Explore your inner farmer

Nov. 30, 2008

Ever toy with the idea of starting your own business as a farmer or simply growing your own affordable, organic fruits, herbs and flowers?
A workshop on hoophouse farming is being offered to inspire wanna-be farmers or those who already farm and could use an extra three to four months of growing time.
A hoophouse — made of PVC pipes, plastic, and sometimes wood — is really a poor man’s version of a greenhouse. The structures are of particular benefit in Northern Michigan with its long, cold winters. The plastic protects plants from excessive rain, wind and frost, and raises daytime temperatures by at least five to 10 degrees. This gives farmers more growing time at both ends of the growing season.
A free workshop on how to design, build and operate a hoophouse will be held on Wednesday, Dec. 3 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Black Star Farms, which uses a hoophouse to grow its produce.
The farm is three-and-a-half miles south of Suttons Bay on Revold Rd., just off of M-22. Participants are asked to bring a lunch.
The workshop is sponsored by the Michigan Land Use Institute’s Get Farming! Project.
“One of the goals of the program is to make it easier for new growers to enter the farming system and actually make money at it,” said Jim Sluyter, coordinator of the Get Farming project. “We also want to help existing farms become more profitable as well.”
Adam Montri, outreach specialist with the MSU Student Organic Farm and Michigan Food and Farming Systems will teach the seminar.
While the presentation will be oriented toward hoophouses, it will also be relevant to conventional greenhouse design and management. Topics will include design options and construction methods for a wide range of costs and sizes, crop selection and scheduling, soil and fertility management, and methods of planting, growing and harvesting in a hoophouse.
Space is limited, so please register by calling the Michigan Land Use Institute at 231- 941-6584.
This workshop is part of the Institute’s Get Farming! project, which is hosting classes on many subjects, including “Finding Local Food Funding,” on December 10 from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. at Lake City High School Auditorium.

Future workshops will cover:
• Financing and grant opportunities available to area farms.
• Women in Agriculture.
• Effective grant-writing strategies.
• Native American growing practices.
• Local zoning and your farm.
• Food processing and value-added agriculture.

In addition, Get Farming’s Entrepreneur Series will offer eight classes covering farm businesses issues like market research, legal concerns, and financial planning. The Entrepreneur Series begins on January 20, 2009 at Michigan Works in Traverse City.
Get Farming! is a service of Taste the Local Difference, a major component of the Institute’s Entrepreneurial Agriculture Program, which works to grow jobs, save farmland, and build healthier communities with food that’s thousands of miles fresher. Support for this program is provided by the USDA’s Risk Management Agency.
For more information, call Jim Sluyter at 231-889-0199 or visit
www.localdifference.org.