Fresh Roots Organic Growers, LLC

Environmental Stewardship

2011-02-15T19:11:00.000-08:00

Environmental Stewardship is a term with complex meaning. However, in this modern age of marketing the term gets thrown around to make the products sound more appealing. It has no standardized meaning and therefore anyone can claim it as long as they have a specific reason for claiming it. "I compost my waste material and reuse it in my fields... I practice Environmental Stewardship." "I use drip irrigation instead of overhead spray... I practice Environmental Stewardship." "I haven't used DDT in 5 years... I practice.. bla bla bla." But beyond the hype, what does it mean. The dictionary defines a Steward as:
–noun

1.a person who manages another's property or financial affairs; one who administers anything as the agent of another or others.

2. a person who has charge of the household of another, buying or obtaining food, directing the servants, etc.

What I notice right away in these definitions is the fact that whomever the steward is, he/she is taking care of someone else's stuff. I don't know about you guys, but when I borrow someone else's things, I treat them with a level of respect higher than that of my own things. If I'm running out to the fields before the rain, I'm going to grab the sledge I borrowed from my buddy before the shovel which I own just in case I don't make it back out there in time. I mean really, I don't care if my shovel gets rained on a bit, but am I sure of how my buddy feels about rain on his sledge?
Environmental Stewardship implies that your land belongs to something bigger. It's not wholly yours. It's part of an environment that belongs to all of us, and not to just us, but to the animals, plants, and our future. Yes, I do in some respect own a piece of your land, just like you own a piece of mine. Maybe the Native Americans had it right... land belongs to no one.
So what does practicing Environmental Stewardship mean? Treating what you steward with better respect than what you really feel is should have. Not leaving that sledge out in the rain. Treating your land in a manor that maybe doesn't sound like a necessary way to you, but in a way that no one could complain about.
It transcends working for the almighty buck. It means working hard, in every decision and method, to keep what you steward in a manor that will not offend the other owners. One that makes the other owners happy that they put you in charge of their land.
Maybe I don't think herbicides are a problem, but do all the owners of this environment agree? Maybe I see no trouble at all with the amount of oil used to fertilize and ship products all over the world, but do the future owners agree? Organic practices??? Shoot, that's just the start of Environmental Stewardship.
I would like to think I practice Environmental Stewardship on my land. Come see for yourself. I think its important... for all of us.

Have you read The Tragedy of the Commons?

2011-02-04T17:40:00.000-08:00

So F.R.O.G. fans, I pose an idea to you. We of course have land. Many of our friends in town don't. I've considered a CSA, but there are a few details of them that I don't enjoy (such as charging my friends). What about a COA... Community Operated Agriculture. We don't charge you, nor do we drop food off to you. But if you're looking for good tomatoes come pick a few. If you got some spare time and are looking for some relaxing time in the sun, come weed a row or two. Grab a squash while you're here. You get the idea. My job would be to organize and regulate. Dot the I's and cross the T's. It goes against the lesson of The Tragedy of the Commons, but what do you think?

Post Solstice

2011-01-31T10:34:00.000-08:00

The Winter Solstice came and went and as a result the days are getting longer. This means a few things on the Fresh Roots Farm. First, I've learned (being that this is my first spring with them) the chickens respond to longer days by getting broody. Each time I go in there now, two or three of the hens are sitting on their eggs in attempt to hatch them. They don't like it when I take their eggs. The hiss and peck. This has prompted be to put a big stick in there, so that I can poke them when I come into the coop. This makes them jump out of the next box, leaving eggs for easy retrieval.

Second sign of spring is the arrival of seed catalogs. Sarah and I have been spending evenings pouring through these to find the perfect collection of things to try this summer. We only got 4 last year, but as you can see, the word is out that we have a farm now.

Third, its time to get back into shape. A little bit of rigorous work recently has left me winded. Winter has made me soft. So its back on the treadmill for me. Today, during Mickey Mouse clubhouse for Adeline, I did 5 miles at an easy pace. Once the cardio is back where it should be I'll hit the weight bench. By spring I should be ready to do the rigor that spring farming demands with no trouble. I recently heard a fellow farmer say, "why ever would a farmer join a gym," implying that farming is work out enough... well not during the winter it seems.

