There is a chill in the air. Pumpkins are peering out from under wide heirloom cucurbit leaves and there is a new-found hum of quiet in the fields.
Seeley Farm has stretched plastic over a quick hoop house in the middle of their plot, transitioning from the shade cloth that kept lettuces alive in the summer heat. Change is the season, and along with reds and greens accenting the treeline along Warren Road, so are two farms who will be moving from 4400 Pontiac Trail to soil they are enriching across the road behind Tilian. Mark & Alex of Seeley Farm are covering fields on the acres they leasing with crops that will nourish the soil when tilled under come Spring.
Green Things farmers, Nathan & Jillian Lada are stretching their fingers into the soil of two farms as well, building storage and gaining access to water and electricity at their farm’s new home at the corner of Warren and Nixon Roads, while still growing Fall favorites for CSA members at Tilian. This is the busiest they have ever been as farmers: building their dream farm and maintaining their accounts and relationships established in their first growing season.
Deepening his roots as the call of Winter whistles through the frosty mornings, Bill Bass of Honest Eats Farm is expanding his volunteer base and increasing opportunity for a beautifully successful second season. He is preparing a 30′ x 144′ hoop house, built in the Spring, to fill with winter greens, primarily Spinach, and doling out the last of his hearty 2-handful red-yellow-orange patterned tomatoes.
Tilian’s Residency Farm’s expanse holds the attention of the onlooker as does the natural beauty of our favorite Pickerel Lake or the calm of the Leslie Park woods down the road. Brick-red okra edged with lime and olive, brassica leaves standing tall and reaching out to capture the shortened days’ sun reflect the dedication of the farmers crouching in the rows weeding, and harvesting, who from a distance are like flowers themselves, blessing the future food with tender care and love. The CSA distribution fills the barn on Thursday evenings, and children help their parents by selecting a favorite sweet red pepper and recalling the warming of the chamomile tea made from the fresh white petaled flowers the week before.
On Sunday, October 7, from 1-4PM, at our Fall Open House, you can witness the serenity of summer fruits to the brisk call of cool that brings forth sweet kales and scrumptious squashes. You can walk the rows of the flowering farmer, and peak in the houses stretched with plastic and warming winter opportunities. We look forward to seeing you there!
Bring a few dollars, we hope to have some produce for sale, so you can make your memories last through suppertime, if not longer:)
Bending Sickle Community Farm, settling in Stockbridge, MI continues to serve the Ann Arbor Community. Be sure to “Like” them on Facebook, and sign up for a winter share (which begins in January 2013), at bendingsicklecommunityfarm.com
