2004 Magicland News Update Archive
Return to
Home Page
12/9/04 Emptied the rain guage! It had 1-2/3 inches
of water in it. Some was melted snow and some rain. We
believe this is the total raingfall so far in December. Basically
all
the snow is gone, no ice on lake. It was partly cloudy today with
temperature in the mid 40s.
12/7/04 We were closed all day yesterday because of the snow--we
don't like it slippery down at the stand! We plan on opening
today despite the rain--the snow seems to be gone and it looks very
mild for the rest of the week. Apparently, bitter cold will make
its way into Newaygo County sometime next week. According to Joe
Bastardi we may have as cold and bitter a winter yet as in 1963--I was
in Chicago so I don't know how it was here in Newaygo County.
There it was bitterly cold (below zero, at times, even at noon!), but
little snow. By the way, the warm water in James Bay has
disappeared and all in all Hudson and James Bay are pretty close to
normal, temperature wise. However, there seems to be a slight
drift toward above normal.
We still have a fair supply of apples and even some squash.
Turnip greens are gone thanks to the deer! We plan on finally
closing on Saturday or possibly Monday. I hope to update
"Magicland News" at times during the winter. I hope to be more
frequent with my updates when spring planting time starts.
"Magicland News" is helpful for my record keeping! While sales really
have dropped after Thanksgiving (perhaps not as much as other years we
were open this late), it is interesting to note that despite rain and
cold we have had sales every day we were open! While a few days
the sales could only pay for the kid's milk money (about a gallon and a
half a day), most days the sales were much better than that.
While we are always appreciative of those who patronize
Magicland, a sawbuck at Magicland seems to look a lot better in
December than it does in August! By the way, for those who
think we sit and watch the Food and Weather Channels all winter, we are
all extremely busy. For instance, moi (that means me, in French),
continue to work as Workshop Editor for both Boys' Quest and Fun For
Kidz magazines. I also am finishing my book (it is being edited)
Amazing Stuff You Can Make which is to be published by Sterling in the
Spring of 2006 and I am starting two books one on Electricity (no title
yet) and another tentatively titled "Amazing and Fun Plants, Trees and
Shrubs You Can Grow." We also cut our own firewood and we will be
shortly pruning the orchard. This is in addition to teaching the
six kids math and science in the afternoon. (Annemarie handles
the other subjects.)
11/11/04 A quick little note about the upcoming weather
prognosis. I just skimmed over Joe Bastardi's column (I actually
pay money to get the pro version of Accuweather) and he made an
interesting note about next week's weather " a blow torch is
coming to the northern plains next week". He also implies we
(here in Michigan) will be between a blow torch and a freezer! He
thinks there may be Siberian air filter down into the northeast.
One other note. My theory about the upper air ridge and the
warmth of James Bay may be right. The GFS (that the Global
Forecast System) is placing the center of the ridge over James
Bay! It will be interesting to go back and read this stuff next
week to see how much is reality! In the meantime, we are cutting
wood and finishing digging taters'!
11/10/04 Annemarie read over my 11/08 update and very kindly informed
me that there is a slight error. It wasn't $48 a pound but $48 a
half-bushel/ OOps! By the way, I found out why the upper
midwest, including Michigan, is expected to be much above normal the
next two weeks! It has to do with a large upper air high pressure
ridge forming over central Canada. Unlike Canadian surface highs,
which are associated with cold weather in the winter, upper air highs
are associated with warm weather. Since air descends, it warms as
it is pressed together. This is the same principle why a diesel
engine works without a spark plug. Why is this taking
place? Well, I noticed the water temperature of James Bay is
almost balmy--about 10 degrees F above normal! I have a
feeling things won't change much until James Bay's water temperature
gets closer to normal...we'll see. We are busy cutting
firewood so even if the next few weeks are above normal still means its
going to be relatively cold--at least cold enough where a nice fire in
the wood stoves will feel real nice.
