I sure do love the vibe at Needlelane Farm.  It’s got something way cool going on out there.  Some of it has to do with the land.

They’ve got some beautiful crops coming up these days, including fields of spinach, kale and chard.

There are also wooded areas of Christmas trees.

Lots of the good happening there has to do with Beverly Ruesink, the farmer at Needlelane.

Beverly has a big time positive attitude, and she has a ready smile whether she’s catching a ride to the hoop site, or fastening plastic in the pouring rain…

…See what I mean?  Beverly also has a great group of people working with her at the farm who have her same sweet groove, making the work day a whole lot of fun.

Here’s Adam, in the front, who has been out at Needlelane for only a little while, but really loves the farming life.  (He’s carrying some hoop parts with Ed Weymouth, a returning hoop volunteer.)

Walter Prettyman, who showed up at the Sunseed Farm hoop build a few weeks ago, also lives at Needlelane.  Clearly, he has more than hoop building skills.

Here’s another photo of Walter, along with Mary LaFountain, taking a few moments to share some cardboard jousting fun.  This was Mary’s first hoop build, and she was a great addition to the group.

Here’s Walter with Kari, another Needlelane Farm worker.  Kari and Walter put together the doors for the end walls of the hoop.

Needlelane has lots of nooks and crannies full of pretty and photo worthy things.

Now that the scene has been set,  here’s how the day unfolded.  Our first real challenge on Saturday wasn’t the weather or the site conditions.  Nope, there wasn’t mud (well, at least not like at  the Sunseed Farm build), and there wasn’t sleet, hail or pouring rain. (actually, it did pour down rain, but not until the very end of the day when we were heading inside for dinner.)  Nah, this challenge was something that has plagued man, woman, child and beast since the dawn of time.

Uh huh.  That’s right.  Mosquitoes.  Swarms of ‘em.  Luckily, we had been warned that the mosquito population of Needlelane Farm was massive, ravenous and brutal.  So, we came prepared.

I’m not kidding about the dawn of time comment either. Did you know that the oldest known mosquito with an anatomy similar to the modern species attacking us yesterday at Needlelane Farm was found in a chunk of 79-million-year-old Canadian amber?  It’s true.  Thanks to both natural and unnatural methods, we  were able to hold the mosquito army at bay, and get a little something done.

When we broke for lunch, we were completely amazed at what our special chef Stephanie had prepared.  Although she was camera shy, the food speaks for itself.

With the first end wall complete, the crew moves it into place in this series of photos.

As the second end wall and the end wall doors were being built, it looked like we would be able to pull the plastic before we lost the light.  We were all pretty excited by the prospect of completing the hoop in one day.

The last thing to complete before calling it a night was installing the side wall roll up mechanisms. It didn’t take long. We knew Stephanie’s dinner was ready.

All in all it was an incredible day of hoopla at Needlelane Farm. As usual, we have so much appreciation and gratitude for our volunteer crew:

Tomm Becker, Dan Carroll, Ed Weymouth,  Sean Kehoe, Gary Mazzeo, Pam Baker, Matthew Bertrand, Margaret Wong, Adam DeLine, Misa Cady, Courtney and Arthur Peterson, Mary LaFountain, Kevin Hawkins, Pug Gagnon, Beth Christensen, Lisa Dugdale, Jorg Zeller, Kari Blouin, Walter Prettyman, Jeremy Smith, Dave Schamberger, John Williams, Michelle Fortin, Charles, Simone and Patrick Racine, and Stephanie the chef, Beverly’s mom Marianne, and of course, Beverly, for making our hoop build even better thanks to her warm reception and for taking such good care of us.

The next day, after the middle-of-the-night storms had passed, the morning sun blinked through a low sky of clouds.

It continues to amaze us how much a dedicated, passionate and hard working crew of people can get done in a day while connecting with wonderful people, eating amazing meals, and knowing that their efforts will bring fresh, healthy food to our community.

We will be building more hoops in the near future. Please join us!

~Lisa

Celebrate the sweet and savory seasonal harvest this week with “shortcake two ways”.  The home team, led by “Li’l teapot” Lisa Gottlieb is baking up some light and fluffy biscuits that you can have either:
·        With a big scoop of the sweetest imaginable strawberries and a dollop of Calder Dairy whipping cream
·        Benedict-style with a slice of braised pork, poached egg, grilled asparagus a slice of pancetta and hollandaise sauce
Both, of course, with bacon if you like, and a little this and that.
Don’t forget our “fruit seasonal” (sometimes freeze-onal) regular breakfast choices: Waffles with gingered apples or more strawberries and Lisa’s bread pudding (also strawberry this week, and sweetened with honey until Michigan figures out how to grow some non-GMO sugar!)
Some News:
Our current round of hoop builds from breakfast proceeds wraps up with: June 5th – We are crossing our fingers for less mud (check out this little mud-fest for example) for Beverly Ruesink of Needlelane Farm. We will be building a 30×96 gothic also with steel/polycarb end walls (similar to the one we put up over at Tessmer Farm).  Beverly has a big camp site, so a Saturday night celebration party and optional camping are planned.  Please go here to sign up for the 5th. We could really use a few more hands to wrap up the spring season here folk!
Hard work, lots of learning, tons of fun and a feast.  We have had a huge response for volunteers here already.  Thank you!

