Hello friends! It’s Spring! Really, truly, actually Spring in Mid-Michigan! On the farm, we are losing ourselves soaking in the sunshine (every other day, when it’s not snowing) and really feeling the world waking up again, while snowballing into the growing season. In our perennial beds, the snowdrops have been stunning us all month, while the crocuses are popping open, and the sweet little blue scilla and daffodils are just budding up.
Ranunculus corms are soaking (wish us luck with our first year trial of these babies!) and the unheated greenhouse is about to go up. Finalizations of our garden plan are happening and we are about to start our seeds. Living here, we are always a little envious watching our fellow farmers online in more temperate climates starting seeds in February and March, but we know that with our setup, seedlings will only get leggy and weak if we rush it. It’s time to really get growing!
As promised, we have another staff introduction this month- and it’s our very own Farmer Luke! Luke has a decade long background in organic, small-scale farming and a certificate in permaculture design. He is our point person when it comes to soil amendments, disease prevention, composting, and the overall responsible stewardship of the land we work. He’s also our event setup assistant, custom carpenter (he designed and built our rental wedding arch!), and just about anything else we might need on a moment’s notice.
Luke can often be found at your local pro wrestling shows, playing disc golf around the farm with friends, cheering on the Spartans, and singing Joe Diffy songs on the tractor. He’s also a pretty amazing partner and pet-dad to our cat and parakeet, and a major cutie, if I can brag a little. :)
With March coming to an end, wedding season is also about to begin. We are still accepting 2023 bookings, so please reach out or let your panicked-because-we-haven’t-found-a-florist friends know that we’re here to help make wedding flower dreams come true! At the same time, last month we told you all that we would be donating 10% of every delivery order this month to the Spartan Strong Foundation in response to the attack on MSU campus. We’re happy to say that today we donated $85 and we are so thankful to all of you for the support. Please consider making a donation yourself and learning about the program here: https://givingto.msu.edu/spartan-strong.cfm
Here’s to an exciting Spring and days of blue skies and sunshine to come! See you next month!
Jamie
FMFE