Lake Divide Farm Newsletter: Irrigate, hot hot hot, and a trickle of tomatoes!

Exie the dog agreed to pose for a picture but refused to joyously gallop through the sprinklers. I can't really blame her!

It was hot! So very hot! We are glad it has cooled down a touch but most of our plants would still call it hot. It is also dry. We have been irrigating like clockwork, rotating through your future crops trying to keep them well watered. This means moving lines, moving sprinklers, adjusting valves, keeping track, connecting lines, connecting sprinklers, enjoying the sprinklers, making sure the are sprinkling the right spots (us when we are lucky or unlucky as the case may be.)

It is a good thing we figured out that we need to run irrigation on freshly seeded carrots and beets. Believe it or not, the carrots we seeded last week, the same varieties that take up to four weeks to germinate in the cooler months, were up in under a week! So fast!

What else have we been doing? We put the shade cloth on the greenhouse. In the winter we love how the sun transforms our greenhouse in to a tropical oasis in the midst of a frigid landscape. Now? We bead up with sweat just thinking about heading in there. And our plants don't feel too great about it either! Now that we pulled this netting over the house, some of the sunlight is filtered out and it is cooler for our germinating seeds that prefer not to experience 100 plus degrees.

We have been tending our impending solanaceous crops: Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant. I have a great feeling about them this year. And I don't want to get you too excited but we have a trickle of tomatoes rolling into market this week. Not a lot. Just enough to let you know what is coming. 

And as promised, we are now neck deep in squash and cucumbers. We have so many they are going on sale.
 
Cucumbers: Buy 2 pounds or more and the price drops to $1.75 per pound. More than 5 pounds? The price plummets to just $1.50 per pound! Pickle them, make yogurt, dill, cucumber salads, put them in your water, put them on your eyes. Eat them! 

Squash: Buy 2 pounds or more and the price drops to $1.75 per pound. More than 5 pounds? The price plummets to just $1.50 per pound! Make fritters or put them on the grill, make a stylin sandwich or shred them and freeze them for a taste of summer later. Saute them with some basil. Get a big one and make a zucchini boat and sail to taste bud bliss. It is summer my friend!
Either way, we are into the good times now! Make sure to include us in your independence day celebrations! Come to market and get some of our vegetables to show off to your friends! I know they would be impressed and refreshed by a cucumber salad and a zucchini boat!

We will be at all our regular haunts this week with the exception of the Jackson Green Market, which we are sorry to say is cancelled for the holiday. Hope to see you at market!

Helen writing for the Lake Dividers

Here is the greenhouse adorned in a shade cloth. Keeping cool greenhouse workers and plants alike! I always feel like we are on a ship once the cover is on.

Fresh From the Field!

Cut greens:Salad mix!
Greens:
Head lettuce: Butterhead, green leaf, red leaf, summer crisp, and romaine!
Kale: flat leaf, green curly, and red curly
Microgreens: Spicy and mild. I had some on spaghetti this week and it was one of the best decisions I made that day
Shoots: Sunflower shoots early in the week and both sunflower and pea shoots towards the end!
Swiss Chard
Herbs: 
Basil
Cilantro
Dill
Mint
Oregano
Parsley-basically good in anything and very nutrient dense
Sage
Thyme
Roots: 
Radishes- limited
All manner of deliciousness:
Cucumbers- Build an edible and refreshing log cabin from our delectable cucumbers!
Cabbage
Garlic scapes- pesto, pickles, stirfry, roasted, is there anything these delightful flowering stalks can't make deliciously?
NEW: EGGPLANT! We can't believe it either! It is coming in now and there will be more and more and more!
Baby Fennel
Kohlrabi
Peas: Limited
NEW: Tomatoes: A handful of slicers and cherry tomatoes. LIMITED, but not for a limited time! This is just the beginning of what we hope to be a long and bountiful tomato season!
Summer squash- Go squash crazy now folks! The season is upon us!

​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 and January thru April from 8 am to 3 pm.

Thursday: Jackson- Cancelled July 5th and will resume the following week
The Jackson Green Market at Allegiance Health is located at East Michigan Avenue and Waterloo Street. It runs from May through October 9 am to 2 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.
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