Bluebird Meadows
of Stevensville, Michigan
Newsletter

August 2004

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Overview	Where HAS the year gone? As usual, our year begins with starting our farm seeds. Things expand by magnitudes as seeds need to be planted and seedlings need to be transplanted. And then there's the weeds. Being Organic, weeds are a special challenge for us as we must resist the temptation to get a 55 gallon drum of Roundup. Of course we pick weeds by hand, hoe, and spread mulch where we can. The tractor cultivator does a good job on keeping the weeds in the paths at bay. Our Troybuilt roto tiller is handy for getting closer to the rows than we dare drive the tractor - it's also useful in sunflower rows where the plants are too tall for the tractor to get in. As a last resort, and at this time of year one of our most used weed control tools, is the lawn mower. We finally give up on being weed-free and settle for keeping the weeds from getting too big. Not perfect - but good enough.
ORGANIC Farm	The Tomato Tradegy See those bountiful totes of tomatoes on our Farm Stand? Well, that was last year. This year, we put 700 seedlings out in our field only to be smothered by 5 inches of rain a week later! Most of our heirlooms just died. Some of our hybrids are hanging on - not thriving, but at least they are alive. Instead of enjoying the peak bounty of tomato harvest, I find myself looking at a few plants just now getting green tomatoes. Such is the life in farming.
Sunflower Seed Heads	Bird Netting We have had an unusually cool summer. As a result, although we have planted more sunflowers this year, they are not as large as in previous years. With the expanded planting, there were just too many plants for individual onion bags over the ripe heads. We have purchased 28,000 square feet of bird netting which is being placed over the fields. We have also built a Cold Frame Greenhouse for improved drying of the seed heads. See the "What's New" section below.
What's New	Cold Frame Greenhouse Over the winter, I designed and built this Cold Frame Greenhouse. In the late spring, it was used to start tomatoes, peppers and other crops. During the summer, it has served as a traditional greenhouse for herbs. Lastly, the greenhouse is being prepared to dry and store sunflower seed heads this fall. For more info, click on the photo.
"God's Gifts To Us All" (Author's Perspective)	Chapter 5 - End Of Day One	Chapter 5 is a short chapter - but I felt the need for the story to pause, reflect, and take a deep breath. The chapter also seemed like a good opportunity to introduce some thoughts about trust.
Our Next Shows and Events	Until Late October St. Joseph, MI Farmers Market Saturdays 9:00am - 2:00pm Downtown St. Joe at the west end of Broad Street	Guideposts Magazine We hope to bring you some exciting news about Bluebird Meadows and Guideposts Magazine. More later.
Don't Forget Your Discount!	10% Discount On ALL Your Orders! As a Bluebird Meadows Guestbook participant, you are entitled to a 10% discount on ALL your orders from our Web site. On our Shopping Cart where you enter your credit card info, find the DISCOUNT CODE blank and enter: bluebird (lower case letters). The computer should reduce your subtotal on the next screen by 10%
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