Fall in Michigan is unpredictable. But I think I am beginning to get the idea. We can count on it being unpredictable and preparations that allow us to succeed regardless of the conditions are the best ones. Is that true for all of life? Am I on the verge of becoming a prepper? Anyway, I wasn't expecting the temperatures to lope into the cool teens as early as they did (thank goodness for the extended weather forecast). I wasn't expecting inches upon inches of snow. 
We are shoveling the snow off of the frost blankets before harvest. We are waiting through days of below freezing temperatures for a moment above 32 before we collect greens from their chilly beds. We are rolling up hoses so ice doesn't clog the passage of water. More than anything, we are impressed with the plants. We have arugula that has survived the brutal cold under a mere thin woven fabric! They have survived through consecutive days of below freezing temperatures and we will see if they survive the next round. After the next three days of frigid temps, we will know if bok choy, among others, can withstand this type of treatment! What great data! The crops in our tunnels are not quite ready, although they are looking great.
Next year, for ultimate preparedness, we will have more caterpillar tunnels allowing warmer, non-freezing temps for harvest and growth in the tunnels. This way, we can plant our fall greens and move cover to them to bridge the gap between fall and winter without as much snow shoveling and fast-slow-weather-watching-sprint-harvest-action.
I hope all of you had time to see family and eat food and appreciate the beautiful world. My friend Jill and I cooked a giant feast for my dear family. It was my first turkey. We got it from our friends at Two Track Acres. It was beautiful and delicious. On Friday, we ate leftovers and cooked what was left of the bird into a soup, laughing in the kitchen into the night. Saturday we ate soup while playing board games. Well fed through and through- stomach and soul. There were four dogs at the gathering and they all got along and provided endless entertainment: dog-in-a-cone, all-snuggles-welcome-dog, old-man-dog, insane-puppy. Let the insanity ensue!  
Come refill your fridges at market this week. See Lizz at Ann Arbor's Wednesday and Saturday market, Helen back at Eastern on Saturday, and Jim in Chelsea! 
Helen writing for the Lake Dividers
Fresh From the Field!

Greens:Arugula
Baby Bok Choi!
Mizuna
Tatsoi
Tokyo Bekana- Bok Choi lettuce!
Kale: flat leaf, green curly, and red curly
Herbs: 
Rosemary
Parsley: The stems of the curly parsley are incredibly sweet!
Sage
Thyme
All manner of deliciousness:
Beets
Broccoli- limited
Cabbage
Celery
Fennel: Fresh licorice-y fronds with crispy bulbs.
Garlic
Kohlrabi- beautiful meal sized kohlrabi and tender petite 
Onions
Potatoes limited
Sweet potatoes!
Radishes: Classic, White Daikon, Green Daikon, and Watermelon\radish
Rutabaga
Turnips: Sweet white turnips and purple top roasting turnips
Turnabaga- Turnip-Rutabaga cross! Delicious, sweet and crisp!

*End of the season for starred crops so stock up while you can!
​Markets, always rain or shine!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, 7 am to 3 pm.

Saturday: Ann Arbor, Chelsea, and Detroit's Eastern Market

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.

The Eastern Market in Detroit is located about a mile northeast of downtown. It covers about 43 acres, bounded by I-75 on the West and Gratiot Avenue on the South. It runs year round from  6am – 4pm

