Rachel has been getting trained all week on how to properly care for and operate the greenhouse, and the pea shoots have never looked better!
Alyssa and Helen just finished up harvesting the baby red cabbages in the Uptown fields. We had enough requests for them at the markets this past weekend that we made a special stop to gather these little superstars
Boomer has ALMOST all the right moves when it comes to being a top tier farm dog, but his propensity to explore the township (yikes!) has been holding him back from that next level status that he craves. With Boomer's new cybernetic enhancements he's staying safe and spending more and more time outside doing what he loves most, farm work! This GPS tracker syncs up with a smart phone to give you alerts when The Boom gives in to wanderlust. It also gives you "bark alerts" whenever he barks... a synthetic voice speaks over the smart phone "Boomer is barking, Boomer is barking" it's still fresh enough that it's too funny to be annoying, but that's not gonna last long. Good to have you back in the fields Boom Boy!
These thunderstorms have been impressive! A flash and a crack so loud, I wonder which tree is coming down! At least I am getting more snuggles from the dogs!
In this email:
Generally Important Notes:
TOMATO SALE! It's that time again! Please email us to pre-order in quantity.
Available at market only:
If you get over 5 pounds, the price is $2.50/pound (three bursting quarts for $13-$14).
If you go over 10 pounds, the price is $2.00/pound (about six quarts!).
Seconds for $2 per pound!
Pre-order a whole tray! (or pick them out at market)
Firsts $25 (Romas or Slicers)
Seconds $20 for 1 tray, 2+ trays at $15/ per tray.
Please wear face coverings when shopping with us at market. We are trying to protect our families and coworkers. With our workload, we cannot afford long absences due to illness and with the potential for long term physical ailments after the the virus, we don't want our farm members, workers, or families to get this virus. We encounter a lot of people as market vendors and a face covering worn by us and our customers is a simple way to reduce our exposure to the virus. Please help us stay safe and continue providing fresh, nutritious food for you. If you are unsure why simple cloth face coverings help, here is a great video from PBS.
There is a small pre-ordering window for Ann Arbor Wednesday. Ordering opens now and goes until midnight tonight (Tuesday 8/18)
If you signed up as a Farm Member online, please note, you can also use your account at market. Pre-ordering is not required!
If you had trouble ordering, please scroll down our "Ordering With Local Line" section.
Notes from the Farm:
Busy busy on the farm (as usual!) and the changing of the guard.
This year has us so whirled up, I never formally introduced our fantastic crew. An now, with the season changing, a two of them are heading back to school without even a note. We send special thanks to Eva for all the amazing work she put into the farm this year! She is heading back to UoM to use her powerful mind for good!
We sending gratitude to Annie for an excellent field season. She is heading back to grad school, improving her woodworking craft and teaching others to do the same. You can still find her at weekend markets though!
I vow to follow through with a thorough crew into in the coming weeks, but for now, its back to the wheelhouse!
The Lake Dividers
Lake Divide Farm: Good for the Earth, Good for the Farmers, Good for the People. The Trifecta of sustainability. Good for the earth: Taking care of the natural world is a important, after all, it takes care of us; Good for the farmer: We believe farmers should have livable hours and livable wages; Good for the people: We believe in food equality and bringing our produce to market at an affordable price and keeping it accessible is important to us.
In this email:
- Generally important notes: Tomato sale! (To pre-order, please send us an email)
- Notes from the farm
- Fresh From the Field- What are we bringing to market this week!
- Staying active and engaged with social change
- Market Details-
- Find our vegetables and other local goods in Stockbridge at Plane Food Market!
- Ordering with Local Line: register and troubleshoot
- CSA members- what to do if your account is low
Generally Important Notes:
TOMATO SALE! It's that time again! Please email us to pre-order in quantity.
Available at market only:
If you get over 5 pounds, the price is $2.50/pound (three bursting quarts for $13-$14).
If you go over 10 pounds, the price is $2.00/pound (about six quarts!).
Seconds for $2 per pound!
