Back in the saddle again, and two farms under our belts since the wedding week in Ann Arbor…. First we want to announce and give blessings for the marriages of our friends Laurah and Biju, Nick and Carisa, and Rob and Carolann.  It was so wonderful and heartening to spend time with you all and with the old friends we met at all three weddings. 

We caught a greyhound to Grand Rapids after the last of the weddings, and Barb Loe of the Funny Farm (who also works in Grand Rapids) gave us a ride back to their farm and our bikes.  Thanks to Barb and Jim for hosting and driving us around!  While at Funny Farm, we helped harvest, weeded, went to market in Muskegon, made the acquaintance of several new interesting crop varieties, and checked out Jim’s specially adapted tractor implements for small-scale, partially-mechanized veggie production.

From Funny Farm, we biked to Bill and Patrice Bobier’s Earthscape/Full Circle farm outside of Hesperia.  (While Small Wonders was slated as the next stop, it turned out not to work for them, so onward and northward…) 

As if that weren’t enough, along with the 30-share CSA, Patrice takes produce and flowers to the Sweetwater Market in Muskegon twice a week.  So these former hippies stay busy!  While at Earthscape/Full Circle, we helped harvest, planted lettuce, went to market, and took an extensive tour of the pastures, fields, and woodlots and learned about pasture and timber management, as well as geology, mineral rights, and local politics. 

• In the shares at Earthscape/Full Circle on August 25: tomatoes, corn, cantaloupes, watermelon, flowers, herbs, potatoes, carrots, onions, summer squash, cucumbers, cukes, chard or kale, sweet peppers

We also took some time for fun with the Bobiers – we went to Ludington to see Al Gore’s new film “An Inconvenient Truth” about global climate change.  I recommend it as food for thought and discussion, but don’t go to the bathroom or get popcorn during the very short segment on what we can do to stave off climate change— otherwise you may come away depressed and disempowered. 

After the Saturday farmers’ market, we attended an Heirloom Tomato Festival at the Old Boys’ Brewery in Spring Lake, a fundraiser for the West Michigan Environmental Action Council.  We sampled about 15 varieties of heirloom tomatoes, as well as edible and drinkable delicacies featuring locally-grown tomatoes, from Ingraberg Farm in Rockford.  Then we stopped by Bill and Patrice’s friend, Field, at his home overlooking Spring Lake.  Field is an organic olive oil importer and treated us to knockout sampling (picture bowls and spoons of the finest olive oils from around the world!) and a delicious dinner, all from the Mediterranean –esque porch at the lake.  Serendipitous to go straight from tomatoes to olive oil in one day!  Field’s imported oils (www.organicoliveoilcompany.com) may end up on the menu at the Great Lakes Bioneers conference in October, too.

Bill and Patrice happen to live close to an old friend of ours, Charlie Muller, and his wife Hilde and their new son, Finn.  The Bobiers have been lending a hand and equipment to Charlie and Hilde in their process of clearing land, building their home, and starting a farm.  We got to visit and have dinner with those folks, and listen to their dreams of starting a CSA and sourdough bakery outside of Baldwin.  

So maybe they’ll be on the next CSA by Cycle tour….

Our next stop was Solas, a CSA farm outside of Scottville, and the second off-the-grid farm of the tour (the first was Blue Dog Greens in Bangor).  Drew Erickson and Becca Moore grow a beautiful garden of veggies, herbs, and flowers for their 30-member CSA, in addition to the hay and Christmas trees that were on the property when they bought it from an Amish farmer three years ago.  Drew and Becca are in the process of converting their log home and barn over to solar power:  we experienced the first day of a new water pump operating off of a new inverter – way to go, Drew! 

Every few years they replace the nets, and Drew and Becca were the lucky recipients of an old cast-off net, which is now a 10-ft flexible fence, supported with log posts every 10’ or so.  The net is heavy enough to hang to the ground , but can be pulled aside for a tractor or tiller to go through.  What a great resource! 

