Well, I don't know about you folks, but here at the farm we're not particularly digging the freezing cold weather of late.  As the bitterness of February continues, we keep warm by setting our sites on spring.  But before I get into the nitty gritty of spring planting details, I must first tell you about all the marjorly awesome changes that have occured recently.

The biggest news is that Nic and I (or I should be clear here and say Nic) finally got the plastic on our hoophouse!  No, this isn't the one at Black Star Farms, it is at our own farm, 9 Bean Rows, in Northport.  We began the project in October but weather dictated the three month delay.  This isn't just any hoophouse mind you, it is GARGANTUAN!  It is 144X34 ft. and when you're inside letting the sun beat down and warm your soul, you can let out a YIPPEE and it echoes as if you were in a deep valley. This magnificent piece of equipment will allow us to grow many more leafy greens and an abundance of crazy crops that we  had not been able to try before in our cool climate region.  With hard work and a little help from Momma Nature we're aiming to have tomatoes by April/May as well as other heat loving species that make all our salsa making dreams come true.

The next most amazing item to discuss is our newfound partnership with Black Star Farms.  Don Coe, managing partner of the farm and ag enthusiast extraordinaire, offered us a lease agreement to make the CSA at the farm our own business venture.  Many of you may recall this is exactly what he did for Anne and John Hoyt, owners and cheesemakers of Leelanau Cheese Company.  Well, needless to say, we thought this an amazing opportunity to 1) get more local food into the hands of our community 2) grow as individuals by taking responsibility for our work on a new level and 3) have an amazing platform/infrastructure (the farm)for educating and involving others as to what we do.  Our hats are off to Don for his generosity and respect for our work.  

So what's in it for you?  Well, by teaming up with Black Star on a partnership level, we're able to combine what we've been doing at the farm with what we are just getting under way at our farmstead in Northport.  The result: you get a greater diversity of food offerings and you get to visit more than one farm!

The 9 Bean Rows farm is a vision of wild edible and forest gardening beauty which we are going to groom and shape with an active, but silent hand, so to speak.  Hoophouse aside, most of the techniques we will be using on the rest of the farm involve an approach that is more hands off and more about guiding what nature is already doing.  Take our blackberry patch for instance, we'll be intermingling other species of our choosing similar to ones found by blackberries in the wild.  The only difference is the species we choose will have an importance known: i.e. food, fiber, fuel etc.  I'll get into more details in the future, so stay tuned about our adventures with what has been dubbed Edible Forest Gardening!

Back to the spring planting!  We started transplants about two weeks ago and our healthy little babies are just about ready for transplanting into both hoophouses.  We'll be doing the majority of cool season veggies at BSF while some of those crazier plants I mentioned (tomatoes, ginger!, peppers) will make their home 9 Bean Rows.

Let's turn now to what's actually happening NOW with your shares.  We've had some requests to label produce and we're in the process of making that as simple as it sounds.  Thus far, we've done a pretty bad job of explaining what you've got and how to use it, and we sincerely apologize.  The plan: we'll be posting pictures of our harvests as well as cooking suggestions for each item on this website.  Click "This Week's Share" to get started.  We'll also keep an archive of past pictures for you to refer to.

Stay tuned for the next letter where we'll discuss growing our local food economy and how we can support each other through these tough economic times.  May you be well, eat well, and visit us often!

Best Regards,

Nic and Jen