Here's what's going on at the farm now!

Crème de la Crop is officially certified organic!

With all the new development here at the farm the decision has been made to reduce the number of shares we will take on. We will be only accepting membership for 60 families this coming season (last year 180 shares were sold).

Next year, we are

• Planting the same number of crops but accepting 1/2 the number of members.
• Moving next years crops to the fallow rich ground.
• Raising the barn.
• Incorporating grazing animals.
• Moving our strawberries out to the field to allow room in our wood raised bed area for increased root crops.
• Purchasing a second reliable used tractor.
• Educating through agriculture tours.
  

Future plans for the farm include:

• Tours at the farm next year.
• Raising chickens for eggs and poultry.
• Raising goats to help fertilize some of our fields.
• A second heated greenhouse that will be built as ecofriendly as possible.
• Getting grants for windmills and solar panels.
• Putting up the retail facility (the building is already purchased). You will be able to purchase local natural and or organic cheeses, honey, meats, dairy, and more.
• We are putting together a proposal for a not for profit farm learning center. Some of the plans include offering tours, back to the basics classes, and structured age specific gardens where everyone can get their hands into the soil and experience nature first hand.
• Planting bamboo for our own usage (primarily staking plants). Bamboo is the number one exported item from China. It is considered a grass that grows very fast that has tendrils and replants itself. About 25 years ago some of the bad farming practices on the farm had created these large wash outs. We will be filling them up with the wood mulch that we get from the city and topdressing them with the composted mulch (that is in the center of the mulch pile). This is where we are planting our bamboo. By doing this we will be turning implantable land to valuable land, preventing soil erosion, and turning it into a safe area that we won't have to worry about driving machinery into.
• Planting endangered fruit trees, apples, pears, plums, peaches, and cherries (100 trees per year); as well as endangered annual fruit and vegetable crops. We will be planting the trees on the grounds that are very steep where it is practically impossible to produce row crops. Here's an article about heirloom apples.
• We were informed by our Organic Certifying Agency that it would be very easy for us to grow mushrooms. They told us we could spread wood mulch around our fruit trees then release mushroom spores around them; nature will take over from there.
  

An Opportunity to try Crème de la Crop Produce

Due to an abundance of our crops, we will be selling some of our crops to the local Wise Way Supermarkets. Please email us at cremedelacrop@msn.com if you would like to learn what produce is available at Wise Way.

Phone Office: 219.510.4547
Phone Farm: 219.462.9587
Phone Fax: 219.477.2001

Please contact Crème de la Crop at cremedelacrop@msn.com for more information.