Scenes of Michigan II

I'm posting more photos per post than normal so just bear with me. We have been trying to wander around the area somewhere new every week but some of the time I am lazy and don't take many photos. It gets to be too much like work otherwise.




One of the weekends in August one of the nearby villages, Port Oneida Village Farms, held its annual fare. The area is owned by the National Park Service as part of the Sleepy Bear Sand Dunes National Park and once a year they open up all the farms and volunteers demonstrate the old crafts.




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We visited the Port Oneida Historical Farms on Fair Day. I liked the scene across the fields.

I always like barns and this one was no exception.

Although this looked like he was making horseshoes, he was making an ornamental iron hook with twists in it. Watching him put the twist in the iron was interesting. Of course there were the 30 something folks there who had never seen a forge.

Another view of the barn.

I'm not sure how many of my viewers have ever had to use an outhouse for their only 'convenience' but those of us who grew up in Bauxite, AR had a lot of experience with them. This one is painted and everything. I don't remember ours being painted.

The farmhouse had its clothesline attached to the house. Ours always seemed to be further away from the house but I'm not sure if there was a good reason for that being the case. However our mother always insisted in the clothes being 'grouped' with all the like items hung together.

One of the surprises of our visit was this notice in the front room of one of the farmhouses. You probably can't read it but it says that Richard Bach of Jonathon Livingston Seagull fame was living in an upstairs bedroom when he wrote it. He would go to the Michigan shore (a mile or so away) and watch the seagulls or simply sit in his bedroom and observe them out his window. Being a fan of Bach this was a nice find for me.

This being an English saddle struck me as 'out of place' if they were trying to be authentic but, who knows, perhaps the original owners were English. No, I didn't ask - sorry.

More barn photos.

Another 'period' performer providing a little music for the crowds.

One of the farmhouses had been restored to show the kitchen as it would have been. They even had a mother/daughter cooking and canning. It was a warm day and the wood stove provided more than enough heat for us.

This 'cellar' was original. It was dug out of the hillside to keep it cool and would have been used to store vegetables or canned goods. Useful when we had to depend on the 'iceman' to keep anything cool. Although I remember those days well (before fridges) I struggle to remember it being particularly difficult to keep food. One big advantage was it meant that if we had ice cream it was always homemade since you had no way to keep it if purchased in town.

Now for a change of pace, this is one of the nearby wineries (Black Star Winery). It is one of the more beautiful settings and has the added advantage that also make cheese so when you go to taste their wines you can also try some of their cheese (want a little cheese with that whine?). They are known for a cheese Becky and I associate with Switzerland as that is the first place we ever had it - raclette. I don't remember exactly what all was in the dish but clearly remember their bringing a 'device' to our table to melt the raclette. Potatoes were involved and some type of meat and when coupled with the setting - eating on a balcony looking up at this large mountain that people were hang gliding off of (landing not far from where we were sitting and being taken back to the top via helicopter) requires no photograph in my mind. I can see it clearly. I digress - their raclette passed the taste test.

A mile or so from the winery is this view of Lake Michigan shores. We liked the look of this small boat. It appeared to us to have a 'jaunty' look.

This area has plenty of public beach area. This one has a small pavilion with picnic tables and restrooms. I must admit I was a wimp regarding swimming here. Lots of people obviously have a higher tolerance for cool water (or they are just younger and know no better) as there is always someone out in the water. I like the beach and view better.

A couple of miles away from the park is this unique (to us) place. I have seen examples of hydroponic gardens but never one in actual operation by an individual. The produce produced at this one are excellent and reasonably priced.

This is one of those 'You know you are in the country when ....' things. Most of the fruit and vegetable stands in the area operate on the honesty system but this is the only one we saw that doesn't even have a place that you stick your money in. The advantage of this one is you can make change if you only have a $20. I presume most folks are honest as they continue to be in business. Another farm in the area has eggs in a fridge that operates the same way. You choose the eggs you want and leave money in a can.

Not only do we like the produce, the whole farm is like a garden. The rest of the photos are of the buildings and setting around the greenhouse. The owner has a real eye for plants and flowers.