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A veritable whirlwind of activity

2/24/2017

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This season eveything is going to get done in the knick of time. I can feel it. Noting a moment before it is needed and certainly no laurel resting (not that I would ever do such a thing).

In the past two weeks we have gone from having no greenhouse and a pile of gravel for its place holder, to having completed the structure and figured out the general electric configuration (we have our wonderful neighbor to the North to thank for the electrical clarity). The build involved all manner of acrobatics, which I verily enjoyed. We have two "widow/widower makers" that other people would recognize as ladders, and neither of them are quite tall enough to reach the peak of the house. It was fun when there was no plastic on the frame and I could comfortably leap and dangle from one arch to the next. My discomfort grew with the addition of plastic. First the roof, but there was still the end wall framing to scramble around on, but then those too were encased. All that was left was a rickety ladder, a shear wall, and a half inch lip along the top of the end arch. At that point, ladder holder became an official job.

I am both looking forward to and dreading the storms headed in tonight, bringing potential damaging winds and hail. At least we don't have to wait to test our steel.
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Jungle gyming (Jimming?) around getting the endwall framing installed was one of my favorite parts. Jim looks away to avoid getting flecks of metal in his eyes. Exie scavenges for bread treats that are continuously falling out of Helen's holey pocket.
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Jim and Barbi (Jim's mother who is visiting for the week yay!) are standing in front of our completed greenhouse structure, The tie downs on the side walls reminiscent of a circus tent. Exie charges towards me beaming. We are all happy about this.
And, conforming to the theme of the year, the greenhouse was completed not a moment too soon! It is time to start flat after flat of onions! They are day length dependent meaning the hours of sun in one day tell them what to do. Some onions only bulb when the days are short, others only when the days are long. We grow long day onions which means we have to get them started ASAP in the spring so they have enough time to grow some nice juicy leaves to support their bulb production when the daylight hours pass the 12 hour mark. Luckily, we have enough random stuff laying around, along with the portable heater we used in our New Jersey greenhouse to fabricate a heated section in our new greenhouse. That should keep us moving forward until we can get the heater going. 

In other news, we solidified our markets for the coming year! What a relief. WIth all the plans we have been making, I am glad to know where we will be bringing all the healthy good things we will be harvesting. We will be attending five markets a week! Listed alphabetically we will be attending Ann Arbor on Wednesday and Saturday, Dexter on Saturday, Howell on Sunday, and our home market Stockbridge on Fridays! Check out our website for the times and locations! 
And now that we know what markets we will attend this this season, we would like to introduce our Market CSA. If you haven't heard of Community Supported Agriculture, here is a crash course. The idea is that the community supports the farmer purchasing a membership. Then throughout the season, members enjoy that farmer's produce. It is a great way to get in touch with the process of growing food, offer security to a local food producer, and develop a relationship to "your" farmer. Here is a link to a more in depth explaination. 

Our CSA is a declining balance model. Members sign up and prepay at the beginning of the season, opening an account. We offer five different account sizes  ranging from $200 to $400. Members receive a bonus for their commitment which gets added to their account. Then, throughout the season, members come to any of our markets, choose anything they want from our table, and we take it out of their account. More information on our CSA here! To join, email me for a sign up sheet  or come see me at market tomorrow (or any other impending market). If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Other things going on: 
  • The Sandhill cranes and the Red Wing Blackbirds are back! I don't know if they were fooled by our faux spring or if this is their season, but I am so happy to see them!
  • I met a bunch of farmers from our area at a CSA fair! We are not only growing vegetables this year, but relationships and there are so many good people in this area that I can't wait to get to know better. I met some folks from my cohort, starting their farms this year and and a few years prior, that I can't wait to commiserate and celebrate with. And I met others that have been in the trade for many years, that I will pester with questions. 
  • The garlic is looking healthy and growing rapidly.
  • All the greens in the hoop house have loved the spring like weather and all the sunshine. Giant spinach leaves this week!
Hope to see you in Dexter tomorrow!

Helen, Jim & Exie the dog!
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Here is the garlic putting on growth! We are growing six different types, all from our own saved seed. We are happy to be carrying the Whistling Wolf garlic line into the future of Lake Divide Farm. I hope it likes Michigan!
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Dexter Market tomorrow! Sweet turnips, greens, and other goodies!

2/10/2017

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We are excited to be at market tomorrow. I am amazed at the resilience of our crops. In the fall when I tossed some sweet turnip seed to the soil, it was an educated experiment. I didn't really expect to be gifted with delicious globes of sweet turnip-y goodness. We will be bringing those, along with a slew of other vegetables and a friendly face.

Before I get on to telling tales of the farm, I want to invite you to check us out instagram and facebook. If you want a more detailed vision of what's going on farmwards and want to see pictures more frequently, following us on social media is the way to go! 

Now back to the tales. While the vegetables grow at a snails pace, we are laying the farm's foundation at lightening speed. Our current focus is building our greenhouse. The first round of seeds is due to be started in just a few short weeks and they need a place to call home. We have been working prepping the site and planning out the construction, but were starting to get antsy in the absence of the greenhouse itself. I called the company we ordered if from enough that we recognize each others voices immediately. At long last, at 7:30 pm the greenhouse came in the "mail"! And by mail, I mean a 50 ft tractor trailer packed full of farming materials to be delivered to farms across the Northeast. Our order took up about an eighth of the trailer. 

Our greenhouse consists of 30' x 48' steel frame, circulation fans, an exhaust fan, an air intake, a heater, and plastic to skin the house, along with various hardware.  I immediately took stock of the order and could hardly stop myself from getting right to work. We still have quite a bit of labor ahead of us on this project, but in my wild hopes, the frame and and plastic are all up and on by the end of next week. Here's to high hopes!
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Surveying and building are two of Jim's favorite things to do, Exie The Dog clearly doesn't share his enthusiasm
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All of the ground posts are in. Next we will assemble the arches and end walls. Then we will put the plastic skin on!
Even with all the commotion, we still made time to explore the infinite depths of the world around us. Jim, Exie, and I, along with Megan and Devin, visiting New Jersey farmer friends, took a stroll through the wetlands on the East side of the farm. All the water that I had been sloshing around in during the milder parts of the season was frozen solid! Exie rolled joyously on her back, pushing herself along the frozen surface with squirms. I dreamed of ice skating. Jim took stock of the ancient farm boundary lines.

We noticed the bodies of bees strewn about on the ice, both on the surface and encased within. I was alarmed, but Megan, a bee keeper, told us that during the winter, bees take advantage of warmer weather to bring out their dead, cleaning the hive. I also learned that bees are quite fastidious. They don't excrete waste inside their hive but hold it until they go outside. They clean the surfaces of the hive by licking. And they clean themselves using their tongue, licking their legs and then comb their fur with them, much like cats. The number of bee bodies indicates that their is a bee hive close by. We are really excited to find them and watch their existence. 

That's all for now! Farmwards and upwards!
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One of the bees seen on the frozen wetland. Rarely are they still enough for such a detailed glimpse.
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This is our frozen pond in the woods. Can't wait to get some ice skates!
Fresh from the Hoop!
Choi
Kale
Garlic
Radishes
Spinach
Sweet Salad Turnips!
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