Titus Farms » Farm

Granholm’s Recent Radio Address

Rebecca — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 02:01:49 +0000

Governor Granholm came to the Farmers market hosted on the capital lawn on Thursday. Sometime that day she also had the time to make the following radio address touting the benefits of local food:
Hello, this is Governor Jennifer Granholm.

A healthier lifestyle begins with eating better, and that means including more fruits and vegetables in your diet. If you’re seeking the healthiest and freshest and best-tasting fruits and vegetables, look for ones that are grown right here in Michigan.

Local food is fresher, it tastes better, and it comes from farmland near you. And because many fruits and vegetables can lose up to 50 percent of their nutrients in just five days’ time, buying locally grown food is a healthier choice.

Michigan food producers offer an abundance of high-quality fruits, vegetables, meats and dairy products. Our state is second only to California in agricultural diversity, making Michigan a key component in the nationwide local foods movement.

To help introduce the public to all the different kinds of wonderful food we produce in Michigan, we partner with local groups like Michigan Food and Farming Systems to host farmers markets on the lawn of the State Capitol. These markets showcase the wide variety of healthy and delicious Michigan food products.

The first farmers market will be next Thursday, July 22. The second farmers market will be September 16. And again, both these farmers markets will be held in front of the State Capitol.

If you can’t attend the markets on the Capitol lawn, try visiting one of the 200 community farmers markets across the state. For a list of markets, go to the Michigan Farmers Market Association website at M-I-F-M-A.org.

That website again is M-I-F as in farmers-M-A.org.

When you purchase locally produced food, you’re helping to support Michigan farmers who provide beautiful and productive open spaces and habitat and who contribute to our tax base and employ local workers.

Michigan’s agri-food sector employs one million people. It contributes more than $71 billion annually to the state economy. Every year, Michigan exports more than $2 billion in agricultural commodities to other states, and another billion dollars worth to countries all over the world.

Buying local foods also boosts the Michigan economy. If every Michigan household spent just $10 a week of its current grocery budget on locally grown and produced foods, it would generate almost $2 billion to circulate within our state economy every year.

So the next time you go grocery shopping, look for Michigan-grown blueberries, peaches, corn, tomatoes and other fruits and vegetables. Not only will the food be fresher and healthier and better tasting, you’ll be helping your neighbors and your community and the Michigan economy.

So for a Pure Michigan experience, buy Michigan-grown and produced foods.

Thank you for listening.

URL to article: http://www.thegovmonitor.com/world_news/united_states/governor-granholm-promotes-michigan-agricultural-products-35770.html/print/

We’re Still Alive!

Rebecca — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 17:47:01 +0000

Due to all the extra planting, building and general maintenance we’ve been doing I’ve been unable to respond to emails or post anything. Also, our phone and internet have been on the fritz for about a week. Many apologies to those who have emailed us recently, I will be getting back to everyone as soon as possible.

So what’s all this stuff that’s also been taking me away from the farm? Planting of course! Flowers, tomatoes, potatoes, beans carrots, radishes and many other numerous crops have all been planted recently. We’re still waiting for the rain to subside before we even attempt to plant the eggplant and peppers.We’ve also been weeding up a storm; thanks to our great crew the lettuce and beets are now weed free. But, as always, there are still plenty of weeds to be dealt with.

In addition to the weeding and planting, we’ve also been finishing greenhouses and outbuildings and trying to repair the many things that always seem to break just before we need them. A friend also got our largest tractor stuck in a very wet part of our farm, which then set us back by a few days.

All of this then leads up to an important decision about the CSA. After a lot of consideration we’ve decided to push the CSA back by two weeks. We basically just want to make sure that there is enough of everything to go around for those first few weeks.

The first week of CSA is now the week of June 27 and the last week is the week of October 31. We’re sorry if this causes any inconveniences, just email us if you need to make any arrangements.

CSA Sign-Up is Done

Rebecca — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 00:50:38 +0000

Thanks to all of our CSA supporters this year we have reached our Membership Goal!

We are still accepting a few stragglers for the vegetable shares, but we can NO LONGER ACCEPT chicken or fruit share memberships.

If you’re a current CSA member and would like to enroll in the egg program, there are still spaces available, just contact Rebecca.