11/8/04 Turnips are really in now. They are really nice and sweet
and don't have significant insect damage. We also have turnip
greens. We are finishing picking some apples--mostly Fuji.
We still have an abundance of Jonathans and Mutsu and a good supply of
Northern Spy and Granny Smith. Plus there are small to moderate
supplies of a whole bunch of other varieties like Idared, Golden
Delicious, Splendor, Golden Russet, Fuji, Jonagold and many
more....Believe it or not, we picked decent looking tomatoes on
November 2! We also picked nice Jalapeno peppers on November
6! How is this possible when I mentioned we had a killing frost
at the farm on October 6? Well we did water some peppers that
frosty night so they were relatively undamaged. While we didn't
protect the tomatoes, some tomatoes protected themselves with their
heavy foliage--we found the good ones way near the ground.
Because of the consistently cool temperatures, however, we now are
officially done selling tomatoes for the year. It is interesting
to note about the tomato and pepper shortage and the resulting
high prices that are being asked for the tiny supply of tomatoes.
For instance, tomatoes are typically running around $3 a pound in the
stores and peppers nearly a dollar each for large ones. We saw in
the GR press about a story from Under The Pines fruit stand north
of GR. As of last week, they still had some locally grown
tomatoes. They kept their price at $1 a pound (we kept our price,
even during the shortage, at 96 cents a pound--we sold tomatoes as late
as November 6.) They recently sold a half bushel of tomatoes to a
restaurant for $25. The restaurant was happy since they were
paying $48 a pound from their normal supplier. Also they mentioned that
14 peppers were sold for over $19! I hope those few
customers who complained about our $6 a half bushel for beautiful
tomatoes read about this!! I expect everybody and their
personal robot will be planting tomatoes next spring and tomato prices
will be lower than this year--but not everything goes as expected, does
it?
Last year we planted about two acres of winter rye for a winter cover
crop. This year we planted about 10 acres. It seems to be
growing nicely.
By the way, I had a huge Michigan Riviera pear yesterday and it was
unbelievably delicious! Sorry to say they are now sold out.
It seems to me the optimum time to pick them this year was somewhere
around October 10. This should be about the time for an average
year. However, one must watch out for predicted high
winds as well as hard freezes.
They should be ripened in a warm area for around 2 weeks and
when ripe either eat or put in refrigerator. However, unlike our
Starkrimson, the time to eat isn't critical and they will stay eating
ripe (but not overripe) for several days, perhaps even a week.
I looked on NOAA's 6-10 and 10-14 day forecast and it forecasted an
unusual warm spell for the Dakota's and Minnesota. It also
forecasted relatively warm weather for Michigan but the map didn't
indicate as spectacular warmth for our beloved state as it did for
Minnesota!.
10/23/04PM Well, it rained from 8AM to around 3:30PM and at
times it really poured! We received over an inch and a half of
clear liquid Gold. However, timing is everything and, like many
of you, I wished it rained on a different day and different time.
Despite the rain, our total sales equaled last year!
Amazing! I want to thank all of you die hard customers for
coming down to waterlogged Magicland! I'm glad no one drowned in
the lake that temporarily formed not far from the stand! Thanks
again! (At least it was warm!) Hopefully, the next time you
come you don't wish you brought along a small portable boat!!
Well, as of 6PM the lake is gone and only puddles remain.
By the way our September 1 planted turnips are growing well and some
are 3 inches in diameter! We primarily use them in soups and the
delicious Chicken/Turkey Curry and Rice. Of course, we also have
some doubly huge volunteer turnips for those who want to make turnip
soup. Just let us know if you want to try them...
10/23/04AM As of last night we still had a good supply
of pumpkins.
