Good Harbor Farm

We are OPEN! Stop by for asparagus, eggs, greens, maple syrup, herbs, goat cheese, meat, essential oils, body soaps, vinegars – all things good for your body and home! Our heirloom tomatoes are four feet tall! Come see the new baby chicks and kids (goats). Browse our new vintage farm shoppe and come by on weekends for the Barn Chicks Farm and Flea Sale (starting June 18)!

Sowing seeds for Spring in the greenhouse…We are trying to remember that soon the vibrant reds, purples, oranges and greens will light up the market again. We can’t wait! In fact we are so excited, we want to share these pictures with you to let you know we are planting three times the amount of seed this year, in an attempt to try to meet the demand from last summer. 

               What colors will you savor this summer on your plates-be they paper, plastic or china?

Winters deep downy blanket covers our farm.  It is a cozy picture, but kid you not; nature isn’t sleeping in The Sleeping Bear Dunes…Not even the bears! 

It is that coveted time of year in Michigan, when farmers can rest, reflect, study, meet with neighbors and prepare plans for the New Year.  We are afforded this precious window of time—squeezed in after the Christmas Holidays and before Valentines Day, to focus clearly on the new vision for our farms and family businesses.   It is a special time and our chance to plan to “do it better” each year.    

Admittedly, it is hard to want to crawl outside our bedcovers to get to work in -15 below temperatures.  We throw a few more logs on the woodstove and then manage the cold morning crawl knowing how much we are needed and appreciated by our cows, horses, pigs ( yes, we still have them!), goats, chickens, cats and dogs.  Their greetings each day make it all worth it…at least until you arrive in the spring!   We labor so hard ten months out of the year, 24/7 most times literally on hands and knees, that our bodies call out for the physical redemptive power of sleep—-no, hibernation! .  We have to fight the urge to sleep for months following the hard fall and flowing along with the circadian rhythms of nature … Sleep is as foreign to us as it is to a new mother in labor.  We know it is essential, we grab it when we can, pushing hard knowing the rewards of our labors– are paid forward many times to those who continue to do the work.  

We are connected to the earth—moved by the circadian rhythms of rest and rejuvenation as much as excitement.  We feel it calling out all around us everyday.  Just as the full moon brings on the howl of the coyote, winter blues grab the blue jay, making him crabby as he fights over seed gathered from the previous year’s harvests —angrily remembering, it seems, the bountiful fresh sunflower seeds offered at the fence line this summer to all who gathered there…and it was plentiful enough for hundreds!   Where did it go?   Now, the six jays that dive into the feeder each day fight and cackle every chance they get— vowing to never wow us with their summer songs again!  Cardinals are much more cordial in winter, we’ve discovered, even to the chickadees who share their pine boughs and seeds.   We prefer the summer songs, but we have come to appreciate the notes of winter, too.   

Andrew and I walked this morning, as we do every morning, silently to the chicken coop in the pink twilight of the day.  We can see our own breath, and hear it, as we strain to carry fresh food and water to our friends.  We listen to the songs of winter from our flock….it is a different song you know, very different from the “bossy” monotone noises of summers free rangers.  The chicken’s winter songs sound like children’s prayers from a church choir…….Light, sweet, grateful noises, sung in rounds, and called to attention from the choir master before dawn—our rooster Morgan Freeman.  Our normally silent sentry duty walk  to the chicken coop was broken by a sudden cry out that made my heart skip a beat and my feet falter in the familiar tracks: “Oh no! Where are my tomatoes?”

It was this sudden recognition that the seasons had changed that brought Andrew into the family as a farmer.  At three, he was now more than tuned into the animals, he was tuned into the seasons….He didn’t necessarily like what he learned, his favorites, the tomatoes were gone! But he understood why….they were in the jars in the pantry, and in his spaghetti sauce.   He was just having a “Blue Jay” moment!  Welcome to the life of living with nature, buddy.

I honestly think, like people, animals change their tune with the season as well as the foods they eat. Often, it is the sudden recognition that foods disappear that hit us most profoundly—Like my son’s startled statement, gone are the fresh tomatoes, straight from our garden into the jars for winter comforts like spaghetti.  Like the Blue Jays that peck at the fresh sunflower seeds in the summer and then crabbily complain about the dried seeds in the winter feeder.    We bemoan the fact that our fresh tomatoes get boiled and squeezed into a jar to be eaten later as much as the Blue Jay misses the fresh seeds of summer.  Andrew is just beginning to realize what happens and he is comforted only by knowing we can “plant our seeds for tomatoes in three more weeks”!

 Each season, I try to listen a little more closely to the sounds of nature while responding to the foods I offer my family and friends. My horses appreciate an empire apple in January and my pigs gobble up sugar beets and gourds from the fall harvest.  The dogs love tomato sauce and the birds love the lavender seeds saved from the garden.  What makes music from the market in your kitchen this winter? 

What wonderful foods can we nurture, along with nature, that will make our customers hearts sing this season?  .

And…What local foods do you most look forward to tasting this Spring? The first radish, a small sweet pea, carrots, micro greens?  Tell us….

And what of Summers Fare?  What can we grow to be your objects of delight this Summer?   Challenge our new greenhouse and customized saved, organic seed!

How do we best plan for your heart’s desires?

I think the chickadees and cardinals have the right attitude, and so does my daughter! Let’s enjoy the winter for what it is…a time to share and care!  As we plan for planting in 2011, share with us your ideas for food in the New Year.  Share with us your favorite foods, the ones that you love, that keep you in tune this time of year.  What are you anxious to try? Please take a moment to reflect, indulge, and share the simple tunes that make your world move and your heart sing.  We would love to hear from you! 

We close today with a quote from Izzie .  We are reminded daily, as it was her first lesson in preschool this year.  In the simple, soft, lyrical, delightful voice of a happy four year old child, we hear the powerful message —“Sharing is Caring”!  

Many Blessings in the New Year!

Katie

“Once a New York Blue Jay now a Michigan Chickadee”

You’re invited to our

3rd Annual Chili Cook-off

Sunday, October 10 at 12 p.m.

Bring your famous chili or a homemade dish to share.

Please RSVP to Susan: (231) 866-1079 or e-mail smshields2003@aol.com

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