Sally over at the Leelanau Chamber notes that the Suttons Bay School Health Team is sponsoring a Fall Food Festival tomorrow (Friday, October 10th) from 5-7 pm in the High School Skylight and commons area.
Silvertree, Samuel’s, Stone House Bread, Hansen’s and Green Leaf café will be joining many of our local farmers to provide Food demonstrations along with recipes utilizing local fresh food. Jelinek Farms, Black Star Farms and Bardenhagens will offer fresh produce for sale and honey will be available from the Hathway farm. MSU extension will be working with students and community members to design a school garden along with presentations from Jane Leatherman Walker of the Eco-Learning Center on green living and biodynamic farming. Other presenters include Sandy Nesky from the Herb Connection, Allison Arthur, Bikhram Yoga, Kendra Smith, massage and Chad Jordan from Body Balance. Community members Rick Haynes, Becky Hemmingsen, Kim Eike and Lynne Brach will share their skills and knowledge regarding nutritional food preparation and healthy lifestyles.
Sounds like a fun, informative and TASTY time!
photo: The Green and the Blue by Andy McFarlane (and this apple was growing last October about 1/4 mile from Suttons Bay School)
The South Manitou Island Lighthouse was officially re-lit October 4, 2008 at 8 PM.
We will be linking to more photos and such as they are posted. You can click the photo to the right for a slideshow of the new lamp in action from Geoff Niessink!
Details about this historic event.
The photo above is Relight by Andy McFarlane
Article courtesy lpwines.com...
In today's USA Today, wine writer Jerry Shriver and travel editor Chris Gray have profiled four up-and-coming wine regions in Off the beaten wine trail. The four are New York's Hudson Valley, Hill Country in Texas, the Eastern Townships, Quebec and yes, Michigan's Leelanau Peninsula!
The state's 56 wineries — six opened in the past year — are spread across Michigan along four wine trails, but most of the best grapes are grown near the eastern shore of Lake Michigan and its bays. Top wineries are positioning themselves as small but key players in the Riesling renaissance that is taking hold across the country, and nearly 1 million visitors will arrive this year to sample the offerings. The most popular wine region, because of its prime setting along Lake Michigan, is the Leelanau Peninsula, home to about 20 wineries, 16 of which have public tasting rooms.
Read the rest of Riesling rising, and more, in Leelanau Peninsula, Michigan from USA Today.
The photo is Willow Vineyard VI by Cotopaxi Sprattmoran (whose photography was also used for the article). Check out her whole August at the Wineries of the LPVA set to see the amazing beauty of our wineries and vineyards!
The photo is Cairn by jowo, who notes that there are photos of this dating back to 2006.
Help us keep track of what's happening by commenting with news stories you find, observations of the natural world, events you participated in (or are looking forward to) and other comments. You can also check in on the Leelanau Calendar and The Leelanau Almanac!
The new m22colortour.com web site hopes to cooperatively market M-22. A feature in the Traverse City Record-Eagle relates that Rand McNally recently rated the scenic route as one of the five greatest driving tours in America and that:
The M-22 Color Tour promotion is a collaborative effort of the visitors bureaus in Benzie and Manistee counties, along with the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The three organizations pooled resources and marketing dollars to spread the word about the color route.
In addition to the Web site, the groups printed about 10,000 rack cards that are available at their respective offices, at Michigan Welcome Centers and at businesses along the route...
At a time when many folks are watching their gas gauges, one appeal of the M-22 Color Tour is that it's a one-tank trip for many in Michigan and across the Midwest. That makes it an appealing day trip or weekend getaway for those who want to savor autumnal beauty.
It certainly is a gorgeous route, as you can see from the photos in the Michigan Highway M-22 Group on Flickr - here's a slideshow for "fall" from the group which I imagine will grow as the color proceeds.
I should add that you can also find great places to stay along M-22 on our lodging page!
photo courtesy m22colortour.com
Good Harbor III by Andy McFarlane
News from the Week
News from the week included stories about the passage of the Great Lakes Compact, a rundown of Leelanau County candidate forums and our September Beachcoming page where we (and you) can post news items, new sites and other observations.
The Week's Weather
We've had one of the best weeks of the summer ... or is that fall? I guess it is fall as we're seeing some really nice oranges and reds coming out but with a steady run of temps in the 70s, it's hard to tell. The apples know it's fall and just yesterday the honey crisp apples made it to the Merc.
