A new breed of Leelanau farmer

By F. Josephine Arrowood
Sun contributor
In an era of declining family farms, both in Leelanau County and nationally, it seems almost astonishing to encounter individuals willing to carry on the ancient and honorable traditions of tilling the soil and caring for animals. Maple City sheep farmer Alesha Ashley — intelligent, energetic, and determined — is one of a new generation of agricultural stewards gracing Leelanau’s landscapes.

The 26-year-old grew up in small-town Albion; her father works for Post, and her mother is a lab technician in nearby Battle Creek. Although she majored in economics and accounting at the University of Detroit-Mercy College, she has always enjoyed working with animals. In 2004, she decided to pursue her early dream of farming, and familiar with this region through vacations in Benzie County, Alesha chose work as an intern for several months at Forest Garden Organic Farm near Maple City, owned by Jim Moses and Linda Grigg. Poultry farming is one of her interests, and Jim and Linda’s advice proved valuable as she established her brood of 20 hens and three roosters this spring.
Alesha also bought a pair of male goats, Nibbler and P.B., when they were about three weeks old, both for companionship and lawn-mowing duty. She cheerfully bottle-fed the kids every four hours for a month; however, the rambunctious duo eventually proved too much for the budding farmer. “They got into trouble all the time!” she laughs, somewhat ruefully. “Goats are acrobats, and they work as a team. They’ll definitely teach you where your fencing needs are.” She sold P.B., but keeps Nibbler, whose sunny social disposition is testimony to the farmer’s positive yet disciplined approach with her animals.
With her passion for the fiber arts, especially spinning, knitting, felting and touring yarn shops, Alesha has acquired several sheep, the sole survivors of a flock that had been savaged by stray dogs. Her white ram Aragorn is a Rambouillet, a breed prized for their fine wool, while Nemo, a young male, and Hershey, a pregnant older ewe, are Suffolk stock. Anne and Willow, two Corriedale-mix females, round out the flock. The sheep were sheared in April by an itinerant shearer, and their fleeces sent to upstate New York to be cleaned and made into roving (fiber prepared for spinning). Alesha frequents the farmers’ markets in Glen Arbor and Leland, selling her wool and demonstrating spinning and knitting techniques.
Partner Hoyt Dunkin provides the pastureland on 40 acres just east of Maple City, as well as much-needed helping hands for the many and diverse chores that a new farming operation entails. This quiet, easygoing son of the 1960’s grew up in urban Royal Oak, near Detroit, studied computer-aided design and drafting, and joined the Army, where he served as a peacekeeper in Egypt, enforcing the Camp David Peace Accord. Later, as a National Guard member, he was called into battle during Desert Storm. Returning to civilian life, Hoyt worked as a cellular tower designer, before returning full-time to Leelanau, scene of many childhood weekends at his grandparents’ farm.
In 1947 his Detroit-area grandparents had bought 80 acres one mile east of Maple City, part of which they planted in cherries. Hoyt recalls with amusement, “My grandpa was a reformed character, so when my grandma kept stealing apples from the neighboring farm, he decided to buy the 40 acres across the road,” to make her an honest woman again. In addition to their orchards, they planted corn, and built “Corn Cottage,” where they would stay when they came up nearly every weekend from downstate. He explains that, for his hardworking German ancestors, farming was — incredibly — their recreation, their hobby. In the 1980’s his grandmother sold the 40 acres of apples and corn, and Hoyt eventually inherited half of the original cherry farm, although the outbuildings and water supply are long gone. He seems pleased that his land has returning to agricultural use, albeit in a different form.
Hoyt met Alesha two years ago, and they began to talk about letting her chickens run on his land. “I didn’t know what I was getting myself into,” he laughs, looking around at the busily pecking poultry, amiable Nibbler, and the small but growing flock of sheep vigorously tearing at the spotted knapweed that grows so abundantly. By a curious coincidence, his mother had owned a yarn shop for many years, although Hoyt never plied the needle arts and vows never to learn to knit. However, he’s definitely in the agriculture game for the long-term, and the pair is already planning for autumn and beyond, including erecting fences and winter shelter for their ovine charges.
Despite a demanding lifestyle of caring for many animals, without the benefit of buildings for shelter or storage and without running water nearby, Alesha and Hoyt seem to be thriving as well as the animals. “You can’t have a bad day with animals, so you have to take care of yourself,” Alesha explains. She rises around 5:30 a.m. each day to the accompaniment of her roosters, feeds the animals, waters them with buckets hauled from Maple City, takes dog Pinky for a walk, then heads to one of several part-time jobs at the Rustic Inn, Cedar City Market or Pleva’s Meats. Hoyt releases the cooped chickens in the early afternoon — “so they’ll get used to laying eggs during the morning,” Alesha explains — and the two return in the late afternoon or early evening to complete their farm chores.
She also acknowledges the encouragement and assistance they’ve received from family, friends and neighbors. “All the people who’ve helped us are amazing,” Alesha enthuses. “The chicken coop was framed all in one day with donated materials from Terry Weber and John Wall, except the door and window,” which they salvaged from a Traverse City curbside. Weber helped move the coop to its present location, while Terri DeFilippo donated fencing and posts.
The young farmer has many ideas for future expansion, which include expanding her flock with multi-horned, variegated colored Jacob sheep; growing and selling organic produce from a road stand; and offering freezer cuts of lamb, as well as Boer goats for the ethnic and gourmet meat markets. She’s straightforward in her philosophy on the life cycles of farm animals.
“My whole thing is educating people about where their food comes from. I remember butchering day,” during her internship. She continues: “I wouldn’t want my children to grow up thinking chickens came from the grocery store.” Her customers, too, appreciate her efforts. “If anyone wants to know my growing practices, I’d be happy to let them see. Once they see all that goes into my product, they value it so much more.”