In late April, on a mostly sunny, cool morning, with the temperature in the low fifties, I drove out from Ann Arbor on Whitmore Lake Road to Slow Farm. I found Bayer and co-farm manager Magda Nawrocka-Weekes standing at the edge of a large field on the west side of Whitmore Lake Road, near the farm’s gate.
Posts tagged #farm
A Good Crop of Mental Health: A Conversation about Animal Assisted Therapy with Laura Sanders
Laura Sanders, LMSW, ACSW, has been practicing in the Ann Arbor area for 34 years and has been teaching as an adjunct professor at the University of Michigan School of Social Work for 26 years. Her approach to therapy utilizes a wide variety of evidence-based and creative therapies, including trauma recovery methods, art and play therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and relational approaches through Animal Assisted Therapy.
Zen and the Art of Community-Supported Agriculture
Celebrating, preserving, and sharing our areas rich Agro-Centric heritage is one of my favorite interests. A somewhat new land preservation project has gained my interest over the past year and is ongoing at the corner of Scio Church and Zeeb Road. Follow me on a journey of one family’s dream passed on. This is yet another food-farm venture of Tantre` Farm’s stewards, Richard Andres and Deb Lentz.
Community Farm of Ann Arbor-- A Look at the Past, the Present, and the Future
The Community Farm of Ann Arbor was founded in 1988. It was one of the first organic, and perhaps the only biodynamic, farm in Michigan, as well as one of the first CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture). A few years after the Farm began, and up until three years ago, it was run by Annie Elder and Paul Bantle. After Annie and Paul moved to California in 2018, several other farmers ran things, and then this spring, Dan Gannon was hired to run the Farm.
Golden Fleece: Keeping You Warm and the Planet Cool with Michigan Merinos at Happy Goat Lucky Ewe Farm
“Watch out for the ram.” Surrounded by sheep, I turn quickly, trying to find the one ram among the twenty plus ewes in the pen. They all look alike in their thick winter fleeces on this January visit, dashing away from me when I approach like minnows in a pond. I move closer to Bridget Kavanaugh, the owner of Happy Goat Lucky Ewe farm, to make sure there isn’t enough open space for the ram to follow through on his name. Sheep bump against my thighs, and I feel like I’m being hit by toddlers with pillows, their fleeces are so thick. It’s a barnyard comedy show: I’m darting after the sheep to see how long their fleeces are, they are running away from me while chasing the hay that Kavanaugh is tossing to them for their late morning feed. Finally, I spot the ram, fortunately across the pen from me, horns hidden by fleece, leaving the black straps of his chest harness the sole identifier.
