Part five of Rebecca Carlson’s Leelanau Farming Family Series features the Steimel family, which arrived in the area in the 1860s from Germany, homesteading shortly after arriving. By the 1881 Leelanau County plat maps, the Steimels held several different properties in and around Suttons Bay.
Part three of our Leelanau Farming Family Series, featuring Donny Herman, the descendent of German immigrants, building a life in Leelanau, and many euchre games. Read the first installment “Where are Herman’s trees?” and the second “Life on the Schaub Farm: Cocktail memories.”
“As my 80-year-old dad and I make the trek slowly up the heavily-canopied, half-century old two-track, I wonder what his reaction will be as we make it to the cherry orchard entrance,” writes Rebecca Carlson in this first installment in a series about the legacy and impact of Leelanau County farming families. “With the sun shining in our faces, Dad stops dead in his tracks and takes his first look at the orchard in several years. ‘Where are all the trees? Where are all Herman’s trees?’ Silent and shaking his head, my Dad continues to scan the empty orchard. ‘Dad, all our trees were removed last year,’ I say. ‘There were only about 20 cherry trees left.’ He responds, ‘But I don’t remember agreeing to that.’ While his eyes well with tears, I realize this was yet another loss of family ties and precious memories from our years of farming.”
During these busy summer days in the Leelanau fields, Marcelino sometimes feels as though he carries the weight of two migrant farmworkers. He once picked grapes, cherries and apples alongside 12-15 other workers, but this year there are only seven splitting their time between two small farms.
The Leelanau Conservancy is hosting a free Speaker Series and Kids Harvest Party event at the Suttons Bay High School on Saturday, Oct. 19 from 3 to 5 p.m. The event, “Farming and Food: Past, Present, and Future” is Part Two of the Conservancy’s Leelanau: Looking Ahead Speaker Series.