CSAs: Northern Michigan’s Growing Crop of Farms

By F. Josephine Arrowood
Sun contributor
In the past dozen years, a new crop has been growing in northern Michigan — one whose spirit harks back to ancient growing practices and sense of shared endeavor. In Leelanau County alone, six Community Supported Agriculture farms aim to reconnect small-scale, sustainable production with those who purchase and consume the fruits (and other delicious products) of the grower’s labor. They “offer a path to farm preservation, stability, and profit, at the same time that [they] connect people with their food supply and build community,” according to a regional CSA website hosted by the non-profit Land Information Access Association.

Sweeter Song Farm, in the heart of Leelanau, has been putting these goals into solid practice for the past seven years, but owners Judy Reinhardt and James Schwantes began to create their vision even earlier. In 1991, the St. Louis couple, a school counselor and occupational therapist, moved to the county, and bought the abandoned Witkowski farm in Centerville Township. Judy worked at Leland Public Schools while Jim maintained his therapy practice, and the two began the arduous process of updating the farmhouse (whose rustic charms excluded indoor plumbing), and planning the 80-acre homestead’s future.
“We knew we wanted to farm it, and Jim had read about shareholder-owned farms in Connecticut,” Judy relates, on a warm spring afternoon punctuated by equipment deliveries, finishing paperwork for their long-awaited organic certification, and preparations for the season’s first batch of weekly harvest offerings. She continues, “The two sisters who sold us the farm have become good friends over the years, and they were happy,” to see it continue as a working family farm, with 10 acres under cultivation, 55 acres of protected wetlands, and 15 acres of grassland.
They received valuable advice from Jim Moses and Linda Griggs of Maple City, near-legendary organic farmers, educators and fierce advocates of small-scale, sustainable agriculture (although their farm’s focus is not share-owned CSA, but locally produced, certified organic produce, shiitake mushrooms, and maple syrup that they sell to local restaurants, Oryana Food Co-op, and at area farmers’ markets). Another role model was Meadowlark Farm in Lake Leelanau, owned by Jon and Jenny Tutlis, who began their thriving CSA farm 10 years ago.
Jim and Judy work hard to “walk their talk” of sustainability. Sweeter Song has been going through the rigorous, multi-year process of organic certification, and they anticipate final approval this summer. Judy explains, “It’s very intensive, with three years of records showing crop rotations, where and what organic seeds were bought (we have to keep all the packages), soil amendments — everything!” Although they are closely connected with their customers, who know and participate in their farming practices, Judy and Jim feel that, for them, organic certification provides even more flexibility in marketing their produce and in educating the public.
“We grow everything: plants start in our greenhouse, and we also have a hoop house, which is a covered, non-heated structure that can extend the season at both ends.” Other sustainable practices include water-saving irrigation, planting cover crops such as buckwheat, which return nutrients to the earth, and proactive pest control that includes limited use of organic sprays targeting specific bugs.
“We also pick off a lot of bugs — potato beetles, tomato worms — and we rotate our crops; that’s very important and traditional. We’re not a monoculture — that leaves you open to pests and diseases,” Judy warns. “People who don’t do organic gardening are always astounded by our healthy plants. You have to plant at the right time, get them in the ground before they’re stressed, and keep them watered. We mow an area around our fields,” to fend off grasshoppers, and their chickens participate in the farm’s daily round by eating would-be crop predators. “But they’re out there, just waiting!” she laughs.
A central tenet of CSAs is the shared risk of farmers and customers in bringing good food from field to table, and Judy notes that it’s not right for everyone. Early in the season, new members may feel surprise at the relatively light offerings, such as lettuce, spinach, scallions, radishes and carrots. Soon, summer ushers in a wider abundance of field-fresh offerings, such as strawberries, peas, cukes, squash, tomatoes, peppers, grapes and more — but unlike a farmers market, it’s not pick-and-choose, or as predictable in its scope.
“We encourage people to learn how to put up food easily, like freezing, and we have recipes on our website so they can try out new foods, like kale, turnips or chard,” Judy says. Another advantage of CSA farms is that customers are more personally invested in the outcome. “The best part is coming to Sweeter Song and seeing what’s here,” when customers pick up their harvest, freshly picked on Monday or Thursday for same-day collection.
In addition to Jim and Judy, now retired from their other careers to devote 10 or 12 hours a day to their farm, Sweeter Song thrives with the efforts of a Michigan State University agriculture student employed as a full-time intern, two part-time workers, and eight work-share customers, who trade 60 hours of labor (30 of them upfront, before the first harvest in June), in addition to their share-owning customers who trade $400 for 20 weeks of fresh vegetables, fruit, cut flowers, herbs and eggs, as well as the joys and risks of organic agrarian pursuits. They can also purchase honey, maple syrup, shiitakes, fair trade coffee and pasture-fed beef through Sweeter Song’s arrangements with neighboring farms and suppliers, and the general public can find their eggs at Cedar City Market throughout the year.
Sweeter Song sold out their shares this season, with 140 families and 103 shares. “We were inundated with requests from people who are trying to eat locally,” Judy says. She feels that CSAs have grown in popularity as people have rediscovered the superior taste and quality of fresh produce from their own areas, and she urges interested customers to check out other CSA farms for possible available shares, or to get on their mailing list for 2008 notification and sign-up.
Other CSA farms in the area include Meadowlark Farm in Lake Leelanau; Five Springs Farm near Bear Lake that delivers to Beulah in Benzie County; Big Belly Farm in Empire (on sabbatical this year, but selling their delicious fruit and produce at the Empire Farmers Market each Saturday); Sky View Farm in Maple City (also on sabbatical due to an injury, but look for them in 2008); Eco-Learning Center near Bingham in southeastern Leelanau; and new this year, Black Star Farm in Suttons Bay, already known for their winery, horse boarding, inn and home of Leelanau Cheese. These and other regional farms in Traverse City, Elk Rapids and Old Mission can be found on the website powered by the Land Information Access Association at www.csafarms.org.
For those interested in becoming CSA farmers, check out the quarterly Community Farms Newsletter, available from The Community Farm, 3480 Potter Rd, Bear Lake, MI 49614, or at csafarm@jackpine.net. They plan to offer CSA Mini-schools this fall and winter, organize a biennial statewide conference (next in 2008), and are creating a training manual that can be viewed at the CSA website, as well.