June BLOG-The Beginning...

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June 25, 2006

Greetings!  We’re on the edge of Climax and loving every minute of it!  No, really -  at the moment we’re staying with Marty’s cousin Jenni and her family in Climax, MI, recouping and regrouping before moving on to the next farm (thanks Jenni, Trent, Caleb, Riley & Grant!).  Here’s a quick rundown of the past couple weeks:

Tantre Farm

A short ride down the road from Community Farm (with a stop-over at Marty’s parents) brought us to Tantre Farm.  Tantre is a special place for us: Michelle worked here for 2 seasons; Marty was a fellow vendor at Chelsea Farmers Market; we’ve both enjoyed countless potlucks and celebrations at the farm.  Farmers Richard Andres and Deb Lentz are our long-time friends and mentors, and always welcome with open arms and hearts.  And the farm looks better than ever.  We enjoyed three days of wholesome work, hearty meals, hefty laughs, and heady silliness with farm-workers David, Paul, Megan and Jason.  Tis the season for weeding, weeding, weeding, but we also helped harvest and pack for CSA distribution.

Tantre has over 200 members this year.  They distribute shares at the Ann Arbor Farmers’ Market on Wednesdays and Saturdays, Chelsea Farmers’ Market on Saturdays, and off the farm a few days as well.  They pre-box shares in their beautiful new packing shed.  Richard was a timber-frame carpenter in a former life and has applied that artistry in restoring old buildings and creating new ones around the farm.  In addition to CSA and 2 farmers’ markets, Tantre also markets to select Ann Arbor restaurants and the People’s Food Co-op.  All from about 10 acres of veggies with virtually no mechanical weed cultivation.

We’ve decided to post the contents of share boxes to give a sense of how the harvest changes over the season.  Here’s what was in Tantre’s share the week we were there:

We were also interviewed by a CSA  member for Blackbox Radio, an indymedia station based in Ann Arbor.  Stay posted for the program...

Needle Lane Farm

Needle Lane Farm, in Tipton, MI, was about twenty miles due south on dirt roads - a slow but beautiful journey.  Michelle’s bike wasn’t shifting smoothly, making climbs on gravel a challenge, but we made it in fine form.

Needle Lane is managed by Beverly Ruesink on the farm where she grew up. Once a family dairy,  Beverly and her dad still manage a replacement dairy heifer operation, but in the past three years, Beverly has turned her attention to growing a organic vegetable and cut flower farm - and grow she has!  This is Needle Lane’s second year in CSA, and they’re keeping plenty busy with about 60 members, 2 farmers’ markets, accounts at People’s Food Co-op in Ann Arbor, and a one-day-a-week on-farm market.  Beverly is an ambitious, positive dreamer and her growing and marketing systems are coming together nicely.  In the past year, she’s put up a hoophouse, a new greenhouse for plant starts, and is working on a walk-in cooler in her basement.  Needle Lane has two share sizes - a single and a family size - and also has two season lengths - full season share and a summer share.  Beverly is also offering a cut flower share.

The week we were there, Needle Lane’s family sized share contained:

Saturday night, Bev hosted a pot-luck get-together, and we got to meet some of her friends and CSA members and eat some delectable pizzas.

Al’s Organic Vegetables

The ride from Tipton to Coldwater was certainly our longest to date, and probably one of the longest of the tour - about 57 miles.  We had a bit of a headwind, but made a day of it, riding through some beautiful storms (with only a bit of rain) and picturesque Amish country.  I wouldn’t recommend the pizza in Reading, MI, but it certainly filled the late afternoon calorie hole. Al Weilnau of Al’s Organic Vegetables is a 60-year old Libertarian with a passion for delicious vegetables.  He grew up on a farm in Ohio, and made the conversion to organic methods through years of gardening.

About 10 years ago, he left his job as a USDA meat inspector and moved to Michigan to farm.  In 2002, his daughter, Kate, joined him and together they grow for two farmers’ markets: Royal Oak and Ft. Wayne, Indiana.  Their CSA structure is unique, a model they borrowed from the farmers’ market in Goshen, Indiana.  Customers pay up front for either 10 or 20 “trips” to the market.  For each trip, the member can choose to fill a peck basket with whatever is available on the table.  One customer often fills his basket with only arugula.  Kate and Al appreciate offering their members a choice, and the up-front payment helps them with seed buying. 
   
During the week of June 24, Al’s share members could choose from:

We joined Kate for the trip to the Ft. Wayne, IN farmers’ market, a small market of all organic and naturally raised products located at Salomon Farm Park.  This detour from our Michigan tour introduced us to two Indiana CSAs: Country Garden & Farm Market (Dan & Wendy Flotow) and J. L Hawkins Family Farm.  In addition to their Community supported agriculture, the Hawkins’ farm also works in partnership with a non-profit called HOPE-CSA, which stands for “Hands-On Pastoral Education using Clergy Sustaining Agriculture.”