10/22/04 We have been picking Russet apples for over a
week. However, we are just starting to pick the Roxbury
Russet. The apple we picked a week ago is the "Golden
Russet." The Golden Russet is very sweet, has a yellowish flesh
and only has a very small hint of tartness. If kept moist, it
will keep all winter. We have buried them and dug them up in May
and they were delicious! If you keep them in regular cold storage
they will shrivel unless you keep them in plastic. Roxbury Russet
is quite a bit different in taste. It isn't sweet to the taste
although you know it does have sugar in it. It is definitely more
tart. It stores similarly to most other winter apples. The
other russet we have now is Ashmead's Kernel. This apple is very
highly flavored and consistently ranks near the top (if not at the top)
in many blind-folded taste tests. We have even more russets, but
they are done for the season so they are just a footnote here--"see 'em
next year. Our Fall Russet is interesting because it has a pear
like flavor and is said to be the best apple for drying. It is
ready in mid-September. St. Edmund's Pippin is somewhat similar
but is ready earlier. Our Michigan Riviera pears are ripening now
and we
are enjoying delicious eating. Perhaps you want to check out more
details, including photos, on the famous Royal Riviera pear from Harry
and David's website at:
www.harryanddavid.com Keep in mind the only differences
between our Michigan Riviera pear and Harry and David's Royal Riviera
pear is the name and the state they were grown in.
click here to go to Harry and
David's website
10/19/04 We started picking Mutsu today. Late last
week we started picking Splendor. Annemarie's favorite apple has
always been Jonagold. However, after tasting one of the Splendors
we picked, it seems to be a tossup between Splendor and Jonagold with
Splendor apparently getting the nod. Also, I tasted one of the
papaws. It was delicious! While this one didn't have a
hint of pineapple, it tasted a bit like the most lusciously sweet
banana one could imagine! Too bad they aren't bigger!
Royal Riviera update--we started eating them on Saturday. They
are really tasty. They remind one of the best of the
Starkrimsons, however they aren't as prone to internal breakdown.
(Actually we haven't come across one yet with that problem that
frequenly hits the Starkrimson.) Most of the pears at the stand
aren't quite eating ripe. However just a day or two in a warm
place and they will be. They aren't at all as tricky to get them
just right as the Starkrimson.
10/12/04 We are now picking Jonathan, Red Delicious, Hawaii,
Empire(almost done), Jonagold, Northern Spy, Senator, Jonalicious,
Jonadel, Stark Jumbo, RedGold, Surprise, Gala (almost done).
Tomorrow, we plan on starting to pick Mutsu, Golden Delicious and
Splendor. We also plan on planting our rye and wheat for winter
cover. By the way, our turnips are about ready to pick and we
will shortly have turnip greens ready. We also must check our
parsnips. Our good carrot crops was completely eaten by deer.
10/09/04 Pawpaws are ready! Pawpaws are also known as
"Michigan Bananas." The Pawpaw is the only member of the
custard-apple family of trees that is native to Michigan. We have
a small supply of this unusual fruit for sale. The trees
themselves can be seen through the stand's window! Pawpaws are
easy to grow from the fruit's large seeds. Directions will be
given but all you really need to do is put the seeds in the ground
where you want them to grow--the
only trick is you should plant them this fall before the ground freezes.
How about apples? Well we are really into Jonathans now
and getting starting to get really into Red Delicious. (we
started picking them a few days ago.) We are just barely starting
to pick Jonagold and Russet. As stated, we started picking Spies
on the seventh. It might have been a tad early but as of today,
we are finding many more ripe. A few days ago we also started
picking our lone Tolman Sweet tree. How about Yellow
Delicious? Well, we seem to have a good crop of nice
apples. However, as of today, there are just a few that look
ripe.
Weather News: Yesterday (10/8) was warm but rainy. Nearly
an inch and a half of rain fell. It was much needed rain even
though we got soaken wet--we went out during a short break in the rain
and when it started sprinkling thought it was going to stop--it didn't
and got heavier so we got really, really soaked! The real nice
thing about getting soaked is changing into dry clothes--ah, that feels
so good....
10/6/04 Well we finally decided to pick our Royal Riviera
pears. They are really huige! We got nearly a bushel and a
half off them. We hope it isn't too early--it will be a couple of
weeks before we know for sure. We picked them now since in the
past many fell before we got too them and some were already starting to
fall. We have them under lock and key now. Last year, when
we started selling them, someone went into our storage area and found
the rest of the big ones and took them all! When somebody does
that you know they must be good!! All we can do is pray for people like
that...