While at Solas, we (along with the Bobiers, who gave us and our bikes a ride to Solas, so they could pay a visit) weeded and cleaned up the garden, harvested some potatoes, then prepped beds and planted lettuce, greens, scallions, dill.  We helped harvest and pack CSA baskets, which they do Mondays and Wednesdays – our first farm where we saw two different CSA distributions!  We played with their dog Cinder, hung out and talked, and interviewed Drew for the video.  Drew happens to be a videographer, and he says it was a new and eye-opening experience to be on the other end of the camera!

• In the Monday shares the week we visited Solas: lettuce, carrots, bok choi, summer squash, cucumbers, parsley, bulb fennel, collards, cabbage, tomatoes, corn, broccoli
• In the Wednesday shares: cucumbers, kale, bulb fennel, beets, green beans, summer squash, cabbage, onions, potatoes, bok choi, tomatoes, eggplant, mint, scallions, chives

From Solas, we rode further north through Manistee and up the long hill out of Onekema to land in an idyllic spot in the woods, Five Springs Farm in Bear Lake.  Jo Meller and Jim Sluyter also live off the grid in a very special spot that they have been developing and caring for since the early 90s.  They offered up their straw bale guest house and, because they are so on top of their gardens and their “game,” we’ve been in the lap of luxury and recreation: - sleeping in late, making the few mile walk through the woods to Lake Michigan, eating wonderful home-cooked meals, and joining in good conversation about simple living, good farming, and a whole lot more.  We maybe even drank a few beers!  Actually, we’ve done a little bit of work, clearing an old vineyard of invading sumac and juniper, helping weed a perennial flower bed, help brainstorm for the upcoming CSA Conference (www.csafarms.org) which Jim and Jo are helping organize.  But most of it hasn’t seemed like work in this beautiful spot. 

Five Springs Farm has 25 members, with the share boxes designed for two people.  Jim and Jo farm almost completely by hand (no tractor and very little rototiller work) and have built beautiful gardens and productive soil out of the native “blow sand” of their site.  They built a small home when moving to this site, and the homestead continues to evolve with solar panels, a small wind generator (which recently got a whole lot higher), fruit trees, and a whole list of creative ways to live well simply.  We joined in their weekly “garden review” walk (and learned a lot!), got a very informative solar tour from Jim, and even made an ice cream run down to Arcadia in the new Prius!

Jim and Jo are also the editors of the Community Farm Newsletter (www.csafarms.org/csaresources.asp), a regularly published voice for CSA.  It has been so inspiring to spend a few days with folks that have fine tuned their farm (and their life) to meet their needs – enough to support their lifestyle – and not feel the need to work 12+ hour days.  Thank you, Jim and Jo, for being such shining examples and mentors to all of us. 

The Story of the Ware Farm is one of our favorites – let’s see if we can remember it correctly…
            Bernie Ware grew up on the farm he now manages with his wife, Sandee.  Bernie’s father returned home after World War II, bought the farm, and began growing a diversity of fruits and vegetables, primarily for wholesale and processing markets.  Bernie left the farm as a young man, seeking adventures that included teaching English in South America, but eventually returned to manage the farm with his father.  Near the peak of production, the Wares were harvesting 20+ acres each of (conventional) strawberries, asparagus and pickling cucumbers, along with smaller quantities of various tree and cane fruits.  These were all hand-harvested crops, and the farm included a labor camp to house the migrant labor population that swelled to over 60 during the height of harvest.  Bernie recalls the frantic pace of routine pesticide applications, managing field labor, and hauling truckload after truckload of produce to places like the Heinz pickle plant.

Enter Sandee, who moved in to a home down the road from the Ware farm.  Bernie and Sandee eventually met and fell in love.  Sandee’s kindhearted idealism encouraged Bernie to consider alternative production methods.  A farm accident “wake up call” catalyzed the transition to organic production, and the Wares have been steadily re-envisioning their operation ever since.