On our 43 mile ride from Coldwater to Climax, we met Dennis from East Leroy, MI, the first rider to join us.  Dennis is a League of Michigan Bicyclists member, and passed us while driving home, then hopped on his bike and rode back to meet us.  Thanks for the company, Dennis! This Saturday we visited the Kalamazoo Farmers’ Market, where we met a few of the farmers we’ll be visiting in coming weeks and enjoyed local strawberries, blueberries, and mulberries.  That was both of our first time to the K-zoo market, and we recommend it!

Avalon Farms Premium Homegrown is our next stop, and is only a few miles down the road from our current location at Jenni and Trent’s house..

In peas and strawberries,
Marty & Michelle

Greetings from Chelsea, MI.  We’re seven days into the trip, with two farms down, and about 32 to go!  After a late but wonderful sendoff from Ann Arbor on Monday morning, we spent three days at Garden Works farm, and four at the Community Farm of Ann Arbor.  The weather has been GREAT with the exception of the one day we biked from Garden Works to the Community Farm.

We rode through a light drizzle that turned into a downpour, for about 20 minutes.  Luckily we came across the town of Dexter, where we stopped for warm, sweet things to eat and drink, and dried off a little.  We considered switching gears to a “tour de bakeries” of Michigan in the coldest, wettest moments.

The CFAA is a member-run CSA farm, where each share has a voice in each consensus-based decision.  We were fortunate to be there for their monthly membership meeting, where about 20 people came together to talk about farm activities, farm budget, festivals, selling more shares, etc.  It was heartening to hear members and farmers and apprentices talk about the importance of the farm and the food in their lives and families.  We got to help weed, harvest, wash produce, set up for CSA pick-up, plant tomatoes and scallions, clean stalls (they have two cows and two goats, as well as chickens), sift compost, learn about biodynamics, sing songs, and we even had an impromptu potluck with apprentices and farmers on our last night (yummy mojitos!).

Thanks to everyone who has helped us along the way thus far, and special thanks to Dustin for following us in the car between Garden Works and Community Farm, getting professional video footage of us cycling (and carrying our sleeping bags during the rain).  We are looking forward to meeting, helping out, and getting to know the rest of the farms and farmers on our route; we’re off to a super start.  Future postings may be shorter; I don’t think we’ll be on the computer so much (hooray!), but feel free to drop us an email or call, especially if you want to meet up and/or cycle with us at any time!

Next stop: Tantre Farm

Con mucho amor, Michelle y Marty

Well, we didn't quite make our intended departure yesterday. Technical difficulties with our bikes and a whole lot of loose ends to tie up postponed our departure from Ann Arbor. But we plan to ride to GardenWorks bright and early tomorrow morning, in time for a sunny day in the field.

We had an amazing spread of good food and great company at our send-off potluck celebration Friday night. There is a magic that happens when a community of people who care deeply about food throw down and cook for their friends! Thanks all, your love is deeply fealt, and returned. Special thanks to Art and Marlene for the surprise visit.

And a HUGE thank you to all of the friends who have generously contributed their time, talents, and toys to make our journey happen! We couldn't have done it without you

The Revolution starts now. Today we helped erect a new greenhouse at Tappan Middle School in Ann Arbor. Tappan is the home of the Agrarian Adventure and the Tappan Food and Garden Club, aimed at getting kids in the garden and transforming the way they think about food. After only a few short years, they have a flourishing garden that is well integrated into the schools' curriculum. And now they have a 30'x50' Ledgewood hoophouse, which they will use unheated for season extension and growing hardy greens through the winter.

Waves of kids came out to help put up the greenhouse frame, making short work of a significant task. Many of these kids will eat fresh veggies IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MICHIGAN WINTER from the greenhouse they helped to build. That alone quickly brings a new perspective to the motto on the Food and Garden Club's t-shirts: "Where does your food come from?" It was a blast helping out with the kids, and watching our friends find the "teachable moments".

It appears that the official Launch Date for our tour will be Saturday, June 3rd.  We will be leaving from Ann Arbor, likely visiting the Ann Arbor Farmer’s Market (with loaded bikes and video crew in tow) and then heading out of town to Garden Works. 

There will also be a “sending off” potluck/party Friday, June 2nd in Ann Arbor.  If you’re interested in helping celebrate the beginning of our journey, drop us a line for details. 

Currently, we’re busy getting things in place for the tour – calling farms, tuning up our bikes, gathering equipment.  How we’re going to fit camping gear, video gear, biking gear, and farming gear on our bikes remains to be seen, but it will happen. 

Here’s a quick wish list of equipment in case someone stumbles upon this and would like to offer up something: