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Hi,
This week starting on Tuesday, something new will be at our Magicland Farms Roadside Market-Home Baked Goodies! These tasty treats are made possible by three of my daughters (who do the baking) as well as Michigan's new Cottage Food Law which makes it all legal! Early in the week they will have for sale Jonathan Apple Pie Pastries and Soft Chocolate Cookies. Later in the week they will have chocolate cupcakes with a special type of chocolate frosting that is really exceptional. All their baked goodies are made from scratch. Of course, the pastries are made from our own Jonathan apples which have more flavor than any other type of apple!
For those who aren't familiar, the following is directly from the Michigan.gov website. "Michigan's Cottage Food Law, PA 113 of 2010, which took effect in July 2010, exempts a "cottage food operation" from the licensing and inspection provisions of the Michigan Food Law of 2000. A cottage food operation still has to comply with the labeling, adulteration, and other provisions found in the Michigan Food Law, as well as other applicable state or federal laws, or local ordinances.
"Under the Cottage Food Law, non-potentially hazardous foods that do not require time and/or temperature control for safety can be produced in a home kitchen (the kitchen of the person's primary domestic residence) for direct sale to customers at farmers markets, farm markets, roadside stands or other direct markets. The products can't be sold to retail stores; restaurants; over the Internet; by mail order; or to wholesalers, brokers or other food distributors who resell foods.
Selling directly to consumers under the Cottage Food Law provides an opportunity for new, small scale food processors to "test the waters" and see if operating a food business is the right fit for them. The law also enables farmers who sell produce at farmers' markets and farm markets to expand their product lines to include things like baked goods and jams. Hopefully, this will be a stepping stone into a full-scale, licensed food processing business for many cottage food businesses in the future."
This new venture by three of my daughters now gives me the opportunity to thank the Michigan Department of Agriculture along with the USDA for all the help they have provided Magicland Farms along with the residents of Newaygo County. As many of you know, these government entities have made possible Project Fresh, which provides $20 to $40 in coupons to families with infant children (WIC) as well as Senior Citizens. These coupons can only be used for produce grown in Michigan. Since we grow all the produce ourselves this isn't a problem like it is at some markets. We cannot accept these coupons for baked goods, Indian corn, gourds or anything else that isn't eaten. The Fremont Area Community Foundation also provides financial assistance to these programs. In addition to helping with Project Fresh, the USDA makes it possible for us to accept the EBT(Electronic Benefit Transfer)/Bridge Card. The USDA has provided us with the card reading machine for no cost. All we need pay for is a landline from AT&T to use the machine. The EBT program is a replacement for Food Stamps and operates just like using a debit card. This EBT program saves the USDA quite a bit of money. Approximately a third of Newaygo County residents use the EBT/Bridge Card.
Good news for all those SunSugar Cherry tomato fans! While we are done picking the field SunSugar tomatoes due to all the rain causing cracking, the SunSugar plants in our High Tunnel have sent out new shoots and look like they think it's July and not late October! The cherry tomatoes are doing great and we are again picking quantities of very high quality cherry tomatoes. It's possible we will be able to continue picking these tomatoes until Halloween! Remember, while you can eat SunSugar tomatoes like cherries, you can also cut them in half and use them in BLT's, on Hamburgers and other sandwiches. Because of their high flavor all you need is 4 or 5 of these tomatoes cut in half to make a BLT or hamburger a real delight!
We are nearing the end of our apple harvest. This is obvious because we have finished picking our Northern Spy apples. We had a real nice crop of these great pie apples and they averaged larger than ever-there were only a few small Spies on the tree-most would be considered by us xtra-large in other years. We also are now picking Idared and Roman Beauty (Rome), which is the very best apple for baked apples, Our Mutsu apples have been hit by blister spot and thus are ugly. This is a unique problem with Mutsu and is the reason they are no longer being planted. The good news: this spot is only a surface blemish and doesn't affect the flesh. Once you peel the apple the spot is gone! We will be selling these ugly Mutsu at reduced prices. This is great news for those who don't really care how an apple looks! We still have good quantities of most of our late apples such as Northern Spy, Jonathan, Red Delicious, Empire and others. Also, this is a good week to stock up on quality squash since we will have a good selection of acorn, butternut and Heart of Gold squash and are selling them for $10 a bushel.
Nashle,
Tom
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