Now certified organic, the Wares grow about 6 acres of organic strawberries and 5 acres of organic asparagus.  2006 is their third year of CSA, and the number of members has grown to over 30.  They run an on-farm market where they sell their own produce along with Shetler Dairy milk, Higher Grounds coffee, and an assortment of organic dry goods.  They go to farmers’ markets in Manistee and Elberta.  They pickle and can their asparagus for re-sale.  Bernie makes and sells pies that are “to die for.”  Busy folks…  

While at the Ware’s, we harvested Roma tomatoes for Oryana’s (Traverse City food co-op) local canning project, harvested lots of onions for storage, picked and packed for CSA boxes and the Elberta farmers’ market, made ice cream with the last of the blueberries and some frozen strawberries, and howled at the big, orange harvest moon.
            In the CSA box the week we were at the Ware’s: summer squash, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, sunflowers, salad mix, tomatoes, melons, beans, potatoes, kohlrabi, cucumbers, peppers, garlic, onions, and basil. Wow!
            We also took the opportunity to visit Jan, Gerard, Anna, and Galen and the Pleasanton Brick Oven Bakery, just down the road from the Wares.   We sampled some fresh loaves, helped bag bread, and discussed the upcoming relocation of the bakery to Traverse City – hopefully we’ll get to help out when they re-open in Traverse!

Our next stop was Pond House Farm in Manton, where Jim and Theresa Williams live with their children, Emily, Forrest and Naomi.  They have a beautiful piece of land, largely wooded with cedar swamps, beech/maple forest, and hemlocks.  This year, they grew for 8 CSA shares from their large, permanent-bed garden.  The Pond House Farm CSA works as a debit system: members pay a lump sum at the beginning of the season and then select what they want each week from the available produce.  They weigh and log their weekly “share,” which Theresa prices and tallies.  If a CSA member spends their initial payment before the end of the season, they can buy additional produce with cash.  Theresa has detailed recordkeeping systems to account for the harvests and transactions, and while it does take some additional accounting, this debit system has its advantages.  Members greatly appreciate the choice, and according to the Williams, the families in their area are not interested in the typical CSA box with less choice.

 
During the week we were there, Pond House CSA members chose from: broccoli, onions, peppers, lettuce, beans, summer squash, cucumbers, eggplant, cabbage, carrots, potatoes, sweet corn, and herbs.  Flowers and eggs are also available for sale at the farm.

From Pond House, we decided to take a one-day personal “retreat” from the tour.  We were going to camp at a state forest campground, but got caught in an all-day drizzly rain and opted instead for the warmth and dryness of a rental “cottage” in Lake City.  Turned out this little cottage was complete with cable TV – we had a fun, relaxing evening ‘vegging’ in front of the tube and got sucked in to Project Runway, a reality show fashion design competition.  This is a ridiculous and great program; in fact, one of the many back-to-back episodes was a design challenge to create an evening dress out of materials gathered from the NYC materials recovery facility (recycling plant).  Of course we were reminded of our friends, particularly Kim D – you’d be a natural on this show ….the retreat was a good break, and we even managed to get in some brainstorming and planning for our Bioneers workshop and for Life Beyond the Tour.
             We then spent the next blissful four days at the EarthWork Harvest Gathering, always our favorite music festival of the year.  Seth Bernard and his father, Bob, along with a cadre of friends and family, host this wonderful event on the family farm: people camp in the woods, watch top notch acoustic/folk music in the old barn, eat great food prepared in the volunteer kitchen, and generally indulge in joyous fellowship.  We jumped headfirst into helping our friends in the kitchen and had a blast cooking up real food for the masses.  There is something truly magical about transforming piles of raw veggies into delectable dishes…in truth, the magic comes in letting the fresh veggies speak for themselves.  It probably doesn’t hurt to season it with continual music and a whole lot of love!

