How do you eat local? Follow along with our Claire, our Content Strategy Specialist, a Northern Michigan resident, as she eats local all week long.
Monday: Meal Planning at Oryana
It’s the beginning of the work week, which equals emails. My weekly inbox treat is the newsletter for my CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture, share. I read that I’ll be receiving organic green beans, salad greens, and goat cheese among other options from local farmers. Time for meal planning! I decide to complement a greens salad with goat cheese and local pork chops, which I find at Oryana, the cooperative grocery store on 10th Street in downtown Traverse City. Luckily, if I shop at most area grocery stores, local options are abundant.
Tuesday: Working Breakfast at Common Good Bakery
Tuesday morning I head into town to bring my son to daycare and schedule a working breakfast with my good friend at Common Good Bakery. On the menu: a mushroom tartine, accompanied by the perfect cup of coffee. Smells of fresh-baked bread fill the small cafe, and we stay long enough to see the pizza oven fire up for lunch.
Wednesday: MI Farm Co-op CSA Day!
Wednesdays mean my MI Farm Co-op CSA is ready! I travel into Traverse City to pick it up, and back home to unpack my share of local eggs, salad greens, and other fresh recruits for the weekly meal plan. An informal tradition on CSA Day is to tear into my new loaf of 9 Bean Rows bread, slather it in a little bit of butter and salt, and dive in.
Thursday: The Fresh Coast Quarterly Club at Farm Club
The Fresh Coast Quarterly Club, hosted by Michigan’s Creative Coast, is a space to connect with the community, including a presentation from an area entrepreneur to celebrate their contributions to Northern Michigan. In June, this free event is hosted on Thursday, June 22nd, at Farm Club, an area restaurant, market, and microbrewery that focuses on the regional agricultural community in the area, and will feature Render and Rise, a documentary filmmaking studio focused on food and farming.
Friday: Cheers with a Local Beer!
It’s Friday! It’s easy to drop by a local farmstand for in-season asparagus to throw on the grill to enjoy with my pork chops and green salad, complemented by a Short’s beer I picked up in my errand-running to celebrate the beginning of the weekend. Dinner is served – cheers!
Saturday: Merlyn’s Patisserie at the Sara Hardy Downtown Farmers Market
There’s a market for every day of the week in the Traverse City area, but one of the biggest is the Sara Hardy Downtown Farmers Market, which hosts farmers and food makers from the entire region. I try to get there early to jump in line for Merlyn’s Patisserie, an Asian-French pastry shop, for their ube croissant, a perfect breakfast to enjoy while picking up early cucumbers.
Sunday: Local Rhubarb Crumble
Sunday brings a get-together BBQ with our friends. Food brings people together – and I’m extra glad for it when the local rhubarb crumble is served. My one-year-old tries the tart veggie and decides it passes the taste test, especially in this sweet form. We catch up and watch the toddlers play around a water table, and I reminisce about how I’m lucky to live in a community that gathers over fresh food.
Are you ready to move North and start eating locally every day of the week? Already here and hoping to connect more deeply with your community? Michigan’s Creative Coast is your guide to making your life and getting connected in the freshwater paradise of the Grand Traverse region. Head to their website and get started today!
Claire Butler is the Content Strategy Specialist for Taste the Local Difference. Contact her at [email protected].
This post was made in partnership with Michigan’s Creative Coast.