Local farm produce springs in Leelanau
Photo: Jane Lively manages vegetable production at Lively Farms.
By Julie Zapoli
Sun contributor
There is nothing shy about a northern Michigan spring—grouse and turkeys heady with lust walk the roads bemused by approaching vehicles, the stuttering calls of sand hill cranes returning to fields that green while you’re watching, and a hillside that just yesterday was filled with decaying leaves is now covered with the verdant stems of ramps. I can walk by a hosta peeking from the ground in the morning and it will have shot up four more inches by noon. By 3 pm, I find my first morel of the season. Amidst all of this liberation there are two signs that signify spring more than any other to me: when the roadside farm stands shake the crust off their creaking doors, and the farmers markets open for business.

Jim Bardenhagen photo by Taro Yamasaki
What is it about our local produce that makes it so precious to us? Jim Bardenhagen, a sixth-generation farmer of Bardenhagen Farms, says it’s all about variety. “With our soil and proximity to the Great Lakes, northern Michigan farmers offer a huge variety of products—over 300, which is rivaled only by California—and their growing season is much longer.” Anyone who lives in Leelanau County full time can tell you the weather in Michigan is always the issue. “We had a lot of hard weather this spring,” said Bardenhagen. “First a hard frost, then a warm-up, then it was too cold for pollinators to fly.” Bardenhagen Farms specializes in hand-picked, tree-ripened fruit-like apples, stone fruits, and especially the sweet cherries that help define Leelanau County and its tourism. “It depends largely on bees and the pollinating of plants. Anything under 55 degrees and bees don’t fly. And they don’t like wind. I was afraid the only thing getting pollinated this spring would be dandelions, but it looks like it’s going to be a really good year for local Michigan produce.”
Jane Lively is 26 years old and grew up in Empire. As the daughter of farmers, she began working with her mom, Kelly, on the Lively family farm growing flowers. Jane is now the vegetable production and farm manager of Lively Farms. “I get excited when spring hits,” she said, “but I also get anxious. It’s like all of a sudden a switch has flipped. Everything happens at once. You’re visualizing the gardens for the year and hoping it’s safe to start. You just can’t get comfortable in the spring.” Jane and her family began planting at the end of April but won’t see significant amounts of produce until mid-to-late June. “What is so special about this area to me,” said Jane, “is the water. Good food has a story that’s good, and to grow good food you have to start with clean water.”
“If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you,” is our state’s motto, coined by the late former governor William Milliken. No saying has ever been truer about Michigan. The Leelanau peninsula is home to more than 300 producing and working farms, each more pleasant sounding than the last, and with names like Crane Pond Farm, Providence, and Shared Blessings Farm, how could you not get excited about produce? And let’s not forget 9 Bean Rows located in Suttons Bay, whose name is taken from the William Butler Yeats poem, “The Lake of Innisfree”—nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee.’
Besides their passion for literature, Nic and Jen Welty, who started 9 Bean Rows in 2009, also had a passion for fresh, local food, and their mission ever since has been to provide access to delicious local food to everyone, including local restaurants, schools, and community food providers. Nic Welty and Jim Bardenhagen started the MI Farm Co-op program in 2014 so our local farms could connect with customers they might not be able to find on their own. “You can grow well, but it’s all about outreach,” said Jane Lively. “It takes a lot of time away from your farm to sell.”
“It began with 12 farmers all banding together to be a cooperative model,” said Kat Palms, MI Farm Co-op’s operations manager. “Each farm was delivering separately so they teamed up using one driver—which not only lowered their carbon footprint, but it left the farmers to do what they do best—working on the farm.”
Palms was hired by MI Farm Co-op last April. “I’m not a farmer. I can’t take credit for knowing how to farm, but I do know the importance of local food and taking care of our soil. I know the importance of supporting local business owners.”
Created to support the local wholesale community, the Co-op connects local produce and food with school programs, community food rescue programs, and most recently, assisted living programs, all through one channel … a life line to a busy farm in an exploding spring. “The Co-op offers us a marketplace so we can focus on growing, not on consumers,” said Bardenhagen. Today, MI Farm Co-op is composed of 25 local family-run farms that market vegetables, fruits, cheese, herbs, eggs, maple syrup, jams and jellies, chicken, and beef to the wholesale consumer.
“I’ve always wanted to run my own business,” said Palms, “and working with MI Farm Co-op positioned me at every level—communicating with farmers, packing, delivery, marketing, sales, and accounting.
In 2019, MI Farm Co-op started delivering CSA, Community Supported Agriculture, shares to individuals each week. Using a 9 Bean Rows warehouse as a drop-off point, MI Farm Co-op started packing CSA shares of perfect vegetables and hand-raised, hand-chosen, products for the individual consumers who were not wholesale customers. The result is a bespoke box full of fresh bread, greens, seasonal fruits and vegetables, and specialty items all sourced from the different local farms who participate. “It began with five farmers volunteering their time to make CSA a success,” said Palms, “and it just started growing. With the help of a $250,000 federal grant, they were able to not only hire me but, we have been able to hire a highly qualified packing team and a driver who delivers wholesale and takes the CSA to all of our drop off sites: two in Leelanau County, one in Interlochen, three in Traverse City, and we’re growing into Elk Rapids and Mission Peninsula as well. The Co-op is working full swing at their new warehouse location in Traverse City offering access to locally grown food year-round.”
If you’ve never participated in CSA or seen a packed box, you’re missing out on a weekly gift from the ground to your hand to your table—and it comes all year long because of local hoop and green-house growing. I’m the beneficiary of one each week and I’m almost giddy when my box arrives on the deck of The Inn and Trail Gourmet each Tuesday morning because I get to act out my fantasy as a “Chopped” chef. “Chopped” is the Food Network show where competing chefs are offered a mystery box and, upon opening it, have 20 minutes to cook a gourmet meal for the persnickety expert judges. When I bring the box into the kitchen, my staff gathers around as I pull out … turnips … watermelon radish … micro greens … herbed chevre… and something that resembles a rock with stems in it. Rutabaga? The colors pop off the table. Fresh herbs. A jar of strawberry jam that tastes like the first time I’ve ever eaten a strawberry. We roast the root vegetables, and I work a dough into flat bread and spread it with the goat cheese and a spoonful of the jam. I top the creation with the roasted vegetables and sprinkle microgreens on top. It’s a celebration of robust color and crisp, fresh vegetables from my local ground to my plate.
“If it goes well, everyone has access to local food, but it goes even deeper than that,” said Palms. “It goes to regenerative farming. All of our farmers are non-GMO and stewards who practice caring for the land. You’re supporting the farmer directly and you’re getting food direct from the farm. Sharing with community is what this is all about.”
“The most important thing to me is growing something beautiful,” said Jane Lively, “and sharing food with my community. It’s amazing when people see food as something valuable.”
Outside my window I hear hummingbirds dive-bombing each other, vying for a place on the feeder. The vibrant green of asparagus so fresh it cracks and cleanly breaks from its stalk is ready to eat. For a moment, I feel rich with possibility—new things come up out of the ground, old things returning to my hands and to this place I’ve chosen to live. Spring is here. It’s time for our Farmer’s Market to open. It’s time.
Visit our online community calendar at GlenArborSun.com/calendar for a list of farmers market dates around Leelanau County; for more information about Lively Farm visit TheLivelyFarm.com; for information about joining MI Farm Cooperative’s CSA Program visit MiFarmCoop.org.