Lukas grew up on Maui, on a certified bio-dynamic and organic traditional CSA farm. Early experiences on the family farm along with the teachings of the more esoteric world of growing plants led him to study many differing aspects of the craft, and to make thoughtful observations in order to cultivate his farming skills. An architect at heart, he seeks to solve the myriad and universal problems of growing and selling food.
Hoophouses provide us a longer growing season, with spring-like temperatures in late winter and a greatly extended autumn. We use them in the spring to grow nursery starts, and plant them with crops year-round. The added protection from rain makes us able to avoid over-watering and the subsequent fungal dieseases that can result from rainfall hitting the leaves and fruit of crop plants. This year we plan on one hoophouse being full of tomatoes, with root crops of ginger and turmeric. The other hoophouse will be peppers, eggplant, beans, and other vegetables, even the weird ones! We keep weeds at bay by using tarps and the hot temperatures to germinate weeds all at once to then clear them all at once.
Not only is it one of the world's most beautiful lakes, along with Lake Bellaire and West Grand Traverse Bay, it also provides a microclimate that moderates the usual Michigan extremes of hot and cold. The heat absorbed in summer extends the autumn. One year our first frost on the farm wasn't until November! The cold absorbed in winter keeps spring and summer nights cool, which intensifies the flavor of many fruits and vegetables and keeps them crisp.
Bellaire Nursery grows a variety of flowers and vegetable starts for your gardens and ours! Grown from seed in fertile high quality soil, we never use neonics or any other pesticides or herbicides on nursery plants. Pollinator atracting plants are one of our specialities, we even grow plants for the GT Butterfly House & Bug Zoo to use inside their habitat! We also grow all the plants that are planted as food crops at GLO. When you purchase garden starts from Bellaire Nursery, you can be assured that you will recieve plants that have been well cared for and are ready to thrive.
Joanna and Lukas of GLO, Grass Lake Road Farm Stand, and the Bellaire Nursery are founding members of the Torch Lake Co-op, a non-profit agricultural producer cooperative! First serving on the steering committee and now sitting on the board, they are committed to putting the needs of farmers first and helping farming enterprises thrive along with our own. Cooperatives are unique in the business landscape. Allowing for the democratic control of our collective farming future is a powerful way to increase the value of our local food systems for the benefit of farmers and consumers alike.
The GLO CSA harkens back to the original concept of community supported agriculture. It is a share of what GLO harvests on a weekly basis from mid-May to mid-October. We grow a variety of seasonal produce like herbs, vegetables, tomatoes, peppers, greens, eggplant, flowers, beans, and squash.
To shop for your groceries from the TorchLake.Coop, visit the website and click on shop now. That takes you to the Open Food Network, an open source, global network of producers that we are proud to be a part of.
Do you run a restaurant, hotel, or tourist attraction? We sell plants by the flat! Order for your season with us and we can help plan your planters or beds. We also grow specialty plants for other farms in the spring as well. Contact us regarding your nursery transplant needs anytime. grasslakeorganics@gmail.com
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