 
And if you haven’t read the Repasts blog for a bit, you are in for a treat.  Lisa has been doing a knock-out job documenting the exploits of this amazing community as it builds a new local food infrastructure.

Thanks,  Jeff

It was a rainy start to our second hoop build of the spring, but we were ready.  At least it was warm, and there was a good chance of sun for later in the day.  It was the mud that really was the challenge. But, hey, you all know by now that a little mud won’t get in our way! We’ve got Jedi volunteers who make the best of what ever Mother Nature sends our way.

Sure, the hoop house site isn’t an urban setting with all the amenities like a full kitchen and inside bathrooms with running water.  But, really, running water is overrated when you’ve got a hoop house to build.  An outhouse works just fine.  And we did have a cool tent with a living room and stove at our disposal thanks to the creativity of the Sunseed Farm crew, some of whom live on site much of the time.

We started with the site marked off, corner posts squared, and bow supports in place, ready and waiting for the volunteer crew to arrive.

Notice the tall muck boots on most of the crew.  These folks had the right idea. Notice the coffee cups filled with Roos Roast too.  And, of course the Washtenaw Dairy donuts. We know what’s important on a work site.

On to the site, and the day unfolding.

For a full-on 360 degree experience of how we worked with the muddy conditions check out this little video, shot by Trilby Becker.

We work hard, and we take well deserved breaks to eat and rest.  Feeding our volunteers delicious, hearty, healthy and locally sourced meals is a huge priority.  For this build, the Ann Arbor People’s Food Co-op helped us out big time by donating ingredients to make the sandwiches and other dishes that Tilby, I, and a group of volunteers put together.   Thank you so much PFC!  Trilby and I also send out huge thanks to the food prep volunteers who helped prepare the delicious lunch and dinner  for our on-site volunteers:  Elizabeth Beers, Rachel Chadderdon, Nancy Welker, and Jennifer Jensen spent their Saturday in our kitchen, putting together muffaletta sandwiches with variations to satisfy every dietary need, as well as making potato salad, hard boiling eggs, and packing up all the supplies to bring out to Sunseed Farm.  Milagros Paredes donated a chorizo and bean soup that big-time wowed the ominvores, as well as cooking up a richly flavored spicy lentil soup for the vegetarians.  Rachel Chadderdon made some luscious rhubarb cookie bars, and Siri Gottlieb donated a big tray of buttery and jam filled short bread bars.  Does anyone remember who made the batch of vegan cookies, and the very chocolate-y brownies?  Those were gone in a quick minute!

By the end of the day, we had nearly 50 people who had come out to help us raise this 2nd hoop house for Sunseed Farm.  The words thank-you just don’t seem to be enough.  How about profound appreciation? Deep gratitude, massive gratefulness, huge love? Or some combination of words that will capture how much joy there is in coming together as a community with our volunteers. Tomm and Trilby Becker, Jeff and I say Thankadore You to:  Megan Zlatos, Jeff Holden, Nic Parton, Dan Carroll, Nevon Clark, Lizzie Olenzek, Tom and Nancy Welker, Sean Kehoe, Jennifer Jensen, Helen Harding, Kyle Rhodes, Rob Naussbaumer, Mike and Rose Pitsch, Marty Weid, Brian Allnutt, Anne West, Misa Cady, Ian Daum-Bost, Courtney Peterson, Joel Panozzo, Heidi Perry, Morgan Nichols, Mike Sietkes, Lisa Dugdale, Sara Schlotterbeck, Hillary Bisnett, Dick Dyer, John, Marcy, Noah, Caleb and Will Veit, Melissa Cooper, Patrick Carmody, Edward Weymouth, Noah Miller, Andrea Bloom, Dale Finkelson, Howard Gold, Heidi Kumao, Kari Blouin, Walter Prettyman, Kate Long, Becky Otto and Beth Tarini and Kendal Kuneman.  Next time you see any of these folks, be sure to show them some love for their efforts.  Did I forget someone? Email me and I’ll get their name added pronto.

After enjoying  the bonfire into the wee hours,  all of us eased our way home.  We were tired, sweaty and covered in mud, and  we shared a feeling of camaraderie, a sense of measurable accomplishment, and a strong urge to fall into bed.

