It’s Cherry Festival Time!

It's Cherry Festival Time in Traverse City, and plenty of events will appeal to foodies out there! Here's a sample.

continued→

NMC Culinary Classes

NMC is offering several culinary classes that explore local foods. Summer school never sounded so good!

continued→

Foodie finds

In Food Loving Summer, Emily Betz Tyra lists foodie finds that capture the essence of summer up north. Add visiting these spots to your to do list... a lot more fun than the usual chores!

Reach local foodies

Up North Foodies just launched an advertising program designed for local businesses to reach a targeted audience interested in the northern Michigan food scene. Check out the details, feature your business in a focused, uncluttered environment, and help Up North Foodies support the local food scene!

Memories of spring beckon us north . . . morels, asparagus, greens, berries . . .

We're home again from wintering in the Caribbean where we frequent local markets. . .

continued→

Beyond the Dog, Camp Food

The lack of readily available info on campfire food beyond burgers and dogs inspired some creative thinking. . .

continued→

Local Food Exchange Online

Looking for pasture-raised natural beef or Heirloom Brandywine Tomato Plants? Both are currently listed on the Local Food Exchange Marketplace forum, operated by the Michigan Land Use Institute. The marketplace is an updated version of the "TDL Wholesale" service they operated last year. Use the forum to let people know what you have to sell or what you're looking to buy. MLUI's Taste the Local Difference program will help get the word out by including recent postings in email they send to hundreds of local farm and food businesses in the region.

Sustainability Uncorked!

Give new life to empty wine bottles with the Sustainability Uncorked Project!

continued→

Empire Asparagus Festival May 16

Just knowing the Empire Asparagus Festival is but a week away makes me smile. Plentiful local produce will soon be here!

Now in its fifth year, the festival is scheduled for May 16-18, and includes a poetry contest, cook off, fun run, Asparagus Fest dinner, local wine tasting, kids games and of course, the Asparagus Parade, where saluting asparagus is required!

continued→

Festival of Tables this weekend

Festival of Tables to benefit Child & Family Services is slated for May 9 & 10 at the Village at Grand Traverse Commons in Traverse City. The festival is the primary fundraising event for Child & Family Services of Northwestern Michigan. Festival of Tables celebrates the art of home entertaining. Highlights include gourmet hors d'oeuvres Friday evening by many of the area's finest restaurants, and a gourmet luncheon on Saturday created by Grandview Catering. Tickets are $100 for the Friday night Gala Preview, and $50 for the Saturday luncheon. That money supports a good cause: an organization that helps children and families in our community.

Manna Food Project Needs Your Help

Manna Food Project helps feed almost 30,000 local families each year by distributing food to 37 pantries and agencies throughout Emmet, Charlevoix and Antrim counties. The nonprofit has partnered with Leadership Little Traverse on the "Feeding our Future" project, which will support expanding Manna's building.

continued→

Green Garden Classes

Check out the 10 Green Garden Programs offered by MSU Extension this summer in Leelanau County. All programs emphasize environmentally friendly, sustainable garden practices, and are intended for backyard gardeners. Programs range from Home Fruit Production, to No-Til Gardening, to Garden Maintenance and Tools. Contact Pam Schmidt at MSU Extension-Leelanau, 231-256-9888; or schmi345@msu.edu.

Musings of a Maple Syrup Hobbyist

We hear the sap is running, it is "Maple Syrup Time" at home. First made by the indigenous people, maple syrup is now a business in the northeastern US, but for my husband, Dennis Lautner, it is a hobby. He makes 15 to 20 gallons each year to share with family and friends. When we left Traverse City in 2003, we stocked the boat larder with numerous pint-sized jugs of "Wild Denny's" - nature's finest sweeter. Our intent was to share the bounty with people along the way who helped us out in various situations. All along the US waterways people were grateful; a little note thanking them for whatever, indicated that it was "homemade." In the Caribbean, Denny always had to explain what it was, how it was made and what one used it for. Most of the locals had not experienced maple syrup before. Now that we are never home in the spring we've relied on friends and family to take over the production of our maple syrup. When they visit in the spring and when we come home for hurricane season our boat supply is restocked.

continued→

Sap’s Running!

Students from The Children's House in Traverse City watch as maple syrup farmer Tom Casier prepares to tap a sugar maple. What a process! The children paid a visit to Casier's woodlot near Empire last week, where they meandered through the woods identifying sap-giving trees, followed the tap lines to the pump and delighted in the process that gives us maple syrup. Delicious!