I find it amusing.

2011-01-27T12:27:00.000-08:00

So since moving to Traverse City I have established quite a few roles. First and foremost, I'm a stay at home dad to a wonderful little lady and a little boy on the way. Second, I am developing this small diversified farm. Third, I manage a new business in town, The Michigan Hop Alliance. This gives me many jobs. The thing I find amusing is that this morning I did some paperwork and worked on the business plan of Michigan Hop Alliance, mid-day I laid concrete in the basement (building a new bathroom down there) and I finished up in time to iron my wife's clothes for tomorrow. Talk about wearing many hats. And since I'm no longer a Gemini, I don't know if I can handle these multiple personalities.

Ah whatever, I'm going to go start making dinner.

Mango anyone?

2011-01-26T11:54:00.000-08:00

Mango is a very large tree hailing from the Old World tropics. It could not survive a Michigan winter. Most likely not even a Michigan autumn. However, it can fruit in long and short day periods and therefore could be productive in a greenhouse. I guess F.R.O.G. couldn’t produce mango as a fruit crop… but perhaps a few trees in a greenhouse could produce a modest harvest. Mango is used in many medicinals, treating a range from diabetes to asthma. It has been shown to stop cancer growth even in advanced stages. Dried and ground, mango is called Amchur, one of the delicious spices used in Indian cooking. But my favorite mango fact is that my father-in-law is highly allergic to it, so it could be used as a deterrent.

This little mango tree was planted from seed to celebrate Adeline's birth almost 3 years ago. Since we have not yet built a greenhouse, he's had a hard life. Also, like the avocado, coming from seed there is very little chance that he will produce good fruit. The best this little guy can do is be a test plant for survivability... and remind us of our little girl.

Should this blog be revived?

2011-01-21T08:45:00.000-08:00

The Fresh Roots Organic Growers blog has been quiet for quite some time. Last we spoke, hop plants were popping out of the ground... that means last blog was around May. Since then I've spent a summer lamenting the struggles of growing commercial hops, harvested a modest crop in the fall, put the fields to bed for the winter, co-created a group of hop growers (Michigan Hop Alliance), and made sales. A lot has gone on. The chickens are in full production... we get about 17 eggs each day even in the middle of winter. The guard dog, Perle, is now about 90 lbs and owns the full 10 acres. Fortunately, she doesn't seem to leave it. She is now a woolly beast and loves the snow. She's out there right now playing in it even though it is only 8 degrees out there. During the winter months, I've started renovating the basement to put in a guestroom and bath. Our current guestroom is becoming a nursery, since Sarah is expecting a son in May. Another farm hand.
The question I pose to you all who may be reading (or that may be none) is this: Should this blog be continued? I will try to update more often. We got a new web connection and it makes updating a lot easier. We have a lot that is going to happen this year: son being born, barn raising, tractor purchase, spring planting, hop stringing, new crop development, and I'm sure a lot of things I haven't thought of yet. If you care to read up on the events here, please comment. This blog could sprout up again this spring with the other crops on the farm, or we could consider it a loss. What do you think?

Early success!!!

2010-05-12T11:10:00.000-07:00

They say that you won't see hop sprouts until about 2 weeks after planting, but today I have found at least 2 or 3 sprouts from each of the five varieties planted. Welcome to the world F.R.O.G. hops. Michigan hop farming has a new major player.

Plant-a-palooza

2010-05-04T10:43:00.000-07:00

We had great success at Plant-a-palooza 2010!! A wonderful group of friends and family joined us and we got all 2500 rhizomes in the ground before 3pm. The weather was bright sun and warmth. Now we have the nervous time of waiting until the plants come up. Thanks to all who came out!!!

Let is snow!!!!

2009-11-22T11:37:00.000-08:00

Yeah, this blog has been quiet for quite some time. I've been busy. The title of this post is "Let it snow" because I'm pretty sure the beautiful Indian summer the Michigan has been having has been a blessing from God while I finish up the trellis. Well let the snow fly, God, 'cuz I'm done!! Here are a few pics of this accomplishment.

The F.R.O.G. owners after finishing planting all the poles.

Couldn't have done it without Bo.

Foggy morning shot

Stringing the cable on the last endpole.