10/05/04 It froze last night!! All warm season
crops
like tomatoes and beans, that weren't protected, are done for the
season. We had sprinklers on some peppers and they came
through. Also, stuff that was covered were undamaged. From
the looks of things it got down to between 29 and 31 F. The
minimum temperature at Fremont Middle School was 26F. There was
no killing frost yet within 200 foot of the larger inland lakes.
Notice, on September 20, I forecasted a killing frost on October
2. Pretty darn close...huh!
10/4/04 Well, there has been two frosts at Magicland--nothing
near the inland lakes. The first was on the morning of October 1
and the second on the morning of October 3. Almost everything
escaped the October 1 frost since it was so light. We are unsure
of the October 3rd one since it was Sunday and we didn't tramp
through the farm--we rested. There is a forecast for a general
freeze across Michigan tonight. This should finish all the frost
sensitive crops. However, as of today,we are no longer picking
beans and corn for sale in 2004. We may pick some more
tomatoes and peppers today...we are unsure. About a third of an
inch of rain fell the morning of October 1. We took that to
advantage and planted some Walla Walla Sweet onions. Most
years they are said to overwinter well. They should be ready next
August. This brings up something I haven't mentioned yet on the
website. We are experimenting in growing sweet onions. This
year we believe the experiment is a success. Our only real
problem seems to be weed control starting in late July. We get so
wrapped up in picking stuff in July, August and September that we never
seem to have enough time for late weeds. Once this problem is
solved I think we can profitably grow large sweet onions. By the
way, I really love the onions I grow. Most are of the Yellow
Sweet Spanish strain and they are exceptionally yummy--possibly because
they are so doggone fresh!
This week is primarily an apple and pumpkin pickin' week. We hope
to start picking our famous Spies at the end of the week...and a lot of
other varieties as well.
9/28/04 We received about a tenth inch of rain--which is a whole
bunch for this super-dry September. It will end up about the 3rd
driest September ever--I do remember a September several years back
where it didn't rain a drop and then there was '86 when it wouldn't
stop raining! There is a chance of frost tonight. There was
frost in the Dakotas and northern Minnesota last night.
Personally, I don't think it will be a general killing frost but I do
worry about my sweet corn-- this last planting is in a very frost
susceptible spot. We are picking this corn but it isn't all
ripe. A killing frost will kill the leaves and keep the corn from
ripening--we'll see...
We are really into apple picking now. We are picking Spartans,
Macs, Stark Jumbo, Gala and just starting to pick Jonathans and
Empires. We are about finished with our three bearing Honeycrisp trees
(we have about 15 nonbearing ones). We started spot picking
Honeycrisp 10 days ago. It won't be long before we
will have at least some of all the fall/winter varieties we pick
available at the stand except for Fuji and Granny Smith. These
varieties are picked around Halloween.
9/20/04 As indicated on our home page, I am forecasting a
frost at Magicland the morning of October 2. This is just a day
later than normal. How do I know? I don't! It's
just that I arrived at this date from sources such as NOAA's 10 to 14
day outlook, Accuweather's 14 day outlook and newly famous Accuweather
meteorologist Joe Bastardi. Of course, a bit of climatology also
comes into play. Weather and I are one. My mother said when
I was 10 she could never keep a thermometer in the house because
I always grabbed it! Weather is vital to farmin'. I was
asked why I became a dirt farmer (among other stuff) and other than
loving sweet corn and peaches it had to do with my interest in
weather.
