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Find us in Stockbridge, Dexter, and Howell this week!

5/31/2017

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White Campion
It seems like I just wrote. I think that is because I did! But this week, we are going to be at market with crops. Although everything we are bringing is in limited supply, we are just getting started.


This week will be busy! Jim and I hustled to put the finishing touches on the walk-in cooler, which will be in use this week for the first time this year; The sweet potato slips are coming in on June 1st and will get planted PRONTO; We are planting a slue of other plants including wintersquash, watermelon, more tomatoes, and flowers; I am super busy watching birds ; And we are getting ready for our first markets with items- checking inventory and set ups.

Once the season gets rolling, there are a lot of ongoing tasks that are essentially never completed and weeding is one of them. Before our arrival, the fields here had been left to the wild for the last three years, which led to an established plant population, among others. Every year, these plants grew here, they worked hard to replicate themselves, producing seed and spreading rhizomes and roots. Every seed they drop (and a single plant can drop thousands) adds to the WEED SEED BANK and can remain viable in the soil for many many years. Because of this, our inaugural year is going to be one our most challenging weed years ever! We have to tame this weed mustang and it won't be easy. Some of the most prevalent weeds include Silene latiolia - White Campion, Articum lappa - Burdock, Rumex crispus - Curly Dock, and the dreaded Cirsium arvense - Canada thistle. We also enjoy goldenrod and aster species, the beautiful bull thistle, yarrow, and lots of different grasses. 

Why is a weed  bad? It competes with our plants of choice for nutrients, light, and water and can harbor pests and plant diseases. Not all non-crop plants are bad. Having a diversity of plants growing can serve to protect against disease and pest problems by preventing the rampant success of one by supporting many, which is why our long term plan involves cultivating wild spaces for native plants and creatures on our farm. Despite this, we don't like non-crop plants in our crop beds and they must be removed! 

In previous years, we did almost all of our weeding by hand. We also demanded our crops tolerate some weed competition. This year, we are able to cover the broad strokes with our Farmall 140, which cultivates between the rows of plants in the bed. We then go through and clean it up with hand tools and fingers. We also use the scuffle hoe (aka stirrup hoe, hula hoe) to get close to plants while we remain standing. These tools are a welcome respite. They make weeding fly by, when before, it crawled along with us up and down the aisles between the beds.

There are several aspects to managing weeds on an organic farm. From the short term perspective, the goal is to boot them out before they damage and compete with our crops. The long term perspective is what gives me hope. If we can deplete the seed bank- germinate weeds seeds and kill all the plants before they set more seed, we are effectively reducing our weed problem. We have lots of tools available to do this: cover crops that will out compete the weeds, tractor cultivation, flame weeding, remaining vigilant about possible weed seed sources such as compost and mulch, and stale bedding to name a few.
Even as the years go by, and we (hopefully) reduce the weed seed bank, weeding will continue to be a never ending battle. Let us just hope that this year, we take it down at least one notch.

See you at markets!

Helen, Jim, and the Lake Divide Team!

Fresh from the field in limited supply!

Kale
Mizuna
Mustard
Radish

*We send this email out before harvest, and although we do our very best to make accurate predictions, crops and quantities found at market may vary. ​
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Aster
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Thistle
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Burdock
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Curly Doc
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At Stockbridge, Dexter, and Howell Markets at last, vegetables soon to follow!

5/25/2017

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​Finally!
While this week, we do not have produce to sell, we will be at markets to introduce ourselves, answer questions about our CSA program, and tell you all about the farm in person. We will be at the Stockbridge Market Friday, the Dexter Market Saturday (with FRESH EGGS from Rustic Roots Farm!), and in Howell on Sunday!

This week I am going to let the pictures speak for the farm. I am looking forward to seeing you all!
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The tomatoes in the tomato house were starting to get ahead of themselves. Fortunately Beverly and Kegan boxed them in with some expert trellising action!
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We got the ginger in the ground, snuggled into the hoop houses that we finally completed (mostly). I have a good feeling about our ginger prospects this year.
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The potatoes are coming into their glory! It will be time to hill them in the blink of an eye.
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Kohlrabi in the morning light.
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New business cards.
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We are almost ready for markets, but not quite!

