2009 In Review

What a year it was. We finished a new 22' X 38' propagation house (greenhouse) in February and were actually starting flowers in
it the next week then vegetables in March. This greenhouse has wood and propane furnaces for its source of heat. It also has 2
layers of plastic.

We ran out of room with just two greenhouses.  We needed to quickly get the third up and running. The furnace needed more
work than first thought. This greenhouse has been a work in progress, with its main use being our free straw crawl/climb during
the fall activities. We lost the plastic covering on one greenhouse on 1/1/09 due to high winds that night and not having the
money upfront to put the proper doors on. We cleaned out the straw and applied it to our garden and reinstalled the plastic in two
days and later purchased doors and installed a double layer of plastic. With all of these things the furnace was overlooked and
needed rebuilding, delaying our plant move by a week, which stretched many of our tomatoes out in our garden.  We tried to
create a good mix of vegetables with not too many odd things.

Spring stayed cooler than normal, which made us nervous about putting plants in the field. We hauled manure in from many of
our neighboring farms to amend the soil for sweet corn and pumpkins. This will allow us to use more organic methods. We have
several ongoing projects with natural fertilizer and cover crops going on their third year.

We also farm 175 acres of row crops.  Our main crop is soybeans, leaning on using less  GMO. This year we seeded a fall cover
crop of rye on 75 acres for the 2010 season. In 2009 we tilled a rye cover in for our watermelon crop and used many rye strips
for wind and water erosion control.  

Our first transplanting in spring was about 22,000 vegetable plants. On our best day we put in 720 plants per hour for 8 hours.
We till and lay plastic mulch prior to planting to warm the soil and prevent weeds. We demonstrated planting at our CSA field day,
having volunteers ride the transplanter and plant eggplant, in which they did a great job. This year we tried planting onions using 3
different methods.  The last onions came from using the plastic mulch, and the least amount came from seeds used as
transplants. We will build a more efficient planter this winter for planting onions on mulch. We also tried leeks.  We failed with them
due to the method in which we planted them.  We will get it right this year!  Sweet corn is planted very early spring at seven day
intervals right up until early summer.

With the cool start we delayed the CSA one week (we had originally moved it up a week for the 2009 season) looking for a
bountiful harvest in the fall. The weather was the second coldest season in more then a decade, stats put us 200 growing degree
units (GDU) behind normal. Cool season crops like broccoli and cabbage love this weather, but tomatoes and melons don't. We
tried to plant some crops multiple times and in July we put in another 15,000 plants mainly broccoli and melons. Broccoli did
great, yielding more than expected but the melons, which were a week away from ripening, were a total loss with the early fall
frost. We do multiple plantings of large size to fill the need for CSA and market customers. Each crop is received by CSA first then
market then depending on size of the crop it may only finish at market if there is not enough for all members to receive.

The best crops were sweet corn and bell peppers. Both continued to produce all season with little to no pest danger. Many of you
may have heard about the late blight (phytophthora fungus) that really wreaked havoc on tomatoes this year. This disease was
responsible for the Irish potato famine in the 1840's and can be found worldwide. First found last year in the northeast it then
spread quickly across the U.S. due to the cool wet conditions. It was traced in plants sold at big box stores.  I'll write about that
this spring. It caused many markets and CSA's to close early in the east this year. We had to spray to get a crop using an omri
(organic) product and a conventional product in rotation. We salvaged the crop, but 2 weeks late. The question of being organic in
that case was no, but we were able to supply great tomatoes. Many crops are never sprayed and do fine, and we contribute that
to scouting, rotation, soil, and weather conditions. We continue to try more organic listed products each and every year.

At the beginning of the year we found ourselves understaffed, it made it hard to get things done.  
One big improvement was the big truck (former U-Haul). We were able to pack and haul some large loads, and to get the
produce to CSA and market more easily.

Our broiler chickens and eggs were another addition this year and saw some success. We will continue to improve on this and
need to do the figures to determine if this is a feasible addition to our farm.

We are trying to bring the farm in full circle providing feed and food to both people and livestock. Keeping things local, as much as
possible, is the only way we in this state have a chance to prosper.

As we entered the fall season (or the same cool weather we had all summer), we found ourselves picking watermelon on the
same day we picked pumpkins in previous years! Our seedless orange was the most profitable this year, which may not be as
widely known, but is catching on fast. With their bright orange, crisp, and  juicy flesh they're hard to resist, even if you can’t relate
to the color.  

October turned out to be the month it rained almost every weekend which didn't do much for ticket sales to the corn maze or
other fall activities. That hurt! The weather didn't help the quality of the pumpkins either but the squash, cabbage, and broccoli
crop did great. We finished with some of the largest colored peppers we have ever had. By picking them ahead of the frost and
storing in the cooler we saved a huge crop! We also harvested the bulk of the onions and potatoes that same month, but a little
later than usual, due to a break down of our digger. We needed a shaft to be custom made (local) which saved several hundred
dollars.  Finally after most vegetables were gone and tomato stakes pulled, we harvested our corn maze and finished fencing in
this field for our feeder cattle to graze on this winter. We have fed them shelled corn and rye/clover hay all grown on our farm.
This project was three years in the works as we hope to offer beef soon.

We now start all of our own vegetable transplants. In the past we contracted out a large portion of them. With the passing of my
friend and mentor (Vic Ferrari), I was inspired to raise them myself. This was a huge job for us, as we doubled then tripled our
production for the growing farm and to offer plants for sale at market and at our roadside market (which are the same seed we
grow in the field).   Ask me and I'll explain the differences in seed quality.

We opened our roadside market on May 1 selling vegetable and flower plants, hanging baskets, and pots.  The flowers and
baskets Shannon did were amazing.  The colors filled the greenhouses.  The baskets were very large and the color combinations
beautiful.  We started a lot of vegetable flats also.  The variety was large and included the favorites plus a few unusual varieties.  
The demand for these items was great.  We found ourselves starting more vegetable flats and hanging baskets after the first
week of being open.   The farmers markets opened the first of May.  This really got things going, and demand was good.

We started selling veggies in our  roadside market around the second week of July, corn is the biggest seller.  It’s hard to open
without it.  Business was steady thru out the year, but the economy too a toll on overall sales.

Winter snows bring trade shows, seed orders, paperwork, and catching up on all the vegetable and flower news.  This was 2009
in a nutshell.


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PREGITZER FARM MARKET, LLC
"Like your own garden without the work!"
6870 Territorial Rd., Munith, MI  49259  (517) 769-2768
yourfarmmarket.com   email shannon@yourfarmmarket.com
Wade Cell:  517-499-5676   Shannon Cell:  517-513-9572
                  2010 Goals
Put in 2 cold frames. One for lettuce, spinach, and chard; and one for tomatoes.
Build wheel for onions on planter.
Rework an existing chicken coop for egg production.
Work on movable chicken house for broilers or eggs.
Fix fence on other farm to put cattle on pasture.
Finish white fence in farm yard.
Put up greenhouse frame for equipment storage.
Have at least 10% growth to the CSA.