We are  located in Southwest Michigan in Berrien Center.  We are a family-owned farm growing organically.  We hope to obtain organic certification of a small part of our farm in 2007, with most apples on track for certification in 2008.

 

Come visit us at

www.earthfirstfarms.com

info@earthfirstfarms.com

Farming Corner

It is now the end of our first year.  The equipment is stored and the off-season pruning has begun.  We have sold all the apples and have now seen all facets of the preparation/growing/marketing cycle.  It was a good year for growing, an ok year for marketing and we learned that we are a little “preparation challenged”. 

 

This year turned out to be a huge apple harvest for SW Michigan – as big as most neighbors can remember.  The thing with farming is that in a good year, it’s hard to sell product – prices drop and buyers get their fill early.  In a bad year, you got nothing to sell.  So, we hope for average.  We expected to have a rough first year, so, we met expectations!

 

After selling all the apples, we have learned the harsh reality of  the modern food distribution system.  As a basic rule of thumb, farmers often will receive only 10-20% of the price you pay for apples in the store.  Most of the money is paid to the middlemen who simply move our product to stores. In order to make it, we know that we have to develop direct relationships with stores.  Current retail customers are True Nature Foods, Transitions Book Store and Café and Kings Hill Farms.  Please mention us if you visit any of them.  If you know of any local store that may have interest in carrying great product, please let us know and we’ll go talk with them.

 

It is time to sign up for your 2007 tree lease!  There is a more detailed explanation of how to do this, but here’s the short story – send an email to info@earthfirstfarms.com and tell us you want a tree for 2007.  You pick the variety (we can help), pay $40 and get the yield from that tree – this can be 100 or more pounds depending on the year.  We have other options available including mixing varieties, adding cider, and other tweaks you can do.  The $40 price is for those who act before May – pricing will increase after May.

 

Lastly, as we head into cold weather (is it ever going to come?), we want to thank all who have ordered apples, cider, pies or just provided morale boosting.  You are helping us along in this venture and your support has been invaluable in this first year.

 

Harvest Party

What a great time we had on October 7 this year.  Surrounded by weekends of awful weather, we were blessed to see 70° temperatures and the sun shining on our large crowd of folks who came out to see what Earth First Farms is all about. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hen House Prowlers played their incredible bluegrass which made the day perfect.  There were only a few brave city souls who slept in the orchard at night, and they were well rewarded with a gorgeous night and a blazing fire.  Everyone seemed to enjoy the apples, and pie, and cider, and donuts!  Thanks to all who attended and for those who didn’t, we hope to see you next year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did you take pictures at the party?  We would love to collect them for viewing.  See our pictures at

http://picasaweb.google.com/EarthFirstFarms/2006HarvestParty

if you have pictures to share, either send them to us directly and we will post, or post your own album and send us a link...Thanks!

HEY—Check out our new logo!  Designed by Richard Zeid, this was the result of many hours of hard work.