5/19/2017

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I know, I know. I know I said that we would be at market this week, but we need one more week to get our feet under us. Thank you so much for your patience and understanding. 

New first market days are as follows:
  • Stockbridge on May 26th from 4 pm to 7 pm and every following Friday through October!
  • Dexter on May 27th from 8 am to 1 pm and every following Saturday through October!
  • Howell on May 28nd from 9 am to 2 pm and every following Sunday through October!
  • Ann Arbor May 31st from 7 am to 3 pm and every following Wednesdaythrough December!
  • Ann Arbor June 3rd from 7 am to 3 pm and every following Saturday through December!
Note that these are our debut market days. Every week following we will be at market rain or shine! Also remember, that all these markets open this week, and even though we won’t be there, a wonderful group of vendors selling a variety of delightful products will be there, so don’t wait for us to be there to get out to the market!

Well I had better tell you something about what has been happening here, otherwise you might think we are just relaxing, drinking margaritas!

Here are the most noteworthy tasks accomplished this week:
  • We used our ancestral two-bottom plow and flipped two and a half acres. All of this will be planted in vegetables by the end of the year. This was very exciting. It was my Grandpop's on my mother's side.
  • Updated our deer fence to enclose just over 7 acres. This involved a lot of post pounding and line stringing. We also got a spicy new fence charger, the kind that plugs into the wall. With our old solar charger, I always tested the fence with my hand. NO MORE! It is too shocking!
  • We got our first round of cucurbits in the ground (cucumbers, squash, and melon). We have lots of different varieties. Goldy is my favorite zucchini, flavorful and smooth. Silver slicer is a wonderful cucumber, mellow and never bitter. And the cantaloupe? Well it is just so hard to choose. You will have to tell me your favorites when the start showing up in August.
  • The celery, celery root, parsley, leeks, some of our flowers, and second round of tomatoes also somehow all made it into the ground.
  • We ran the irrigation out to the new field, which is no small feat. Over 500 feet of line, connected up and moving water to our tender crops. This involved taking stock of what we have and running new line too. 
  • We have laid ground cloth for subsequent plantings. This acts as a weed barrier, as well as heats the soil and helps in moisture retention.  
  • We got the hoops up on the new hoop houses! All we have to do now is add a little rigidity to the structure with some purlins and endwalls, then slap some plastic on there! 
  • Despite not having endwalls, we composted the ground in the new houses to prepare it for the ginger, which is finally starting to spout. 
  • We weeded the kale and some of the spring greens. 
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Here is a picture of goofy Exie the Dog and my Grandpop's plow. We don't have a lot of ancestral farm equipment so it was exciting to use something that had been used by a previous generation. When plowing, many tweaks have to be made to the hitch and to the equipment to get it just right, especially with my novice (yet expanding) experience level, tightening and loosening here and there. When making these adjustments on old equipment, I have often found that everything is rusted together and banged up. It gave me a measure of pride to find that the bolts on my ancestral plow were easy to adjust and that the grease points were well greased.
And because I can't let an email go by without mentioning nature's life on our farm, let me tell you a couple things about that:
  • We found quite a few Redwing black bird nests, expertly woven into sturdy clumps of grass, each with three to four light blue and brown speckled eggs. We will wait to mow those areas until after the babies have fledged. I have been amazed with how tolerant the parents are of our presence.
  • We have a lovely, giant garter snake that lives around our greenhouse that I have nicknamed The Greenhouse Guardian. Hopefully our serpantine friend will enforce our strict no seedeaters allowed policy. Incidentally, we also have a pair of toads protecting our greenhouse from insects. Hopefully, the toads are snakewise. I think the must be to have gotten as giant as they are!
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Redwing blackbird eggs! I really think they are beautiful!
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Here is the blackbird's nest from the side so you can glimpse their technique. The are the original weavers.
All the best!
Helen, Jim, Exie the dog, and the Lake Divide Farm Crew!
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Here, Beverly and Kegan are laying ground cloth. It is a bit arduous but we can reuse it every year and it really works wonders for us.
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The lilacs are at their end but the sure filled the air with perfume while they were in full bloom!
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Delayed market start for us- the week of May 15th!

