Harvesting vegetables in December

ISHPEMING — Growing fresh vegetables in December in the Upper Peninsula isn’t as far-fetched of an idea as it used to be.

Gretchen Preston harvested lettuce at the Partridge Creek Farm in Ishpeming Wednesday afternoon. Preston, who is visually impaired, planted several crops at the farm back in September.

With the Boomer Bloomer and Seed n’ Weed inventions inside the Yoopertopia Greenhouse, Preston was easily able to plant, grow and harvest several crops.

“I think that this is going to be a fabulous product not only for visually impaired people, but for people who are new to gardening,” said Preston. “To be able to provide fresh greens to our local area restaurants and to our food pantries is going to be great for our community.”

“Local food has all kinds of implications of what it can do for our economy and for our social system as a whole, how we can develop our children into the next generation of farmers, give them give them careers and give them opportunities,” said Dan Perkins of Partridge Creek Farm.

Multiple types of lettuce and spinach were among the crops grown inside the Yoopertopia by many farmers during the fall and winter months.