Play is important for children of all ages, and children’s play areas can become an integral part of your agritourism operation – but these spaces must be created with safety in mind. A session at the most recent Great Lakes Expo led by Nate Bosch, landscape architect with Outdoor Discovery Center o...

Jared Hughes’s entry into the plant and greenhouse business happened naturally. During college, he propagated succulents on his parents’ property and sold them at farmers markets. “Jared likes hippie culture,” Jared’s wife Liz said. “He started out calling the business Groovy Agave, which has a nice...

At the most recent Cultivate Conference , growers packed together to soak up smart strategies on a deceptively simple subject: watering. In a session titled “Optimize Moisture Management to Grow Your Best Crops Ever,” Nick Flax, technical services specialist at Ball Seed Company, made one thing clea...

According to some, elderberries have a taste similar to blackberries and black currants but have a more “earthy” flavor. Their unique flavor is enjoyed by many these days in culinary treats and elderberry medicine extracts. The market for elderberry is still being studied and expanded. So a team of ...

“Are the PFAS in pesticides contaminating our land and water? Unfortunately, there really isn’t enough research yet to give us a firm answer,” said Faith Cullens-Nobis, an Extension educator with Michigan State University. Despite the lack of a firm answer, Cullens-Nobis thinks farmers need more inf...

Nearly everyone looks forward to retirement, and many anticipate collecting Social Security. However, planning is essential. Paula Ledney, Penn State Extension program specialist, retirement planning and business management, explained, “Social Security is a federal program that provides retirement b...

Michigan’s cabbage fields rarely make headlines but they quietly carry economic weight (and mounting weed control strain) across the state. In 2024 about 3,800 acres of cabbage were harvested in Michigan – a crop that is small in acreage but significant in value. Growers face a persistent profit pin...

Hello, farm family! Yesterday, an old memory resurfaced from some dusty corner of my mind. It was of my great-grandfather sharpening a hoe on our old foot-powered wheel grinder. Hoes We used hoes a lot on our farm back then. Naturally, we employed them for transplanting seedlings and weeding vegetab...

The Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers hosted a webinar recently focusing on flower growers interested in expanding their business by selling to florists. Ellen Frost, the owner of Local Color Flowers in Baltimore, has been sourcing flowers from local farmers for over 20 years. Frost has ha...