We now have apples, potatoes and onions for sale. We have opened up our storage room and found nice quality apples and onions.  We are selling our apples by the half-bushel and potatoes/onions by the half-peck at nice, low prices.

Prices of our apples of which we have a good quantity:

Jonathans, Empires, Red Delicious — $3.00 a half bushel

Crispin(Mutsu), Northern Spy, Idared — $4.00 a half bushel

Granny Smith, Fuji — $5.00 a half bushel

We also have some smaller quantities of other varieties at reasonable prices.

Prices of Onions:

Red Onions — $3.00 a half-peck (just over five pounds)

Yellow Sweet Spanish Onions — $2.50 a half-peck (just over five pounds)

Prices of Potatoes:

Norkotah Russet — $2.00 a half-peck (just over 7 pounds)

As always, please pull up plastic liner and leave basket.

The crew just picked 18 quarts of strawberries this morning. Kind of surprising how many ripe strawberries they are finding given the lack of sunshine around here over the past few days. However, we are glad the strawberries are ripening. 

The other evening we had strawberry shortcake for supper and boy was it good! The berries are absolutely delicious, nicely sized and just wonderful. 

Hurry down and pick up a quart or two. You’ve got to enjoy them while they last.

A couple of the programs that are offered by the state of Michigan that help low income families and senior citizens purchase healthy local food are the Project Fresh Program and its offshoot, The Senior Fresh program.  Both programs are administered by the Michigan Department of Community Health. 

Who Is Eligible?

Women and children (ages 1-4) currently enrolled in the WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) program can get coupons for fresh fruits and vegetables under the Project Fresh program. Senior citizens age 60 and over who meet income guidelines are eligible under the Senior Fresh program.

How Does the Program Work?

The local WIC office identifies eligible clients who the receive a $20 booklet of ten $2 coupons to be used June 1 through October 31 of that same year. These coupons can only be used to buy fresh fruits and vegetables at authorized farmers’ markets. The local Council on Aging office helps to identify those eligible for Senior Fresh who also receive the coupon books.

Coupon holders may only use their coupon at eligible markets (which can be identified via a brochure that is handed out with the coupons).  Only locally grown fresh fruits or vegetables may be purchased with the coupons.

Why Use Your Coupons at Magicland Farms?

Because we only sell produce we grow ourselves right here in Newaygo County. As we have heard from other customers, they go to other markets, pick out their produce and then are told that they cannot purchase their items because they are not grown in Michigan. You will never have that problem at Magicland Farms! Plus we can provide you with information and recipes for the products you are not familiar with. So make your shopping trip easier on yourself and head on out to Magicland Farms with your Project Fresh coupons.

Contact your local WIC/MDCH for more information about these programs. Here in Newaygo County contact:

District Health Department #10

1049 Newell

White Cloud, MI 49349

Phone: 231-689-7300

I found this story in the Phildelphia Citypaper online (story here). The author explains why buying your produce from your local farmers is the best choice you can make which almost goes without saying. But the reason I link this article is her list of some early produce and its nutritional benefits for the consumer. Here at Magicland Farms, we will soon be having strawberries and peas available for sale. Below are her comments on those two crops:

Peas

With 134 calories in a whole cup of peas, these seasonal beauties are delicious examples of why we eat veggies. A great source of calcium (43% of your daily requirements!), potassium, magnesium and phosphorus, fresh peas contribute fiber to our diets, folic acid for strong blood and immune-boosting vitamins A, C and K for all you antioxidant lovers out there.

Strawberries

With a harvest season that can seem like just minutes, when you see local strawberries at a farm market, grab them – especially if they are not sprayed or are organic! Their sweet-tart flavor is just one bit of their allure. With only 49 calories in a cup, these vitamin C-rich berries give us all the immune-boosting power we need, in a delicious way. A great source of fiber, magnesium and potassium, strawberries go a long way towards helping us feel balanced. And once you have tried locally grown, you’ll understand: they are worlds away from the flat-tasting, out of season, ripened-under-grow-lights versions you find at the supermarket.

So be sure to check back for the announcement of the start of the strawberry/pea harvest. Come on out and get some of the goodies for yourself; you won’t be sorry.

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 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.

With all the fuss about Earth Day and climate change that you hear nowadays, here is a easy way to go green: Going green as simple as buying local.

Besides all of the good things you do for the environment, the food tastes better and you help support your local farmers. A win-win situation for everyone involved!

I ran across this story on the Slow Food Blog the other day – link here: America’s Apple Traditions Renewed.