We're having a very thankful thanksgiving at Lake Divide Farm. Most notably and relevant, we will not be attending Saturday Markets this week! You can still find us in Ann Arbor Wednesday this week for any of your last minute vegetable shopping needs. We will return to our regular market schedule next week following a few days of catching up with family and friends over the holiday. Speaking of catching up, how about a good ol' holiday catch up chat!? It's been a series of long weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, and they've been filled with many things to be thankful for. I'm gonna go get a piping hot cup of coffee and then I can fill you in... 
Okay, I got my hot coffee, let's talk! 
When we began farming, the winter was a time to rest, plan and reconnect with friends and family that you were unable to see through the chaos of the main season. It was great! It really made it a lot easier to justify the long hours the farm demanded through Spring, Summer and Fall. As our farm developed, we became interested in trying to make fresh produce available to people year round. That has been the chief cause of the erosion of our yearly workflow cool down cycle. We routed a lot of energy and resources to off season production over the years. Some years those allocations would translate to immediate results, sometimes... not. Fast forwarding to now: We have 3 caterpillar tunnels and 3 hoop houses planted with cold hearty crops, and a giant walk in cooler stockpiled with dedicated storage crops grown in the late Fall. To pull that off though, you really end up with a lot of work to do at the tail end of the main season. All your storage crops have to be harvested and tucked away before the first serious frost comes through, hoop houses have to be cleaned up and planted with winter crops and caterpillars need to get moved/built in preparation of planting. Our late Fall work load has done a slow 180 over the years. Don't get me wrong, it's been great! The work flow shift has been rather organic, and it coincided with a perspective shift: It's not work, it's life. So, now that I've given you some background, here's what happened the past couple weeks! (I tried to keep things in order, but assume a healthy amount of overlap of the various events)
1. Our 2017 tax extension came due and we had to slug our way through over a week of designing and employing our new accounting set up. 
2. We moved 2 caterpillar tunnels and built a new one
3. Clean and planted hoop houses
4. Upgraded hoops and caterpillars with a set of additional smaller inner hoops and blankets (operation: Winter Shield) 
5. We had to let the staff go a little earlier than expected :( Miss you guys!
6. Frost hit! We had to make a mad dash to get the literal tons of produce out of the field and squirreled away for winter
7. We got accepted to the Eastern Market and began attending a third Saturday market!
8. Low temps have forced us to relocate our wash station
All these items came together and really pushed us to the limit the past few weeks. It's been exhausting, but incredibly rewarding. We have lots of produce in storage for the winter and hoop house crops are looking better than ever thanks to operation Winter Shield. Yeah, a strong and prolonged cold snap might still thwart some of our plans, but we did everything we could, and didn't leave anything on the table. Of course, we didn't do this alone...
This all happened amidst a planned visit of my parents from NJ. Here's about how that played out.
Dad: "Jim, are sure it's a good time for us to come out?"
Me: "Yeah, this is as good as gets. Things SHOULD be pretty quiet that week"
Dad: "Great, we'll see you then"
Upon their arrival we had just been accepted to the Eastern market and a hard frost had set it's cross hairs on Lake Divide's storage crops. It would not be the restful visit I had advertised (sorry guys!) Without a complaint, they sprung into action, helping us save our carrots, beets, herbs, winterizing our infrastructure, cooking, cleaning, dividing for markets, you name it! Special thanks to them for the long hours they put in to set up Lake Divide for a bountiful winter! We even had some time left over to tackle some drywall in the house! Nice to be rid of that 6'x8' hole in the ceiling! I better send this email out soon or I'm gonna end up in hot water. I can't close out this Thanksgiving email without sending thanks to all of you for making it out the markets each week and for being part of our weird farming adventure. I hope you all get to spend some time gathered around a loaded dinner table with loved ones.
One final special thanks to the Lake Dividers for hanging tough through the end of the season. Frigid temps, icy wash station water and utter exhaustion weren't enough to stop ya. Bravo team! 
Helen will be making a guest appearance at the Ann Arbor market this Wednesday (today), she missed her A2 people too much to stay away! Catch up with her for some last minute produce for Thanksgiving, or a chat, or a song. Apparently she sings to customers sometimes?! Looks like Lizz and I will have to start taking singing lessons... or at least I will.


Jim writing for the Lake Dividers
Fresh From the Field!

Greens:Arugula
Baby Bok Choi!
Mizuna
Mustard
Tatsoi
Tokyo Bekana- Bok Choi lettuce!
Kale: flat leaf, green curly, and red curly
Herbs: 
Oregano
Parsley: The stems of the curly parsley are incredibly sweet!
Sage
Thyme
All manner of deliciousness:
Beets
Broccoli
Cabbage
Celery
Fennel: Fresh licorice-y fronds with crispy bulbs.
Garlic
Kohlrabi- beautiful meal sized kohlrabi and tender petite 
Onions
Potatoes will be back in a couple weeks once the rest of the crops are safe from the frost
Sweet potatoes!
*Hot peppers: Hungarian hot wax, cayenne, jalepeno, serrano, and poblano- try pickling!
Radishes: Classic, White Daikon, Green Daikon, and Watermelon- Try making steamed radish
Turnips: Sweet white turnips and purple top roasting turnips
*End of the season for starred crops so stock up while you can!
​Markets, always rain or shine!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, 7 am to 3 pm.

