APPLY NOW to launch your farm business at Tilian in 2012!

Are you an entrepreneurial-minded farmer eager to start your business in Michigan? Are you committed to farming long term, building relationships within your community and boosting the local economy by increasing access to local food?

Then you should consider applying to Tilian's Four Season Farmer Incubator Project today!

To learn more, read our letter to applicants and if you are still interested, complete our application below the letter.

We are looking forward to adding two more farms to our Incubator community next Spring!

DigesTilian, Is. 1, 2, 3

Click Below to view issues one & two of DigesTilian: food assimilation in brief from your local farm development center


Issue 1

Issue 2

Issue 3

Heart Sold to the Honest Way

Finally, there seem to be but three Ways for a Nation to acquire Wealth. The first is by War as the Romans did in plundering their conquered Neighbours. This is Robbery. The second by Commerce which is generally Cheating. The third by Agriculture, the only honest Way; wherein Man receives a real Increase of the Seed thrown into the ground, in a kind of continual Miracle wrought by the Hand of God in his favour, as a Reward for his innocent Life, and virtuous Industry.

-Benjamin Franklin, Positions to be Examined, April 4, 1769

Heart Sold to the Honest Way
Andrea Ridgard, June 2011

1

The duck's feet were tied
The farmer's face was calm
His words were prayers under a tongue tying truth to understanding
His feet were firm and rooted
Deep, like the depth of the soil growing barley that nourished the meal that would soon be his.

His goats bleated standing by
His chickens crouched in their stable
His ducks waddled, circling their open pasture
And the quiet of all that noise, as the legs, breast and beak below tied feet fell weighty with the passing out before death, quieted pain, too

2

Through the brush, Earthway and six row seed endless brassica and head lettuce, carrots begin to look like themselves and onions toy with the idea of breaking the drying soil with their rooted sweet bulb
The farmer paces out her row
Her feet in an exact heel-toe concentrated line that will service the bare, booted and sandaled for months of weeding and harvesting
She is voiceless to the passersby
But her whisper draws nourishment from the compost her partner spread until dusk,
And absorbs warmth from the open sun to exposed sprouting maroon amaranth
As the breeze seems to move with her rhythmic step, encouraging the motion of the nature she is assisting to cultivate

3

Their smiles gleam like those of children
Ever in wonder at the earth's ability
Ever in wonder at their own
Their scruffy dog curls in their arms and waits patiently as they plow yet another field--This one, now fresh with the youngest of cabbage purchased at birth for fermentation; a team attends to its weeding by hand in the afternoon heat-- The protective canine looks on, rarely barking out their accomplishment, just greets them, as the sun sets, with companionship

4

On Wednesday's eve, you can see them
You can listen to the frank, yet careful word of the farmer selling green duck and puissant
You can sense the quiet connection she has with the earth and her heirlooms, and his strength as he makes way for their success
You can melt at the two with the dog and their green things, one bunch of Spring onions, $2.

All Farm BBQ! & Thank you to our supporters!

Tilian Farm Development Center

along with

Seeley Farm, Green Things Farm, & Bending Sickle Community Farm

Invite you to our ALL FARM BBQ!

Join us in thanking our Tools To Till Tilian Kickstarter backers, helping us to raise over $13,000 to launch Tilian's Four Season Farmer Incubator


August 20, 2011 @ 6PM
Enjoy a meal featuring food from all three farms

Come early for a tour of the farms at 4PM

Tilian Farm Development Center is located at
4400 Pontiac Trail, Ann Arbor, MI 48105



RSVP to tilianfdc@gmail.com by August 17
$20-$50 suggested donation per guest

Barn Concert & Dance on July 30!

Join us in Dexter for a real party on an upcoming Saturday night, July 30 at 6PM. We will have light food, music, and a rockin' good time!

You're Invited to a
BARN DANCE & CONCERT

at Rancho Tranquilico,
the home of Barry Lonik

Proceeds to benefit the Tilian Farm Development Center
Featuring Music of the Swtichback wsgs,
A hoppin' mix of blue, rock & alt country

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2011
11300 Island Lake Road

Music & Dancing Starting at 6PM
(Bonfire to follow)

suggested donation: $15/person

For more information: email tilianfdc@gmail.com

Interested in Volunteering? We could use some help with food for the event. Please contact AndreaRidgard@gmail.com for more information.

This Weekend @ Tilian!

We've got two great events going on at Tilian this weekend. Check them out!

On Friday:

Mind, Body & Soil, starts at 6:30 with a yoga class led by A2 Yoga Studio (All levels are encouraged to join, please bring your own mat if you have one). In addition, there will be multiple masseuses on site. Around 8:00pm, a large spread of local food prepared by some of our favorite restaurants, producers and chefs will be served. Weather permitting, there will be a bonfire under the full moon.

Time: 630PM-late

Cost: Suggested donation $11+

For more info or questions contact Michelle @ mgrambea@gmail.com

Full Flyer @ http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4677687/Mind%2C%20Body%20and%20Soil.pdf

On Sunday:

Food Swap hosted by Real Good Food. Make a batch of something (e.g. pickles, preserves, soups, sauces, tamales, liquor infusions, or homebrews), portion it out in tupperwares, mason jars or ziplocs, and bring your bundle of goods to the swap. Then trade your items for other people's specialties! Shelf or freezer stable items are a plus but not required. An extra portion for samples is recommended but not required.

Time: 3PM-5PM

Cost: Free, but tickets are required. Reserve yours at http://rgfswap.eventbrite.com/.

For more info or questions contact Tim @ tima.haines@gmail.com

Seeley Summer Harvest

Now that we're beginning to harvest our first Summer salad mix at Seeley Farm, the many components that make it up, I am reminded of why we started this venture in the first place. Our vision was to grow diverse greens throughout all four seasons. So while our Spring mix contained baby sorrel leaves, cress, pea shoots and other damp-and-chill-loving greens, many of these crops have begun to bolt or go bitter in this early summer heat.

We're tilling up old beds and vigorously replanting them with heat-loving greens. Our Summer mix has greens like Purslane, New Zealand spinach, nasturtium and amaranth. We're experimenting with a small patch of malabar spinach, not a true spinach but a tropical vine with leaves resembling spinach. What results is a salad mix that's not just lettuce, but a composition of many flavors, textures and an overall nutrition powerhouse.

And we're already plotting our seed order for the Fall. I am imagining all the new greens varieties we can grow for the coming cool of Autumn, and Winter beyond.

But by far the most exciting arrival yet this summer is our budding artichoke plants. Growing artichokes is somewhat of an experiment for us this year, only our second year cultivating these thorny, foreboding thistles. It has been an unexpected relief that they are now producing what look to be healthy and happy chokes. We are so happy to be able to add this tasty addition to our host of local foods in Michigan, and are already scheming for acres and acres of artichokes for the coming growing seasons.....well, maybe just one .