We managed to pull ourselves away after the festival at EarthWork farm and roll up the road to Brokedown Palace Farm, a new CSA in Kalkaska.  Brokedown Palace was our first acquaintance with CSA gone awry, though not for lack of effort by the farmers.  Grant, Denell, and their five children live on a beautiful piece of land about three miles from town with their goats, chickens, cats, and wildlife.  Denell had gardened there for several years, but this was to be their first season of CSA.  Coupled with lack of infrastructure and experience, a late frost in June (!) made it a very rough first season.   Their garden was wiped out, and had to be replanted after the frost, but never really caught up.  They made the very generous decision to bulk out the shares with purchased products, and even offered to carry this year’s memberships over into next year.  When we visited, the only plants left in the garden were a few peppers and tomatoes, some calendula and basil, and the winter squash patch.  The CSA season had already ended, but we helped spread manure on the garden, collect calendula seed, trimmed goat hooves, and relaxed with the family.  Grant took us along on a trip over to the Shetler Dairy farm store.  We enjoyed getting to know the kids (human) and talking about their music, art, drama, etc.  (When asked what his favorite kind of music is, six-year-old Michael said “Daisy May music”.)  The whole family is into music (Grant even plays keyboard with Rootstand, who performed at the Harvest Gathering this year), and this spring they hosted the first music festival at the farm.  We didn’t make it, but some of the MSU student farmers went and reported it was a good festival.  Hopefully the festivals continue, and the farming gets better for these folks.  They aren’t going to do CSA next year, but will work on becoming self-sufficient (producing enough for the family), growing their goat cheese business, and possibly try CSA again in the future.  We look forward to trying that goat cheese!

From Brokedown Palace, we biked through the Pere Marquette National Forest to Big Dipper Eco Farm (formerly known as Mystic Hollow), outside of Kingsley.  The forest was gorgeous, and we hope to get back to explore more, but don’t try it on skinny, slick tires, says Michelle – all the roads are windy and gravelly.  Northern Michigan in the fall is as exquisite as everyone gives it credit for, and some of the areas we biked through in the forest have a sacred feel about them.  The colors were just barely starting to change, and, as so many folks have observed, the trees have an unusual dry, crispy appearance this year, and noticeably more seeds than usual.  This area has been in a multi-year drought cycle, evidenced by the very low lake levels.  It is curious to see the effects of both drought cycles and global and local climate change on a place known so intimately by so many observant people (farmers); we look forward to knowing a place so well.

Their two sons both recently joined the Navy, and they said the feeling of the “empty nest” made them happy to host us, feed us, and take us for a swim and sauna at their health club after farmers’ market in TC (they trade produce for club membership).  Eric specializes in gourmet, baby vegetables, and commands a fair (higher than many farmers) price at market.  The CSA arrangement is unique in our experiences so far:  members may join for a month at a time, for any month of the growing season.  Instead of pre-packed shares, they select what they want from the table at the farmers’ market (similar to the “buffet and debit” system at Pond House), at half the price marked, and subtract that amount from their monthly share cost.  The members appreciate the choice, and Eric appreciates the simplified management of the CSA.  They used to operate a more traditional CSA with identical weekly shares for everyone, working shares at the farm, and more interaction with members.  Over time, that system gave way to the current operation, which he says works best for them.  We accompanied them to the Saturday market in TC, and helped with set-up, sales, and take-down.  It was a great market!

We wondered why the extreme discount for CSA members?  Sure, the market table prices are high, but if, as Eric says, they represent the true cost of production, and people are willing to pay, what is the advantage of offering half-off prices, even to a small membership, when the share payments come in monthly, rather than all at the beginning of the season (thereby covering fewer start-up costs than a traditional CSA)?

With Eric and Jackie, we helped harvest, wash and pack, went to market, and took a long walk around the property, finding gorgeous mushrooms everywhere (where’s that Taylor Reid when you need him?).  We had a great visit with Eric and Jackie, and we learned about “extremely baby” veggies (e.g. dime-sized patty pan squash), maintaining a salad planting all summer and still getting tender, tasty leaves, using wild “tumbleweed” in flower arrangements, and cooking on a wood stove – a first for both Marty and me.
From the market table on Sept. 23, Big Dipper CSA members selected tomatoes, broccoli, salad mix, onions, summer squash, and cucumbers.

This afternoon, we’ll make the short ride to Ware Farm, also in Bear Lake.  Then we’ll visit Pond House Farm and ride our bikes to the EarthWork Harvest Gathering for some good food and great music.  See you there!