From the top of the tallest pole

See.... They're all kinda straight

Finished Hopyard!!!

Thanks go out to all those who helped: my father for original design and surveying, David and Kristen, for coming up for a cold, busy weekend of dragging poles and putting together hardware, Brian and Tom for physical, mental, and intellectual help, and especially Cindy and Bo for watching the youngest F.R.O.G. and doing the heavy stuff for many weekends. Also, thanks to Sarah for understanding why every time she came home I disappeared into the back fields. You can have your husband back now.

How did we put them up you ask??

2009-10-18T17:27:00.000-07:00

Building the trellis

2009-10-18T10:40:00.000-07:00

Well construction got underway this weekend. Bo and Cindy came up as well as David and Kristen. My two buddies Brian and Tom came over to help too. The first day we got rained on and snowed on, but things went pretty well. We had a slight delay when we broke some cotter pins. Day two started great the morning was sunny and things worked great at the bottom of the hill. At the top of the hill Bo and I dug two holes and broke the auger bit. I'm currently on broken auger delay. We have some good rocks left at the top of the hill from a glacier. The good rocks aren't so good for the auger. We currently have 45 poles in the ground and a new auger is on its way.

Management gave directions
Bo was often confused

That way!!

Dave did the philosophizing... and the pole dragging.

Don't worry, they need to be straightened yet.

Here We Go!!!

2009-10-16T04:21:00.000-07:00

Today starts construction on the biggest trellis I've ever built. I've built 4 footers and a 6 footer. I even built what could be considered a 10 footer, but this is my first 2 acre.. er. I got poles.

and helpers

Now comes the sweat equity.

2009-10-08T08:02:00.000-07:00

We are finally getting underway. With all the delays and changes I was beginning to get discouraged. Now things are lookin' up. Thanks to the engineering expertise of my dad, the fields are ready to begin trellis construction. And just in time too, because the poles are almost in Michigan as I type. They will be here this afternoon.

The paperwork came back today as well to make us an official LLC. We are Fresh Roots Organic Growers, LLC. Now we need to start working on a logo. Opinions on logo design are welcome.

2009-10-06T12:38:00.001-07:00

The fields are laid out. My father came this weekend and we spent a day measuring and mowing the rows that the hops will be planted in. It sounds easy, but there was two acres to do and some heafty sumac and other small trees to get out of our way. On Wednesday I'm renting a tiller and then the fields are ready for poles. Good thing too, since they are showing up on Thursday!!! It's been a long wait, but the shippers gave me confirmation. We are now accepting workers for the assembly of the trellis.

Pending Poles

2009-09-23T07:32:00.000-07:00

So we've has some delays with the poles, but now they are being packed up on the trucks for delivery. They are handsome looking poles. The variability in size and appearance makes them look all the more natural to me. My back fields are going to look like an old cedar forest. Well the steel cables running between the tops might detract from that image a little.

My pole supplier sent these pictures to me.

Frustration

2009-09-18T06:33:00.000-07:00

Not much has happened lately. I'm waiting on materials. Each time the scheduled day for delivery arrives for my poles, the guy who is supposed to be supplying them calls and says he's behind. He promises the beginning of next week. Not much to do until then.

Hand Pickin'

2009-09-07T19:25:00.001-07:00

Today I went out to New Mission Organics at the top of Leelanau Peninsula. We hand picked about 3/4 of an acre of 1st year hops. With about 12 people it took 6 hours. Having a full 2 acres to do the same thing to next year, I think I'm going to have to streamline things and get more help. Even then it seems we'll be making a weekend or more out of it.

Finally, a name

2009-09-02T08:55:00.000-07:00

It wasn't easy, but a name was finally chosen. Thanks in major part to my wife. The Chosen name is:

Fresh Roots Organics.

We like this because we feel the our organic methods of farming is a relatively new and fresh look on how mainstream agriculture is done, however it is deep rooted in how food has been produced for centuries. We feel like our methods are very healthy methods, which the term "fresh" brings to mind. It's kinda fun because it's an oxymoron. Fresh = new, roots = old tradition.

On a personal level we like the name because we have a new homestead that Sarah and I feel we are putting roots down into hopefully for many many years to come. So there it is: Fresh Roots Organics. If you like you can just say FRO. Let's hope I can take the name legally as a business.

