Home Food Production in Northwest Michigan

Reasons for growing:

-AESTHETIC

-NUTRITION

-EXERCISE

-SAVE $

-TRADITION

-NEIGHBORLY COMPETITION

Where to begin? First, assess.

.5 Acres

.2 Acres wooded

90% deciduous

10% coniferous

.3 Acres open

50% sandy and flat

50% hilly and rocky

-Soil samples, source of water, hours of sunlight, budget, etc.

Then, project. Make projections about appropriate usage, probable

costs and yields, development over time.

One study found that “Altogether, the (home) gardens had an AVERAGE VALUE OF $0.74 / square foot of garden area, and a MEDIAN VALUE OF $0.62 / square foot of garden area… For a modest-sized garden, 200 square feet in size, that's a return of $148 in the first year. For larger gardens, 500-700 square feet in size, that's a return of $370-$518 in year one, alone!” -osumg.blogspot.com

What does your dream garden look like and produce?

Start with just one thing, then go from there.

radical home ec.

teal farm

1/10th acre urban farm

It’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the options; just build it one project at a time.

Resources at hand…

Natural building materials onsite – stones, sticks, clay?

Neighborly support – resource sharing.

Local garden suppliers/landscapers:

- TC: 4 Season Nursery, Garden Goods, Pine Hill Nursery, Manitou Gardens, Grand Traverse Nursery

- Williamsburg: Barker Creek Nursery-Suttons Bay: Plant Masters-Other: Oikos Tree Crops

Compost: make your setup convenient

Home compost piles have a tendency to go by the wayside. Make sure you choose a setup that you will be comfortable tending to. The site of a mismanaged compost pile can cause a breakdown of morale. Check out the compost workshop scheduled for June 14th at the SEEDS Farm with Carter’s Compost and Mike Davis.

Garden to Table

You will not have time to do it all.

Preserve a few things that you really love: kraut, pickles, jam, pesto, tomato sauce, etc.

Don’t – worry about making something different every day

Do - have your friends over to cook the produce for you.

Crop Mapping & Record Keeping

Rotating crops from year to year is critical to disease prevention and soil health. Creating a crop map can be a useful tool and informative to look backupon as the seasons go by.

Keep records of other information that interest you. The more data you have on your garden the better.

In conclusion…