​Mid-September, I always find myself seduced by the potential of next year. Even while we wrap this season up, like marionettes to old plans, my mind swims with ideas of what to do differently in the coming spring. In past years, I assumed the enthusiasm that comes with this wave of ideas would never fade and that I would remember all the details of my plans, so wrote little down. But as October rolled around, all I could think of was the end. And by November, I was ready to sleep for months. I think the vigor of confrontation weaken by exhaustion. This year, I am trying to capture the feeling in lists, discussions, and rest. If you are interested, I included some of the things on my mind below after the field updates. 

In the field!

• Baby ginger is here. Succulent and juicy, I love to add its zest to just about everything. Even now, I am eating a luscious chopped choi salad with all our greens, a few of our roots and a tablespoon of ginger!
• It seems we are going to get one crop of carrots this year. Number three of four is the one and we are going to start bringing crunchy bunchy's to market this week. On the frowny face side of things, the storage carrots were beyond salvation and we practiced throwing in the towel. Of course it took me 1.5 beds of hard weeding time to figure that out... 
• The greens are in full fall effect! If we offer a sort that you are unfamiliar with, please ask to try a taste and for ideas on how to use it.
• That blasted cover crop seed is spread. Crimson clover and Telia annual ryegrass, spun out by hand over the acreage that has gotten much of Lake Divide air time over the past few weeks. Before I spun out the seed, I disced over where we plowed. It was BUMPY! I had to wear my seat belt to keep from hitting my head on the roof of the tractor cab, and persistently wondered if I was doing something wrong. I mean how could it be so bumpy? The next day, I sat down on the stoop to have a beer with Jim, really felt all that bumpy-ness. I am almost unsore now. But rebooted the soreness with spinning the seed. That took me six hours of diligently marching back and forth across the now less bumpy but still bumpy terrain. At first I kept myself busy, worrying about whether the seed was being spread even enough that phase lasted a few acres. Then I imagined making cards for all the people I am grateful for and handing them out for New Years (I better start now!) Eventually I settled into marching to the rhythm of my activity, stepping, breathing, spinning the handle. I would snap out of it and gleefully realize I had made a few passes without even knowing it. In the end, I was just hoping it would be over soon. And it was. And now it is done and it is no longer up to me to make it do anything. I just have to hope it rains.

In my mind:

• One of our biggest challenges this year has been weed control. Both the time it takes to weed large plantings and the reduced yields that result from a weedy crop. We anticipated this, because our fields had been abandoned for so long, but as Jim said, when coaxing me out of a weed induced despair, "seeing it is a little different". One thing that can help is better soil preparation. We are laying the groundwork for a less weedy 2018 by cover cropping the area we are planning to use next year. We also plan to determine ideal timings of bed prep, seeding/planting, flame-weeding, and cultivation to reduce handweeding as much as possible, and stick to those timings as closely as we can.  But of course, the ideal is just something to strive for, and typically, we float around in reality, perpetually in the act of attempting to achieve, which brings me to my next thought:
• Knowing when to throw in the towel! As best I understand it, every vegetable farmer loses crops in a given year, especially a diverse vegetable farmer. On occasion, the situation looks so bad, it seems for certain there is no way to recover any gain from it.  Sometimes, if you throw enough energy at a situation like that, the crops can recover and it can be said it was "worth it." All successes that result from working within the sliding scale of a living system, like ugly but delicious vegetables, or tiny misshapen yet plentiful yields, fall into this category. Sometimes, quite the opposite is true and the situation becomes an energy eating monster that will take as much as you can give it, physically and emotionally, and never give anything back. The part I am still trying to figure out is how to tell the difference. Years of experience will help make that clear, along with keeping good records and making observations. In the meantime, while we build that database of crop successes and failures over time, we need to think of a good way to decide when to throw down and when to give up.  
• We are going to stop growing crops that don't give back what we are putting in, at least for the meantime. We don't know who is going to get cut yet, but this winter, that is something that will be considered while reviewing this seasons metrics
• We have struggled to keep a full staff this season. One of our goals for next year is to make working with us more enticing. We have a few ideas bumping around (housing/pay rate) but are still on the hunt for solutions. 
• We need to retain some level of humanity through the growing season. When mid-August rolls around, I find myself barely able to think because I am so tired. For the past tow weeks I have been resting up by calling it a day a little earlier (easy to do with the ever decreasing daylight hours) and taking Monday morning to sleep and relax. I have noticed that my mind is clearing. It is easier to logically choose the best action, easier to do arithmetic, easier to read, easier to laugh. This return to my mind, reminded me that while sometimes going hard is the only way to get through a tough time, I am a lot more effective when I have a little energy in reserve. I am really excited to look at how many human hours went into getting through this season and figuring out how to distribute them more effectively over time and shoulders. 