Reading the latest Fruit Grower News I found out something
interesting. Processors pay a top premium for Jonathan apples--1
dollar a cwt more than even Spies! I knew Jonathan had become the
new "hot" apple among processors but I didn't know they put they
recently put their wallet where their mouth was! Happily we have
a great Jonathan crop AND a fantastic Northern Spy crop. There
will be plenty of both. By the way, my Mom loved Jonathans and
that's why I planted so many! There is no doubt a Jonathan has
more true apple flavor than any variety I know. Perhaps that's
why the processors are willing to pay so much for them--they can use
less! By the way, I plan on starting to pick Jonathans
during the last week in September and pick N. Spy the first week in
October. However, we will be picking both all through
October. I will shortly write a whole bunch about the Northern
Spy. For now just know they make a great pie AND are great
eating. They also are loaded with Vitamin C--more than any other
Common apple. Of course, the Calville has even more!
9/17/04 First I must apologize for all those who have been
disappointed I haven't posted lately. There are a lot of reasons
and one is a bit technical. Well, I'm happy people are interested
in reading some of my stuff. We are continuing to pick nice
tomatoes and are into the third from last sweet corn. The
Magic-Bi color corn is really delicious as usual but its ears are
smaller than they were in August--dry weather and lack of 15 hours of
sun probably has something to do with it. As I predicted, corn
earworm can be found at some tips. They seldom damage the corn
enough to make it unusable. We are into our second from last
beans--they are beautiful! This planting was planted after we
plowed down our peas of spring. We have one more planting of
beans to come--beans to frost this year!
We have had the nicest Bartlett pear crop ever! We are now
picking Gala. Good crop of nice size apples. One of the
problem growers have with Galas is their usually small size. We
are pleased with their size this year. (By the way, we often call
Gala "Honeyrocks" because of their sweetness and hardness when first
picked.) Our pumpkin crop now looks good--my boy Matt rated it at
"poor" just three weeks ago. We are also picking Macs.
Snows are just a few days away. By the way, we are continuing to
be quite
busy at the stand and stuff is moving quite fast. Thank you!
9/7/04 with 9/8 update-- First, look back at my 8/20 post! My
mid-range forecast
was sure right when it mentioned it would be warmer than normal for
some time! In fact, the temperatures this Labor Day weekend were
several degrees warmer than the average 4th of July holidays!
Normally, the maximum temperature is around 75 the first week in
September. Well, the warm temperatures sure brought the people
out this weekend--and 99+% of the people were really nice! It
really is surprising how just a few uncaring people can ruin a day for
ya! Happily, no one ruined our Labor Day weekend!
Our last planting of sweet corn (Magicland Bi-Color) is just starting
to shoot tassels. This means in 3-4 weeks it should be ready
unless colder than normal weather returns in the meantime.
However, we still have 6 plantings to pick before this last one is
ready! Our tomatoes are ripening like crazy and we are picking
them as fast as we can. I am unsure of how the slightly cooler
weather will affect them but from past experience normal, sunny weather
this time of year is favorable for them!
We are really into winter squash and apples too! Our Mac crop
is quite disappointing since their size is small to medium and over 80%
of them have at least some slight scab. (Slight to moderate scab
only affects the apples
appearance--it is only skin deep. There are two main reasons for
this scab--Macs are naturally very susceptible to it AND we had many
rainy days in May and early June just when the apples are most
susceptible. Most of the other varieties of apples are
relatively free of it. However, our pie luscious Calville's have
it also! Happily, our beautiful crop of Northern Spy, another
great pie apple that is loaded with Vitamin C, are
relatively free of it this year!) Why the Macs are small, alludes
me. Many of our other apples are larger than other years.
The exception to this general rule are not only the Macs but the Red
Delicious as well. Goodness, there was surely enough rain this
spring!
9/1/04--We started picking acorn squash on Monday (8/30)--they are
selling fast! It looks like a good (not great, though)
crop. However, they are definitely larger than last year.
