When you retire at 55 from the Chrysler Corporation as its assistant treasurer, and then become a cherry farmer for the next three decades, what does that look like? Tom […]
Category Archives: Landowner Stories
Steichen: A Place for Family
Female bobcats won’t share their territory, and each one requires about five square miles to thrive. So when Mike and Teri Steichen glimpsed a bobcat skirting past their house north […]
Beloved Leo Creek –Protected and Open to Explore
A Place for the Children Along Leo Creek There is a magical place near Suttons Bay, along beautiful Leo Creek, where Montessori children once built stick forts, picked blueberries and […]
Palmer Woods: A Family’s Legacy
Dr. Dan Palmer grew up in Frankfort, and enjoyed camping out on the dunes north of town in a place called Devil’s Armchair and on the Sleeping Bear dunes. […]
Gregory and Cherry Bay Orchards
The year was 2005. Emily Gregory and Mark Miezio had been dating for just about four months. They were living in Chicago where Mark consulted as a civil engineer and […]
Kiessel Brothers: Center Highway
From Our Fall 2014 Newsletter In the heart of the agricultural corridor along Center Highway sits the old Green farm. The Leelanau Trail stretches back off to the east, and […]
Kelenske Farm Preserved
When Jerry Kelenske was a little boy, he didn’t have many toys to play with. His parents were farmers who had their only child late in life. So he entertained […]
Hohnke Farm Preserved: Ben Hohnke’s Very Fine Life
The kitchen table at Ben Hohnke’s farmhouse is round and covered with a vinyl cloth. Sunlight streams in from two corner windows. It is a good vantage point to learn […]
Egeler Farm Protected: 116 Acres of Prime Fruit Growing Land
It wasn’t easy to arrange a meeting with farmers Mike and Jeanette Egeler. Both work seven days a week, most days well into the evening. Between their cherry farm, Mike’s […]
Esch Farm
From our 2013 Fall Newsletter by Tom Nelson, Director of Farm Programs This is the story of a journey—one bound by the timeless virtues of faith, hope, and charity. Driving […]