Here at Magicland Farms, we grow both the common varieties as well as the antique and rare varieties. We have over 100 different varieties of apples although we do not get crops from all of them each year. Let me describe a few of our rarer varieties to pique your interest:

Ashmead’s Kernel – It apparently is a seedling of NONPAREIL and has crisp yellowish flesh that is tinged green. It is sugary, juicy and aromatic with a tart/sweet flavor.

Calville Blanc D’Hiver – There are two things that cause this apple to really stand out: exceptionally high Vitamin C content and its superiority among the pie apples! This apple was first mentioned in seventeenth century France.

Snow – One of our most asked for apples, it is usually on the small size and, as its name indicates, its brilliant white flesh reminds one of newly fallen snow. It is aromatic with a spicy flavor. Snow (Fameuse) is thought to be one of the parents of the McIntosh.

Gravenstein – The yellowish white flesh is tender, fine grained and crisp with a well balanced acid-sugar content. Our trees are getting on in age and we don’t often have a great crop. For pies, they are fantastic!

Court Pendu Plat - We sometimes refer to this apple as “The Tree of Life” and laughingly refer to it as possibly being in the “The Garden of Eden”! Why? Because it is a very, very old variety perhaps dating to the times of the Roman Empire although it wasn’t until 1611 when it was officially recorded. The translation of the name from French means “suspended, short, flat.” This describes the way this flat apple lays tightly against the branch. This apple was widely planted in Tudor England. It is also known as the “Wise Apple” probably due to its late budding and flowering that allows it to escape late frosts. The flesh is a creamy yellow, firm and fine grained with a rich, brisk, acid flavor. It has a high Vitamin C content.

Hawaii – This apple is a cross of Gravenstein and Golden Delicious. At times, it has a hint of pineapple in its flavor. It stores well and is an excellent fresh eating apple.

Golden Russet – This is an old American apple of unknown parentage. The fine grained yellowish flesh is crisp with an exceptional sugary juice as well as a tasty tartness. It was known in the 18th century and was described in the book Fruits and Fruit Trees of America in 1859. Russets were grown along the shores of Lake Ontario during the 1800s. These apples were prized for their long storage potential in root cellars. Golden Russet fell out of favor in the early 1900s with the development of refrigerated storage and a preference for large, red apples.

Northern Spy - This is the famous pie apple and is also great eating especially for those who love an apple a bit tart. One of the best varieties for storing, this apple is juicy and crisp with a rich, aromatic, mildly acidic flavor. Northern Spy was found in an orchard at East Bloomfield, New York, grown from seedlings brought from Connecticut about 1800. It may originally have been called ‘Northern Pie Apple’ and is also known as ‘Red Spy’ and ‘Red Northern Spy’. This apple has more Vitamin C than average apples and has been in great demand by processors for frozen apple slices, baked goods etc.

One of the things we like to do in the Fall (if we have enough apples) is to set up a display of apples that can be bought by the pound. That way, you can taste many of these rare varieties for yourself and decide what your favorites are. We have many customers who enjoy creating their own taste tests for themselves and their families. We even had a teacher who bought a couple of each varieties to take to her second grade class for a lesson on apples. I bet they had fun!

This is one of the great things about buying local; you won’t find these varieties in any of the supermarket produce sections. You need to hunt out your local orchardist to find these interesting, tasty older varieties.

Last year, we grew onions at Magicland Farms – our world famous Newaygo Newaygo sweets and sweet Spanish onions. The Newaygo Newaygo onions were a huge hit at the stand – wonderful taste and nice size but they are not an onion that will store well. The sweet Spanish onions were also tasty and we brought home some to use over the winter and they have stored pretty well. Today, I was making a BBQ Meatloaf for lunch and we came up with some sad news. The onions are about done and pretty soon we will have to find somewhere to get some onions from.

The good news about this is that the onions lasted until almost March – we are quite pleased with that. The bad news is that we don’t exactly know what to buy to keep us going until our onions come in. We are hesitant to buy onions from a foreign country and, with the salmonella/e.coli scares of the past seasons, don’t exactly trust the produce we find in our local grocery store.

This is one of the big reasons that the “buy local” movement is so important today. If you buy local, you know where your food is coming from and in a lot of instances you can get to know the farmer who grew it.

Of course, buying only local produce also has the tradeoff that you only buy what is in season and right now for us, local onions are not in season. So, the big challenge is to find a decent onion that we can grow and will store a bit longer for winter use. Maybe one of the new ones we are growing this year will be the one that will solve our winter storage problem. Let’s hope so!