At present, we are undecided of whether to pick other types of squash
just yet--most likely we will spot pick them in a few days. I
disced down the second planting of beans, last evening, to
prepare the ground for turnips. If we have the energy we will
plant the turnips today, sometime. We are devoting our time and
energy to make a big sales day on the Labor Day weekend. We will
have lots of tiny pumpkins and sugar pumpkins and a few big ones
out for the Labor Day holiday--this lets people know we will have
pumpkins. By the way, it sure looks like a lot better crop of
pumpkins than last year! It looks like the primary sweet corn we will
have this weekend is the delicious Silver King, which is a white
corn. We also should have some Secret Bi-Color, Silver Queen,
Bi-color Silver Queen and perhaps, just perhaps Kandy Korn
(yellow)--although I looked yesterday and it obviously wasn't ready
yet. (It seems I have been looking at its red tassels for a
month! Which means it should be ready...but, who knows!)
We received over 2 inches of rain in three days (8/26, 8/27 and
8/28). This assures us of a decent September crop of sweet
corn. There is a good chance we will have corn until frost,
unless frost stays away until the end of October--which has happened in
the past (very, very rarely, though) This year we invested in a
corn ear worm trap--it uses pheromes (sex attractants).
Apparently our corn ear worms are really sexy since we trapped a lot of
them! They are coming--and these moth's offspring should appear
in the corn in about a week! I just had to bring you bad news
didn't I...There are a lot of nice green tomatoes there but we seem to
be only getting six to eight buckets of ripe ones per day....I think
(the eternal optimist) we will go out there soon and get over 20
buckets!!!!
8/20/04 --First I must mention Magicland has been extremely busy with
many, many wonderful customers (as well as a few not-so- wonderful
ones). Second, the cool weather for the last two weeks has really
slowed crop development. I remember tomatoes were really ripening in
early August but then the chill came and they actually stopped ripening
for nearly a week! The same was true with the corn. Well,
it looks like warm weather will return and last for some time--perhaps
through September! What we need is rain now. The sooner the
better! Looks like a great squash crop and we will start picking
some acorn (table queen) squash next week.
8/8/04PM Well, we tasted Tendersweet 277A! It is
really good corn! I personally think our Magic Bi-color tastes
better, but perhaps isn't as sweet. By the way, the sweetest corn
we've tasted is Secret Bi-Color, which should start to ripen around
8/16.
8/8/04AM--We are continuing to pick those deliciously juicy yellow
plums. They are a huge hit not only with our valued customers but
our picking crew (sons and daughters). While I planted them about
20 years ago, I am unsure of their actual name. However, they are
either the Shiro or Early Golden Variety. We also are now picking
Melba apples. The Melba apple was Dr. Tukey's altime favorite
apple variety. Dr. Tukey wrote the bible on the Dwarfed Fruit
Tree.
We apparently goofed a bit. Our Tendersweet 277A bi-color sweet
corn variety was ready to be picked on Saturday August 7 and we didn't
know it. Less than 2 weeks ago it was just starting to
tassel. Normally, it takes nearly 20 days from tasseling to
picking. However, Tendersweet is a type of Supersweet and
Supersweets fill their kernels really quickly! Taste tests have
indicated this variety is a favorite. We will try it today and
report back here before sack time.
By the way another real winner at the taste tests was Secret
White.
Our Secret White should also be ready this week and we will let you
know
how it tastes.
8/5/04 --Tomorrow we plan on picking the deliciously sweet Magic
Bi-Color corn. This corn is not only exceptionally sweet and
tender but has a truly luscious flavor. We are asking $3.00 a
dozen for this corn. We also will pick Kandy King which is an
exceptionally sweeet yellow sweet corn. It has smaller ears than
Magic and it doesn't quite have the flavor.
7/22/04PM -- Well, we picked 5 bushels of young tender corn-- all was
gone by noon. It was real hard to find ripe enough
corn. Raccoon and corn borer damage was below normal. (Some
years the combined damage can approach 90% for the first few days--then
it normally rapidly declines.) We hope to pick 10 bushels
tomorrow and 20+ bushels on Saturday. We are picking three
varieties now: Fleet, Spring and Bon Appetit. Bon Appetit is the
best one with nice sized ears and a deliciously sweet and tender
flavor. Next week we will differentiate the three (and get a
higher price for the Bon Appetit.) For this week, however, we
throw all in the same bin and only charge $2.50 a dozen!.
