portfolios and skinny bottom lines. 

I am glad Willy corrected Mark on the Potato issue, there is way too much misinformation on foods. A little sour cream or butter is fine, it is the cheese and bacon that make them very bad. I’d also resonate Willy’s comment on buying the best, but don’t stop eating something if you can’t get organic, the health benefits of all fruits and vegetables are huge whether conventional or organic. The importance of eating 5 or more servings per day can’t be over emphasized. Berries will provide some of the greatest benefits. 

One of my strategies includes never eating the same thing for lunch or dinner two days in a row and eating/treating myself to a sushi lunch at least once a week. Eating different foods every day causes the digestive system to be less efficient and decreasing the amount of food adsorbed. 

All the best for 2012!

Warm weather wisdom..

CBS3 News in Springfield, MA ran a story on how the warm weather is affecting local farmers. The go to guys? Our own Nate Nourse and Ryan Voiland '96!

The story and video with Nate and Ryan is here.

Story Updated: Apr 19, 2010 at 7:08 PM EDT

Two weeks ago, temperatures reached new record highs in western Massachusetts. Local farmers have taken advantage. Asparagus, beets, and peas are getting ready earlier than usual, with apples and peaches blooming early as well.

"Right now we're probably two to three weeks ahead of the last two years.” said Nate Nourse, sales director of Nourse Farms in South Deerfield.

While many farmers markets do not start until May, such as the Springfield Farmers Market at Forest Park on May 4, many local farms across the region are ready to go. Ryan Voiland, owner of Red Fire Farm in Granby, said they’ll have much more to offer at the start of the season than years past.

"Because we've had better weather, we will be able to begin offering salad mix, spinach, and peas sooner.” said Voiland. “We will jump into the season where we have a lot of good stuff to eat that much more quickly."

However, there are still some worries if the warm trend suddenly ends.
“It's basically created a lot of anxiety about the earliness and how the cold weather that could come up and impact us negatively." said Nourse.

The National Weather Service says the growing season will not officially start here until the beginning of May, and a harmful frost or freeze cannot be ruled out just yet.

"When it's April you can't put out tomatoes, you can't put pepper plants out because it’s just expected there is going to be another frost." said Voiland

Dinner with Nourse (aka Strawberry Man)

Fun times in Western MA. Nate and his wife Betsy invited us to dinner - their boys Nick and Colby were gracious hosts to our 3 yr old daughter and fun was had by all. Nothing like fresh asparagus (from Nate's field) and grilled salmon. Thanks Nate!

Nourse Farm leads the way

If you haven't checked out http://www.noursefarms.com/ lately - and you need to know anything about small fruit plants and their science - check out the page and especially the videos narrated by our own Nate Nourse. The You Tube direct link is http://www.youtube.com/NourseFarms. Talk about high tech farming - they clone plants fron a single cell!