What's New for 2020?

Farm Update

Fred got to rent an excavator to dig
up our old drainage tile, which pretty
much made his week! :-)

Hi everyone!  The weather lately has definitely been warmer than what we're used to this time of year, so we've been able to get some good work done at the farm!  Fred undertook a significant excavation project a few weeks ago that involved digging up and re-doing some drainage tile.  There is an area in our front field that has a tendency to stay pretty wet if we get a heavy rain (or when the snow melts in the spring), so this project will help that area drain more quickly this season.  We also had another hoophouse that needed to be constructed, and because of the wet, nasty spring we had, we just weren't able to put it up before the start of last season.  So Fred was able to get everything laid out for that and get the foundation posts in the ground.  That way, even if the ground freezes up entirely (which it will, because it's winter in Michigan), we can still put up the rest of the coldframe.  It will just be a really cold job for Fred!
     Even though production slows way, way down in the winter, we do have a few crops biding their time until they're ready to harvest.  We have some arugula in one of the hoophouses that is looking promising even though it's still pretty small, and we have some carrots under our caterpillar tunnels that are getting pretty close to harvestable.  We've brought a few home already although they're on the small side, and they taste amazingly sweet!  I'm pretty used to awesome carrots, but these are the sweetest carrots I've ever tasted.  I can't wait until they get a little bigger, and we can harvest more of them!  We have some plantings of spinach and baby lettuce in the coldframes that are pretty much in sleep mode, but they look really nice!  They're kind of in a holding pattern right now, but once we get into February, they'll likely start growing pretty fast.  The green garlic we planted last month is also now well-rooted in one of the coldframes, and will start to poke its greens out any day now!
     

Look at the arugula we have growing
in our coldframe!  Doesn't that just
look like summer?  But that's a picture
we took last week!

Along with the outdoor stuff we've been working on, we've also spent plenty of time inside by the fire, making plans for next season and getting our seed orders together.  Fred gets super excited every winter about all the possibilities for the next season, from new crops to grow, to improved seed varieties, to new growing techniques to try.  He's especially enthusiastic about the new plans for the 2020 season, so be sure to read about them below!
      And if you haven't signed up for this season yet, now's the time!  The cost for a full share is $560 and a half share is $305, so just send me an email, and I'll get you all signed up!  If your new year's resolution for 2020 is to eat healthier, eat more deliciously, help the environment, or buy local, use the momentum you have now in January to make a great decision on behalf of your June-October self, and sign up for the CSA!  Your future self will thank you for it!  :-)

What's New for 2020?

Here is Fred's report on all of the things he's geeking out over for this season!

New crops we're growing:

• Asian Green Stem Cauliflower:  A newer, better tasting, more tender version of cauliflower.
• Ethiopian Kale: Rich tasting yet mild in flavor, kind of a mix between kale and mustard greens.
• Verigo and Rubygo: Lettuce, mostly added to the spring mix, that is a frilly, crunchier baby leaf lettuce.
• Malabar spinach: A warm-weather plant with thick leaves that are very similar to spinach.
• Parsnips:  A root vegetable that is kind of halfway between a carrot and a potato.  It's very delicious and will make an appearance in late fall.
• Rutabaga:  A turnip-like fall root crop with light orange flesh.
• Honeynut Squash:  This is actually a second try after our difficult squash year last year.  It's a really delicious personal-size squash that is an even better tasting version of butternut squash.
• Galahad and Celebrity Tomatoes:  An old variety and a new variety of red slicing tomatoes that are highly rated for flavor.
• Citrine:  A new round orange cherry tomato that should rival all of the tomatoes in our current mix for flavor.
• Mint:  It will probably be towards the end of the season before we have some ready to harvest, but we are starting a perennial mint planting for the future.
• Ginger:  It seems crazy to grow ginger in Michigan, right? But it looks like we have the space in our coldframes, and we wanted to give it a try since it can be fairly productive, and it's extra delicious when it's harvested fresh.

Things we're hoping to have this season, but they're still in question: 

• Asparagus:  We should finally be able to harvest the asparagus we planted three years ago!  It will be interesting after a year of prolonged soil saturation to see if the asparagus can still thrive after a season of tough weather.
• Blackberries:  New breeding improvements have made blackberries a real possibility to succeed this far north, and we are looking seriously at putting in a sizable planting.  This will likely require acquiring some new sandier soil, which is something we are still trying to work through.
• Rosemary:  We love using this great herb at home, but it is typically not winter-hardy this far north. We are considering a potted system that can be brought indoors when the weather gets cold.

These are some of the carrots we
harvested from the caterpillar
tunnels.  So delicious!

Usually a couple new things we try each year don’t work out in the end, but we are excited to try these new items along with all the old favorites!  This season, with our new caterpillar tunnels, we will have over 60% more covered space than last year (for a total close to ½ an acre)  so we are looking forward to a longer season for the CSA on potatoes, cucumbers, red and green peppers, carrots, and beets in particular.

Last season had some of the worst weather of any season we have experienced, so we are looking forward to hitting the reset button and seeing what 2020 has in store!

This year we'll also be reshuffling some of the equipment we bought when we first started the farm, and that we've outgrown over the last nine years.  At first we thought we might even have to upgrade our beloved green tractor to a larger model, but we're going to stretch its life with us for a few more years with some creative use of different implements.  We will also likely be a part of a research project from MSU that will bring some other equipment to our farm.

We never know what a new season will bring, but we are really excited about all of the new changes we're making for the 2020 season, and all the possibilities this year holds!