(Above: Sunspot Charts)

Today we have a guest post by Magicland Farms’ resident weather guru AKA The Boss:

What will the summer temperatures be like in Newaygo County, Michigan? (For those across the planet, Newaygo County is located in the west-central part of the Lower Peninsula of the State of Michigan in the United States of America.) Well, first NOAA thinks the temperature will be about normal. Ditto for the Old Farmer’s Almanac although they think it might be a touch above normal. Accuweather.com thinks it will be cooler than normal. (Average highs here in June are about 80, July about 82 and August about 81, with night time low temperatures about 22 degrees cooler than the days high.) What do I think? It will be warmer than normal. Why? A lot has to do with recently noticing that the really hot summers, 1935 and 1936, 1954 and 1955, 1988 and 1995 are the same years that the sunspot number was at its minimum AND the sunspots were just starting to return. That’s what 2009 looks like too, although we won’t know for sure that the sun is becoming more active until after summer is over but it looks that way right now. There is something else. It’s the jet stream, more technically it’s the upper air wind flow (above 35,000 feet). Recently, here in mid to late May, the jet stream has been stuck where it normally is in August—way up in central Canada. This is unusual and, to me anyway, implies it will likely stay there for the duration of summer because things are warming up in Canada faster now than any time of the year (this part is normal). (No doubt there will be a few dips down into the states but these will likely be of just a few days duration.) Cool summers here in west-central Michigan, which is what Accuweather.com is forecasting, always have the Jet Stream farther south than normal and not farther north. One other thing. There has been a heat wave in many parts of Asia, including part of Siberia. Look to see in the next 2 weeks if Alaska gets a heat wave. If so, we may have a summer to rival that of 1988 and 1995. Don’t panic! I am not forecasting anything like the disastrously scorching summers of the mid 1930s!

(Early Redhaven Peach Blossoms)

(Red Delicious Apple Blossoms)

Here are some beautiful photos of some of the fruit trees blooming in our orchard. The blossoms are pretty much gone by now. There were a lot of blossoms on the trees so we are hoping for a bumper crop of fruit. Because of the large number of blossoms, we will have to do some thinning.

Remember our first apple of the season is the Quinte apple which we usually have for sale in mid-July. Quinte is a great tasting summer apple.

Frito Lay thinks so. The potato chip company has started a new series of ads that feature the farmers who grow the potatoes used to make the Frito Lay potato chips you find on the shelves at your local grocer.

Frito-Lay pitches its Lay’s potato chips as locally made

I am not sure that buying a bag of chips qualifies as buying local. However, you have to give Lays some credit for supporting the American farmer.

The definition of a locavore is someone who eats food grown or produced locally usually defined as within a certain radius such as 50 or 100 miles. With the “Buy Local” movement growing by leaps and bounds, it is not surprising to see the food companies trying to cash in, much as they did with the organic movement.

However, here is an idea for a truly local potato chip. Stop by this summer and pick up some of our delicious potatoes and make your own! Below is a recipe to show you how simple it is. I remember my mother making homemade potato chips when I was young and boy were they good!

Homemade Potato Chips

(A picture of our garlic thriving in the field)

Today was spent planting a few different things. Our next patch of green and yellow beans was planted today. We already have one patch of beans (both green and yellow) planted that are growing very well. Hopefully they will keep on thriving and we will have early beans for sale.

Also we planted more of Bon Appetit sweet corn. Bon Appetit is a great flavored sweet corn with large ears. Can’t wait to have some!

More tomatoes were planted. The first patch we planned for the tomatoes is now full so our next planting work will be in the second patch in the near future.

The onions and the garlic were also fertilized today, along with some work on the electric fence.

Sorry about the lack of posts; I will try to one update to cover the last few days and then will start posting daily again.

Last week we worked on fertilizing the peach trees; there are tons of tiny peaches on them which means that we need to thin the fruit.

We also worked on the electric fence last week. Pretty soon it will be difficult for the deer to get into the crops and do damage (at least we hope so.)

