Bardenhagen’s farm stand worth a stop

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What are the little purple, pink, yellow, and ruby red balls found on the corners of the roads throughout the peninsula this time of year? Spilled cherries. Big trucks and small trucks hauling tanks of freshly harvested cherries are everywhere. It’s July and this means it’s cherry season. For all of us following or waiting behind these trucks carrying tanks with water spilling over the sides, it is a good reminder to be a little more patient while driving in the area. These hardworking farmers are doing their best to harvest and deliver the delicious stone fruit to processors as quickly as possible. Most local farm stands are bursting with colorful displays of all cherry varieties, usually picked the same day they are stocked. One such place in the Leelanau Peninsula that is an essential stop for any farm stand devotee is the Bardenhagen Farms farm stand located at 7881 Pertner Road. Part of our series on local farm stands in Leelanau County.

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TLC Farms—so much more than a tomato shop

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Driving south from St. Wenceslaus Church on Setterbo Road is a hidden gem: TLC Farms. Looking from the road, there is a farm house, barns and outbuildings, and a couple of greenhouses. Writer Rebecca Carlson’s advice, pull into their small parking lot and walk back towards the greenhouses. The visitor will be rewarded by the Tomato Shop, which is so much more than a tomato shop. It is a free-standing, permanent structure farm stand for TLC Farms. Clearly, current owners and caretakers Joe Vanderbosch and his wife Anne Cunningham tend their greenhouses, produce “from seed to end product,” and customers with lots of tender loving care. Part of our series on farm stands in Leelanau County.

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Lively family’s NeighborFood Market opens to public

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Food, folks, farm and fun—plus a festival or two. Those are all part of the plan at the Lively Farm, a.k.a. Backyard Burdickville, f.k.a. the Eagles property on M-72 just east of Empire. Lively NeighborFood Market is set to debut Memorial Day weekend, pending any surprises with the buildout or weather. The brainchild of Jim and Kelly Lively is the latest addition to the property, which has also served as home to the LivelyLands music festival and the Lively Farm, a CSA farm.

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Roadside markets and the Steimel Farm Stand

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Beware this time of year when driving around the Leelanau Peninsula. Cars will suspiciously slow down and then veer off the road seemingly for no reason, almost causing accidents. Why? Spotting an animal? A favorite winery? A picture opportunity? Maybe, but most roadtrippers are stopping for the gorgeously arrayed farm stands throughout the peninsula. This side-business allowed farmers to move product at their discretion, set fair pricing, and cut out a middle-man. The farmers make direct connections to the consumer; the farmers can move smaller batches of crops that would not be large enough for a commercial buyer; the farmers can sell crops that may be too ripe for a grocery store; ultimately, the farmers control the freshness of the final product sold at the farm stand. Every time a consumer purchases something from a farm stand it is a reminder of our symbiotic connection to the earth and the farmers growing the food the public at large consumes. One of the hardest working farm stand owners, Al Steimel, appreciates the important relationship between producer and consumer in the Leelanau Peninsula.

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It’s always growing season at Lakeview Hill farm

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Lakeview Hill Farm is getting ready to celebrate a birthday. On July 6, its farm market will celebrate one year since opening. Chances are owners Bailey Samp and John Dindia will be too busy farming to worry about blowing out candles. After all, farming is hard work. Not just running the new store, but growing and harvesting crops on around their certified organic produce and cut flower farm while they work to extend the growing season through the use of greenhouses and caterpillar tunnels. “We now have six greenhouses and seven caterpillar tunnels on two acres. A quarter acre is flowers,” says Samp. The flower field now backs up to the market. This is the second story in our series on solutions to the farming crisis.

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VerSnyder Orchards and Farm Stand

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Summer is that amazing time of year when farm stands come alive and are filled with a cornucopia of fruits and vegetables. Here in Leelanau, farm stands dot the peninsula and generally operate from June until November. The farm stands vary from a table underneath a pop-up tent, a pull-cart loaded with product, to a permanent structure displaying a farm’s produce offerings. The VerSnyder Orchards farm stand, which began operating in the early 2000s, is located just south of Lake Leelanau at 1530 South Lake Shore Drive at the front of the larger twenty-acre farm. This sesquicentennial farm was first homesteaded in the 1870s by Kevin’s great-great grandfather, Mathias VerSnyder, who arrived to the area from New York.

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More than just a filet of fish

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It’s early April, and Jim VerSnyder is sitting at a big stainless-steel table that’s covered in fish blood at Carlson’s Fishery in one of the historic Fishtown shanties in Leland. He’s got a long, sharp knife in one hand, and with the other, he reaches into a bin filled with ice, pulls out a fish, and plops it on a cutting board, reports Dan Wanschura in this story adapted from a podcast for Interlochen Public Radio. Right now, the value of an average Great Lakes whitefish is around $15. But there’s a project that’s trying to double—even triple that amount in the next several years. And it does that by finding ways to use parts of the fish that are often thrown away. This project is based on a success story in Iceland.

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Asparagus Festival crowns winning poems, recipes

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The Empire Asparagus Festival’s “Ode to Asparagus Poetry Competition” on June 1 attracted 25 entries and 100 attendees at the Glen Lake Community Library. The winning poem, as selected by the audience, was “Astrological Asparagus” by Joseph Povolo. Meanwhile, one Empire family swept the Asparagus Recipe Contest held at the Town Hall. Don Cunningham won the People’s Choice Grand Prize for his “Asparagus Benedict” recipe. Carol Cunningham finished second for her “Spargelsalat” (German asparagus salad). Carol’s brother Duane Schmidt won third place for his “Asparagus Peppers” recipe.

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Celebrate Bardenhagen Strawberries

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June = Bardenhagen strawberry season. Yes, it is its own season in the Leelanau Peninsula. Every year around the peninsula, usually from mid-June to the beginning of July, fans wait impatiently for the harvest of the Bardenhagen strawberries. Once the word is out that the strawberries are ready, making the trip to the Bardenhagen farm stand at 7990 E Horn Road is a must. The harvest of these gorgeous berries launch the summer season and are a reason to celebrate.

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Nic Theisen, Loma keep farming, even in winter

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“Growing food in summer and fall is easy,” says Loma Farm owner Nic Theisen. “Growing during winter is a more interesting story.” Spoiler alert: he’s right. Winter is cold and snowy. There’s significantly less light. It costs lots of money to provide electricity if you want heat spaces to promote growing. It’s a huge challenge to try to grow under those conditions. Why even bother? There are a few reasons. One is because Theisen wants to promote better, longer-lasting use of the land. Another is to keep his workers employed year-round. And there are those that depend on the products from the farm, especially Farm Club, the nearby restaurant that Theisen and his wife Sara own along with Gary and Allison Jonas.

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