Saturday: Ann Arbor, Chelsea, and Detroit's Eastern Market

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.

The Eastern Market in Detroit is located about a mile northeast of downtown. It covers about 43 acres, bounded by I-75 on the West and Gratiot Avenue on the South. It runs year round from  6am – 4pm

We are back at Ann Arbor Wednesday this week so come see Lizz and get your delicious chilled vegetables! Thanks for understanding our absence last week. We really had to hustle to meet the cold that is upon us now. At the beginning of last week Lizz said we were going to fill up our cavernous cooler with produce. I didn't believe her. Now, there is barely room to turn around! Carrots, beets, kohlrabi, cabbage, turnips and radishes (all the things that I have been listing and listing), are packed in quantity into storage. The last big haul harvest that we have on the docket is potatoes. We were getting serious about it for Tuesday but SNOW! A real amount of snow and temperatures not rising above freezing thwarted our plans. With the snow insulating the ground, our potatoes are hopefully resting comfortably awaiting their rise. We will be able to get to them Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. 

In the meantime, we are arranging our protocols around the winter weather. These temperatures are within reason for this time of year but they are consistently below average, both for the daytime highs and the nighttime lows. This causes a lot of problems. Vegetables freeze on the table at market! You may have noticed our modified winter set-up. Heat lamps over vegetables, coolers to contain crops that won't tolerate the cold, and a heated space under the table to keep crops comfortable while they wait to go to their forever homes. The set up needs a little work- an insulated back board? A tent with walls? A biodome? A friendly dragon? You know, whatever is within reason. 

We are still adapting on the farm too. We are moving the wash station to the greenhouse so our hands can stay warm while we primp and prep the vegetables. This is something that for some reason we didn't do last year. I thought, well, the cold is fine by me! But when it becomes hard to bend at the knee from frozen  fabric, one must reconsider! We are also finalizing some of our frost blanket set-ups in the hoop houses. Covering and uncovering the crops and opening and closing the hoops is just about a daily event, so anything that we can do to make it easier to accomplish, we will do. I will tell you all about that next week. 

Before I go, let me mention that I, Helen, will no longer be at the Ann Arbor Saturday market. Lizz will be taking over my post since I am now heading to Detroit for the Eastern Market. I am going to miss all of my wonderful market friends but I know Lizz will take good care of you. Come the depths of winter, I expect to stop in at least occasionally. And let me say, Eastern Market went really well last week. It was the first time we attended three markets at once and I would call the extravaganza a success!  Surprisingly, I had never been to the market except once when I was much younger. It is huge! Despite the gigantic-ness, we are not lost in the chaos but rather noticed and welcomed. Many vendors came over to greet us, there was lots of foot traffic despite the cold, and many customers were excited to see a new organic vegetable farm. Although tiredness crested over my mind by the end of the day (and the end of a very long week and the beginning of another long week), we were satisfied and happy.

Helen signing out to slip and slide through another day at the farm!


Helen writing for the Lake Dividers

Fresh From the Field!

Greens:Arugula
Baby Bok Choi!
Mizuna
Mustard
Tatsoi
Tokyo Bekana- Bok Choi lettuce!
Kale: flat leaf, green curly, and red curly
Microgreens: Spicy and mild. -Limited
Shoots: Pea!- Limited
Herbs: 
Oregano
Parsley: The stems of the curly parsley are incredibly sweet!
Sage
Thyme
All manner of deliciousness:
Beets
Broccoli
Cabbage
Celery
Fennel: Fresh licorice-y fronds with crispy bulbs.
Garlic
Kohlrabi- beautiful meal sized kohlrabi and tender petite 
Onions
Potatoes will be back in a couple weeks once the rest of the crops are safe from the frost
Sweet potatoes!
*Hot peppers: Hungarian hot wax, cayenne, jalepeno, serrano, and poblano- try pickling!
Radishes: Classic, White Daikon, Green Daikon, and Watermelon- Try making steamed radish
Turnips: Sweet white turnips and purple top roasting turnips
*End of the season for starred crops so stock up while you can!

