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(Top
Left) The
Titus Farms open house for members who bought produce shares
for the season offered samples of different varieties
of tomatoes for members to rank.
(Top Middle) Well,
the family secret is out. Rebecca, standing in the
corner of the wagon, has been called pumpkin by the
family. She helps manage the farm and is a senior
at MSU in the Horticulture program. Here she is giving a
tour of the main farm. Paul Titus is on the tractor.
(Top
Right) A well managed farm includes compost as
part of the fertilizing process. By taking scraps of
plant and animal refuse and mixing it in a manner that
creates heat, a safe effective fertilizer is created at
no cost.
(Second
Row Left)
Again, good farm management often means leaving
land such as this swamp as it is. Farming creates a
strong understanding of the land, and instills a desire
to keep it healthy and growing. A farmer's identity is
strongly in the land, and poor land use insults every
farmer. If you question an environmental issue, ask a
farmer.A farmer instinctively sees past the politics.
How is that possible? Every day they use the land, yet
they want to make it better for the next generation.
It's their job. It's in their blood.
(Second
Row Middle)
Swiss
chard is one of many crops that the Titus Farms grow.
Some of the others are carrots, onions, musk melons, a
variety of squashes, garlic, lettuces, and everyone's
favorite, tomatoes.
(Second
Row Right)
Summer
is not summer without some watermelon. Whether you like it the
traditional way of sitting on the back porch with a big
slice and spitting seeds on the ground, making
smoothies, or watermelon pickles (a Southern favorite)
the Titus' have more then anyone can use, and then some.
You will have to supply your own napkins.
(Third
Row Left)
A
tractor with a potato harvestor. The harvestor pulls the
potatoes out of the ground, using teeth, shakes the dirt
off and then rolls them off the conveyor to lay on top of the ground.
(Third
Row Middle)
Mulberry
trees. Most often used today as a food source for
animals. In the past a source for food. Makes great jams
and jellies.
(Third
Row Right)
Sycamore
trees. A soft wood, sometimes used in paper. A fast
growing tree that can grow 70 feet in 17 years. Today it
is used mostly as an ornamental tree. The only
construction for this lumber is butcher blocks. A tree
with much sap.
(Forth
Row Left)
This cat
on the North Titus Farm was so darn friendly it was
impossible to get a decent picture. This photo has the
cat in the shadows of John with the very bright dirt
around it. It acted as our host on this farm showing us
all of the crops such as egg plant, tomatoes and corn.
(Forth
Row Middle)
Chickens
are a part of every farm.
(Forth
Row Right)
Rose
Titus talks about the farm and a bit about the family.
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