August BLOG-The Last Days of Summer...

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August 11, 2006

Two months.  475 miles.  15 farms.  One flat tire, a few screaming matches, endless weeding, a lot of good food, and a whole lot of fun.  We’ve completed our counter-clockwise tour around Grand Rapids and have begun the journey northward yet again.  Any week now, the skies will part and we will officially be “up north.”  Right now, we’re at the Funny Farm in Grant, but we have lots to catch you up on…This is a long one, bear with us…             As we were getting ready to leave the Eaters’ Guild and Blue Dog Greens, who should show up but our friend from Lansing, TAYLOR REID.  Quelle surprise magnifique.  Taylor is a friend of Lee and Laurie, and he is conducting doctoral research about first generation farmers in Michigan.  He’s doing an in-depth ethnography of four farms, and a broad survey of many others by visiting and volunteering with the farmers.  It’s funny we haven’t run into each other more often, since many CSA farmers are first-generation farmers.  So thanks for the coleslaw, Taylor, and I hope we see you again soon.

Sometimes I get the feeling that my plans are not in accordance with the grander master Plan.  Marty wrote about camping by Lake Michigan already, but I want to back up and mention the several false starts that afternoon. First, we’d planned to leave in the morning, bike north and west, find a secluded spot near the beach to camp, and have a relaxing afternoon/evening.  After an interview with Den and Jen, packing up, and saying goodbyes, we were finally ready to leave by mid-afternoon (otherwise we would have missed Taylor), and I had lost the lid to my water bottle.  We spent time looking. Marty lost a bungee cord.  We spent time looking.  It was getting late.  I wanted to change plans and just bike over to South Haven for the night instead of the Saugatuck area, so we got the map out and argued about routes and plans and such.  After a long stand-off, we finally came back around to Plan A, and departed (like a herd of turtles, as Jacqueline C. used to say).  A few miles down the road, Marty realized his rearview mirror was missing, so we turned back to go look.  Thankfully we found it in the grass at the farm.  It was even later. We rode anyway, and when we finally got to the lake (Michigan) there was an E. coli advisory, and “unsafe for swimming” signs everywhere. Blah!  Were we just being bullheaded and ignoring a message to stay in Bangor???

We rode through blueberry country to get up to the Grand Rapids area farms.  I had no idea so many blueberries grew in Michigan.  Or corn, for that matter --- despite growing up and seeing cornfields mostly from the back seat of a car going 60 mph, biking past at 10-12 mph gives a more tangible understanding of the amount of CORN grown here, and the amount of LAND dedicated to that CORN.  Have you read Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan?  So many farms we’ve visited have had a copy, and we’ve been working our way through in fits and starts, on the recommendation of farmers.

In the book, he discusses the phenomenon of CORN taking over our food system and our bodies and our world—I recommend the beginning of the book, where he calls us “walking tortilla chips”; more later on the middle and end.  We stopped in Zeeland to get my rear wheel trued – thanks to Jack at the Zeeland Schwinn bike shop.
                 

Groundswell Community Farm
Katie Brandt and Anna Hoekstra, formerly interns at Trillium Haven farm, have started a new CSA just outside of Zeeland, on black, sandy muck soil.  Our visit with Kate and Anna was relaxing.  They’re growing on less than two of their seven leased acres, which seems really manageable for two competent farmers.  They said they’re operating in the red this first year – start-up investments in a hoophouse, a well, wash-pack tent, tools, etc—but unlike most full time farmers, (at least the week we were there) they don’t seem too frazzled by work.  They’re serving a 20-member CSA, and their members are eating so well!  Like many farms we’ve visited, these farmers could afford to trim their share size or, even better, raise the price, because it seems that, while treating their members to a great variety of very high-quality produce, they’re selling themselves a little short.

Anna’s brother and his friend, “real” film makers, were also at the farm while we were there.  They’re shooting an independent drama about a Midwestern farm guy who moves to Hollywood to pursue his dream of stardom.  Marty’s Tilley hat may feature in the film.
While at Groundswell, we weeded, seeded, transplanted, harvested, Michelle accompanied Katie to the Holland farmers’ market, we used the wonderful outdoor composting toilet, got to meet and harvest potatoes with a couple of CSA families who were volunteering, made a hand-strung bean trellis, and accompanied the farmers to a potluck at Scott Smith and Andrea Corpolongo’s house.  Thanks for the yummy pizza, Scooter!
The week we were there, (July 19) Groundswell CSA members received

Bike Drama…
            En route to the Riley family farm in Alto (actually closer to Caledonia), I (Michelle) got the first flat tire of the trip!  We pulled over next to a fragrant celery field, and I changed the first bike tube of my life, with guidance from Marty—Marty, who also happened to be behind the video camera.  It went pretty smoothly but took longer than I thought it would, and doing it for the first time on camera was a little nervous-making.  We’d been out-riding a thunderstorm up to then, but the rain caught us just after we got back on the road.  It started coming down harder, and we ended up spending a few hours in the lounge of a gas station convenience store.  That was when gathering frustrations finally came to the surface, tempers flared, and we came close to ending the trip right then and there over a cup of nasty gas station hot chocolate.  Thankfully we decided to think and talk it over a little more deliberately, and so far, the trip is still on, and we’re still on the trip together.

