Next Season Starts Now 🧄
Magda and I at the Zingerman’s Roadhouse Heirloom Tomato Night!
Hello everyone!
In case anyone missed our little announcement on Instagram we now have a blog on our website. You will be able to find all of our past newsletters posted there with photos and everything. For now, it's going to function as an archive for our newsletters but eventually I’d like to write separate blog posts to go on the website. In the meantime though, you catch up on any newsletters you may have missed.
Magda pulling weeds from a bed in preparation for planting.
In farm news, we have been busy flipping beds and planting more fall crops. We have radishes, turnips and arugula all coming soon. Eggplant are just now starting to produce but they have been very slow this year! Same with peppers. Those who saw us this past weekend at the Ypsi Farmers Market will also know that we don’t have any Cosmic Lettuce mix right now. Only head lettuces for the time being. More salad mix is in the ground but we are running on a bit of delay because of some germination issues we were experiencing over the summer. I have been having a fun time troubleshooting the problem and think I got it (mostly) sorted out. Another thing that I cannot wait to try again next season.
Our first cans of tomatoes for this season.
Tomatoes are still kicking. I suspect the upcoming rains will knock them back significantly. Magda and I have recently had the opportunity to can some of our tomatoes (and tomatoes from other farms) for the first time! This was such a rewarding experience and I cannot wait to enjoy tomatoes we grew and prepared this summer in the middle of winter.
Lovely seed garlic ready to rock and roll.
Speaking of next farm season our garlic has arrived! After much deliberation we purchased our seed garlic from a farm in Canada called August’s Harvest. They follow clean seed practices to reduce pathogens like nematodes that we have had issues with in the past on garlic. It was very exciting to come from work and to see the boxes of garlic on the door step. Garlic is an especially fun crop because it sees every season. You plant it in the fall, it grows through the winter and the spring, and then is harvested in the summer. It also feels like an investment in the future. Once garlic is in the ground you’re really locked in for next season.
A bit less farm focused but extremely important nonetheless. Dog Star Farm is now able to accept Senior Project Fresh payments at market! We just completed our training on how to use the system. We are now prepared for any customers that want to use their SPF card. We have had several customers ask us if we accept SPF and we are looking forward to saying “Yes!” from now on.
Doing these types of trainings and other admin tasks are (being completely honest here) not our favorite things to do. But they are important for increasing accessibility to nutritious food.
We now can accept WIC, SPF along with SNAP/EBT (though the market), Double-Up Food Bucks and Prescription for Health. About 20% of our Farmers Market sales during August came from these programs. But even if it was only 5%, or 1%, we would still be excited about them. When we started Dog Star Farm, we wanted to make our produce as accessible as possible (and affordable too). Accepting as many food assistance programs as possible is one way to do this. And we’re not the only ones! Several other farmers at the Ypsi Farmers Market can accept these programs too. The more of us that engage with these programs the more people get fed. That’s a win for everyone.
We will be at Ypsilanti Farmers Market this Saturday (and our produce is available throughout the week at both Argus locations and Agricole Farm Stop along with our Cherry Tomatoes making an guest appearance at Spencer in Ann Arbor). This week we’ll be bringing Tomatoes, Beets, Head Lettuce, Kale, Chard, Napa Cabbage, Summer Squash, Radishes, Flowers and maybe some Green Onions.
Looking forward to seeing you there,
Zach and Magda
I had a beer at the farm the other day. It was quite nice.
