Weekend Backpack Program
This project was started after educators noticed that low-income children, who receive free school lunches during the week, were not getting enough food on the weekends, and were coming to school on Monday hungry. Weekend backpacks with healthy food inside are passed out on Fridays to eligible students, and it is making a huge difference in the classroom. Volunteers will help to sort the food bags brought by Mobile Meals into classroom groups for students to take home for the weekend. To sign up, visit http://volunteer.truist.com/toledo/user/events/one.tcl?event_id=10486996518

Oneida Street Greenhouse
United Way Volunteer Center is partnering with Toledo Grows to impact our health initiative by engaging a group of volunteers at their Oneida greenhouse and garden. The Oneida site has a large greenhouse, multiple gardens, rabbits, chickens, aqua culture and more! Just show up and help these troubled teens “work it out” in the greenhouse. To sign up, visit http://volunteer.truist.com/toledo/user/events/one.tcl?event_id=10468536501

Seed catalogs do just what they imply — they sell seeds. Farmers use them to figure out what variety of vegetables they will plant each year. So for example, say Kurt wants to plant broccoli next year, he would turn to the broccoli section (yes, it’s a whole section), and choose from the 10+ options of broccoli. How does he decide? The brief description will detail things like how disease-resistant the plant is, or whether it grows best in Zone 3 or 5. (We’re in Zone 5). Maybe it says it has a nutty flavor, purple-colored sprouts, or that it yields several heads in one season. And then there’s cost. Kurt will decide which features are most important to him. Usually, he will buy several types just in case one type fails.  And that’s just the broccoli. Kurt must make this decision for every vegetable he wants, so this process of choosing seeds can be tedious and difficult — especially for a guy who wants to buy every seed there is! Kurt has a special weakness for tomatoes!

There are many seed companies in the U.S., but farmers tend to stay loyal to their chosen few. In the Midwest, Johnny’s, Rupps, Seedway, and Seeds of Change are some of the bigger suppliers. But in the last few years, Kurt has seen an explosion in other seed companies. Most farmers will buy their seed in January or February, and perhaps again mid-summer to restock. But be careful! As we learned last year, if you wait too long, some seed may be sold out, and you’re left scrambling to find a substitute. (This happened last year with candy onions and garlic).

How much seed do you buy? For a normal farmer, this is always somewhat of a gamble, because you never know what veggies will be popular the next season. You take a chance when you order your seeds, and hope that customers will buy what you grow! For CSA farmers, this risk is much lower, because you know up front how many customers you’re growing for, and you decide in advance what vegetables they will receive each week.

One interesting fact is that many of our seeds actually are grown in other countries. These “foreign farmers” grow the vegetable for the sole purpose of harvesting the seeds, and then sell these seeds to U.S. seed companies. Most seeds today are also hybridized. This means they’ve been cross-pollinated and bred to produce certain desired vegetable qualities, like disease-resistance, hardiness, size and color. Seed companies want to be able to “guarantee” that their seed’s end product will be consistent.

The exception to this are the heirloom and open pollinated seeds. These seeds are original and haven’t been cross-bred to enhance certain features. The result  might be an uglier tomato or a hairy, bumpy sweet potato, but the flavor is unparalleled. About 60% of the seeds we buy are organic or untreated. Who knew there was so much to choosing seeds?

Farmer Kurt here, hope you all are enjoying the very mild winter thus far. Well we finally completed the propagation greenhouse. I purchased this greenhouse from Mr. Reider in 2008. It sat in the barn for two years until the time was right to begin the construction process. Our good friend and “Project Supervisor” Nick and I started building the frame in late 2010. Friends and family helped cover the structure before Christmas and that’s pretty much all the progress that was made until this past fall. SLF staff worked on grading the floor and keeping the weeds at bay throughout the summer (sorry guys). Johnnies Electric came to complete the wiring, while Dad and Mr. Adam helped get the heater and propane tank plumbed up. Thanks to all of you who helped out with getting the project done; we could not have finished it without you. It took over a year, but it got done. As some of you might already know we were able to purchase the property that we have been operating on this past month. This is no small feat. Many pieces of the puzzle had to fit just right for us to even be able to do this. Some of the things happened long before Shared Legacy Farms was even thought of so we pay tribute to all of the people who had a certain role to play in making this dream come to fruition for us. We look forward to sharing the farm with our customers, family and friends and continuing a rich family farm tradition. Here’s to a prosperous and fulfilling 2012 season. May God watch over everything we do and help us to do something that makes a difference.

Your Farmer, Kurt

The farm is still a muddy mess. Kurt got out to finish mulching the garlic fields last week after it froze for two days in a row. Jed and Corinna are sick with a sore throat/cough this week, which means we see very little of anyone outside. Sienna’s been getting to go into the house quite a bit just to keep her out of trouble. I guess I’m too stinky, because I don’t get invited. K and C took the boys to Pokagon State Park last weekend to experience “the toboggan slide.” It was a beautiful night with snow — so I’m told. Next year, I’m going along. Wonder if I can ride on “Team Bench” on the sled? I’ll make some t-shirts. The registrations for the CSA are starting to trickle in. We’re excited about the O-I drop-off site, and the potential for growing some connections out there. K and C went to recruit new members last Friday at several meetings, and met all kinds of enthusiastic people. Mr. Mike is going to enter us in the Pinewood Derby in Elmore again. (Last year our car won “Best in Show.”) I wonder what the design will be this year? In other news, Josiah is 7 and a half months old. He is drinking out of a sippy cup, and playing with any toy Jed plays with — especially the toy tractors. Hmph. Go figure! Corinna has told me that Josiah is being a “good little farm boy” and eating his vegetables twice a day now: carrots, winter squash, sweet potato, apples, bananas, avocado, pears, peaches, and even steamed broccoli!