Welcome to the fourteenth issue of “Notes from the Farm!"
Bass Root Farm Mission - We aim to nourish our local community by producing nutrient dense food while striving to be good stewards of the land using sustainable and regenerative farming methods. We want our farm to be a site for learning, sharing, and cultivating wellness, an ideal place that provides a rich quality of life for all living things.
Notes from the Farm, Issue 14
March 2023
For each petal on the shamrock, this brings a wish your way:
Good health, good luck, and happiness for today and every day.
Farm Update. We are excited to report that the seeding has officially begun for 2023. It’s tempting to start early, but for the healthiest transplants, we try to time the growth of our seedlings just right. So far, we have started celery, salad mix, spinach, arugula, and turnips.
The recent snowfalls have not kept us indoors. In addition to seeding, we have been working hard to prepare our tunnels and greenhouse for early spring planting. Because we have some time before some of the longer season summer crops go into Tunnel 1, we planted buckwheat as a cover crop. Buckwheat grows quickly, helps to crowd out weeds, provides an excellent source of organic matter for the soil and soil microbes, and helps to access phosphorous in the soil. Buckwheat’s little white flowers are beautiful and will provide a feast for early bees. When we are ready to plant our peppers and eggplant, we will flail mow the buckwheat and plant directly into the natural mulch it creates.
We continue to look for efficiencies to help support our human-scale farming adventure. We will be working with a new trellis system for tomatoes this year, the Qlipr system. It’s a system that uses sturdy metal clips for holding the heavy stems of fully loaded tomato plants.This system allows us to lower and lean the plants, which can reach heights of 10 to 12 feet, and will eliminate the need for a ladder.
We are also figuring out how best to use our new drop seeder, which can seed an entire planting tray in one click.This will be a huge efficiency for us, especially as the season gets rolling and we are trying to harvest, flips beds, and seed. Like any new system, there is a bit of a learning curve, but we are hopeful that our practice now will play off later.
2023 CSA - Spots Still Available
Would you like a weekly share of fresh vegetables? Do you want to purchase more of your food from a local farm? Consider becoming a member of our 2023 CSA! CSAs (or community supported agriculture) help build the local food system, provide stability for small farms, and provide the freshest seasonal produce available.Please read our member agreement to learn all about our CSA. We have four (4) share sizes available and three (3) pick-up locations for your convenience. The agreement and sign-up form are available on our website (click on button below).Please contact us at bassrootfarm@gmail.com with any questions. You can secure your spot with a completed form and deposit.We would love to be your farmers!
Farmers Markets. We look forward to being part of the Holly Farmers Market again this year, Sundays 10 am-2 pm, May through October. This will be our third year in Holly, and it is amazing how much the market has grown. We’ve made some great friends over the seasons and love being able do our local grocery shopping there, regularly buying chicken, pork, honey, jams, maple syrup, coffee, fresh bread, baked goods and more. It is a wonderful place to find locally made gifts as well. Historic Downtown Holly is only 20 minutes from the farm.
We are also happy to announce that we will be participating in the Ortonville Farmers Market on select Saturdays this summer, 9 am-12 noon. Come see us there June 17, July 8, August 12, and September 9.
New Website. Michael has done a fabulous job this past winter coordinating the update of our website. If you are experiencing the winter blahs and dreaming of summer and fresh veggies, check us out at bassrootfarm.com.
What’s in Season?We currently have winter spinach ($5/bag) and farm fresh eggs ($6/dozen). Please send us an email with your order and we will confirm if we have it and when to pick it up. We accept cash and credit card.
Recipe
We’ve been enjoying a lot of spinach these first few months of 2023. This recipe was easy to put together and a crowd-pleaser.
Keep in Touch! Thanks for reading this newsletter. If you would like to keep up with us on a more frequent basis, please follow us on Facebook and Instagram (@bassrootfarm).