September 18, 2008: Sunny & upper 60s (67/45)
September 19, 2008: Mostly sunny & 70s (76/51)
September 20, 2008: Partly sunny w/ very brief showers & 70s (76/60)
September 21, 2008: Mostly sunny & 70 (70/53)
September 22, 2008: Sunny & 70s (77/52)
September 23, 2008: Mostly sunny & upper 70s (80/52)
September 24, 2008: Partly sunny & upper 70s (80/56)
Click for the Leelanau news archive from September 2007 and share the Leelanau stuff you find over at Beachcombing: September 2008.
After approval by the region's 8 governors, the premiers of Quebec and Ontario, the US Senate and the US House of Representatives of the Great Lakes Basin Compact, all that remains is the signature of President Bush to make it law. It's being touted as permanent protection for the Great Lakes. However, as the Detroit Free Press reports, not everyone is cheering this:
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Menominee, wrote a letter to the House on Monday asking members to turn the compact down because he said it has loopholes that could allow limitless amounts of bottled water to be exported beyond the Great Lakes basin. The compact exempts water in containers smaller than 5.7 gallons from the prohibitions on diversion.
Stupak said he also was concerned that compact language makes water a product under trade laws, which prevent restrictions on trade. "This compact ... falls short of its intended goal," he said in a statement.
Legal experts said those fears are unfounded and that there are ways each state can regulate water bottling, as Michigan does. For any new withdrawal of water for bottling, Michigan requires the bottler to get a permit if it plans to take more than 200,000 gallons per day. Whether a bottler gets a permit depends on the effect of the withdrawal on nearby streams and fish.
In his reaction, Great Lakes expert Dave Dempsey says that while the law represents years of hard work, it may make the Lakes more vulnerable rather than less as it legally defines water in bottles as a commodity under US law.
Photo credit: Empire Bluff view #2 by trekguy (part of his Crystal Lake Vacation set and taken on the day "The Tree" fell).
Sharon McMachen Kalchik will speak about the barns of Leelanau Township at 7 PM next Thursday (Sep 25) at the Trinity Church of The United Church of Christ in Northport (103 N Warren Street).
Her talk is sponsored by the Northport Area Heritage Association and based on the photos she took in 2005 when she set out to photograph Leelanau Township's remaining barns. She'll have two large albums of barn photos to browse through as well as some matted barn photos on display. She's also planning to show a DVD she made with Northport resident Kelli Charter featuring lots of color photos of the area.=.
The photo is Leelanau by jeff lamb, who has a ton more great photos of Leelanau barns.
Post courtesy Leelanau Peninsula Vintners Association:
Bill O'Brien of the Traverse-City Record Eagle has a nice piece on this year's grape harvest in Northern Michigan. It looks to be another good year for winemakers and wine lovers alike.
Northern Michigan vineyards are quiet these days, the fruit soaking up late summer sunshine, even as the region's other top crops are carted in from the fields.
But vineyards soon will buzz with activity, filled with workers and machines needed to harvest another grape crop, while local tasting rooms swell with thousands of wine enthusiasts.
It's an annual rite that excites even longtime winemakers like Leelanau County's Larry Mawby.
"Once the fall color starts, the season is busy, busy, busy," said Mawby, now in his 35th year growing grapes and his 30th year of making wine at his vineyard south of Suttons Bay.
Continue reading It's vine time for area vintners
Photo credit: Wine Harvest II by farlane
On the Bridge to Barb's by Pentax K1000 Gal
News from the Week
This week we took a look at The Grand Vision, a citizen-led transportation and land use study. Check it out for some cool videos of what people are thinking about how growth can (and should) impact outdoor recreation, community, housing, jobs and agriculture. The rest of the news was events, meaning it must be time to get out and do things before the weather makes us decide to pull up a chair by the fire!
The Week's Weather
The weather was pretty cool, but there was a lot of sun to be had!
Sep 4, 2008: Cloudy, 60 and heavy evening rain (61/54)
Sep 5, 2008: Cloudy, rain and low 60s (67/51)
Sep 6, 2008: Partly sunny & 60s (70/51)
Sep 7, 2008: Mostly sunny & low 70s (73/53)
Sep 8, 2008: Mostly cloudy & low 60s (65/51)
Sep 9, 2008: Mostly sunny & low 60s (64/44)
Sep 9, 2008: Mostly sunny & low 60s (64/44)
Sep 10, 2008: Sunny & 60s (69/39)
Sep 11, 2008: Early sun, late afternoon clouds and heavy overnight rain (74/52)
Click for the Leelanau news archive from September 2007!
