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Week One Of The Central Michigan CSA

on June 11, 2012

So week one of the Central Michigan CSA went well. I almost waited one more week in order to have more items ready but I’m glad I didn’t. Member’s seemed more than happy to get started mabey even a little anxious, I don’t blame them. It looks to be a great year for produce which makes it some much more enjoyable for me. I try to reduce as many risk variables as I can and continue to learn new ones which let’s me deliver good produce regardless whether the weather and conditions are optimal or not.

Week one of the CSA program included drop off locations of Gladwin, Mt. Pleasant, Midland and Clare. Each member recieved Strawberries, Asparagus, Fresh Strawberry Jam, Lettuce. Some also recieved Chives and Rhubarb as well. I got my snow pea seeds in a little late due to my concern with the hundreds of transplants sitting along side the field just waiting to go in. Next year, seeds first, especially cold weather crops like carrots, beets and snow peas.

The drop of times worked out well WAY better than I could have ever expected. The drop off locations are around 20 minutes away from the farm except for the one here in Clare and I really didn’t want to do two a week at any location, though I was reluctantly willing. Turns out there wasn’t even a slight hitch, everyone seemed to like the day and time of day. I thought I’d be doing some evening drop off’s and was concerned about picking in the heat ( some vegetables don’t like that at all) which I would have to do if it were an evening drop. Once again, worrying never pays, right?

I’ve had several people ask about the CSA and if we were still accepting new members. We do still have a few shares available, most of our 2012 CSA members opted for the 1/2 share which made room for a few more members. If you want more information about the CSA Program and CSA share information Visit the our CSA page.

By the way you’ll be getting the first newsletter of the year for the CSA program as well in the next day or two. Thanks again to all the 2012 CSA member, I appreciate the support and trust you’ve place in us to grow your food.

J.Crawford

989-284-8251

Still Accepting CSA Members For Midland, Gladwin, Mt.Pleasant Mi Drop off Locations.

on May 15, 2012

Update: We are currently enrolling members for each of our CSA locations for the 2014 Season. You can visit the CSA page for more info, share options, and details. We appreciate the opportunity to grow your families food!

I wanted to let everyone know we are still accepting members for the 2012 Central Michigan CSA. We planned for 35 Shares and still have several openings. The drop offs that we would like to add a few more members are Midland Mi, Mt. Pleasant Mi, Gladwin Mi and also Clare Michigan which is where the CSA farm is located. We’ll be opening the Market with flowers, hanging baskets, asparagus and homemade jams and jelly’s later this week 5/15/2012. Our drop of locations will be at the local farmers market in each town. Midlands drop off will be on Wednesdays between 7 am and noon. Mt. Pleasant will be Thursday or Saturday depending on the members preference. If you or someone you know wants more info on the CSA program fill out the Newsletter form here on the website and give me a call. We offer a 20 week program and provide 1/2 shares and full shares depending on the number of people you need to feed. For more information on the CSA program, the Farm, and how it works, visit the Central Michigan CSA page.

Planting for The Central Michigan CSA Members

on May 15, 2012

We have several thousand transplants that have been growing for the last four to six weeks for the 2012 Central Michigan CSA members and we’ve got a home for

This is the Raised Bed Machine

them outside starting Monday April 29th. The overnight temps have been in the mid twenties several nights in the last week which helped me to hold of on setting out transplants until Monday. With 10 days of overnights forecasted to be in the mid 40’s and above I think it’s a smart time to get planting.

I’ve learned it doesn’t do much good to plant when overnights are below 40 and it’s just plain risky when we are waking up to 26 degrees. The transplants have been growing in an overnight low of around 55 degrees and this week we’ll have about the same outside so we are getting started in the morning. We’ve been preparing the fields over the last couple weeks and installed a bunch of raised beds this last week. We use a green mulch with helps to warm up the ground yet still offering zero weed growth underneath, which is our most important step to eliminating the need for herbicides. The raised beds also have a gravity feed irrigation tube installed that allows optimal watering.

The beds are around 18″ for most of the transplants and we place them about four feet from center to center. This creates about an 18″ to 2′ area between which is easily cultivated with rototiller or cultivator. The mulch, though plastic, is bio-degradable as well. Another side benefit is that the vegetables stay a lot cleaner as the rain doesn’t splash dirt all over things like tomatoes, peppers, squash and other vegetables. The cucumbers and vining plants do end up growing all over like crazy but we have to deal with that.

Not everything is optimally grown on raised beds. Onions, potatoes, green beans, carrots, beets and other plant that need hill-ed, have close spacing, or are planted by seed work better the old fashion way and then need to be cultivated by hand to eliminate weeds.

Ready for Planting!

Update ( 2 weeks later)

It seems to take a transplant about a week to realize it’s in the ground and it’s free to spread its roots

and grow, grow, grow. The zuchnii and yellow summer squash we planted two weeks ago is doing really well and everything is growing daily now with the heat we’ve had the last few days. We also made it through two frost warnings without a hitch and now its the middle of May so it’s looking good.

New Transplants in Raised Beds with Drip Line Going.Here are some transplants, I think they are summer squash, you can see the drip line going under the raised beds and this picture was actually taken during a waterings. The raised beds reduce water loss to run off and evaporation. I usually only water once a week and that's if it's dry and hot. Double Row of Leaf Lettuce From Transplants.

I’ll write another article in a week or so and show some progress pictures. Until then happy planting. It looks like the threat of frost will be minimal for the next two weeks but you never know. The Market will be opening this week and we’ll have fresh asparagus along with some nice flowers and hanging baskets. Also some homade

Just after 2" of Rain.

Tomatoe Transplants: Rooted and Growing

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