TOMATO SALE CONTINUES!

• "Seconds" (less than perfect but still perfectly delicious) are $2 per pound or a full tray for $20
• 5+ pounds of tomatoes of your choice $2.50 per pound
• 10+ pounds of tomatoes of your choice $2.00 per pound
• 3 pints of Cherry Tomatoes for only $8

Fresh from the field

Salad Mix
Arugula
Beet bunches
Beets by the pound
Bok Choi
Carrot by the pound
Cabbage
Eggplant! 
Mizuna
Kale!
Potatoes
Fingerling Potatoes
Peppers
Shishito peppers
Hot Peppers!
Ground Cherries
Summer squash (limited)
Sweet Salad Turnips
Turnips - classic!
Radishes
Garlic
Tomatoes- lots of heirlooms
Cherry Tomatoes
Tatsoi
Yukina Savoy! delicious new green!
Dill!
Cilantro!
Spinach?

*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. 
All the best!
Helen, Jim, Exie the dog, and the Lake Divide Farm Crew!
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 Chelsea
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 Chelsea Farmers' Market is located in the lower library lot along Park St. It 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.

​This is gonna have to short one, because Helen is gonna kill me if I don't find some machine bushings for the disk today. On the plus side, my search is going to take me into Jackson, and at this point, leaving the farm for any reason beside attending a market feels like vacation! So, I'm about to be heading on down to Jackson, but before I do, here's some bullet point updates and one piece of BIG NEWS:

• Big focus this week has been weeding the Fall plantings. The team has been doing a great job, but there's still lots to go.
• The tractor repair from last week is holding! Might not seem like news at first glance, but a working tractor feels more noteworthy this year than a broken tractor. Ha
• We're putting in our order today for a new 30'x96' hoophouse to expand our winter growing area. It went through numerous design changes the past few weeks, but we're ready to move on it.
• Helen built large storage bins in the newly operational walk in cooler for wintersquash, potatoes etc
• We lucked out and found a new person to work with us at the farm! We're overjoyed to have the much needed help. However, we're still looking for more help, so if you know of anyone interested please send them our way! We're still looking for workshares (for help at market or at the farm) and volunteers as well!

THE BIG NEWS:
Reluctantly, we will no longer be attending the Dexter Market. Our Sincere thanks goes to the friends and customers who have supported us there. I know some of our Dexter customers will be catching up with us at the other markets we attend, for those that won't, THANKS FOR EVERYTHING! It was a pleasure getting to know you all!

Starting this Saturday we will be attending the Chelsea Farmers Market. They are open from 8am-1pm and can be found  in the lower library lot along Park St. So, if you or someone you know is in the area, come on by for our first week in Chelsea! 


TOMATO SALE CONTINUES!

• "Seconds" (less than perfect but still perfectly delicious) are $2 per pound or a full tray for $20
• 5+ pounds of tomatoes of your choice $2.50 per pound
• 10+ pounds of tomatoes of your choice $2.00 per pound
• 3 pints of Cherry Tomatoes for only $8

Fresh from the field

Salad Mix (it's a hero's comeback!)
Arugula
Beet bunches
Beets by the pound
Bok Choi
Carrot bunches
Cabbage
Eggplant! 
Mizuna
Kale!
Potatoes
Fingerling Potatoes
Peppers
Shishito peppers
Hot Peppers!
Ground Cherries
Summer squash (limited)
Sweet Salad Turnips
Radishes
Garlic
Tomatoes- lots of heirlooms
Cherry Tomatoes
Tatsoi
Yukina Savoy! delicious new green!

