MSU Tollgate Farm and Education Center

Interested in volunteering at Tollgate? Both Extension Master Gardeners and Non-Extension Master Gardeners must first complete our Volunteer Selection Process at https://msu.samaritan.com/custom/502/#/volunteer_home

Make sure you have the following information correct when you apply:

• Volunteer type: GOLD 
• Program area: Choose one:
  • EMG: Extension Master Gardener
  • Non-EMG: Agriculture and Agribusiness
• Primary County: Oakland, Wayne, Macomb
• Specific Event: not applicable 
• Staff Member: Choose one:
  • EMG Oakland: Lori Imboden
  • EMG Wayne: Dierdre Hope
  • EMG Macomb: Karen Burke
  • Non-EMG: Carmen Hamilton

Once you have entered all your required information into the Volunteer Selection system an MSU Tollgate staff member will reach out to you about completing a brief interview. Interviews will be conducted by one of the following staff members; Roy Prentice, Ellen Koehler, Carmen Hamilton, or Mike Mathis. After the interview you will be asked to confirm with Roy Prentice or Ellen Koehler your intent to work on an approved Extension Master Gardener project or Non-Extension Master Gardener project. MSU Tollgate Farm staff will provide you with written permission to visit the farm. You will also be asked to sign a Safety Guidelines form and return this to our staff and the Consumer Horticulture Team member for your area.

We appreciate your willingness to volunteer at MSU Tollgate Farm and thank you for beginning this new process of volunteer selection. Volunteers are the most essential partners we have in MSU Extension and they create life-changing experiences and provide millions of dollars in added value in our communities.

Nestled in the City of Novi is a beautiful working farm, Michigan State University Tollgate Farm and Education Center. MSU Tollgate Farm includes beautiful flower gardens, open pastures, pond, walking trails, farm animals and 3-acres of organic vegetable fields. There is a historical barn with an attached conference center on site. The barn is in original condition and with lighting and decorations becomes a spectacular place for weddings and special events. For all these reasons and more, MSU Tollgate Farm is truly unique venue.

MSU Tollgate Farm is available for indoor wedding ceremonies in our historic barn and outdoor weddings ceremonies at several beautiful sites on the farm. The Conference Center attached to the historical barn is a perfect for business meetings and celebrations of all kinds. The Conference Center is equipped to support any technology needs, while holding up to 80 people with desks, chairs and a podium. We offer rectangular desks and chairs or round banquet style seating. Catering is offered, allowing you to create a custom menu for your event. MSU Tollgate Farm can meet any of your needs to be that special venue you have in mind.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, MSU Tollgate has cancelled all weddings, business meetings, festivals and educational events. With all the disappointment COVID-19 has brought to our lives, we would like to offer a 20% discount to any group that was unable to have their event in 2020, whether it was scheduled at MSU Tollgate or not. The discount will apply to the rental rate for any event scheduled in 2021.

MSU Tollgate Farm is currently closed to the public, we hope to re-open sometime soon, when it’s safe and restrictions subside. We look forward to welcoming groups big and small, and anyone that will enjoy the well maintained, beautiful, natural simplicity and wonder that MSU Tollgate Farm offers its visitors. Stay safe and take care, we hope to see you soon!

We use three different methods for watering. The first method is drip tape, a thin plastic tube with regularly spaced holes that emit drops of water. We use drip tape for crops like squash, tomatoes, peppers and eggplant that we plant into plastic mulch. These crops benefit from the extra heat and weed suppression provided by the plastic mulch, but the mulch prohibits water from infiltrating so we put drip tape under the plastic mulch. Because drip tape and mulch are a significant expense not just to buy but also to install, we only use it on long season crops where we will get the most bang for our buck. We plant about an third of our crops using drip tape, which uses the least amount of water, is the best for preventing disease but is also the most expensive.

The second method is movable solid set, which is a series of impact sprinklers. We set up this system direct seeded crops like carrots that need consistent moisture to germinate. We can quickly install the solid set, which allows us to water daily for the two weeks needed to get the crop to germinate and establish without moving hoses or the gun. We only water a few thousand square feet at a time with this system before it gets moved to the next field and that crop is covered by our last, and main, irrigation method.

The third and our most used method is overhead watering with our large impact sprinkler or gun (the actual industry term). This giant impact sprinkler emits 40 gallons of water a minute and covers a circle 110 feet in diameter. It’s fed water by 2 inch diameter hoses, pumped from our reservoir by our pump and generator. This is our main method for irrigation because it is highly flexible, in that it can go anywhere quickly and can cover a range of areas and water amounts. Its also the most affordable since it requires no upkeep outside of pumping water and rarely breaks.

Each irrigation method is matched not just to the crop, but to the crop’s life stage, the soil quality and more. Each system has advantages and disadvantages, and as we have used each system more we have learned more about how to get the most out of them.

Spring in the Sakura Garden

At the end of April, the cherry blossoms in our Sakura garden were in full bloom!

Fertilizing the Hay Field

Tollgate recently started a small scale fertilizer trial in the hay field.  We applied 100 pounds of nitrogen per acre to two acres.  This summer, when we cut hay out of the fields, we’ll note the number of bales in treated and untreated areas.  Observations will help guide our management of the fields in future years.

Have you seen this plant?  Pretty, but beware.  Garlic mustard is an invasive plant commonly found in woodlots, hedgerows and gardens.  Garlic mustard produces lots of seeds and can take over a woodlot rapidly crowding out our spring natives.  At Tollgate, staff and volunteers have been pulling out garlic mustard for years to keep it in check.  The Tollgate woods are a wonderful example of a beech/maple forest type with a beautiful understory of spring wildflowers.  This spring display is made possible by the hours spent controlling garlic mustard. 

Enjoy these additional photos from around the farm. We cannot wait until it is safe to welcome visitors once again.