“I’ve always made a living with a knife,” says Terry Conger of TC Butchering. He has sharpened his skills over a long, self-directed apprenticeship that included prep cooking and managing a well-known Traverse City restaurant; working at area retail groceries; and processing thousands of game and farm animals.

Discover Historic Leelanau through a PowerPoint tour of officially recognized sites, presented by historians Christine Byron and Thomas Wilson on Thursday, Sept. 27, at 7 p.m. at the Glen Arbor Township Hall. This free community event is sponsored by the Leelanau County Historic Preservation Society.

The League of Women Voters Leelanau County has announced it will hold four upcoming candidate forums prior to the Nov. 6. national midterm election.

If you are from Michigan I am sure you have heard the words Sleeping Bear Dunes. If you have not and are just arriving, you may want to. When I had my first car I, like many of us, had one big question, a common one for those with a sense of searching: What is at the end of that road?

“I feel I’ve been aiming in this direction all along, though it didn’t seem like it at times,” shared Gaia Nesvacil as we sipped a cup of coffee and watched the end of a summer storm approach from the west, wind and rain drops gathering force. “On and off these past three years I’ve been working towards the budding of a flower operation. This is my first year leasing a half acre in Leelanau County to grow cut flowers to take to the farmers market.”

The Northport Energy group is educating and progressing the village and region towards renewable energy that can be sustainable and beneficial for the community, environmentally and financially. What started with some retired professionals seeking intellectual stimulation 10 years ago turned into a drive to steer the community in a greener direction.

Michigan’s leading cherry retailer is changing gears, driving from a hectic summer season right into a busy fall with customer-friendly events scheduled throughout September and October.

The Leelanau County Transit Alliance, a new community-based initiative to engage Leelanau County residents, businesses and organizations to identify unmet public transportation needs, will hold a community forum on Sept. 18 at the Leelanau County Government Center.

A big drawback for business in Empire is the village’s lack of adequate wastewater treatment. Amidst the specter of a shuttered grocery swirls an impassioned, at times contentious, debate over whether the village should invest in a municipal sewer system—either to benefit the core business district or to cover the wastewater needs of most residents.

Attend Michigan State University (MSU) Extension’s two-day Water School: Essential Resources for Local Officials, Sept. 17-18 from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. at the Northwest Michigan Horticultural Research Center on 6686 S. Center Highway. The MSU Extension Water School is a joint project between MSU Extension and Michigan Sea Grant.