Leelanau Wine Report

By Andy McFarlane Leelanau Peninsula Vintners Association Welcome to Michigan’s wine country. June was cooler than in 2005 or 2007, meaning we’ll have a later vintage this year. Bruce Simpson of Good Harbor Vineyards says that while he’d like Mother Nature to bring the heat, some of his longer-lived vintages have come from years with […]

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Changing the world one gift at a time

By Jody Arendale Sun contributor Pssst…how’d you like to pick up a perfectly good, slightly used 40-gallon water heater, on the cheap? Or maybe a gas furnace for your drafty old pole barn? Ever dream of having a vintage cast iron claw foot bathtub but couldn’t afford to buy one? What about old windows for […]

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Asparagus Festival Recipe Contest Winners

Despite the threat of torrents from above, Empire pulled off its annual Asparagus Festival in mid-May without a hitch. Here are this year’s winners in the Asparagus Festival recipe contest. Photo by Joanne Rettke Judges: Ann Derrick of the Good Harbor Grill in Glen Arbor; last year’s recipe winner, Empire’s Bonnie Nescot, and Patti Cantrell […]

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Get Wild In Your Garden

By Cre Woodard Sun contributor My first landscaping job in northern Michigan involved working on a pond for a friend, a man of grand creative vision and gardening courage. We went all out! At night, I would dream about the rare and exotic plant materials we would buy for the pond. It turned out beautifully. […]

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Eating hearty to stay warm

By Jacob Wheeler Sun editor Just because the fudgies have taken the tourism season south for the winter — or maybe because of it — doesn’t mean those of you sticking around for gritty January-April can’t enjoy good food at the area’s local dining establishments. Tim Barr reports that you’ll wait no more than 15-20 […]

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Upnorthfoodies.com serves small slices of life

By Pat Stinson Sun contributor Paula McIntyre of Cedar was tired of hearing bad news about Michigan’s economy. She said most of the stories dominating the news have been reports from the southern regions of the state, where automakers and industry-related manufacturers are struggling or closing their doors. The barrage of gloomy stories especially annoyed […]

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Southern Pie-in-the-Sky

By Pat Stinson Sun contributor Just arrived — our last, weekly CSA (community-supported agriculture) bag of fresh booty from Black Star Farms. It’s a monster, too. Hefty packages in past weeks have revealed a Christmas-like surprise beneath the eggs, parsley, chives, lettuce, spinach, corn, carrots and tomatoes. Sometimes, a portion of a giant watermelon, a […]

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Making jelly from Wild Fox Grapes

By Judith Kalter Sun contributor The best way to learn to cook is in your grandmother’s kitchen. My grandmother, Mary Ellen Senter Harrison Hoegraver Noe, always encouraged her six grandchildren to help out by punching down the yeasty fragrant bread dough before she fried it up in a big cast iron skillet or let us […]

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Ah! Sunflowers

By Holly Wren Spaulding Sun contributor For gardeners and farmers, summer is partially understood in terms of what is coming ripe at what time, so early on there are sugar snap peas and eventually fresh garlic, and eventually tomatoes and squash and soon there will be melons. We know where we are in the season […]

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A slice of heaven in Chef Gene’s kitchen

By F. Josephine Arrowood Sun contributor This summer, area residents and visitors alike have been making pilgrimages to the Cedar City Market, where they are embraced by the warmth of freshly brewed coffee, cinnamon rolled into golden pastries and nourishing, seasonal soups, all created by Chef Gene Payerk. He entered the culinary world less than […]

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