Taproot Community Farm INC

Taproot Community Farm INC We are an educational farm dedicated to food sustainability and security for Iron County, MI.

08/27/2026

One more area done! Love working around town!

The end of summer is full throttle when you live so far north! The leaves have started to change color and the evenings ...
08/27/2026

The end of summer is full throttle when you live so far north! The leaves have started to change color and the evenings are getting colder! The push to finish projects is real! Here with Taproot we have so many projects in the planing stage, taking the time to fishes things I already started is sometimes hard!
Here’s to getting it done!
~Martha

08/06/2026

We are so grateful for the help of our volunteers to prepare and plant this space! We are excited to see it get better every year!

Why Fruit Tree Guilds?We want to continue to share information with you about what we are planting in the downtown area....
08/06/2026

Why Fruit Tree Guilds?

We want to continue to share information with you about what we are planting in the downtown area. We are excited that a main feature of this project will be fruit tree guilds! At Taproot, we are committed to designing food systems that work with natural processes to increase productivity and enhance longterm resilience and sustainability. These systems use interconnected relatonships in nature to build self-supporting mini ecosystems that produce food, medicine, and more if desired. Guilding is the opposite of conventional monoculture crops. They are polycultures of diverse species that support each other in a plant and animal community.

So how do they work?

Guilds are designed around a primary food producing species, such as an apple tree or peach tree for example. In correlation to the tree, diverse support species are carefully chosen and planted to support the guild. These species help enhance soil health, increase benecifical bacteria and fungi, attract beneficial insects and repel pests, and suppress w**ds. Pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, and herbicides are not needed because the guild is creating a balanced ecosystem that builds its own nutrients and resistance to pests and disease. You can create brand new guilds or design guilds around existing fruit trees or even oaks and sugar maples.

Several of the guilds in this project will be apple tree guilds. Our apple trees are varieties that are extremely cold hardy and produce fruit that is best eaten fresh off the tree. We purchased a few more mature trees so hopefully we can enjoy the bounty of the guilds sooner than later!

There are many considerations in designing guilds - if you are interested in making one be sure to do your research or get involved with Taproot for some first-hand experience!

We thought throughout this project we'd introduce you to some of the plants we are including, starting with...Rock Harle...
07/23/2026

We thought throughout this project we'd introduce you to some of the plants we are including, starting with...

Rock Harlequin and Pearly Everlasting!

While the majority of plants in this project are perennials (will come back every year), Rock Harlequin (Corydalis sempervirens) is the only native annual being planted. It re-seeds readily though, so we should have new plants every year. (Fingers crossed!) It is a beautiful plant with silvery blue/green foliage and dark pink and yellow blooms. We wanted to include this plant not only because it's pretty, but because it is loved by different types of pollinators and is considered "Yooper Tough," able to grow in poor, rocky soils - in fact that's its preference.

Our Pearly Everlasting may not look that nice right now, but that is because it's doing its job! Pearly Everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea) is one of the host plants for the Painted Lady and American Lady butterflies. Host plants are specific plants that specific insects have coevolved with and need to successfully breed and complete their life cycle (i.e. monarchs and milkw**d). The webbing clumps shown in the picture are the 'silken tents' that the larvae weave around them while they feed. This plant is tough and will recover. It is an excellent example of an important rule of thumb when gardening for wildlife - if insects aren't using your plants, your garden is not part of the ecosystem! The primary purpose of native plants is to support native insects. A balanced ecosystem has its own checks and balances to ensure the health of plants even while they are being used by insects.

And just this morning, a monarch caterpillar was found munching away on some butterfly w**d that is also going to be planted. ☺️☺️ The butterfly w**d will be just fine!

We are so excited about this! Thank you Iron County Trail Club for all your hard work! Your trails give a wonderful oppo...
07/19/2026

We are so excited about this! Thank you Iron County Trail Club for all your hard work! Your trails give a wonderful opportunity for the people of our community to see the beautiful land at Taproot Community Farm INC!

07/13/2026

So grateful for our volunteers that make this huge project possible!

Thank you so much to Bigari Ace Hardware for providing such great items for our raffle today!Congratulations to the four...
05/03/2026

Thank you so much to Bigari Ace Hardware for providing such great items for our raffle today!

Congratulations to the four gardeners that won!!
Angie P. Dohl
BenJamin Garcia
Jeri Wendt
And
Selah (Carrie Waters)

Our community made today so wonderful!
Thank you for “sowing” your support!

Address

Stambaugh Avenue
Iron River, MI
49935

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