Here are the three farms participating in our organic transition program:
Harn Farm in Grand Junction, Moss Funnel in Bangor and Salgado Farm in Covert:

Back up and running! Our journey to organic blueberries....

It's May 12, 2014 - Thanks to a generous SARE grant from the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Moss Funnel Farms is joining with two other farmers, Raphael Salgado and (Rev.) Dave Harn to develop a quick process for small blueberry farmers to transition to organic practices, first, then hopefully organic certification.

Many smaller farmers are being squeezed as growers become larger and larger. Also, there is very strong demand among buyers in the marketplace for fruit that is not sprayed with chemical fertilizers and pesticides. This has created a fertile moment for smaller farmers to embrace the organic banner.
And while the State of Michigan grows one third of all of America's blueberries, it's output of naturally grown and organic berries is miniscule.

We'll be documenting in this blog what steps are underway. Joe Corrado, the "Joe" in Moss Funnel Farm's Joe's Blues will be the lead farmer. He is being assisted by top blueberry researchers from Michigan State University and by Van Buren County, Michigan's well-respected fruit specialist, Mark Longstroth.

Two days of slow rain at the start of June. Perfect for fattening up the berries!  It's going to be an early season because of the warm spring and we're in the fields now chopping down the weeds and spraying organic potions to keep down the bugs and fungi.  The fields are full. It looks like a potentially great harvest. The county extension agent, Mark Longstrath, tells us he expects that our jersey bushes will be ready the second week of July and our earlier varieties in mid-June and late-June.

HOW WE DO "ORGANIC"

Three years ago, when I decided that I wanted to turn this traditional farm into an organic one, I looked up what products were authorized by the government for such a thing.  The products I found ( which a lot of certified organic farms use like:Entrust and Serenade) were harmful to fish and fowl. This confused me as you might suspect. So, I did more research and found out that deregulation had loosened the perimiters of what was deemed acceptable levels of chemicals to be consumed by the blind-folded public. Getting certified organic isn't our main concern. We know we are doing things the way they should be and understand people get it. No fancy title, no cloak, we are just keeping a close eye on our small farm.
       I want to give you a list of aids I use in growing.  For pest control I use a product called Bt. It includes concentrated forms of mint leaf, citranela, and other natural occurrences. Please click on this link for more info on Bt ( http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05556.html )  For fungus I use vitamin D milk (1/2 gallon/ acre) added to a cornmeal tea that is sprayed every week or so. I also spread cornmeal on the ground for the roots to soak up. This year I am going to be spraying coffee.  That's right, plain old coffee on the plants for good pH and nutrients. I will also be spraying the bushes with compost tea for the same reason.  The basic idea here is: the healthier the plant, the more resistant to disease and insects it is.
- Joe

Have a bright, blue Xmas

At the farm, the snow is as high as our hopes for the coming year and our good wishes for you. Have a bright blue Xmas! Joe and Frank

Larry David's Tax Cut...

Larry David plan for spending his rich person's tax cut includes blueberries:

"...After years of coveting them, I’ll finally be able to afford blueberries. Did you know they have a lot of antioxidants, which prevent cancer? Cancer! This tax cut just might save my life. Who said Republicans don’t support health care? I’m going to have the blueberries with my cereal, and I’m not talking Special K. Those days are over. It’s nothing but real granola from now on. The kind you get in the plastic bins in health food stores. Did someone say 'organic'?..."


Larry,  get your own blueberry bush at joesblueberries.com. Even the middle class can afford them!

Mos Funnel Farms, home to Joe's Blues blueberries, opened in 2009 near Bangor , MI, three hours from Chicago or Detroit by car.

The five acre farm has almost 1400 Jersey high bush blueberry plants on a picturesque setting. The plants, over fifty years old, are destined for hand picking. A unique feature of the farm is a program where people can rent their own blueberry bush for the season.

Moss Funnel Farms is making a long-term commitment to running a "green" blueberry business.

We want to be sustainable growers, This past summer we turned half our crop into a "no pesticide zone."

This coming year we will expand the no pesticide policy to the entire farm and we will be using the minimum amount of chemicals for fertilizing We're lucky because we have strong healthy, 60-year old Jersey blueberries and we are doing things like natural weed control – pulling them out by hand – rather than applying chemicals.