We had just the right number of people who showed up to help pull the plastic Sunday afternoon with Tomm, Trilby and Jeff.  Thank you to Nic Parton, Lizzie Olenzek, Kevin and Rachel Spall, Mike, and Jody Bogumil for spending the afternoon with us making the magic happen.

Yesterday, Jeff and I drove up to Sunseed Farm to capture a few more photos of the hoop with the cover in place, and the side wall roll up mechanisms installed.  Finishing the end wall with plastic will happen soon.

I couldn’t pass up this last photo of the flower bed Tomm and Trilby invited their wedding guests to plant for them at their Sunseed Farm wedding last September.  These iris, in full bloom, are exceptionally lovely. Did you know that this beautiful flower has a history dating back thousands of years?  The word Iris comes from the Greek word for rainbow, and it is named for the Greek goddess Iris, who, among other things was a link between heaven and earth.  Whether your belief system includes heaven or not, I thoroughly enjoy the thought that these flowers, planted by the family and friends of Tomm and Trilby to grace their love for each other,  also represent the love for their farm, and  for the local food community to whom they have a passionate commitment to feed.

If this looks like fun to you, and you’d like to be part of this growing community of hoop house builders, sign up here for our next hoop build on June 5, at Needlelane Farm.

Thank you once again to all,
~Lisa

Garin Fons, aka Mr. Bacon, was one of the very first supporters way back when Selma Cafe first began.  A core volunteer and planner, always calm and cool, and never one to get upset, Garin ran Thursday night prep, served Friday morning breakfast, helped cut up a whole pig right here in our kitchen with Jeff and Matt Burton, and learned to make his own cured meats with the best of them.  His homemade bacon was as good as any we’ve tasted.  Like many folks who come to Ann Arbor for studies and then move on, Garin decided to leave to work with some folks doing some really great food stuff.  As far as we are concerned, The Underground Food Collective, in Madison, is lucky to have him.  And Garin, being the creative, enthusiastic foodie that he is, will learn tons and, we’re hopeful, will come back and visit soon.  To celebrate, a party was thrown, and even though it rained in a downpour the whole night, it was the best party around.

All the best to you Garin.  We love you and miss you already.  There’s a Selma Cafe chair waiting for you when you come on by our kitchen when you’re back in town.

~Lisa, Jeff & all the RP&F friends and volunteers who had the pleasure of your company.

Carol Palms, an enthusiastic and generous instrumental music teacher at Slauson Middle School is bringing her students to play us some tunes this Friday.  We are thrilled to have them!  Please take a monment and read Carol’s message:

The Slauson 8^th grade orchestra is a dedicated group of 28 students (17 violins, 6 violas, 3 cellos and 2 string basses – what you’d call a perfectly balanced ensemble!) who have played together since the sixth grade.  They rehearse at school every day during fifth hour.  They recently played their final school performance on May 6 in the Slauson Middle School Auditorium.  Soon after that concert, we began to think about fun and meaningful ways to end our school year together.

Many of the kids liked the idea of “busking” on the streets of Ann Arbor for tips!  Well, since you have to obtain a license or a permit to do something like that, we realized that might not work for us.  Instead, we asked the folks at the SELMA Café if we could play at their home during a Friday morning breakfast.  They said “YES!”

As their orchestra teacher, I’m especially happy to see these students putting their energy into a healthy and worthwhile cause such as this.  They are all helping to plan our big event: Josseline is making sure all the kids will have a ride there, Vishal is our equipment manager, Melanie and Chanda are our music librarians, Beth, Tim and Iris have made some great posters and flyers, Keely is writing those important thank you notes, some of the kids will even be clearing the compost and wood chips out of the driveway so we have a space to play, and Chenxi is running the musical rehearsals.

Speaking of the music – we’re going to play some of our favorite OLDIES BUT GOODIES from their 6^th and 7^th grade orchestra concerts!  Some songs, like “Dragon Hunter” and “March of the Metro Gnome”, are easy and a little bit goofy, but we might also satisfy the more sophisticated listener with Tchaikovsky’s “Trepak” and Vivaldi’s “Concerto in g minor for two celli.”

We want to thank the volunteers at the SELMA Café who have embraced this idea.  The kids will be learning a lot about the local food movement when Jeff and Tomm visit our classroom on Wednesday.  They’ll also understand how rewarding it can be to do community service.

Hoping to see all food-lovers and music-lovers put a little something in our “tip jar” – and wait ‘til you see our tip jar!  Music begins at 7:30 am ‘til about 8:30 am.

Sincere thanks from their proud and excited teacher – Carol Palms.

Be sure to come by and enjoy this great group of students, while supporting Selma Cafe.  Big thanks to Carol for making this happen!

~Lisa