Lake Divide Farm
  • Home
  • Our Story and Our Mission
  • What We Offer
  • Farmers' Markets
  • Market CSA Membership
  • Work or Volunteer with us!
  • Farm News
    • Sign-up for our mailing list!
  • Recipes
  • Contact us
  • Social Justice and Staying Active

Lake Divide Farm Newsletter: Returning to Ann Arbor Wednesday, SNOW!?, the search for a friendly dragon

11/13/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Our newly employed "blanket-in-a-blanket" technique is keeping the winter greens safe even with these frigid nights
Picture
These Kale transplants are doing well inside one of our caterpillar tunnels. Whenever the temps are high enough, we remove the row cover to let more sunlight get to the plants.
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
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Farm News

    Read on for detailed tales from the farm! We try to share weekly and with sincerity to give our followers a window into sustainable food production and life on the farm.

    Visit our 
    Facebook page for more frequent photos and posts.

    Or sign-up to have Lake Divide Farm news delivered straight to your inbox!

    Archives

    March 2025
    February 2025
    May 2024
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly