Farm Update
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| Jane and Jessamine enjoyed helping Fred harvest blueberries earlier today! |
Hi everyone! It’s been a pretty
packed week! We were really glad to get
some rain earlier in the week, and it definitely helped the crops along. Our blueberry bushes are doing well! In fact, we have more blueberries this year
than we’ve ever had, so we’re going to be offering bulk orders of blueberries
next week! They’ll be in 10-pound
increments, and it will be $33 for ten pounds (which is about 13 pints). If you’re interested, just let me know how
many you’d like, and I’ll plan on bringing you some at the drop-off! We are also starting to see the first of the
ripe cherry tomatoes, and we even got to eat a few on Thursday! We probably won’t have enough to bring to the
CSA this week, but we might have some next week. We had a pretty crazy day on Wednesday during
our Lansing area deliveries when our delivery vehicle broke down on us right in
the middle of a busy road. The
alternator went out, and fortunately Fred was able to get into the left turn
lane just as it was dying, so at least we weren’t blocking traffic. So after having the truck towed to a mechanic,
we still had to figure out how to get the rest of the veggies delivered. A huge thank you to Fred’s cousin Sarah, who
lives in the area and kindly drove us around to do the rest of the deliveries,
and his sister Mary, who drove down from Alma to pick us up at the end! We could not have done it without them! We’ll still be without the vehicle until
Wednesday, so you’ll likely see us towing a trailer full of veggies and
blueberries to the drop-offs this week.
Life at the farm is certainly never boring! Just let me know if you’re interested in bulk
blueberries, and we’ll see you at the drop-offs! J
What to Expect in your Share this Week
If you are picking up at one of our regular drop-offs (Alma, Mt.
Pleasant, and Midland) this week, here are the options you’ll find at each
station! If you have a half share, you’ll
choose one item at each station, and if you have a full share, you’ll choose
two.
Blueberries for everyone!
Potatoes
Carrots or broccoli
Lettuce or cabbage
Herbs or 2 cucumbers
Kale, Swiss chard, or 2 zucchini
Onions, kohlrabi, or fennel
And if you’re having your share delivered or picking up in Lansing,
Okemos, or the Midand hospital, here are your options. If you have a half share, choose either share
A or share B, and if you have a full share, you get to choose two.
Share A: Share
B:
Blueberries Blueberries
Potatoes Potatoes
Carrots Broccoli
Cabbage Lettuce
2 Cucumbers Herbs
Kale 2
Zucchini
Onions Kohlrabi
Fruit and Veggie Spotlight: Blueberries
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| This picture, taken back in May, shows the blueberry patch beautiful in full bloom. |
Unlike many fruits and vegetables that migrated from Europe or
Asia to the New World, the blueberry was already here when European settlers
arrived centuries ago. Many Native American tribes, most often in northern
regions of the Americas, used blueberries in many ways. It was very common for
them to dry them during the summer to eat during the winter months, but they
also used the plant for dyes and medicinal purposes as well. The modern
blueberry varieties that we have today are actually not far removed from the
original wild plants here in the Americas, as the first significant varietal
selection from wild blueberry plants did not occur until 1908. Michigan one of the top three leaders in blueberry production here in the United States, because
the berries thrive in the high water tables and acidic sandy soils that are
commonly found throughout the state.
Our blueberry patch actually predates both of us, and we are not
even sure of when it was planted, but we do know that it was at least 40 years
ago. It is actually on the property of our neighbors, Mike and Sherri,
who live about half a mile up the road from us.
The blueberry patch has been there since before they bought the
property, and it’s been so long since the bushes were being actively managed
for production that we were able to have them certified organic the first year
we had them. A few years ago, Fred
pruned them back pretty heavily, and after that they started producing quite a
few more berries than before. And this
year is the most abundant year yet!
Blueberries are always formed on the new growth held on the
woodier parts of the bush. In the spring there are new shoots of vegetative
growth that grow longer throughout the season. In the fall, the leaves fall off
the plant as the bush goes into dormancy for the winter. Then in the spring the
new shoots that were formed in the last season bloom. There are millions of
blooms at the same time, and the patch hums with the sound of bees and other
pollinating insects. Then the leaves come out and the flowers turn into berries
that began to ripen and fill out. Blueberries are actually extremely
cold-hardy; this year we pretty significant frosts while the blooms were on the bushes,
and they still formed berries without any trouble.
Our blueberries are pretty easy to raise most of the year, because
they don’t require any of the seeding, weeding, etc. that most of our crops
need. The most labor-intensive part of
raising blueberries is the picking, because it takes a long time to get all
those little berries! It’s worth it
though, because they are so delicious, and we often go overboard putting them
in just about everything we make this time of year! We also freeze quite a few for use in the
long winter months as well. We hope you
enjoy them as much as we do! J
Recipes
My guess is that you already know exactly what to do with your blueberries,
so you probably aren’t in need of recipes for them! But fennel might be another story. With kind of a licorice flavor, both the bulb
and the fronds of the fennel can be used for a lot of things. Here are some recipe ideas from Bon Appetit!
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