            “A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety.” –Aesop (from the back cover of the Spring-Summer 2006 edition of the OCA’s Organic View)  I think we’re both experiencing a little road-weariness and realizing on a deeper level the social and emotional challenges of this trip, along with the physical and organizational ones.  Early on when we were discussing the logistics of the trip with Anne and Paul of the Community Farm of Ann Arbor, Paul asked us how we planned to make time for ourselves, to have time off.  It was such a good question, and we thought we’d figured it out.  The plan was to work 2-3 days at each farm, with one day of biking between.  The actual riding time is pretty short, sometimes as little as one or two hours, at most five to six hours per day.  We’d planned to bike in the mornings and take the afternoon of arrival at each new farm for our “day off,” to regroup, journal, go for a walk, etc.  Turns out that when we arrive at a new farm (usually late in the day when we get our normal late start), it’s so interesting and exciting to explore the farm, pitch in to whatever work is being done, hang out and get to know the farmers, and generally not take time “off.”  So we’re going to work on that – personal time and regrouping, quiet time.  I know that in a normal farming season, my attention level and enthusiasm always start to suffer around September, mostly (I think) from the sheer amount of physical and mental energy expended.  When you add to that mix the challenge of biking every 3-4 days, acclimating to new farms and new people, figuring out how to help and not hinder in each system, shooting video and interviews, having no home base and a social network of two (each other), it becomes even more important to take time to re-center and regroup, chill out, focus.  So we’re working on it—any suggestions?

Riley Family Farm

            The Rileys welcomed us at the top of their long winding driveway with dogs, kids, and adults coming and going in all directions, and generously offered us a trailer to sleep in (thank you!).  Deborah and Pete Riley moved from a Grand Rapids suburb to this former horse farm in Alto some 10 years ago.  Much to their delight (and surprise?), their children have followed, and now 3 generations live in close community.  Their daughter Erin and her husband Dave live right next door in a beautiful renovated horse barn – the bathroom is one former stall, and they even left some of the original wooden beams exposed.  The back of the house is still a barn, now occupied by Erin’s three mama milk goats and four kids (goats), and where CSA members come to pick up shares.  Erin’s brother Chad and his wife Naomi just finished building a new house on the property, so they and their three kids (humans) are probably getting settled there as I write this. 

Chad is the instigator behind the CSA – he’s a schoolteacher by trade and fills his summers (and springs and falls) farming and running the CSA.  He raises a wide variety of vegetables, and chickens and ducks for eggs.  The 25-member CSA is three years old, and Chad is planning to take a year off next year to finish his masters’ degree in education.  We support that idea and bet the members will, too.  The soil on the farm is hard clay, but thanks to the piles of manure left by the horse farm, as well as the addition of sand, Chad has transformed much of it into a beautiful, crumbly dark texture.  Another blessing left by the horse farm was fences, around the perimeter as well as around individual paddocks, which are now, conveniently, fenced gardens.  Erin milks the goats every day and drinks the milk, uses it for cooking, and makes delicious goat milk fudge.  Marty made a batch of blueberry goat ice cream, and I tried to make goat yogurt, but it failed to “yog.”  Raw goat milk is great – I’m not much of a milk drinker, but this milk tastes even better than cow milk, not at all goaty – I recommend it. 

While at the Rileys’ we hoed and hilled potatoes, weeded, seeded, trellised tomatoes (Chad’s tomatoes were some of the healthiest plants we’ve seen, and very easy to handle without breaking the stems), tried our hands at goat milking (which takes a lot of practice!  Erin is amazing to watch when milking), ate a lot of good food and tried some new wines, went swimming (in the creek and in the pool), and visited the Lowell farmers’ market and the Fulton St. farmers’ market in Grand Rapids.  We also discovered that Dave (Erin’s husband) is the cousin of Brian Cook, our friend and Marty’s former band mate from Lansing!  We had so much fun hanging out, philosophizing, eating and drinking with the Rileys that I’m surprised we got any work done (we hardly took any photos)! -MF

