KEVIN YOUNG, DIRECTOR
60822 Creek Road
Niles, MI 49120
269-684-3870
kevin60822@sbcglobal.net
MARCH/APRIL 2024 GRANGE NEWS
Has Spring sprung already??!! This winter has been crazy since the first of the year. We have been seeing temperatures in the upper 40s to lower 50s in my part of the state. This isn’t good on the fruit trees let alone animals and humans too! The snow has been very much this winter down here either. If we haven’t had snow we have had plenty of rain though. Spring is around the corner just by looking at what is coming in my mailbox lately. Seed catalogs and hatchery catalogs have been coming for the last week or more! Also, the local farm store Rural King is gearing up with Chicks!! If looking at these types of catalogs and seeing cute little baby chicks do not put you in the mood for Spring I don’t know what would!
This is the perfect time to be planning your gardens for the coming growing season. You need to have time to decide what you want to plant so you can be ready when the ground is ready for preparing and planting in the early summer. You want to look at the different varieties of each vegetable you intend to plant. Of course you have to be careful that you don’t plan too much for the size plot you have for planting. All your plants need their space and overcrowding is not a good thing in a vegetable garden. Many plants can spread out of the area that you think is enough and crowd into another area which causes problems for other plants not being allowed to grow right. If you have a way to do research maybe you could look into doing some vertical gardening which will help you save on space.
Don’t forget to plan what you would like to grow for the Agriculture Department Growing contests that are in your Program Book. Be sure to check out the Program Book for all the class details and rules. I kept a number of the classes from last State Session and added a few suggested classes to see how they go too. With our State Session in late October, it makes it hard to come up with classes for the Growing Contests in the Ag Department. I would like to hear from anyone that has some ideas for classes PLEASE!! I hope we will have a good turn out as this will give everyone in the Grange a chance to show what they can do! We had a wonderful turn out at the 2023 State Session, and I hope it continues to GROW!! Please consider one of the classes if you have never entered the Ag Department. Agriculture is one of the main reasons the Grange was formed.
I look forward to another great Grange year as we celebrate 151 years of the Grange in Michigan. Please keep doing your part to keep yourself, your family, your friends and your communities safe and healthy. Let’s show our communities more than ever before what the Grange stands for – Faith, Hope, Charity and Fidelity!!
AGRICULTURE
MAY/JUNE 2024 GRANGE NEWS
Wow is it Spring, or Summer!!?? April sure has been up and down with the temperatures. Now we are possibly going to have a frost over the weekend of April 20th.
How many of you have planted anything in your gardens yet? Things that could have been planted by now would be seed potatoes, onion sets, cold crops (cabbages, etc) and I even think carrots but not sure so please check before you plant them! When planning your garden spots, keep in mind the Ag Classes that you can enter at this year’s Annual State Grange Session. Each class is open to Junior members on up to Subordinate members. There are plenty of different classes for all ages and you do not have to live in the Country to do them. I can’t wait to see what Unique containers with plantings come to State Session. Please check the Program Booklet for more details.
We are getting things done slowly this year around the little farm due to the crazy weather and busy schedules. I have yet to get the chicken coop cleaned but that is because when I have the time it is either not nice weather or I am too tired and need to just rest! This year we will only have feeder pigs to put in the freezers. My niece made the hard decision to not show her last year at the Fair.
So last year at this time, I mentioned that we were going to double the size of the Coop. Well, it happened, and it was so nice to have so much room over the winter. Of course that means more area to clean too! LOL We still have our “garage” cats of all different ages and colors. They have started to have their litter and we have had at least 3 litters as of the writing of this article.
Please be mindful that this is the time of year that the country roads and some State Highways will have slow moving farm vehicles on them. If it wasn’t for those farmers and their employees, we wouldn’t have the opportunity to go to farmers’ markets or the grocery stores to get the needed foods to feed our families. Please give those big vehicles and tractors as much room as you can without causing problems for yourself or others.
Well, that is all for now. Please remember whenever possible to buy Local or Locally Grown / Made products! Local asparagus is being harvested in my area of the State. It is hard to believe it is time for that already. I noticed while mowing the yard for the first time on the 13th of April that our rhubarb is at least 1 foot in height already.
Remember, when possible to buy local or direct from the farm as many farmers either have started their own on Farm store or they sell their goods to other local farmers that have a farm store.
Until later…