2009-08-31T18:49:00.000-07:00

The Traverse City Brewfest was a great event. Plus, I actually networked. I had they brewer from New Holland Brewery ask me to, "give [him] a call as soon as [I] have a harvest." That made me very happy. What also made me happy was that my friend and fellow organic grower, Brian tells me that all the brewers at the 'fest (and there were many) are all expecting organic hops at around $20/pound. WOW!! that would float my boat, since next year I'm expecting 1/2 a harvest since its my first year and only getting around 2000 lbs. If I get the expected 5000 lbs a couple of years later, Dela's going to college!! I must also say that the Brewfest came at just the right time. I was in need of some happy thoughts about this endevor. I always get a little down when I write $7 K checks, but the trellis poles will be here in about a month!!!

2009-08-29T11:32:00.000-07:00

First business convention today. Traverse City Brewfest. I get to meet with the brewers from this part of the country and talk about the T.C. hops scene. Hopefully I can convince them that local organic are beautiful words. After buying 150 cedar poles yesterday I am now committed to this industry and find myself quite nervous about the whole endeavor. I think I'd feel alot better if I just had a name for what I'm doing.

2009-08-28T07:15:00.001-07:00

Well as most of you know, I decided on growing hops on my farm. There are many reasons for this: due to a hop shortage prices for hops are quite high, I've always been fascinated by the plant since in can grow up to a foot a day, its kinda a low maintenance crop meaning I can leave it alone for a couple weeks, and of course hops flavors beer so business research means drinking beer. All of these are sound reasons to grow hops, but now the choice of conventional farming or organic farming comes to play. Being who I am I chose organic, since the modern agricultural mainstream is not so slowly destroying the environment. (Don't read anything by Michael Pollan if you want to keep a sound trust in conventional agriculture)

So the first step to growing hops is building a trellis. Being a plant that can grow a foot each day, you need about 18 foot trellises. Just saying it and visualizing it is a big difference. Here is a photo of a good hops trellis.

Being organic those poles can't leach any chemicals into the soil and therefore must be untreated. Sounds easy enough, but I've spent over a month searching for cedar poles at 22' long. At long last I've found them in New Jersey. Today I buy them... yikes. This is a big step since this is the point of no return. If I buy the poles and decide not to farm hops, I then have 150 22' poles which I spent far too much money on to use as firewood. So today is the moment of truth. I'm going to turn by back fields into massive trellises. I better enjoy pickin' rocks, because after today there is no going back... I'm a farmer.

2009-08-26T15:24:00.000-07:00

I guess an explanation of the rock pile is in order. When visiting the in-laws on their land I often enjoy walking around the land just to enjoy the solitude. Occasionally you'd come across a big pile of rocks. To a city boy this brings to mind a resent construction project, but in the country piles form simply from farmers picking rocks out of their fields and always throwing them in the same convenient spots. It speaks of history and steady work of others before you. A place where roots go down. So when I saw myself throwing a rock into a pile, a new pile, it made me think of a small root going into fresh soil. Will Adeline's grandkids climb on large piles of rocks and wonder how they got there? Will we still be on this land or even in this town.

There are so many romantic ideas in farming.

2009-08-26T13:16:00.000-07:00

I picked up a rock as I walked in the fields today. As if it were nothing. I realized that I was already veering my path to swing by my small rock pile that has been growing since I moved here. It all got me thinkin': maybe this could happen after all. Let me back up for those of you who need background.

I'm a city boy. Lived in Chicago area, Washington, D.C., Columbus and Cleveland, but I married this country girl. A girl who thought that it was downright incredible that a few weekends back I went to my first county fair. I knew that this marriage was a good fit because I've always dreamed of living in the country, running a small farm. More on that some other time. Well now we've moved back to the country, and I have this as my backyard.

The economy as it is, this electrician, researcher, high school teacher couldn't find a job. And there it was. That little voice that has always been going on in the back of my head screamed, "I WILL NO LONGER BE IGNORED!!!" Do I start a farm? Can I start a farm? These are the musings of a city boy with a lot of education but little knowledge jumping into farming. A farm that he just can't think of a name for.