*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. 
All the best!
Helen, Jim, Exie the dog, and the Lake Divide Farm Crew!
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 Chelsea
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 Chelsea Farmers' Market is located in the lower library lot along Park St. It 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.

​In a regular year at a vegetable farm, the fall is a balance between regimented planting and harvesting. It is a magical time when cold weather crops coincide with warm weather crops and you can enjoy wild combinations like Arugula-Watermelon and Tomato-Radish. It is also a time for strict schedules. We are on the daylights plan now and if we miss a planting, it could mean the absence of that particular delicacy on our late fall and winter market tables.

I was planning on saying something like, this year, we have had a few wrenches in the works, but I think that is regular too. So instead I will say, also in a regular year at a vegetable farm, a piece of machinery breaks when you need it, people continue to be human with varying needs and skills, and the weather continues to be tantalizingly just beyond predictability. 

Over the past week, our mainstay tractor has been struggling. Being the amateur mechanics that we are, we methodically went through step by step diagnostics until we narrowed it down. This, of course took place between bouts of falsely thinking we had "fixed" the problem and moments of panic when fearing the worst like a cracked engine block or leaky head gasket. Eventually it became clear that the problem was a hole in the fuel line somewhere along the lengthy pipe that starts on the bottom of the fuel tanks and snakes its way around and under the cab and other various lines to the filters. One little hole, not enough to cause fuel to leak, oh no, that would make it too obvious. One little gap is all that is needed to introduce air into the fuel line when the fuel pump was running. We were on the verge of cutting into the line in a spot that we thought may have had a hole, when we noticed that there was a gasping sound coming from the hand primer  next to the filters as we were trying to bleed the air out. Hmmm, maybe that was why the hand primer was taking so long to bleed the air, so long that we were using an oil suction device instead! Maybe it wasn't just slow, it was broken! In the end, we just bypassed the primer completely and solved the problem. Machine repair really is one of the clearest manifestations of the phrase hindsight is 20/20. This repair took us almost one full week. We started working on it last Tuesday and finished yesterday. 

We are also, once again on the market for farm workers. Unfortunately, one of our workers had to quit for understandable, personal reasons. Now everyone here is working extra hard, putting their shoulders into, and keeping us afloat, and doing a great job. We may lose a few crops, however it won't be a massacre. I mention the labor shortage for two reasons: 
 
(1) I won't be doing my job unless I find someone to fill the shoes. If you know someone that may want a few hours in the countryside working alongside a chipper crew, send them our way. 
(2) I really want to shout out to Beverly, Brandon, Emily O., and Emily L. for hanging in there, putting in extra hours, understanding my stress, and getting the job done. I am really grateful to have all of you working here.

That information is the perfect lead in to mention that we are happy to have volunteers out to the farm pretty much and day of the week. If volunteering is something that you have been thinking about doing, this is the perfect time to do it. There is lots of weeding to be done if we want our fall crops to come in crisp. If interested, just give us a shout! 


TOMATO SALE CONTINUES!

• "Seconds" (less than perfect but still perfectly delicious) are $2 per pound or a full tray for $20
• 5+ pounds of tomatoes of your choice $2.50 per pound
• 10+ pounds of tomatoes of your choice $2.00 per pound
• 3 pints of Cherry Tomatoes for only $8

Fresh from the field

Arugula!
Beet bunches
Beets by the pound
Bok Choi!
Carrot bunches!
Cabbage!
Eggplant! 
Flowers
Mizuna!
Kale!
Potatoes
Fingerling Potatoes
Peppers
Shishito peppers
Hot Peppers!
Ground Cherries
Summer squash
Sweet Salad Turnips!
Radishes!
Garlic
Tomatoes- lots of heirlooms
Cherry Tomatoes
Tatsoi!
Yukina Savoy! delicious new green!

*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. 
All the best!
Helen, Jim, Exie the dog, and the Lake Divide Farm Crew!
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.