5/4/2017

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​Our hiatus from the newsletter has flown by. The last time we wrote, we were just finishing the greenhouse, the garlic was an inch tall, and nothing had been seeded in the field yet. So much has happened since then it is almost overwhelming to think about.

First things first, we need to let you know that we will start attending markets a little later than planned. Our goal is the week of May 15th. We will use the time to finish building a roof over our walk in cooler, erect two additional hoop houses where we will plant ginger in a few short weeks, finalize our larger walk in cooler, and plant as much as possible.

Mark your calendars so you can come see us on our first market days!
  • Stockbridge on May 19th from 4 pm to 7 pm and every following Friday through October!
  • Dexter on May 20th from 8 am to 1 pm and every following Saturday through October!
  • Howell on May 21st from 9 am to 2 pm and every following Sunday through October!
  • Ann Arbor May 24th from 7 am to 3 pm and every following Wednesdaythrough December!
  • Ann Arbor May 27th from 7 am to 3 pm and every following Saturday through December!
Note that these are our debut market days. Every week following we will be at market rain or shine! Also remember, that all these markets open this week, and even though we won’t be there, a wonderful group of vendors selling a variety of delightful products will be there, so don’t wait for us to be there to get out to the market!

Honestly, we hate to delay, but it wasn’t really up to us. In the end of March when my whole heart wanted to be discing debris and plant material into the ground to prepare it for planting, we were waiting and pleading with the world for the rain to stop, much like now. It felt like it took forever to cobble together a few precipitation free days, thusly we don’t have much in the way of vegetables.

A farmer should not work a wet field and equipment getting stuck isn’t the only reason. Like a noodle that is firm when dry and smooshable when wet, when the ground is wet, the structure that gives the soil pockets for air, water, and creatures to exist, isn’t as strong. When this happens the soil can be easily compacted which can have lasting effects. Most plants do not grow well in compacted soil. They rely on those pockets to get their water and air, to get their nutrients, and to send their roots forth to forage.

