 | Lake Divide Farm: |
The full sized tomatoes in one of our big hoop houses have their trellis lines installed! Now its a matter of pruning and twirling as they grow. In between each plant and each row of plants, crunchy lettuce is adding leaves in a flash. It won't be long now!
We'll be back at market tomorrow after a LONG gap. It will be so great to see all your faces. In the meantime, we've been busy! Jim, Tyler, and I have been throwing heat! And the world responded with this wild heat wave! Now we're in business.
Although it is a little hotter than I would have preferred, we are grateful for the break in the weather. It has taken a lot of pressure off. There is a less of a feeling that it is our last chance to get some ground prepared. Soon the final frost date will pass us by and it will be a free for all.
And all the plants that we have in the ground will continue thriving and begin producing in the next several weeks. I am hyped.
In this email:
Greens:
All Manner of Deliciousness
Green Garlic
Purple Daikon
Purple top turnips!
Herbs
Transplants:
Tomatoes
Cherry tomatoes
Squash
Possibly cucumbers, cabbage, peas, chard
Coming soon:
Brassica greens like arugula, mustard, and tatsoi
Lettuce
Pea shoots
Radish
Spinach
Turnips
Market Details: We are at market this week
The Ann Arbor Farmers Market, Saturday with Jim and Tyler: 7 am to 3 pm (or till sold out)
Eastern Market, shed 2, Saturday with Nicole 6 am to 2:30 pm
Royal Oak, Saturday with Helen and Lisa! 7 am to 1 pm
Although it is a little hotter than I would have preferred, we are grateful for the break in the weather. It has taken a lot of pressure off. There is a less of a feeling that it is our last chance to get some ground prepared. Soon the final frost date will pass us by and it will be a free for all.
And all the plants that we have in the ground will continue thriving and begin producing in the next several weeks. I am hyped.
In this email:
- Generally important notes
- We will be at market tomorrow!
- Farm Members, if you haven't read and responded to the email we sent out last week, please do.
- You can find your most up to date balance in that email. You can use the subject line to search for it in your inbox: "LDF News: Farm Membership Update PLEASE READ AND RESPOND!"
- If you have questions or the arrangement proposed in that email doesn't work for you, please let us know that too. Let's work together!
- If you can't find the email, let me know and I will forward a copy to you.
- Ann Arbor Wednesday Farm Members
- We aren't planning on attending the Ann Arbor Wednesday market with any regularity. Please send us an email to let us know if you will be able to use your balance at the Saturday market. We will take stock and figure out how to move forward.
- Stockbridge Members: I am so sorry for the delay in reaching out to you separately. Please expect an email from us early next week.
- I removed the staying active section of our email because I have not managed to update it in so long. Here is link to a newsletter with that section intact. I am going to make a page on our website dedicated to it.
- Fresh from the Field
- Market Details
- Tales from the Farm!
Greens:
All Manner of Deliciousness
Green Garlic
Purple Daikon
Purple top turnips!
Herbs
Transplants:
Tomatoes
Cherry tomatoes
Squash
Possibly cucumbers, cabbage, peas, chard
Coming soon:
Brassica greens like arugula, mustard, and tatsoi
Lettuce
Pea shoots
Radish
Spinach
Turnips
Market Details: We are at market this week
The Ann Arbor Farmers Market, Saturday with Jim and Tyler: 7 am to 3 pm (or till sold out)
Eastern Market, shed 2, Saturday with Nicole 6 am to 2:30 pm
Royal Oak, Saturday with Helen and Lisa! 7 am to 1 pm
Here you see beds of spinach and beets! They are growing in and soon will be ready for your plate. Each of these beds is 175 feet long or about 9 pick-up trucks long. In the distance you see the twice built caterpillar tunnels (thanks for the extra practice, wind) and the once built ones.
So. What have we been up to?
We have been laying the ground work for a delicious season. There are not a lot of finite tasks on the farm. There is always more to weed, more to water, more to plant and more to harvest! So it is enjoyable to find the big tasks and check them off. Fix the farmall? Check! Plant the potatoes? Check! Move the caterpillar tunnels? Check! Install the trellis lines for the tomatoes and cucumbers? Check! These are tasks that we can count as done. Perhaps there is maintenance (for example, hilling the potatoes and tying up the tomatoes as they grow) but we won't have to do "the hard part" again.
All the while we have to keep the continuous tasks moving: starting new plants in the greenhouse, planting into the field, irrigating, weeding, prepping more ground, opening and closing the hoop houses to vent them. I would say that the most demanding and consistent set of these tasks are greenhouse chores. In the peak of summer, it can take an hour to water the greenhouse and it will need to happen two or three times per day. Additionally, we have to check for germination and move plants from the germination chamber into the main greenhouse and open and close the greenhouse when the temperatures merit it. These chores have to happen every single day. On market days, on "off" days. On all the days. Continuous. Never complete until the last plant is taken from the greenhouse and tucked in the earth in late September.
We are in the season now folks and can't wait to see what delicacies it brings.
See you at market!
We have been laying the ground work for a delicious season. There are not a lot of finite tasks on the farm. There is always more to weed, more to water, more to plant and more to harvest! So it is enjoyable to find the big tasks and check them off. Fix the farmall? Check! Plant the potatoes? Check! Move the caterpillar tunnels? Check! Install the trellis lines for the tomatoes and cucumbers? Check! These are tasks that we can count as done. Perhaps there is maintenance (for example, hilling the potatoes and tying up the tomatoes as they grow) but we won't have to do "the hard part" again.
All the while we have to keep the continuous tasks moving: starting new plants in the greenhouse, planting into the field, irrigating, weeding, prepping more ground, opening and closing the hoop houses to vent them. I would say that the most demanding and consistent set of these tasks are greenhouse chores. In the peak of summer, it can take an hour to water the greenhouse and it will need to happen two or three times per day. Additionally, we have to check for germination and move plants from the germination chamber into the main greenhouse and open and close the greenhouse when the temperatures merit it. These chores have to happen every single day. On market days, on "off" days. On all the days. Continuous. Never complete until the last plant is taken from the greenhouse and tucked in the earth in late September.
We are in the season now folks and can't wait to see what delicacies it brings.
See you at market!
The cherry tomato plants are thriving in here! We hope that all the plants in these tunnels grow well and offer us fruit for many weeks. Between the tunnels we have chard and peas planted. The other tunnels have squash, cucumbers and lettuce.
Looking towards the east, we can see our first round of cabbage, kale, kohlrabi, radish, turnip, arugula and some other brassica greens, fennel, carrot, and dill. Sadly the cilantro did not have great germination. Luckily, another planting is hot on its tail.
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