Agri-tourism boom

Farms are in the business of making food. However, some farmers in southwest Michigan are finding that isn't enough. They've turned to agri-tourism to help boost sales and income, as WMUK's Daryn DeCriscio reports:

Alicia Robinette manages Robinette's Apple Haus and Winery in Grand Rapids. She says agri-tourism provides an important boost to one of Michigan's biggest businesses - farming. But Robinette says many people don't know how important farms are to the state's economy because they've been overshadowed by the auto industry. She says the growth of agri-tourism helps change that:

[Alicia Robinette] "I do believe it's growing, and the reason why I believe it is growing is that farmers cannot make it on just growing their crops and selling them anymore. So, farmers are always looking for other things that people can do on their farms like evaluative products such as wine or entertainment type products."

David Geen of Saugatuck recently started Hungry Village Tours in his hometown of Saugatuck. But he isn't a newcomer to the agri-tourism business:

[David Geen] "I've been giving culinary tours food and wine adventures in Italy and France for the last fifteen years, and I live here in Saugatuck and Douglas and easily looked around and found all of this treasure trove of unique niche farmers and producers and artisans in this immediate vicinity and thought what better way to introduce visitors and locals alike to what we have in our own back yard."

Geen's company organizes tours of farms and locally-owned food businesses in southwest Michigan:

[David Geen] "I just picked the ones I liked that best exemplify sort of the feeling, the emotion in what their doing whether it's wine, whether it's cheese, whether it's the animals that you've seen today. You know the organic berries and vegetables and things."

One of the stops on a recent tour was the Evergreen Lane Creamery and goat farm near Saugatuck.

[Kathy Halinski] "This is the herb mix, which is lovage, parsley, and chives.

Owner Kathy Halinsky said she quickly agreed when Geen asked if she wanted to be included on his tour route:

[Kathy Holinsky] "David asked me and it seemed like a good idea; a way to get our name out there and to share what we do with people and they can actually come to the farm and see the animals that we're getting the milk from and see the whole process. So, it's nice to go full circle with it."

The tour has stops of culinary interest as well as farms.

[Kerry O'Donahue] "This is what we call our beer hall, a banquet room for class reunions, wedding receptions, bigger name music concerts, any and all of the above."

That's Saugatuck Brewing Company co-owner Kerry O'Donahue guiding visitors during a recent tour. One of those listening was Sally Winthers of Saugatuck, who helped design a recent book about locally produced food called The Village Table. Winthers explained why she signed up for the tour:

[Sally Winthers] "Oh! Um because I'm really interested in local food and you know for a while it seems like back in the past food came from all different sorts of places and then that changed and all our food came from grocery stores and now it's changing again that people could actually choose to get their food from all different sorts of local places if they want to and I think that's a beautiful thing and I wanted to know more about."

Saugatuck realtor Bill Underdown works with David Geen to organize the Hungry Village tours. He agrees that agri-tourism helps people better understand how important farming and local food businesses are to a community:

[Bill Underdown] "I think it's a great orientation for people to understand the real kind of sense of place and what this area's really all about; understanding kind of how the land itself has lent itself to different things and different uses, but then also how the community can kind of grow together and understand more of sort of the historic and food base that they live in. It's really pretty exciting."

According to state officials, agriculture overall - including agri-tourism - contributes a little over 60 billion dollars to Michigan's economy. And they say that figure keeps growing. Agriculture and related businesses employ more than a million Michigan residents. For WMUK, I'm Daryn DeCriscio.

You don't want to drink this "tea"!

One of the stops on the Hungry Village tour is the Pleasant Hill Farm near Fennville. It's run by WMUK correspondent Joan Donaldson and her husband John, who raise blueberries. They run their farm organically. So, to protect their bushes without resorting to artificial chemicals, the use a natural approach called "compost tea" that recycles natural waste. Joan explains the process:

(Pump sounds)

My husband, John, brews compost tea with the same passion that some men devote to hops and malt.

