just a quick reminder that work songs are awesome!

We found this worksong among a wonderful collection of other songs on worksongs.org, which is run by Maine farmer-musician Bennett Konesni. It’s kind of a digital soundbook and Bennett has created a collection of songs used to aid labor and has included lyrics on many of the songs. His long term goal is to have recordings, lyrics, history, usage tips and comments on each song. He created the site to address three needs:

First, the need to share songs that people can use in their fields, markets, kitchens and at the table. Second, and more generally, my wish to understand and enliven the culture of food. Third, and in a universal sense, my desire to explore ways to make all work more fun.

It’s a really cool project and he and his trained harbor seal Andre accept donations if you would like to support him.

Click HERE to check out the full site.

a great song to get you through cluster fly season!

william elliott whitmores cool new song, with awesome farm footage!

the 12th annual blackfly ball is this weekend!

credit: Gabby Schutlz and the beehive collective 

The 12th annual all-ages dress-up Blackfly Ball is taking place this weekend, August 19th, in Machias, Maine. The Ball has been taking place every year since 2005 to celebrate the restoration and reopening of the Machias Valley Grange Hall and as a testimony to the 100+ years that the building has served as a community center to the people of Washington County. The event itself embodies the history of the building, bringing together people from all walks of life to find a common ground through community and celebration.

This years line up features soothing brass, wacky ukuleles, flocks of fiddles and more from far and wide. This event is 100% free and is entirely funded by poster sales, the posters are designed each year by the newest illustrator to join the Beehive Collective and are exceptionally beautiful!

To see all of the previous posters click HERE and to find out more information about the ball and to keep up to date or to organise ride sharing to and from the ball click HERE

amazing footage of corn monsters

You’re never seen a sprout look this ghoulish. AMAZING video from band C.A.M.P.O.S. for their song Teosinte, which features incredible slow-mo of the title seed germinating.

Most of the sites that reviewed the band mentioned that teosinte is a “form of Mesoamerican corn,” but being the horticulture geeks that we are, we can’t help but mention that it is a species of South American grass that is actually considered the ancestor of all modern corn. To this end, we also can’t help but recommend this, while less visually stimulating, utterly fascinating article by the genetics lab at the University of Iowa on corn genetics and the long-standing mystery that teosinte’s genetic makeup solved. And yes, we just called corn genetics, “utterly fascinating.”

spirited music! legendary gawker family band at mettabee farm in hillsdale, jan. 27

Looking for  a way to keep moral up and marching after yesterday’s historic marches? Hudson Valley folks will have a great opportunity next weekend. Friday, January 27, 2017, from 7:00pm  9:00pm the Gawler Family Band will be playing raucous joyous Americana and folk from around the world. Find them at Mettabee Farm and Arts Center in Hillsdale New York. Information can be found on the farm website, which we’ve copy and pasted below the break. Read more about the band and its history here and listen to member Edith Gawler sing here.

music we love: alaska

Part II of our videos for nature lovers this morning continues with this magical song by Maggie Rogers, a Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter. Written while she was training to be a nature guide in Alaska, the song draws on Maggie’s more traditional training as a folk musician but is also heavily influenced by the catchy club dance music she discovered in France. Personally, we think putting this on repeat is the perfect way to wade through the spreadsheet-laden swamps of crop-planning.

sassafras stomp tour dates!

Remember Adam and Johanna, the sweet song birds of Songbird Farm in Unity, ME? Good. Just to keep you abreast of their happenings: you can catch Adam’s interview on the Greenhorns Radio here, order his CD here, and see him and Johanna live at the following shows!

Fri. Oct 21st.  Contradance in Brooklyn, NY

Sat.  Oct. 22nd.  CDNY Contradance.  Manhattan, NY.

Sun. Oct 23rd.  House Concert, Brooklyn, NY (email newrootmusic@gmail.com for more info)

The songbirds also report: “We’re heading out on a longer tour in late November, with shows in Kentucky, Indiana, Colorado, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and Montana.  More of these dates are contradances, though we’re hoping to add a number of concerts to the tour to promote the songs and stories on Walk These Fields.  For more information see: www.sassafrasstomp.com/schedule and to book them: song.bird farm@yahoo.com

famers! this music was literally made for you.

Remember those song birds up in Maine that we wrote about a few weeks ago? (To refresh your memory: they play magical folk tunes with lyrics that will make any farmer smile, cry, and chuckle. We recommend them most for tapping your toes and stirring pots of chili after long crisp days of fall harvest.)

Well, we’re excited to announce that those far from the dreamy lands of Maine can still get their hands on the music. Adam Nordell’s new songs and CD are now available for preview, download, and even physical purchase on CD Baby!

yes! adirondack harvest festival! westport, ny, sept. 16-17

Everything from a full moon harvest hike to a pig roast to a floral harvest mixer. See the full schedule!

maine’s dreamiest dirtiest songbirds

Mainers should take note that they have three opportunities this weekend to see the talented and charming Adam Nordell and Johanna Davis, partners and farmers of Songbird Farm in Unity, ME. To celebrate the release of Adam’s most recent album, Maine Farmland Trust is hosting a mini concert series:  Deering Grange in Portland on August 25; The Hub in Unity on August 26; and Halcyon Grange in Blue Hill on August 27.

Nordell and Davis are small grain and mixed vegetables farmers by day and summer and traveling musicians by night and winter. They bring a banjo, guitar, and a fiddle to the stage with boot-stomping energy to dances, concerts, and workshops around New England. The latest CD is something of a musical meditation on agrarian life, and I’ll bet you 10 ears of fresh-picked sweet corn that Nordell’s description will resonate with all you small-scale veggie farmers out there:

“You might think of this as a slow-song movement: I’ll get the seed of a song while I’m doing field work, maybe cultivating beets. Something like ”The red dirt shows in the space between the rows.  That grass will grow back, we’ll be back at it with our hoes.” I’ll get stuck on those two lines for a long time.  But then I’ll be hoeing an identical row of beets two years later, and out of nowhere, that lyric will come rushing back, followed by the rest of the song.    It will have accumulated all of these  images from the farm  and our travels, and maybe – hopefully – it will have something broader to say.”

Listen to some of their music, here!

farmaid 2016

This year’s Farm Aid concert is scheduled for September 17 in Bristow, VA. Featuring: Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds, Alabama Shakes, Sturgill Simpson and many more artists. Get the full lineup here. Tickets went on pre-sale last week!

nice bandy apple colony

The Apple Miner Company is a– get this!– 25– yes twenty-freaking-five– piece folk band hailing out of Santa Fe, NM. Check them out!

https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2554400362/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/

brian dewan sings at windham civic center

Brian Dewan will sing

with electric zither, accordion and autoharp accompaniment.

This Saturday

May 28th at 8:00 pm

at the Windham Civic Center (Former Presbyterian Church)

5379 Route 23

Windham, NY  12496

Suggested donation $5

listen to one of the most wonderful PSAs of all time

“We can get America back if we get ourselves back. You don’t need drugs; you don’t need gurus; you only need to believe in yourself. Remember it only takes a small circle of friends to get back to a life based on reality rather than escape.”

We’d like to add that you don’t need supermarkets, you don’t need cars; and you sure don’t need TV. You just need a small plot of dirt and a packet of seeds to get back in touch with the earth.

(Anyone who knows the story of Ochs’s life will undoubtedly find some irony in this song, but, gosh darmnit, Phil Ochs, we still love just you!)