Playgrounds in the cherry orchard
By Rebecca Gearing Carlson
Sun contributor
Part three of our Leelanau Farming Family Series. Read the first installment “Where are Herman’s trees?” and the second “Life on the Schaub Farm: Cocktail memories.”
Donny never knew that his cherry orchard between Jacobson and Kolarik roads became a playground at night. His orchard and my family’s orchard are connected by an old trail that sometimes served as an invisible ‘no man’s land’ for games of tag or bloody murder. I recently enlightened him about our childhood activities during a chat at 45 North Winery. Donny just smiled and shook his head as I recounted the creative ways my cousins, brother, and I used our cherry trees, and his, for games, stargazing, or scaring the hell out of a victim. As soon as our crew crossed the threshold from the forest road to the orchard, all previously set game rules went out the window with over 15 acres at our disposal. Game on!
Until my recent conversation with Donovan ‘Donny’ Herman, I did not recall ever meeting the man. Donny was a mystery to myself; he was a name my grandfather and father used occasionally after impromptu meetings in the orchards. “Donny suggested pruning earlier in the season.” Or “Donny shared some information about blah blah blah.” Donny’s peppered ‘pearls of wisdom’ were repeated by my grandfather, father, and aunt as words to live by for the weekend farmers (my family). I was in elementary school and tuned out most of the exchanges. What did I know? Donny Herman owned the orchard next to ours, which created our wonderful nightly playground. As an adult, meeting the 94-year-old Donny gives me an appreciation for the sage farming knowledge, experience, and words of advice my family followed. His knowledge was built upon years of working along-side his father and grandfather.
Like the Schaubs, the Hermans immigrated to the Leelanau Peninsula in the late 19th century from Germany. Donny’s grandfather Joseph Herman, a Prussian army soldier, and his friend made the journey from Germany, settled in the Leelanau Peninsula and both married Steimel sisters. Joseph was an entrepreneur who established multiple businesses throughout the Suttons Bay area owning a shingle mill, a grocery store, a farm equipment business that sold steam threshers, a gas station, and a cider mill in the area where Herman Park is currently located—all at the same time he managed a large farm and raised his family.
Donny’s parents, William Herman and Louise Priest, both came from local Leelanau families. Donny, the eldest of six children, helped his family farm cattle, pigs, chickens. He also helped maintain an extensive vegetable garden and fruit orchard. Donny’s father, William, following the entrepreneurial spirit of his father Joseph, played a key role in the development of the Leelanau Peninsula road system. As the Superintendent of Leelanau County Road Commission, William planned and created many of the roads throughout the peninsula. Today, road travelers can thank William Herman for creating the eponymous Herman Road between 633 and 204. According to Donny, his father drove the equipment that plowed the path for this road.
Along with his faithful friend Jack, a collie, Donny stated his favorite memories from growing up in the early WWII years are about “farm life, family and freedom.” Surrounded by multiple Herman and Priest farms along Herman Road (also named “Hermanville” at the time because there were so many family members in one area), Donny remembers an idyllic life of closeness with his grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and other farming families. He and his siblings woke early to help with milking, feeding the farm animals, and other chores, then it was off to Union School, the stone schoolhouse in Suttons Bay where Donny was one of the twenty children in his class. After school it was back home to finish more chores. As Donny grew older, hauling hay with a Model-T crank start truck or delivering gas with the family Model-B truck were tasks he enjoyed. At the end of a long day of chores, Donny found the time to explore, go hunting with his 12-gauge, or fish for brook trout in the local creek with siblings, friends, and his collie, Jack. A chore Donny hated was plucking chickens; to this day he does not eat chicken. On Saturday nights, the Herman siblings would hike into Suttons Bay, sell a can of cream and crate of eggs to the local grocery store to buy food staples: salt, flour, and sugar for the family. Donny also remembers that his family and extended family all made time for one game: Euchre.
The game of Euchre is a recurring theme through my interviews with the local families. As Euchre was a staple for Marvin and Edith Schaub in the second article, the same is true for Donny Herman and his family. He remembers as a young boy going to the Leo-owned Standard Service gas station (what is now BP) and watching Euchre tournaments being played by all the locals. Donny also shared stories about spending Christmas’ with the Priest side of his family and Euchre games playing a large role in their celebration: grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, and siblings. Everyone knew how to play. Honestly, the card game theme is its own local story up here on the peninsula.
After graduating from high school, Donny stepped away from farming for a few years. He fondly remembers how in 1946, at age 16, he assisted in the building of the solid concrete fruit processing plant Frigid Foods. Thus began his 40-year career in the construction business. Following the entrepreneurial paths of his grandfather and father managing multiple businesses along with farming, Donny returned to his farming roots in his 30s. Although his father William thought he was crazy for returning to farming, Donny said it was in his blood. Along with his wife Teresa and three children, Donny created a thriving fruit orchard business. At the height of Donny’s farming business, he owned more than 250 acres and farmed over 20,000 cherry, apple, peach, and plum trees. Through communal effort, the Herman, Priest, and the Kolarik families managed, harvested and processed the fruit from Donny’s farms. Of Donny’s three farms located on Send Road, French Road, as well as between Kolarik and Jacobson Roads, proudly, two remain in Donny’s ownership. While Donny still rides his tractor and farms his property to this day, he believes he is the final generation of farmers in his family. Donny shared that “unreasonable real estate prices for land, tariffs, and regulations” are discouraging a younger generation from becoming farmers. Furthermore, he speculates only the larger, self-sustaining farming families will be the ones to survive the future on the Leelanau Peninsula.
If you are lucky enough to meet and speak with Donny, he is a treasure-trove of history and stories that underscore the interconnectedness of all the farming families on this peninsula. The man I met is soft-spoken, wise, self-deprecating, and authentic in his beliefs and actions. Donny mentioned one regret is that he “did not spend more time with his paternal and maternal grandparents.” But the time he did spend with them was “precious.” At the end of our interview, his familial connections seem endless: Herman, Priest, Kolarik, Steimel and the list goes on, thus highlighting the small world we inhabit living on the Leelanau Peninsula. “Men are like plants; the goodness and flavour of the fruit proceeds from the peculiar soil and exposition in which they grow” (Letter 3, Letters from An American Farmer). This Crèvecœur quote describes the honorable Donovan Herman succinctly.
The first installment in our Leelanau Farming Family Series, which published May 18, misspelled Donny Herman’s last name. We regret the error.