Pre-order a whole tray! (or pick them out at market)
Firsts $25 (Romas or Slicers)
Seconds $20 for 1 tray, 2+ trays at $15/ per tray.
Please wear face coverings when shopping with us at market. We are trying to protect our families and coworkers. With our workload, we cannot afford long absences due to illness and with the potential for long term physical ailments after the the virus, we don't want our farm members, workers, or families to get this virus. We encounter a lot of people as market vendors and a face covering worn by us and our customers is a simple way to reduce our exposure to the virus. Please help us stay safe and continue providing fresh, nutritious food for you. If you are unsure why simple cloth face coverings help, here is a great video from PBS.
There is a small pre-ordering window for Ann Arbor Wednesday. Ordering opens now and goes until midnight tonight (Tuesday 8/18)
If you signed up as a Farm Member online, please note, you can also use your account at market. Pre-ordering is not required!
If you had trouble ordering, please scroll down our "Ordering With Local Line" section.
Notes from the Farm:
Busy busy on the farm (as usual!) and the changing of the guard.
This year has us so whirled up, I never formally introduced our fantastic crew. An now, with the season changing, a two of them are heading back to school without even a note. We send special thanks to Eva for all the amazing work she put into the farm this year! She is heading back to UoM to use her powerful mind for good!
We sending gratitude to Annie for an excellent field season. She is heading back to grad school, improving her woodworking craft and teaching others to do the same. You can still find her at weekend markets though!
I vow to follow through with a thorough crew into in the coming weeks, but for now, its back to the wheelhouse!
The Lake Dividers
Lake Divide Farm: Good for the Earth, Good for the Farmers, Good for the People. The Trifecta of sustainability. Good for the earth: Taking care of the natural world is a important, after all, it takes care of us; Good for the farmer: We believe farmers should have livable hours and livable wages; Good for the people: We believe in food equality and bringing our produce to market at an affordable price and keeping it accessible is important to us.
As promised we made some progress on the wash pack expansion! The frame has been carefully traced in u-channel which will soon serve to attach the greenhouse plastic to the frame. Next step is to anchor this thing to ground, lots of digging and cement mixing in the next phase.
The past week has treated us to two, Lake Divide exclusive, micro thunderstorms. They showed up suddenly both Friday and Saturday and blasted the farm (and farmers) with savage rain and treacherous targeted lightning strikes. The storm was violent enough that it merited me making a hurried communication over the walkie "Lake Divide, SCRAMBLE SCRAMBLE" Nice to see a bright blue sky over the farm again!
Fresh From the Field!
Quick note: You may notice that the crop list in the email does not always match the crop list in our online store. Items not found online may have sold out or we may not have posted them online. We sometimes do not post crops online that have not come into abundance yet because we don't always know how much (or how little) of a crop will be harvestable by the end of the week so we can't offer it for sale on Tuesday. These items go to market in small quantities. When they come fully into season, we will list them online. This is the best way we have come up with to manage these crops.
That said, you can always add to your order when you pick up at market.
Thank you for your patience and understanding as we troubleshoot a whole new (to us) way of doing things.
Greens:
Microgreens! Mustard Mix, Just Arugula & Watercress
Pea Shoots
Swiss Chard- limited- It is aces I tells ya! Aces!
All manner of deliciousness:
Cabbage- Round Green (back in quantity!)
Celery!
Cucumbers (limited)
Eggplant- Italian and Asian varieties! (limited)
Garlic! Uncured, fresh, juicy, delicious
Onions- Fresh sweet onions for salads and cooking
Kohlrabi- green and purple "snack" class vegetables that make a great raw snack!
Melon!
Peppers- green bells, purple and white too
Hot Peppers- Jalapeno, Hot Hungarian and Poblano
Potatoes!
Scallions
Summer Squash- Golden and Green Zucchini plus some classic yellow squash and patty pans
Tomatoes- Cherry tomatoes
Tomatoes! Round slicers and paste tomatoes
Snack Peppers!
Carrots?!
Napa Cabbage!
