A visit to Tilian Farm Development Center: a vision of our local food future

Merely 5 miles north on Pontiac Trail, a vision is taking on substance. Tilian Farm Development Center is about to burst forth with active vegetables, animals, and people. As with so many things, it is nice to see a “before” picture, this is that picture. As I noted in January, Tilian Farm Development Center is [...]

Visit to Sunseed Farm

In my Farm to Fork series I visit local farms around Ann Arbor and share what I learn. “People aren’t willing to just eat potatoes and onions all winter long.” Tomm Becker, of Sunseed Farm, stands in the one of their two unheated hoop houses surrounded by dark earth and verdant vegetables. “We believe that [...]

3rd Annual Homegrown Local Food Summit

The Homegrown Local Food Summit celebrated its third year with over 300 people at Washtenaw Community College on March 1st. The sun drenched lobby shone down on the information booths and tables groaning under the bounty of donated food. Rachel Chadderdon, of Double Up Food Bucks, introduced the day’s event as a way “to bring [...]

Selma Cafe celebrates its 2nd anniversary

Selma Cafe is a local-foods breakfast salon began in February 2009, founded and hosted by Lisa Gottlieb and Jeff McCabe, organized these past six months by Gottlieb, as McCabe has focused on the farming initiatives. The first time my husband and I went to Selma Cafe, we arrived at 6:25 a.m. so he could be at [...]

Cooped up backyard chickens revel in the melting snow

I returned Wednesday to Ann Arbor from a week away. I left town with snowdrifts and nary a sight of grass or earth anywhere. I return to puddles, calcifying stalagmites of gray snow forms and soil once again visible in our back garden. The soft breeze and the smell of warming earth enveloped me on [...]