We left the Rileys’ on Sunday (July 30) and rode north along the Thornapple River to spend a few days with Michelle’s parents in Rockford.  A quick storm blew up and the sky looked freaky for a while – all pea green soup and movin’ fast – freaky enough that we called up the Ferrareses and got a lift for the last 5 miles.  Michelle’s cousins, Layla and Maya, were visiting from Texas and we had fun hanging out with them – Frisbee in the back yard, never-ending errands around town, playing in the lake, and good ole silliness, and avoiding the stifling heat.  Carmody Farm was our next stop, but they had other things going on, so we packed up our bikes late Wednesday afternoon (to avoid the heat of the day) and rode to Marne to spend a night with Paul and Nancy Kaiser.  Our late start left us arriving after dark – a little scary, but it was fun to learn we could navigate with our bike lights in the dark if we had to.  Paul and Nancy run Agriculture and Health Alive, a diverse small farm and natural soil and animal supplement distribution business.  With lots of experience in cooperative grocery retail, CSA and alternative ag., and working in community, they moved to Michigan in 1997 to start a CSA farm affiliated with one of the early charter schools in the state.  The CSA didn’t last, but Paul and Nancy stuck around and are valiant teachers of sustainable agriculture, nutrition and health, and community living.  They live on their small farm with Paul’s 90 year old mother, a flock of sheep, a bunch of muscovy ducks, some laying hens and a couple cute cats.  They have a big garden at another farm and sell veggies, Acres USA books, and Fertrell natural fertilizers and supplements at the Fulton St. Farmers’ Market in Grand Rapids.  Thanks again, Paul and Nancy, for sharing food and letting us camp out in your yard.

From Marne we traveled south and into the Grand Rapids suburb of Jenison where Trillium Haven Farm is nestled in the middle of suburban houses and tucked up along side a lake.  Michael Vanderbrug and Anja Mast started Trillium six years ago on muck land owned by Michael’s grandpa.  With no former farming experience and in very little time, they’ve managed to build to a 250-member CSA and establish a booming business at the Fulton St. Farmers’ Market.  They have a keen division of labor:  Michael is the primary farmer/field manager; Anja is the marketing and promotion wizard and primary caregiver for their two young children, Zoe and Pieter.  We got to help with a BIG Friday harvest as well as a BUSY Saturday at Farmers’ Market.  One highlight was harvesting (and sampling!) the first of the 40+ varieties of heirloom tomatoes that Trillium Haven grows.  They host an heirloom tomato tasting at the farm in September – check it out!  Former MSU Student Organic Farm farmer Scott Smith now works at Trillium, along with his wife Andrea and a crew of other great folks, and it was a blast catching up with Scott and letting him tell us what to do.  We had a very special visit from none other than the great Emily Reardon, over from Lansing to bring a sparkle to our afternoon.  And Michael and Anja were great hosts, sharing many insights, trials and celebrations.  THANKS!

Our next stop was going to be A. E. Timmerman Farm in Nunica.  Anna Timmerman started a CSA and market garden as an FFA project while she was in high school.  This fall, she’s starting school at MSU.  Between getting ready for school and a local street fair the family was involved in, it wasn’t a great time for a visit.  Anna, we look forward to visiting with you sometime soon.

Our ride back north out of Jenison took us again through crazy suburbia traffic and then up Fruit Ridge Road and through the heart of apple and peach production in West Michigan.  Destination: Funny Farm. 

The Funny Farm is home to Jim and Barb Loe.  They grow a diverse array of certified organic produce for 3 farmers’ market days in Muskegeon (2 at the Muskegeon Market, and one at Sweetwater Farmers Market, an all-natural, all-local market), Harvest Health stores in the Grand Rapids area, and about 10 loyal CSA customers.  The Loes’ CSA structure is unique: while their members pay at the beginning of the season, the farm does not pack boxes.  Instead, members get their choice of crops from the field or the farmers’ market table.  The week we were there, one lucky CSA member received

Jim is a master of mechanical cultivation, having retrofitted numerous tools to work with his Allis Chalmers “G.”  The Loes rely primarily on local high school kids for labor.  Funny Farm is one of the longest-standing certified organic farms in West Michigan.

We’ll be taking a little over a week off from the tour to return to the Ann Arbor area for a series of friends’ weddings.  Three weddings in eight days!  Thanks, everybody, for scheduling together – it’s making our travels much easier.  We’ll likely return to Grant and our bicycles on Aug. 21st to ride to Small Wonders Farm in Sand Lake, and then to Earthscape/Full Circle Farm in Hesperia.  Thanks for “riding along” with us on our crazy adventure via this online blog.  Of course, you are always welcome to join up with us and ride along in person!