ALPENA — A seed has been planted in Alpena.

Rose Bisanz, owner of Rose Garden of Greens, Rose Bisanz, and Amanda Timm and Karen Grochowski, owners of Falls Creek Flowers and Produce, have partnered to offer community supported agriculture vegetable and bouquet shares.

A CSA means customers pay for a “share” of produce delivered once a week during the season. This is done for people to interact directly with their local farmers.

This is Bisanz’s second year of CSA shares and she farms three-quarters of an acre on her father’s property.

“I grew up on that farm, me and four other kids. Our parents raised us on the farm,” she said. “It was a way of life. I went to Marquette to school for art at (Northern Michigan University). I always kept food in my life. I worked at a food co-op, volunteered on a CSA, then moved to Detroit briefly. My love of farming was always still there, even though I was gearing toward art. I worked for Ben Klein and he had a CSA briefly. I loved doing this. I love the peace and quiet.”

Now every summer she goes to work in the garden and “plays in the dirt.” She also works full-time in the fine arts department at Alpena Community College.

She said the one of the biggest pros of buying a share is that it’s a direct sale.

“You know your farmer, so it’s a personal relationship; convenience,” she said. “(Customers) pick up the vegetables and go. It’s fresh. We harvest our produce the day before and day of.”

She said she tries to grow anything she can. Right now she does mostly vegetables — salad mix, vegetables, onions, broccoli, cucumber etc.

“We don’t have a lot of fruit yet. That comes with establishment, any kind of fruit is more permanent. Josh (her husband) and I are looking for a farm right now. In the next two or three years we would be primarily at that place,” she said.

One vegetable she’s excited to grow is sweet potatoes because they have a long growing season. She uses a small greenhouse to start the plants and she’s not certified organic.

“I don’t know if it’s something I will do in the future. I do use organic practices. I use organic fertilizer,” she said.

She tries to not use pesticides and instead use good land stewardship. She said she turns under row crops and if she does use anything to combat bugs is certified organic.

“For the most part I don’t spray. I don’t use anything to get rid of weeds. I pull a lot of weeds,” she said.

Sometimes the weather may impact a particular crop, but when that happens she tries to rotate what’s offered in shares.

FLOWER SHARES

Bisanz has partnered with mother-daughter Timm and Grochowski this year for the first time. Half a share is one arrangement delivered every other week. A single share is one arrangement delivered every week. The bouquets will be handmade with flowers unique to what’s blooming at the time.

“Rose and I went to school together and we’re connected in a lot of ways through our family,” Timm said. “I saw or heard about other businesses who had a similar format and there was nothing similar in this area. I knew she didn’t grow flowers. I thought it would be a great way to reach into new markets and connect to customers. They pay up front and it helps to kick start our season. Someone who is buying into a bouquet share will have more of a connection with the farm and we’re able to order additional seed or seed starting mix.”

Timm and her mom began their florist business Falls Creek Flowers and Produce a couple of years ago.

They grow on two farms, one at Hubbard Lake and the other in Alpena that used to be Timm’s grandfather’s. Their season goes from early May to mid October and they grow dahlias, snapdragons, ranunculus, anemones and more. They have a small greenhouse in progress, otherwise they start their seeds indoors.

Grochowski said as a family they’ve always grown vegetables and decided to try flowers after Timm’s wedding in 2014.

“We did her wedding and that got us going. It really showed us how we really loved it and what you can do with local flowers. We just went from there and decided it was something we wanted to do. It’s been growing every year. I think it’s a passion we always had but wasn’t something we thought of as a business,” Grochowski said.

One of the biggest challenges they’ve come across is the Michigan weather.

“We also try not to use any insecticides. Flowers are unique with their pest problems. Their different pests for different flowers. We’ve had to learn different methods, we even use covers to put on flowers to keep bugs off them. It’s very time consuming. Flowers need to picked at a certain time of day. They need different kinds of trimming. They need to be kept cool. Different flowers need to be harvested at different times of day,” Grochowski said.

Timm said there is a gap in the market to provide something like bouquet shares and when people catch wind of what they’re doing it fuels their fire.

“What we hope with the subscriptions, not only are we promoting the brand, we’re promoting this new culture creeping its way into the area. There are young farms starting and they have great ideas. They’re connecting together. The west side (of the state) is thriving in that and it’s slowly making its way here,” Timm said.

For the vegetable CSA a half share is a half bushel every other week. A single share is a half bushel every week, and a double share is one bushel every week. People can pick up their bouquet and vegetable shares at the Rose of Garden Greens in Lachine, Jakes Place in Alpena, Sunrise Garden and Grains in Rogers City and Auto Value/ The Parts Haus in Ossineke. The deadline to join is May 1. The CSA runs for 14 weeks, from June through September.

For more information contact Bisanz at 255-1559 or email rosegardenofgreens@gmail.com.

Jordan Spence can be reached via email at jspence@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5687.