(Filling tank)

Every other week during the growing season, he sets up a 250-gallon plastic tank, fills it with pond water, compost, and seaweed. John plugs in a small motor that operates a bubbler that pushes oxygen into the soup. Soon, the air smells of mushrooms and brown froth cascades over the sides of the tank.

For over ten years, John has refined his compost tea recipe and experimented with different ingredients and brewing methods. That first year, he dumped turkey compost into a one-thousand-gallon vat, bought an aerator designed for a fish tank, and sank it into the murky mess. Twice a day, John and our son Carlos inserted a hose attached to a pump into the brew; the pump chugged, drawing up liquid from one end of the hose and then spewing it out the other end, back into the vat. On more than one occasion, the hose escaped either Carlos' or John's grasp and writhed like an eel, splashing tea over them. Later, John switched to a stainless steel gizmo that reminded me of the cartoon character, Tom Terrific that sat on top of the tank, buzzing away. Finally, John decided to fill mesh bags with humus and dangle them into the water-filled vat.

(Bubbler motor)

Now a larger motor hums as the bubbler whips in air for the next twenty-four hours. Why does a man who hates to cook bother to make compost tea? Why not just spread compost on the soil? John does that too, but compost tea is more than fertilizer. His goal is to create a tea filled with beneficial fungi floating in an aerobic culture that will thwart diseases that threaten our blueberries. Organic farmers believe that most anaerobic bacteria cause diseases, so when the bushes' leaves are covered with his tea, they can fight against those problems. In the beginning, John inspected his brew with a microscope, but now, his nose, ears and eyes analyze each batch.

(Filling spray rig)

When the tea is finished, John pumps about fifty-gallons into a spray rig along with four hundred gallons of water and a measure of fish emulsion that will stick the tea to leaves. A tractor pulls this blue fiberglass contraption, sporting a large orange tube that acts as a cannon. When John accelerates the power-take-off shaft that empowers the spray rig, the cannon shoots a mist of tea over rows of blueberry bushes.

(Spray cannon)

Our hired hand Levi fills another old fashion spray rig, a long blue cylinder that also holds four hundred gallons of water along with tea.

(Spray cannon)

As Levi drives between the blueberry rows, a large fan on the back of the spray rig whirls, forcing tea out of a multitude of jets. Like most of the fruit farmers around us, we usually spray in the evening and into the night, as that's when the wind dies down. John pauses the tractor at my garden and the cannon roars as it blasts compost tea. Tomorrow, I'll spy a gray film on the zucchini's leaves, the fingerprint of a spray filled with healthy bacteria that will protect our crops. I'm Joan Donaldson.

Other events

The Kalamazoo Film Society will show Werner Herzog's film Cave of Forgotten Dreams Friday-Sunday, August 12-14, at Western Michigan University's Little Theatre at Oliver Street and Oakland Drive.

Binder Park Zoo in Battle Creek will offer visitors who register in advance a behind-the-scenes look at how it cares for its African savannah animals on Saturday, August 13 along with an "Animal Play Day" program.

The Kalamazoo Book Arts Center will offer a "Papermaking Play!" program for kids Friday, August 12, from 1 to 4 p.m. On Monday, August 15, there'll be "Letterpress Express".

The Portage District Library will hold the "Art Encounters of a Worldly Kind" Saturday, August 13, at noon. The program includes belly dancers, storyteller Sid Ellis, the Matt Landon Jazz Trio, Wellspring Cory Terry and Dancers, and much more.

Keith Hall and TRI-FI will perform with a "special guest" in a free jazz piano concert on Sunday, August 14, in Kalamazoo's Bronson Park. It starts at 4 p.m. as part of the "Concerts in the Park" series sponsored by the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo.

Mendon's annual Riverfest starts Thursday, August 18, on the banks of the Saint Joseph River. It will include canoe races, parades and a fireworks display as well as arts and crafts and activities for kids. Call Reed Riverside Park in Mendon at (269) 496-7557 for more information.