Delano Farms Blog

Dreaming of farm fresh vegetables?

Lisa — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 18:00:00 GMT

The sun is out and the birds are singing! The DeLano Farms greenhouse is a busy place! The farm staff are planting many of the great tasting veggies we will enjoy this season. CSA shares for the 2013 season are available now at www.naturecenter.org

We have fun volunteer opportunities at the farm!
CSA Market Assistant
Learning Garden Volunteers
U-pick Assistant
Field Volunteers

Come out and visit the DeLano Farm During Maple Sugar Festival

Lisa — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 15:00:00 GMT

Shares are available now for the 2013 DeLano Farms CSA season! Sign up online at NatureCenter.org or call (269) 381-1574 ext. 38. Don't delay we are filling up fast!

This weekend is the annual Maple Sugar Festival! Saturday, March 16 & sunday, March 17 from 9 am-5 pm.

On the Farm in Winter

Carrie Cohen — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 14:37:00 GMT

Greetings from DeLano Farms! Well, winter has finally come for a visit! The fields are quiet, the

Happy Thanksgiving Pick Up

Carrie Cohen — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 15:15:43 GMT

Thanks for coming for a visit to the farm to pick up your pre-Thanksgiving share. We had a great

Fall Crops!

Lisa — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Fall is upon us! I don’t know about you, but I am relishing these cooler days, even if it does mean some chilly nights. The fields have started to look very different. As the summer plants slow down and begin to die off, we mow them, spread a cover crop seed on top, and then till the soil to work the seed in. I love closing out the fields at the end of the year. It’s very satisfying. I’ll be telling you a lot more about cover crops in future articles.
Laurel Blomquist~DeLano Farms staff

Harvest

Farmer Scott — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 09:18:00 GMT

Harvest days are Tuesday and Friday. It takes about the whole work day to accomplish a harvest for distribution.

Irrigation

Farmer Scott — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 02:23:46 GMT

This is a long video on our maiden voyage of the irrigation system her on DeLano Farm. It is comprised of thousands of pieces of equipment, some of which are quite cumbersome to move. It allows us to hit just about everything we have in the fields in a one week time span (if we ran it 24 hours a day). Considering we are now moving into a drought condition in these parts it is absolutely essential that it be running. For the last several weeks the plants in the fields have been in a sort of stasis. They have not died but they have not been growing either. This means that everything is just lagging behind by several weeks. The heat is great and would be preferred if it would just rain. We might even have beans by now if it would have been a little bit more moist over the past four weeks.

Harvest Day

Farmer Scott — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 10:47:00 GMT

The fast paced life of harvest days are upon us. It take us most of the day, twice a week to harvest for our CSA members. We move at break neck speed to get it all done in time for all the smiling faces.

Making a Meal of it!

Lisa — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 14:30:00 GMT

My co-workers and I decided to celebrate our first harvest with a meal. I always try to challenge myself to use as many of the current week’s ingredients as possible at a time, so we opted on a sort of spanikopita made with multiple greens...

Peas, broccoli, cabbage, turnips, kale, arugula, spinach, radishes

Farmer Scott — Tue, 29 May 2012 10:32:00 GMT

Everything that is supposed to be the early part of the seasons pick up is quickly fading into

Pac Choi

Farmer Scott — Mon, 28 May 2012 00:35:00 GMT

Last week a friend of mine was having a get together and needed some hors d'oeuvors for the guests.

Cucumbers Died

Farmer Scott — Tue, 22 May 2012 03:07:53 GMT

We planted our first round of cukes the other day. Trying to get a jump on the season. We put in 700

Early CSA Distribution

Farmer Scott — Mon, 21 May 2012 10:40:12 GMT

Just a fun picture of Brandon standing next to all the greens we harvested on Friday for our SECOND early pickup. And this is just the beginning of the season. I can't wait until late summer!

CSA pick-up

Lisa — Fri, 18 May 2012 15:15:00 GMT

CSA Shareholders:The first official pick-up of the season will be on May 29, June 1 & 2 during your

Lisa — Mon, 07 May 2012 15:00:00 GMT

Laurel Blomquist-Farm Staff
On Saturday, I attended a class on Bumble Bee Ecology and Conservation here at the Nature Center given by Jennifer Hopwood of the Xerces Society for Conservation Invertebrates. I’ve seen many bumble bees at the farm, and was curious about how to encourage a habitat for them, in harmony with the honey bees. Our proximity to the Nature Center turns out to be a good thing: bumble bees thrive on farms that are near diverse ecosystems.

Farmer Scott — Tue, 01 May 2012 00:30:00 GMT

The past week has seen us dig 40 furrows that are 350' long, cut 1200 pounds of potatoes, and plant them. It all went smooth and as planned. Even the burying of them was fun. We set up the ACG with its little discs and set about driving over the beds to put get the eyes a rollin'. It was almost to much fun. It made me wish we put in more acreage of spuds. The fall will be the tell tale time of our successes. Now we need to beat the Colorado potato beetle, leaf hoppers, and other pests so the taters can grow strong. We will be taking the G out several more times to rebury the plants and weed. Taters only grow spuds from the original one up so the more you bury them the more lunkers you get to pull out of the soil.

Can bees recognize the bee keeper?

Lisa — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:00:00 GMT

This past week I had the pleasure of attending a meeting of the Kalamazoo Bee Club here at the Nature Center. Beekeeping is gaining in popularity as a backyard hobby, and that was apparent at the meeting.

Cut Taters

Farmer Scott — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:08:30 GMT

The taters are cut. They go in the ground on Thursday. I like me some french fried taters, mmmhhhmm

Taters

Farmer Scott — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:47:45 GMT

We are putting taters in the ground on Thursday if anyone wants to stop on by and help. Come out in

Community Gardens in Kalamazoo!

Carrie Cohen — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:35:25 GMT

I am thoroughly excited today, as we were just donated a truck load of wood chips from Pretty Lake Adventure Centre! The wood chips will be used for pathways that help delineate where students can walk without stepping on plants and reduce the number of weeds poking through.