In addition to the spring being wet, we are still learning land. It is bumpy! So while some areas are dry enough, they are right next to areas that are still way too wet. It took us a little while to figure out where to start and, I will let you in on a secret, it wasn’t where I planned on starting! But once we caught on (plant at the top of the hill) we were off!
So far we have just less than two acres planted. In that mix are onions, peas, carrots, beets, kale, lettuce, arugula, turnips, and radishes to name a few. We have our first planting of tomatoes in the hoop house, buffered from this cooler weather and these wicked winds. All the while we are still working wildly to prep more land and get more vegetables in the ground.
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These are some very young carrot seedlings and we were so happy to see them. Carrots are a tricky crop because they take so long to germinate. The seed can lay about in the soil for up to four weeks before "deciding" to send a sprout out towards the soil surface. Favorable conditions like moisture and warmer soil temperatures can help speed up the process but there are no promises and four weeks is a long time to wait around. A lot can happen in that time. Scavengers can eat the seed or unfavorable conditions can cause the seed to rot and it is pretty much guaranteed that weed seeds, which tend to germinate faster, can be up and absorbing sunshine before the carrots have even broken through their seed coat.
One of the things I was most excited about planting was our potatoes which were all safely tucked into the ground last Friday. We planted 750 pounds of seed potatoes and 10 different kinds! Among them, German Butterball, a delicious morsel that practically arrives pre-buttered, and French Fingerling, beautiful in cross section and equally tasty. Planting all those potatoes was no small feat!  
Fortunately, Jim and I didn’t have to do it alone. Kegan, one of the dedicated and hardworking people that have joined our team, stayed until 8 pm Friday night, plopping those tubers in furrows, which brings me to my next notable mention. We hired three people to work with us this year: Beverly, Kegan, and Emily, all working part time but with full time enthusiasm. They are amped to be learning about growing food and helping us build the kind of sustainable, community-based business that we want to bring into the world. There is still room for one more, so if you know someone that might be interested in getting involved, send them a link to our website (www.lakedividefarm.com) , or suggest they send me an email.
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This is what a potato looks like when it is ready to grow!
And while the new team and I are working the fields, Jim is making sure all the equipment runs smoothly. He has been changing gear oil, greasing machines, and replacing seals to name a few activities. He is bushwacking through all kinds of projects, laying them to rest and keeping us moving forward. He has also been pushing things forward on the home front, taking care of some much needed foundation work, replacing screens, putting up pegboard and shelving to keep the house and farm organized, as well as keep us fed.
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Here is Jim working on our mower. He is adding to his knowledge base every and seeming more and more comfortable in his role as farm mechanic.
Other things of note:
  • We had our organic inspection! We are working with the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association (OEFFA) to get our certification. The inspector, who works for an independent agency, came out and was very friendly and helpful and suggested that we
  • Night Crawlers! I finished preparing the beds for the potatoes late on Tuesdaynight and the sun had long since set. After parking the tractor, I walked down to the field to count and measure a few beds. Being out on the farm at night is always exciting to me. I feel like I get to see its secret life. One thing I always love to do with a head lamp on is look for spiders. Their eyes reflect the light back just like a deer’s eyes would. As I was walking the beds counting them, I noticed a funny looking stick. I looking a little closer, and it vanished into the ground! I saw another, and the same thing happened! WORMS! GIANT FAT WORMS! And the fastest worms I have ever seen. In an attempt to see one, I dug into the soil where one had just hidden and I couldn’t dig fast enough. At first I saw its “tail” but I couldn’t dig fast enough to keep up. I don’t know if it is possible to take their picture. I could barely catch them (I did catch a slow one eventually.) I hear they are called night crawlers and that they are the best for fishing, but I haven’t looked it up yet. I do know that they made the farm feel even more enchanted and I didn’t think that was possible.
  • Duck Eggs! I was walking with a friend on the West side, inspecting the land and looking at what is growing there, and all of a sudden a lady duck flew up from the ground! Exie was star struck and booked it after her and we looked down, pesky primates. Right at our feet was a nest brimming with eggs. A full dozen! Although I want to so see the youngsters when they break out of their shells, I don’t want Exie to, so I am staying away.
All the best!
Helen, Jim, Exie the dog, and the Lake Divide Farm Crew!
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That nest sure is chock full of duck eggs!
Markets, always rain or shine!
(we begin attending on dates listed above)

Wednesday: Ann Arbor
The Ann Arbor Market is located in the Kerrytown District at 315 Detroit St, Ann Arbor, MI. The market runs from May thru December from 7 am to 3 pm.

Friday: Stockbridge
The Stockbridge Open Air Market is located on the square in downtown Stockbridge. It runs from May thru October from 4 pm to 7 pm

Saturday: Ann Arbor and Dexter
The Ann Arbor Market is located in the Kerrytown District at 315 Detroit St, Ann Arbor, MI. The market runs from May thru December, 7 am to 3 pm and January thru April from 8 am to 3 pm.

The Dexter Farmers' Market is located in lovely downtown Dexter, at 3233 Alpine St, Dexter, MI. The market runs May thru October from 8 am to 1 pm.

Sunday: Howell
The Howell Farmers' market can be found in the heart of Howell at State st and Clinton st, adjacent to the historic Livingston County Courthouse. It runs May thru October, 9 am to 2 pm.
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The magnolia in bloom! All the petals have fallen and been swept away by the wind now, but it was a sight to behold when in full splendor!
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