Cantaloupe!
Herbs:
Basil
Mint
Oregano
Parsley
Sage
Thyme
Chives!
Coming Soon:
Watermelon
Staying Active: Something to keep the gears of progress engaged:
We are taking a short hiatus from curating weekly lists and paths. I have included below a couple links to readings and some ideas on how to work towards racial equity within your community. Also included are two links to some places where dollars can make a difference.
In the meantime, keep learning, listening, speaking up, and showing up. We have to continue providing energy for change. There is much to be done. No one can do everything, but everyone can do something.
If you come across resources, readings, or movements that you feel are powerful, please send them our way so we can share them.
To read: This list is my no means whatsoever all inclusive.
Essays and articles (links to arcles):
The Case For Reparations by Ta-Nehisi Coates
The Uses of Anger by Audre Lorde
Books (links to authors website):
How To Be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Here is a link to an excellent interview with Ibram X. Kendi discussing the concepts in his book.
The New Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness by Michelle Alexander. This website also has some guides to study and organize
So You Want To Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
White Fragility: Why it's so hard for white people to talk about racism by Robin DiAngelo.
Here is an interview with Robin DiAngelo about thebook and the concept of white fragility.
To Listen and Watch:
MSU launched a "Music for Social Justice Series". Artists who are faculty members in the MSU College of Music speak out on issues of inequality, blending performance with commentary about the impact artists and music can have on today’s social issues. Nine episodes will begin the series, premiering on the College of Music YouTube channel August 12 through December 2, 2020.
Something to do:
Organize a reading group. There are lots of guides out there that can help organize and approach difficult and uncomfortable topics. I am hoping to use this toolkit that is geared towards farming communities. Although some of the reading is agriculture-specific, the tips and approaches for keeping the conversation constructive are broadly applicable.
Although not fully vetted, this site: Racial Equity Tools seems to have a lot of resources to get organized around.
Discover your implicit bias: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html
Show up! Detroit Will Breathe has been marching for Justice daily since March. https://detroitwillbreathe.info/
If you come across a good community organizing tool kit, please send it our way so we can share it.
To contribute:
We The People Community Farm: We have included this link for the past several weeks. Their fundraising campaign is to"fundraising campaign to help us grow more food, grow our impact, and grow the relationships we're forging with people coming home after being incarcerated. " They are still fundraising and are in our Ypsilanti, so offer opportunity to get directly involved.
Black Land Collective Fund: The history of U.S. agriculture is inseparable from the history of U.S. racism. Indigenous land dispossession, slavery, the ongoing exclusion of racial minorities from federal agricultural programs and support systems, present day exploitation enabled by lack of labor protections for agricultural workers, and disempowering immigration policies are all examples of the ways in which racism has been woven into agriculture on every level since this land was colonized (to learn more about these histories, please see the study guide section, and the bibliography of additional resources). Examples of racism in agricultural contexts exacerbate inequity and injustice throughout the food system and society more broadly, contributing to community food insecurity, labor exploitation, and other forms of racialized oppression. Dismantling racism in our society must involve deep change in our agricultural systems. It is crucial that farmers, organizations that work on agricultural issues, and people involved in food systems at every level directly address racism, the myth of white supremacy, structural inequity, and the ways they manifest as ongoing violence and dispossession in relation to land, food, climate, and labor.
Market Details:
The Ann Arbor Farmers Market, Wednesday with Amy (new on the scene)! 7 am to 3 pm, Pre-ordering, curbside pick-up, On site vegetables sales! Pre-ordering from Tuesday afternoon until Tuesday midnight.
All orders must be picked up by 1 pm. All curbside orders must be picked up by 12 pm.
The market runs until 3 pm but we may leave early so it is important that you pick up your order by 1 pm.
For curbside pick-up: Email us to let us know. On market day, pull up and park along Detroit street and tell a volunteer your name and that you are picking up an order from Lake Divide.
Check out the A2 website for information on what to expect.