7/22/04AM: Well, obviously I was off a few days when I said we
will pick corn on the 17th. We looked real good on the 19th and
decided today will be the day! Its 7AM right now and we
will be picking corn this morning. I hope to update this report
this evening to let ya know how we did! By the way we are picking
beans from our second patch already and we are picking Quinte apples,
cucumbers, zucchini, potatoes, sunflowers, kohlrabi, and some other
stuff!
Headline News as of July 4:
Yes, our early and mid sweet corn is over knee high! In fact, it
averages around waist high. Our earliest corn is starting to
tassel. Of course, some of our late corn has just been planted
and we plan on planting our latest corn this week! We have
finished picking the Snow Peas and are nearly finished with regular
peas. We will be picking green beans this week and digging our
sand-grown Red Norland potatoes.
7/4/2004 --Believe it or not it rained last night and this
morning! We received about 3/4 an inch! While the crops
haven't really suffered from the dry spell, they would have been under
stress this week without rain! We don't have to water, we don't
have to water! Hallelujah!
Right now we expect to start selling corn on July 17.
Although I hope to start on July 16! This year we will start
right off with great tasting corn and we should have nice sized ears
due to our variety selection. By July 19 or 20 we will have our
Bon Appetit sweet corn. Remember the name means "good appetite"
in French. This implies the ears are "big." This yellow and
white corn has the biggest ears I have seen in an early
corn! It is delicious too-much tastier than other early corn
varieties.
This year we have kohlrabi! We will start harvesting it this
week. By the weekend we should have green beans, red potatoes,
kohlrabi and zucchini for sale!
6/22/04 -- Our snow pea crop is nearing its peak. It will be
through in about a week. We are selling snow peas in pound bags (
$1 each) and 1/2 bushels ($7). Today we started picking our
regular peas. They will peak in about a week. The price of
the regular peas are one dollar a pound bag and $5.00 a 1/2 bushel. If
you want a half bushel (or more of peas) be sure to email us at
[email protected] to place an order. Alternatively, you can call
us at 231-652-2368. At this point, we plan on starting to dig our
delicious sand-grown red Norland potatoes on July 1. Our
first corn is starting to show tassels. If the next 3 weeks are
slightly above normal the corn should start on July 10, if it is
slightly below normal the corn should start around July 15. This
is roughly average and is about 2 weeks earlier than last year!
6/17/04 -- We have a fantastic!!! pea crop! Our snow peas
are fabulous in both quantity and quality. We are freezing some
for ourselves. We wash, take the ends off and then blanch them in
boiling water for 2 minutes (counted from the time the water starts to
boil again) and then place them in freezer bags. Its real easy to
do! Our regular shell peas should be ready shortly. They
are the new Eclipse variety which is the best tasting pea there is!!
Our strawberries are nearly gone. We had good demand, but a
poor crop. Frost, animals (including birds) and perhaps too rich
a ground (the plants were lush but few berries). Our sand grown
red potatoes look awesome!! It won't be long before we start
digging them for sale!! Most everything seems to be doing
well and the season looks a lot earlier than last year and perhaps a
bit earlier than average. The weather continues to be warmer than
the forecasts indicate. For instance, yesterday was hot and humid
(88 degrees and real humid) while we expected temperatures in the
70's. The NWS (National Weather Service) forecasts temperatures
only in the low 70s for the next few days--we will see!!
6/12/04 -- Well, we would have started selling
strawberries
on June 10 except for you-know-what (more rain). We picked enough
strawberries on the 8th for strawberry shortcake for the 8 people in
our
family. We started picking for sale on the 11th. The snow
peas
have rapidly ripened so we were surprised there were quite a few of
them
out there on the 11th--actually enough to sell! We will be
picking
them (snow peas) and strawberries today (June 12). The
regular
peas should be ready in about a week. Snow peas are picked quite
young so you eat the whole thing. They are great stir fried,
boiled
or steamed. They can be eaten fresh, although most people like to
cook them slightly.