Since it was rainy last week, we did more transplanting:

Tomatoes:

• Big Beef

Peppers:

• Giant Marconi – an 8 inch long Italian type sweet pepper
• Telica – a large jalapeno
• Bianca – an ivory bell pepper
• Vivaldi – a bell pepper
• Mandarin – an orange sweet bell pepper
• Ariane – an orange sweet bell pepper

Eggplant:

• Zebra – a purple and white variegated eggplant
• Hansel – a deep purple finger shaped eggplant
• Millionaire
• Machiaw – an Asian type eggplant up to twelve inches long and slender
• Vittoria – a purple eggplant

On Monday, the crew planted about 400 tomato plants in the field; they planted the 4th of July variety which is an early tomato.

After looking around the farm, there appeared to be no significant damage from frosts over the weekend.

Tuesday, the crew began planting the winter squash; we have a lot of squash left to plant.

Wednesday, we planted more tomatoes (Big Beef and Sun Sugar) in the morning, along with winter squash. While in the afternoon, the first planting of sunflowers and watermelon was made, along with planting more winter squash.

Also: I forgot to mention earlier that we planted Bodacious and Montauk sweet corn on Saturday.

We have been increasing our selection of herbs over the past couple of years. This year, we are adding some new herbs, including sage. As a result we have outgrown the raised bed we used for the herbs last year.

The crew spent Saturday afternoon making a new raised bed for the herbs. Turned out pretty nice, eh? I think we are hoping to make another one but we have to fit that in between all the planting that needs to be done right now.

We grow lots of tomatoes, both heirloom and hybrids. Most of the members of our family absolutely love a fresh tomato, especially one with loads of fresh tomato flavor. We don’t, as a rule, buy any tomatoes from the grocery store as we have yet to find any with acceptable flavor.

For those tomatoes that we grow, we try a lot of different varieties every year before we settle on those that we consider worthwhile growing. The ones that are winners for us must have great flavor, along with good yields and customer acceptance. So we have grown and discarded many varieties before settling on the ones we grow now, and even then we still try new ones every year.

I was surprised to read this article – How to Grow a Better Tomato: The Case Against Heirloom Tomatoes – recently. Most of my surprise came from the fact that Monsanto has decided to fiddle around with heirloom tomatoes; don’t they have enough other things to do? The article is slanted against heirloom tomatoes making them sound like they need to be “fixed” and Monsanto is just the company to do it. Heirlooms can be more difficult and touchy to grow but we have found varieties that give us great taste and acceptable production.

Be wary; Monsanto sticking their nose into something cannot be good.

A lot of shoppers are not aware of the country of origin for their fruits and vegetables. Many of the things you would assume are grown here in the United States actually are not. I found this link – Food & Water Watch: Global Grocer – recently and it is interesting. You can select a food (everything from frozen food to canned goods to fresh fruits and vegetables) and the site will tell you what the chances are that the item you are holding in your hand is imported and what countries are the main suppliers. For example, asparagus has a 3 in 4 chance of being imported, primarily from Peru and Mexico. So sad, as this used to be a crop grown primarily in Michigan and Washington state. Check out this site, click on start shopping and see where your food is coming from.

Remember Buy Local, Buy Michigan!

Here is a story from the Detroit Free Press about agriculture in Michigan (full story here).

From the story:

Touching four of the Great Lakes and offering a variety of terrains and biodiversity, Michigan offers a range of agriculture products almost unique in the nation. And Michigan is the leading producer of several products — tart cherries, blueberries and hanging flower baskets, among others.

snip

That diversity has helped Michigan growers respond to a growing demand for local food products. Worries about climate change and the economy have more people thinking about where their food comes from. And, in a perilous time, it’s nice to know your local farmers.

We sell a wide range of fruits and vegetables at Magicland Farms; I bet a lot of people don’t realize the things that can be grown in Michigan. We also do the things the farm in the story does: utilize a high tunnel, try to get plants in the ground as soon as practically possible, start seeds early in our basement.

Remember Buy Local, Buy Michigan!

As an aside, the picture in the sidebar of the story show the workers transplanting tomatoes into peat pots. That is what has been occupying a lot of our time lately as well.

Also, you do need to be an optimist in order to be a farmer. Hope springs eternal on our farm.