Northville, Thursday with Lizz! 8 am- 3 pm, pre-order, walk-up or curbside, on site vegetables!
Ordering will be open from Tuesday afternoon until Wednesday at 3:30 pm
If you would like curbside pick-up, please include a note with your order indicating so. We will email you with a phone number to text (call if needed, text preferred) when you arrive to pick-up your order.
Stockbridge, Friday with Malcolm! 4 pm- 7 pm, pre-order, walk-up or curbside, on site vegetables!
We will be at the market with your orders from 4 pm to 7 pm!
We may have some produce available for direct purchase.
The Ann Arbor Farmers Market, Saturday with Alyssa and Jim: 7 am to 3 pm, pre-order walk-up or curbside pick-up, on site vegetables!. All orders must be picked up by 1 pm.
The market runs until 3 pm but we may leave early so it is important that you pick up your order by 1 pm.
All orders must be picked up by 1 pm. All curbside orders must be picked up by 12 pm.
For curbside pick-up: Email us to let us know. On market day, pull up and park along Detroit street and tell a volunteer your name and that you are picking up an order from Lake Divide.
Check out the A2 website for information on what to expect.
Eastern, Saturday with Kyla! 7 am to 2:30 pm, pre-order, walk-up or curbside, onsite purchases.
We will be set up in Shed 2, close to the center and on the East side of the aisle that heads towards Shed 3. Look for our sign and for Shana!*If you feel strongly or need to have a trunk pick-up because you are high risk, please email me and I can arrange to have your order dropped at your car.
Royal Oak, Saturday with Helen and Shana! 7 am to 1 pm, pre-order, walk-up or curbside, onsite purchases.
Find us inside in our usual spot.
*If you feel strongly or need to have a trunk pick-up because you are high risk, please email me and I can arrange to have your order dropped at your car. I will email you the instructions Friday after all orders are in.
Farmington, Saturday with Annie! 9 am to 2 pm, pre-order, walk-up or curbside, onsite purchases.
Thanks for the warm welcome at Farmington! We appreciate it. Even with the strange COVID year, we can tell that the Farmington Market Community is one to be happy to belong to.
If you are a CSA member and your account balance is low:
Ordering: How to Register with Local Line
If you have already registered with Local Line, just log in and use your account to order. If you haven't already done it, please make sure your account name is in the format Lastname.First as in Chandler.Helen or Neumann.Jim. This isn't required but it helps us when we are entering data, packing, and handling pick ups.
Trouble shooting:If you have filled your cart but your order isn't going through: If the answer to one of these questions is yes, that is the cause of your problem.
How to create a Local Line Account:
Quick note: You may notice that the crop list in the email does not always match the crop list in our online store. Items not found online may have sold out or we may not have posted them online. We sometimes do not post crops online that have not come into abundance yet because we don't always know how much (or how little) of a crop will be harvestable by the end of the week so we can't offer it for sale on Tuesday. These items go to market in small quantities. When they come fully into season, we will list them online. This is the best way we have come up with to manage these crops.
That said, you can always add to your order when you pick up at market.
Thank you for your patience and understanding as we troubleshoot a whole new (to us) way of doing things.
Greens:
Microgreens! Mustard Mix, Just Arugula & Watercress
Pea Shoots
Swiss Chard- limited- It is aces I tells ya! Aces!
All manner of deliciousness:
Cabbage- Round Green (back in quantity!)
Celery!
Cucumbers (limited)
Eggplant- Italian and Asian varieties! (limited)
Garlic! Uncured, fresh, juicy, delicious
Onions- Fresh sweet onions for salads and cooking
Kohlrabi- green and purple "snack" class vegetables that make a great raw snack!
Melon!
Peppers- green bells, purple and white too
Hot Peppers- Jalapeno, Hot Hungarian and Poblano
Potatoes!
Scallions
Summer Squash- Golden and Green Zucchini plus some classic yellow squash and patty pans
Tomatoes- Cherry tomatoes
Tomatoes! Round slicers and paste tomatoes
Snack Peppers!
Carrots?!
