Community Resources & More!

Northwest Lower Michigan has a bounty of resources—whether you want to grow your own food; cook for good health; or, like so many people, you’re facing tight economic times.

Be a part of it.
In our region, people are joining the Northwest Michigan Food & Farming Network to collaborate on building a prosperous local food economy that provides everyone with an “ample, high quality, healthy, and culturally diverse diet.”

To join the Network’s Health & Youth Networking Committee email list—or get your community resources listed here—contact Diane Conners, MLUI’s Healthy Food for All program director.

The Michigan Good Food Charter challenges state and local leaders with 25 recommendations that build local food economies, including providing residents more access to healthy, locally grown food.

And check out the many resources, below, that Network and other community members offer for gardening, healthy eating, and avoiding hunger in a region that grows so much delicious food. 

Gardening

Community Gardens
Community gardens typically have many plots available to “grow your own” or “grow a row” for people in need. These plots are great for people whose yards are too shady for a garden, don’t have land at all, or just want to garden with others. Across the country, community gardens are positive community assets, like parks and bike paths, and often help grow youth leadership and the community economy.

• Traverse City’s zoning ordinance allows community gardens in all zoning categories, and residents can get city permission to launch community gardens on city land.
• Here’s another good resource for community planners and other local leaders: American Planning Association Policy Guide on Community and Regional Food Planning.

Regional community garden contacts and related resources include:

• Traverse City Community Gardens at the site of the Grand Traverse Commons, in Traverse City, and a related Urban Farming Collective.
• Leelanau County MSU Extension, which coordinates a community garden near Lake Leelanau. Call 231-256-9888 for more information, or email Pam Schmidt Bardenhagen.
• Institute for Sustainable Living, Art, & Natural Design (ISLAND) which is a resource for community and school gardens in Antrim County.
• Grow Benzie, which has greenhouse and garden space off of M-115 between Benzonia and Frankfort, and loads of garden resources and activities.
• Manistee Community Kitchen, which is a nonprofit organization that offers a variety of community garden resources.
• Natural Resources Conservation Service offices, which can provide assistance. Contact Maureen Templeton or Pepper Bromelmeier as a start.
• Wexford County MSU Extension: 231-779-9480, or email here.

           
School and Learning Gardens

• The Grand Traverse Area Children’s Garden has room for child-raised food and flowers; children’s activities; a clay pizza oven; and a solar calendar to mark the seasons—all right next to the Traverse Area District Library.
• Little Artshram operates a garden and nature camp on the grounds of the Grand Traverse Commons, in Traverse City, that also includes a youth market garden program.
• SEEDS offers after-school enrichment programs, including garden and culinary clubs, for schools in Leelanau, Benzie, Manistee, and Kalkaska counties.
• Institute for Sustainable Living, Art & Natural Design also assists school gardens in Antrim County.
• The Michigan Land Use Institute’s Farm to School Web page has additional school garden resources.
• C.S. Mott Group for Sustainable Food Systems at Michigan State University
  also helps local-food-oriented youth, community garden, and farm to school programs.

Garden Classes and Volunteers

• The Leelanau County MSU Extension office offers master gardener classes and backyard garden classes, and has many master gardeners ready to volunteer their services for your garden project. Call 231-256-9888; or email Pam Schmidt Bardenhagen.
• Institute for Sustainable Living, Art, & Natural Design (ISLAND) has lots of home food production workshops.

Healthy Eating       

• The Michigan Land Use Institute’s Taste the Local Differencefarm and food guide lists approximately 265 area farms, plus farmers markets, grocers, restaurants, and wineries selling local food.
• The Taste the Local Difference Web site also has printable pdf’s of simple, seasonal recipes, a database of many other recipes, and tips on how to eat in season.
• Health Departments in Benzie, Leelanau, and Grand Traverse Counties connect families on the Women Infant and Children (WIC) program to healthy local food and nutrition resources, including simple & seasonal recipes and the Taste the Local Difference guide.
• Northern Michigan Diabetes Initiative offers healthy family food education kits that list local food resources.
• Institute for Sustainable Living, Art, & Natural Design (ISLAND) has lots of home food production workshops.
• Manistee Community Kitchen offers Cooking Matters, award-winning cooking and nutrition classes that teach low-income families how to eat better for less.
• MSU Extension and its local county offices have many resources for healthy eating and food preservation.
• Child Care Connections links daycare providers and the families they serve to healthy, locally grown food.
• Great Start, in the Traverse City Area Chamber of Commerce, promotes healthy eating and local food opportunities to its broad network of groups providing young children with…a great start.
• Head Start, in the Northwest Michigan Community Action Agency, the Leelanau Children’s Center, and the Benodjenh Center of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians are early childhood centers that promote healthy eating, local food, and garden activities for young families.

In Tight Economic Times…

• Double Up Food Bucks Northwest Michigan doubles the money of SNAP Bridge Card users at participating area farmers markets.
• Find Farmers Markets Accepting the SNAP Bridge Card and participating in the Double Up Food Bucks program here.
• Learn more about these and other markets, including time, location, and Web sites, at the Michigan Land Use Institute’s Taste the Local Difference Web site here.
• Learn which farmers in northwest Lower Michigan accept nutrition assistance cards or coupons by visiting the searchable Taste the Local Difference Web site; under "Payment Options" select SNAP Bridge Card, Project FRESH coupons, or Grand Traverse Band coupons and click on Find It!
• Northwest Food Coalition members work to meet the hunger needs of people in a six-county area while continuing to address the greater issues of poverty.
• Fresh Food Partnership purchases food from northwest Lower Michigan farmers to stock area food pantries and community meals programs.
• Food Rescue of Northwest Michigan accepts local fresh food donations to stock area food pantries.
• The Poverty Reduction Initiative, a broad network of organizations working to alleviate poverty in the Grand Traverse region, participates in the Northwest Michigan Food & Farming Network.