MSU Horticulture Club Plant Sale

Rebecca — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 16:29:01 +0000

As an alumni, I feel I have to make a plug for the plant sale.

Saturday until 6pm, Sunday (tomorrow) 10-4pm. At the Plant and Soil Science Building, off from Bogue Street.

Yes, it’s a little early to start investing in plants (just keep them inside for awhile). The real attraction is what the Horticulture Club students work feverishly for weeks on, the design and implementation of an indoor landscape. Basically, every year they pick a theme, and then run with it. Each group of students designs a little piece of the conservatory, and they bring in trees, soil, plants, pavers and make a little indoor garden.

Shares are Still Available

Rebecca — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 00:34:19 +0000

Amy at our CSA distribution in East Lansing in 09

The last day to sign up for the CSA is April 15- but there are still shares available for all share types. Hope to see you in May!

Lansing Home and Garden Show

Rebecca — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 23:40:23 +0000

It’s time for the Lansing Home and Garden Show, at MSU pavilion from Thursday to Sunday! You can find all sorts of ideas and resources related to the home and garden… Everything from energy saving tactics and landscaping designs to how to preserve vegetables and home remodeling tips. I always loved walking through the sample landscapes built by local design companies. Also, Saturday has lots of kid-friendly activities and price breaks.

Here’s the info:
Times
Thursday, 3pm – 9pm
Friday, 12pm – 9pm
Saturday, 10am – 9pm
Sunday, 10am – 5pm

Price

Adults $8
Children (6-14) $4
5 & Under Free
All kids 14 & under get in FREE before noon on Saturday!

Also, go to their website (and click on times Dates, Times and Admission) to get $2 off.

Click here for their website and directions

How to Choose a CSA

Rebecca — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 23:02:08 +0000

All CSAs are not created equal and the more you know the happier you’ll be with your decision.

That’s why when we received the February copy of the LocalHarvest newsletter I was happy to find an article entitled “How to Choose a CSA“. There’s always interesting topics coming from the LocalHarvest idea mill!

So even if you’re just playing around with the idea of joining a CSA, take a look at this article. Ask the questions mentioned and really explore the playing field. Whether or not you choose our CSA, we hope you consider joining with a local farm soon!

Culinary Tragedy

Rebecca — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 12:00:33 +0000

Each year I try to save at least 15 heads of garlic for the winter. I know that will supply us for a reasonable time before the garlic goes bad. For some reason, at the market and at CSA, we didn’t have enough of the aromatic staple to go around. At the farmers market the endless requests for garlic resonated with us, so we decided to plant more last fall.

Planting more, however, means taking the biggest and best garlic and sacrificing it to the cause. Since our need was so great, we also sacrificed some of the smaller bulbs which no one wanted. Those smaller bulbs are usually sequestered for our own use throughout the winter. I didn’t have a good count of how many bulbs I stole away, but I knew the number was far below what I was going to need. I actually ended up with a lot of what Amy and myself have deemed “runions” or “ronions?”. I don’t exactly remember the etymology, but I’m pretty sure it’s because the garlic takes on the look of a very runty onion. They basically don’t form cloves, or when they do the cloves are fused in such a way that the bulb resembles an onion.

Oh Runty Onion Garlic

So this past week I made my last pasta sauce (out of our heirloom tomatoes) loaded with the last of our runion garlic. It was delicious and sad. Now I’m searching for organic garlic- or at least local garlic.

The next month is always a dark time at the farm. We’re not quite ready to plant, we’ve almost run out of vegetables saved from the year and it’s usually cold and drab. Ah well, it makes us appreciate spring and during the height of summer when we look back at how quiet it is around here, we usually wish we could have that quiet again.

Modern Serving Sizes

Rebecca — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 14:54:11 +0000

Beware of serving sizes on your favorite processed foods… Here’s a video from the New York Times.

Serving Size Snafu

New CSA Form

Rebecca — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 01:28:25 +0000

We didn’t like the way the old form was printing- so here’s the new form for the CSA:

CSA_MembershipForm_2010

Please try to fill out the form electronically if possible (although many people have wonderful handwriting, occassionally there are scribbles that cause confusion).
We’ll also have more informatino posted on the “chicken shares” and tree fruit shares in the next 2 weeks. But please let me know if you have suggestions.