Napa Cabbage!
Cantaloupe!
Herbs:
Basil
Mint
Oregano
Parsley
Sage
Thyme
Chives!
Coming Soon:
Watermelon
Staying Active: Something to keep the gears of progress engaged:
We are taking a short hiatus from curating weekly lists and paths. I have included below a couple links to readings and some ideas on how to work towards racial equity within your community. Also included are two links to some places where dollars can make a difference.
In the meantime, keep learning, listening, speaking up, and showing up. We have to continue providing energy for change. There is much to be done. No one can do everything, but everyone can do something.
If you come across resources, readings, or movements that you feel are powerful, please send them our way so we can share them.
To read: This list is my no means whatsoever all inclusive.
Essays and articles (links to arcles):
The Case For Reparations by Ta-Nehisi Coates
The Uses of Anger by Audre Lorde
Books (links to authors website):
How To Be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Here is a link to an excellent interview with Ibram X. Kendi discussing the concepts in his book.
The New Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness by Michelle Alexander. This website also has some guides to study and organize
So You Want To Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
White Fragility: Why it's so hard for white people to talk about racism by Robin DiAngelo.
Here is an interview with Robin DiAngelo about thebook and the concept of white fragility.
To Listen and Watch:
MSU launched a "Music for Social Justice Series". Artists who are faculty members in the MSU College of Music speak out on issues of inequality, blending performance with commentary about the impact artists and music can have on today’s social issues. Nine episodes will begin the series, premiering on the College of Music YouTube channel August 12 through December 2, 2020.
Something to do:
Organize a reading group. There are lots of guides out there that can help organize and approach difficult and uncomfortable topics. I am hoping to use this toolkit that is geared towards farming communities. Although some of the reading is agriculture-specific, the tips and approaches for keeping the conversation constructive are broadly applicable.
Although not fully vetted, this site: Racial Equity Tools seems to have a lot of resources to get organized around.
Discover your implicit bias: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html
Show up! Detroit Will Breathe has been marching for Justice daily since March. https://detroitwillbreathe.info/
If you come across a good community organizing tool kit, please send it our way so we can share it.
To contribute:
We The People Community Farm: We have included this link for the past several weeks. Their fundraising campaign is to"fundraising campaign to help us grow more food, grow our impact, and grow the relationships we're forging with people coming home after being incarcerated. " They are still fundraising and are in our Ypsilanti, so offer opportunity to get directly involved.
Black Land Collective Fund: The history of U.S. agriculture is inseparable from the history of U.S. racism. Indigenous land dispossession, slavery, the ongoing exclusion of racial minorities from federal agricultural programs and support systems, present day exploitation enabled by lack of labor protections for agricultural workers, and disempowering immigration policies are all examples of the ways in which racism has been woven into agriculture on every level since this land was colonized (to learn more about these histories, please see the study guide section, and the bibliography of additional resources). Examples of racism in agricultural contexts exacerbate inequity and injustice throughout the food system and society more broadly, contributing to community food insecurity, labor exploitation, and other forms of racialized oppression. Dismantling racism in our society must involve deep change in our agricultural systems. It is crucial that farmers, organizations that work on agricultural issues, and people involved in food systems at every level directly address racism, the myth of white supremacy, structural inequity, and the ways they manifest as ongoing violence and dispossession in relation to land, food, climate, and labor.
Market Details:
The Ann Arbor Farmers Market, Wednesday with Amy (new on the scene)! 7 am to 3 pm, Pre-ordering, curbside pick-up, On site vegetables sales! Pre-ordering from Tuesday afternoon until Tuesday midnight.
All orders must be picked up by 1 pm. All curbside orders must be picked up by 12 pm.
The market runs until 3 pm but we may leave early so it is important that you pick up your order by 1 pm.
For curbside pick-up: Email us to let us know. On market day, pull up and park along Detroit street and tell a volunteer your name and that you are picking up an order from Lake Divide.
Check out the A2 website for information on what to expect.