Our final rain total for May was 13.5 inches. June is
also
starting wet with over 2 inches already falling. Obviously the
rain
has contributed to perhaps the best pea crop we ever had! The
potatoes
are also relishing the rain. We will likely start selling those
delicious
sand grown, hand-dug potatoes, along with some of our famous tender
green
beans around the fourth of July.
5/28/04 -- Believe it or not we got more rain! Most fell on
the
22nd and 23rd. We estimate our total for May is between 10 and 11
inches. This has delayed our planting but we have been planting
quite
voraciously the last two days. With nearly all our pumpkins in
and
about half the winter squash. We hope to get the rest of the
squash
in today and seed our melons tomorrow. We completed the second
planting
of beans--green, yellow and purple. Tomatoes are nearing the half
way point in being set out. The good news is that we have a good
apricot crop. Since they bloom so early this is a bit
unusual.
By the way our apricot trees are 33 years old this year and they are
HUGE!
Our potatoes also look fantastic--they were planted in sandy soil!
CROP ALERT!!! It looks like we will
start
picking strawberries for sale around June 10. Some peas may be
ready
shortly after that!
5/16/04 ---- Well, we didn't get drowned out! However, Newaygo
County experienced their worst flooding since the 1986 deluge which
washed
out the White Cloud dam. The farm experienced moderate erosion
with
some of the beans were washed out (they were on a hill). The rain
made a few gullies that had to repaired and it did wash out all the
road
around our 2 foot tube that lets the water through from our
intermittent
creek. How much fell? Well we figure a total of 6 inches
fell
on the 8th and 9th of May. The good news is that the corn planted
on May 5 or earlier is mostly up. Some is several inches
tall!
Our apples reached peak bloom around the 12th of May. Also the
strawberries
are reaching peak bloom and there are some small green strawberries on
them. Our peas are fantastic! They are approaching a foot
tall!
It seems like all the potatoes are up--but the dastardly Colorado
Potato
Beetle is also starting to roam about! Of course all the rain
raises
fears of scab--but we'll see! By the way, the bluegill fishing by
shore is great and we already have several meals on those delicious
fish
in the freezer! The bluegills are real nice sized too!
5/6/2004 -- This year we planted peas. We planted both the
snow
pea, which when picked very young are eaten whole. This is a very
high quality, gourmet type pea. Ideal for stir frying and
freezing.
We also planted a new type of the standard shell type. The name
of
this variety is a secret. Suffice it to say that taste tests have
consistently rated this the best tasting standard pea. This
"secret"
pea must be shelled before eaten. Since we have so many hungry
mouths
to feed, we usually cook them whole and then let the "hungry eaters"
shell
them on their plate. The peas look good and we should have a nice
crop of them starting in mid-June.
Our strawberries are just starting to bloom (as of 5/5) and we may
start
picking them as early as June 1. It's hard to tell what sort of
crop
we will have--we can only say it will very likely be larger than last
years.
Our 5/2 frost hurt our sweet cherries (we just have a few large trees)
but looks like it did little significant damage to our apricots, plums,
pears and apples.
We already planted our early corn and are starting to plant our
midseason
and late corn including the favorites (MagicBicolor and Secret
Bi-Color.)
We have planted onions this year as a trial. By the way, we plant
seeds not sets or transplants. They are coming up. Also
coming
up are carrots, kohlrabi, potatoes and dill. We expanded our
irrigation
system a bit this year and will be able to irrigate a few more acres
relatively
conveniently. By the way, we raise all our tomato, pepper and
eggplant
transplants ourselves in our small unheated greenhouses. We have
two new varieties of tomatoes--Amelia and BHN444. We chose these
two
varieties because according to taste tests they were rated tops!
We will see...
We plan on opening for the season sometime in early to mid
June.
We hope to have strawberries, peas and kohlrabi for sale in June.
Keep checking our update for the very latest!
Return
to Home Page