Visit UNH Farms During 4th Annual Durham Farm Day Aug. 20

DURHAM, NH — The public is invited to tour two University of New Hampshire farms – the Woodman Horticultural Research Farm and the Fairchild Dairy Teaching and Research Center – on the 4th annual Durham Farm Day Saturday, Aug. 20, 2016, according to a press statement. Both farms are facilities of the NH Agricultural Experiment Stationat UNH; tours are free.

“The purpose of Durham Farm Day is to celebrate the important and impressive working landscape of farms, forests, backyard gardens, community gardens and agricultural research taking place in Durham. Agricultural commission members are dedicated volunteers with a wide variety of backgrounds, working together to call attention to food security, nutrition, farmland conservation, and local farm retention. As we like to say, ‘If you eat, you're in,’” said Theresa Walker, chair of the Durham Agricultural Commission. Durham Farm Day is presented by the Durham Agricultural Commission.

The Woodman Horticultural Research Farm is one of the two horticultural farms that are part of the NH Agricultural Experiment Station at the UNH College of Life Sciences and Agriculture (COLSA). Located at 70 Spinney Lane, the primary activities of this approximately 155-acre farm are research, teaching, and outreach on the production of horticultural and ornamental crops. Research projects include variety trials for a number of fruits and vegetables, including peppers, Brussel sprouts, table grapes, and strawberries; extending the growing season into winter for onions and spinach; tillage to tarp-optimizing cover crops use; a strawberry breeding program; a test plot for cross-breeding quinoa with lambs quarter; UNH bee hotel and pollinator habitat evaluation; and the most comprehensive study on growing and breeding cold-hardy kiwiberries.

Woodman Farm will conduct public tours at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m.; preregistration is required. Please sign up for farm tours by Aug. 19 with Theresa Walker of the Durham Agricultural Commission at theresawalker@comcast.net or 603-659-7226. Directions: colsa.unh.edu/nhaes/woodman-directions.

The award-winning Fairchild Dairy Teaching and Research Center is one of the NH Agricultural Experiment Station’s two dairy farms. It houses about 90 milking-age cows and approximately 70 growing, replacement animals. Included in that number is the 20-cow, student-managed Cooperative for Real Education in Agricultural Management (CREAM) herd, with the remaining animals devoted primarily to dairy nutrition and reproductive biology research. Milk production averages about 26,000 to 27,000 pounds per cow per year, which is greater than the national average of about 22,000 pounds per cow per year.

Located at 36 O’Kane Road off Mast Road Extension, the Fairchild Dairy will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. for self-guided walking tours. Directions: colsa.unh.edu/nhaes/directions/Fairchild/

In addition to the two UNH farms, the following Durham farms also will participate in the event:

• Emery Farm, 133 Piscataqua Road (Route 4), 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• LaRoche Farm, 41 Bennett Road, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• UNH Organic Garden, 10 Spinney Lane, 9 a.m. to noon
• Community Garden at Wagon Hill Farm, Route 4, 10 a.m. to noon
• Linden Woods Farm, 135 Packers Falls Road, noon to 2 p.m.
• Tecce Farm, 240 Mast Road, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

There also will be a Food Friendly Yards Tour of five Durham yards featuring creative vegetable gardens, fruits and berries integrated into landscaping, chickens, beehives, and ornamental pollinator gardens. For more information on the day’s events, visit ci.durham.nh.us/boc_agricultural/save-date-4th-annual-durham-farm-day-august-20th-1000-am-400-pm.

Submitted by Lori Wright.