Northville, Thursday with Lizz! 8 am- 3 pm, pre-order, walk-up or curbside, on site vegetables!
Ordering will be open from Tuesday afternoon until Wednesday at 3:30 pm
If you would like curbside pick-up, please include a note with your order indicating so. We will email you with a phone number to text (call if needed, text preferred) when you arrive to pick-up your order.
Stockbridge, Friday with Malcolm! 4 pm- 7 pm, pre-order, walk-up or curbside, on site vegetables!
We will be at the market with your orders from 4 pm to 7 pm!
We may have some produce available for direct purchase.
The Ann Arbor Farmers Market, Saturday with Alyssa and Jim: 7 am to 3 pm, pre-order walk-up or curbside pick-up, on site vegetables!. All orders must be picked up by 1 pm.
The market runs until 3 pm but we may leave early so it is important that you pick up your order by 1 pm.
All orders must be picked up by 1 pm. All curbside orders must be picked up by 12 pm.
For curbside pick-up: Email us to let us know. On market day, pull up and park along Detroit street and tell a volunteer your name and that you are picking up an order from Lake Divide.
Check out the A2 website for information on what to expect.
Eastern, Saturday with Kyla! 7 am to 2:30 pm, pre-order, walk-up or curbside, onsite purchases.
We will be set up in Shed 2, close to the center and on the East side of the aisle that heads towards Shed 3. Look for our sign and for Shana!*If you feel strongly or need to have a trunk pick-up because you are high risk, please email me and I can arrange to have your order dropped at your car.
Royal Oak, Saturday with Helen and Shana! 7 am to 1 pm, pre-order, walk-up or curbside, onsite purchases.
Find us inside in our usual spot.
*If you feel strongly or need to have a trunk pick-up because you are high risk, please email me and I can arrange to have your order dropped at your car. I will email you the instructions Friday after all orders are in.
Farmington, Saturday with Annie! 9 am to 2 pm, pre-order, walk-up or curbside, onsite purchases.
Thanks for the warm welcome at Farmington! We appreciate it. Even with the strange COVID year, we can tell that the Farmington Market Community is one to be happy to belong to.
If you are a CSA member and your account balance is low:
- If you want to continue on as one of our members and your balance does not cover your current order
- Order what you want
- Add money into your account either by
- Putting a check or cash in your trunk/backseat Saturday for pick-up and emailing to let me know
- Mailing a check
- Using the online store
- If you just want to add more to your account, go for it! Use any of the methods listed above.
- If you no longer want to be a farm member
- We ask that you do not go over your balance.
Ordering: How to Register with Local Line
If you have already registered with Local Line, just log in and use your account to order. If you haven't already done it, please make sure your account name is in the format Lastname.First as in Chandler.Helen or Neumann.Jim. This isn't required but it helps us when we are entering data, packing, and handling pick ups.
Trouble shooting:If you have filled your cart but your order isn't going through: If the answer to one of these questions is yes, that is the cause of your problem.
- Is your total less than $10? We have a $10 minimum to help us deal with the extra cost of packing orders.
- Is it between Friday morning and Tuesday afternoon? Ordering is open from sometime Tuesday afternoon until Thursday at midnight
- Don't worry about this. We had to set up a work around to get Local Line to fit the needs for our business.
- Did you verify your email address? After you create your username and password, Local Line sends a confirmation email. You can find it by searching your inbox for and email from localline.ca and the exact phrase "please verify your email address"
How to create a Local Line Account:
- Head to the link at the bottom of these steps.
- Register using the green button to the right.
- You will be asked to enter a bunch of information and there are a two things that are very important
- Be sure to use the email address that this email went to. If you don't, you may be asked to pay using a credit card.
- Please use the Lastname.First for the Account name. (Your last name follow by a period followed by your first name, with no spaces. For example Chandler.Helen)
- You will then need to verify your email address by going to your email inbox and responding to the email that comes from Local Line.
- At last! You can order!
- Here is the link to use to create your Local Line account: https://www.localline.ca/lakedividefarm
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