Growing Community in Southwest Michigan
Martin Crawford is a pioneer in temperate-climate forest gardening, taking up the work of Robert Hart but applying it at a larger scale, with better plant spacing and arrangement, an academic fastidiousness, and much larger number of species. He has been publishing the excellent Agroforestry News from the UK since 1992, and more recently...
Mark Shepard may be the first person in the U.S. to apply Permaculture at the scale of a 100+ acre farm, with tree crop polycultures as the primary focus. He took up the lessons of J. Russell Smith and put them into practice on a hilly, beat-up farm in SW Wisconsin in the mid-1990s....
Oikos Tree Crops is a national treasure of temperate-climate permaculture plants, and we are very lucky to have them right in our area (Lawton). While they are not a retail nursery—they do not let people go there and “shop” or take tours, on account of it being a mail-order / internet business staffed by...
Grandpa’s Orchard is a local (Coloma, MI) nursery that sells a good variety of grafted fruit trees, specializing in apples, peaches, plums, pears, cherries, apricots, etc. Group members have reported that their plants are of very high quality. From their site: Grandpa’s Orchard® is your home for the biggest selection of bareroot fruit trees...
Hidden Savanna specializes in SW Michigan genotype native plants—prairie species, wildflowers, woodland herbs, and more. From their site: We are located in southwest Michigan and sell plants that are native to our region. We offer a wide range of species… from sand dunes to wetlands, and from forests to prairies, we have the plants...
A local (Grand Junction, MI) nursery which sells both wholesale and retail, specializing in blueberries, cane fruit, strawberries, and other fruiting shrubs. They also sell a few figs, pawpaws, persimmons, chestnuts, hazelnuts, and more. Definitely worth a look. Check out their offerings here: http://www.hartmannsplantcompany.com
Amy and John hosted our group at their CSA/farm (Harvest of Joy) in Shelbyville. We had a great turnout despite the cold, cold weather. Good to see a lot of familiar faces and also new friends made at the MI Permaculture Convergence a month ago. Thanks to all who showed up and esp. to...
Spirit Springs Farm in Marcellus, MI has over 80 varieties of heritage apples growing, and our small group was very lucky to have a short tour and sampling of dozens of varieties. I got some ideas about some varieties I’d like to grow. Call them at 269-624-1301 for their seasonal hours, very nice people...
We had an action-packed weekend in September, starting with a potluck get-together and tour of Dale and Tomme’s gardens in Kalamazoo on Friday evening. Saturday Bill Wilson of Midwest Permaculture gave an excellent Intro to Permaculture class at the Nature Center, and Sunday we had a booth at the always-fun Harvest Festival at Tiller’s...