​Markets, always rain or shine!
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, 7 am to 3 pm.

Saturday: Ann Arbor, Chelsea, and Detroit's Eastern Market

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.

The Eastern Market in Detroit is located about a mile northeast of downtown. It covers about 43 acres, bounded by I-75 on the West and Gratiot Avenue on the South. It runs year round from  6am – 4pm

​First things first, we are not attending the Wednesday Ann Arbor market this week. Why? Fall is plunging into a winter preview and we need to make sure to get all the vegetables that won't tolerate it out of the field. Whatever stands a chance will stay out with additional frost blankets. If it was just one cold dip, we know many of the resilient plants we are pulling out of the field now, could take it. But it won't just be a toe in the water. The temperatures will drop to the mid-twenties and then to the low twenties, and carry on dropping and rising like so for a forecasted but unforeseen amount of time. One drop, fine, cell walls, within reason, expand and contract. Consistent drops into colder freezing temperatures are hard on plants. They freeze and thaw and, I imagine the elasticity of their cells declining until they break. (We have to check this hypothesis!) While we don't know exactly what the weather will do, and some of the plants may survive the coming trying times, we don't want to gamble with our winter food security! 

To that end, we have pulled in over 3,000 pounds of vegetables out of the field in the last three days! Cabbage, winter radish, turnips, celery root (not as stellar of a harvest as I wanted but still present), turnabaga, rutabaga, and kohlrabi! Today we are working on beets and turnips, perhaps we will get to potatoes too! It is a joy to have the storage container filling up. 

In other exciting news, we are now going to be attending Eastern Market on Saturdays! The idea of attending this historical Detroit market has been orbiting our plans but we didn't expect to begin attending so soon! We reached out last week when we realized what an abundance we have and luckily, they responded quickly! Yesterday, two of the markets team came and inspected the farm and invited us to begin this week! So, we're doing it! And very excited about it!

Off to haul vegetables with Lizz! 

Helen writing for the Lake Dividers
Fresh From the Field!

Greens:Arugula
Baby Bok Choi!
Head Lettuce- Limited
Mizuna
Mustard
Tatsoi
Tokyo Bekana- Bok Choi lettuce!
Kale: flat leaf, green curly, and red curly
Microgreens: Spicy and mild. -Limited
Shoots: Pea!- Limited
Swiss Chard- frost sweetened and in bags. 
Herbs: 
Cilantro and Dill
Mint
Oregano
Parsley: The stems of the curly parsley are incredibly sweet!
Sage
Thyme
All manner of deliciousness:
Beets
Broccoli
Cabbage
Celery
*Eggplant: (limited) Roast, stirfry, sandwich- prep breaded eggplant in the freezer!
Fennel: Fresh licorice-y fronds with crispy bulbs.
Garlic
Kohlrabi- beautiful meal sized kohlrabi and tender petite 
Onions
Potatoes will be back in a couple weeks once the rest of the crops are safe from the frost
Sweet potatoes at the end of the week!
*Peppers: Limited
*Hot peppers: Hungarian hot wax, cayenne, jalepeno, serrano, and poblano- try pickling!
*Snack Peppers: ( limited) as sweet as peppers get!
Radishes: Classic, White Daikon, Green Daikon, and Watermelon- Try making steamed radish
*Tomatoes: greens- time to make those pickled green tomatoes!
Turnips: Sweet white turnips and purple top roasting turnips
*End of the season for starred crops so stock up while you can!
​Markets, always rain or shine!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, 7 am to 3 pm.

Saturday: Ann Arbor, Chelsea, and Detroit's Eastern Market

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.

The Eastern Market in Detroit is located about a mile northeast of downtown. It covers about 43 acres, bounded by I-75 on the West and Gratiot Avenue on the South. I runs year round from  6am – 4pm