“Once This Was” Series • Bridget Frances Quinn • 2016

A Natural Progression:

Small-Scale CSA Farming with Adrienne Wolff of Buckwheat's Market Garden

Adrienne and Doug participated in MSU's Organic Farmer Training Program and now apply their learning towards growing food and building community in rural Northwest Michigan. Click above for a look at Buckwheat’s Market Garden through the lens of their community-supported agriculture model.

The Warp — Ideas and Inspiration

|| 1 || In the video above, Adrienne shares about Buckwheats’ progression from:

-Selling eggs to draw people to their farmer’s market booth,
-to focusing more on veggies and storage crops,
-and then working more with flowers and community catalyzing activities (think u-pick events and involvement in happenings like seed and plant swaps as well as the East Bay Small Farm Guild.)

Working with intention calls for considering shifts in priorities. This wisdom is similar to what Kelly, Buckwheats’ CSA collaborator at Daybreak Dreamfarm, shared when she spoke of the importance of “editing down the farm,” considering priorities and even scaling down in order to pursue success, whatever that might look like in your circumstances.

If conversation on the topics above piques your interest, you might want to check out “Helpless Growth: on farming, GDP and the cultural logic of progress.” While the piece hovers around those subjects, it’s also aimed towards rekindling the ability to act and move meaningfully amongst what often feels like helplessness. I’m hesitant to point Dougald’s way again, truly. He’s come up a few times lately, but the relevance here is too good to squander.

|| 2 || I have a ton of respect for farmers’ work, wisdom, and resiliency. Maybe I’d enjoy farming virtually with Farming Simulator 22.

Or watching videos of people farming virtually.

Or, one step further, watching videos of people watching video of others farming virtually.

In case this medium is fuzzy—that’s all tongue-in-cheek. I question the simulator advertisement that reads: “Real Tractors. Real Farming. Real Fun.”

If I’m being honest, though, I really can’t say too much by way of judgment. I find joy and fulfillment in all sorts of things that others consider a waste of time or inefficient. I’m sure I’d learn some things if I tried Farming Simulator 22.

I don’t plan to.

But if Firewood Systems Simulator or Thrift Store Tycoon appeared out of the woodwork? I’d be game.

|| 3 || On this edition’s featured artwork—Here’s some deeper context from Bridget on each shot found at the top of this email.

Once this was an Ocean
Outside a house on a dead-end street, soon to be demolished. Next to the Marathon Refinery and Detroit Salt Mines. The blue piles of salt are deposits left from ancient seas. This area has some of the worst air quality in the country, and vents dot the landscape. Some blast fire into the sky, while some allow gases to escape. Nearby residents, the majority of whom are Black, experience highly elevated levels of asthma and cancer.

Once this was a Landfill
The lively edgelands of Fairlane Green shopping center. This land was once mined for clay for Henry Ford's factories, and then the hole in the earth was filled with trash, creating the only hill in a very flat terrain. Now, big box stores sit atop the trash heap, and the pipes of monitoring wells peak above the wildflowers on the periphery.

Once this was Paradise Valley
Outside the construction zone of Little Caesars Arena in Downtown Detroit, which was built in what was formerly a Black entertainment and business district called Paradise Valley. Paradise Valley's Black Business owners and residents were subject to racist city planning that destroyed swaths of the neighborhood through the building of the freeway system. The Ilitch family began purchasing properties, and intentionally left buildings abandoned to drive down property values so that they could more easily purchase more property.

The Weft — News and Events

We’re heartened by a wide-range of expressions of resilient communities and gatherings. Here’s a smattering of regional events and happenings that reflect that diversity, collected for your consideration. Choose your own adventure!

|| 1 || Northern Michigan Climate Families Presents: Roots and Shoots—Food, Farms & Fun for Families. Thursday, April 4th, 2:30-3:30pm, and Saturday, April 6th, 2:30-3:30pm at Oryana West. Find more on the programs and register here.

|| 2 || Little Traverse Bay Beekeepers Guild Monthly Meeting. April 7th, 6-8pm, in Petoskey. Find more information on the upcoming presentation on swamps and splits from Dr. Meghan Milbraith here.

|| 3 || The Antrim Writers Series presents: Write Here, Write Now—Reading and Book Discussion of A Study in Charlotte and Fiction Writing Workshop with Brittany Cavallaro. Elk Rapids, May 7th and 8th. Find more information at the links above.

|| 4 || Antrim Farmer Resource Fair: Federal, State and Local Resources for Farmers, Presentations, and Tables. Tuesday, April 9th, 11am-2pm, at the Banks Township Hall in Ellsworth. $5 entrance fee, lunch provided. Register here or find more information here.

|| 5 || Happenings at The Alluvion Between Now and the Next Whole Field include: Big Fun, Mindful + Musical with Miriam Pico: Intergenerational Spring Break Class, The Jeff Haas Trio featuring Laurie Sears and Lisa Flahive, Levitator with Tai Drury with live visuals by Super Nuclear, The Go Rounds & The Antivillains, the "Marqueetown" World Premiere, Funky Uncle, Improvisation to Sketch Teen Class, Balance with special guest Gerald Cleaver, John Jorgenson J2B2 Bluegrass Band & Hiroya Tsukamoto.

Find more information at www.thealluvion.org.

|| 6 || As of March 8th, Alluvion Arts @ 414 presents Botanic, an exhibition that takes a collective look at our intimate relationship to the plant kingdom. Plants create and regulate the air we breathe, they provide us with food, medicine, textiles and building materials. Through thought provoking conceptual work, installations, botanical paintings and prints, sculptures, wood work and a freshly installed seed library, Botanic attempts to examine and honor the gifts of our botanical friends. Free and open to the public. Find more information here.

|| 7 || National Writers Series: Workshops and Classes for Students in Northern Michigan and beyond. Find information and register here for offerings like Poetry with David Hornibrook (5th-8th grade, Elk Rapids and online), and Literary Short Story with Karin Killian (9th-12th grade, at Commongrounds and online.) Classes are free, while space is limited.

|| 8 || MSU Extension’s Sustainability Speakers Series Spring 2024. Bicycle trailer food scrap collection, household food waste, effective recycling practices, and more. Find information on the upcoming virtual “lunch and learns” February through May here.