The Leelanau News Blog
leelanau county news • traverse city news • michigan news

Dick's Pour House by John Levanen

The Almanac took a break for the holiday season but you can get all the weather data for late December in Leelanau from Weather Underground.

Click for the Leelanau news archive from December 2006!

The blog Stories of the Purple Plate was started by Jolynn Paige (who also sells The Purple Plate through her web site). Her family began using the purple plate to show their love and appreciation for each other. She writes:

We put the purple plate in our cupboard with the rest of our everyday dishes. When it comes to the top of the stack, it gets set on the table at someone's spot, and then during dinner, each family member takes turns saying positive affirmations about the person who has the plate.

Currently, she's featuring Schoolship captain Tom Kelly and the entire staff at Inland Seas Education Association - click through to read!

Oswegatchi by John Clement Howe

John adds some nice detail about Oswegatchi:

Oswegatchi, also known as the D.H. Day Farm, has long been a prominent landmark of what is now the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Oswegatchi? To read about D.H.Day and why he gave the farm this name visit these links from the National Park service: www.nps.gov/slbe/planyourvisit/dhdayfarm.htm
www.nps.gov/slbe/historyculture/dkhday.htm

News from the Week

Stories from the week included a look at a neat new blog called Northern Michigan Foodies that seeks to highlight our great local food & drink, a feature on the role of the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation in Leelanau County and the latest national mention of Leelanau, this one from MSNBC.com's fall color guide.

The Week's Weather

Last weekend and the early part of this week was simply amazing - sunny & temperatures in the 80s. Then things went south ... or north I guess into the 40s. Somewhere in there we missed that beautiful 60s to low 70s thing.

October 4, 2007: Sunny & upper 70s (78Ëš/46Ëš)
October 5, 2007: Sunny & 80s (84Ëš/57Ëš) Tied record high!
October 6, 2007: Partly sunny, some rain & upper 80s (87Ëš/66Ëš) Record high!
October 7, 2007: Mostly sunny & upper 80s (88Ëš/66Ëš) Another record high!!
October 8, 2007: Mostly sunny & upper 80s (88Ëš/64Ëš) Yet another record high!!!
October 9, 2007: Mostly cloudy, rain & 60s (71Ëš/46Ëš)
October 10, 2007: Wind, rain & upper 40s (53Ëš/44Ëš)

Click for the Leelanau news archive from October 2006!

Sisters Paula McIntyre & Ann Drury have recently launched a new community blog about regional food & wine called Up North Foodies. Paula says that the idea for a community blog to celebrating our local food scene was born from wondering what to do with the bounty of food from her CSA farm and also because she was tired of reading all the bad press about Michigan. She writes:

We here in northern Michigan know we have a good thing going: a beautiful landscape and way of life that nurtures family farms, artisan bakeries and the production of award-winning cheese and wines; the completion of the long-anticipated expansion at Oryana; a dinner with Mario Batali raising $67,000 for the Leelanau Conservancy; opportunities for culinary students both at NMC's Great Lakes Culinary Institute and Career Tech, the Epicurean Classic. We have a lot to celebrate! We're seeing the birth of a vibrant food scene. And given our tourism and agricultural roots, one that fits this place of ours like a fine leather glove.

To that I say "right on!" and I invite you to add their blog to your favorite stops and maybe join their community and post something. Now if you'll excuse me, it's lunchtime!

Photo credit: Squash by Andy McFarlane

The annual Traverse Epicurean Classic takes place next Thursday - Saturday (Sep 13-15) at the Hagerty Center on Grand Traverse Bay in Traverse City.

It's an amazing celebration of food & wine with classes and food from some of the world's finest chefs and culinary experts. I have a number of photos from last year that give something of a flavor for the event, but I have to say to you: "If you love food, you need to attend this event." 

The chef in the photo above is Perry Harmon, who makes some wonderful biscotti!

It's not often (OK, never) that one of my favorite foods gets an honor like the honor that the Aged Raclette from the Suttons Bay-based Leelanau Cheese Company received. In the largest cheese competition in U.S. history, their raclette beat bested over 1,200 entries to take the "Best of Show" award  at the 24th annual American Cheese Society cheese competition. To add to the honor, they received a rare perfect score on the first round of judging.

You can visit the John & Anne Hoyt and purchase and sample their additive-free Swiss and French-style cheeses at The Leelanau Cheese Company at Black Star Farms.

Read more about the cheese competition at the Boston Globe.

Leland is on the western shore of the Leelanau Peninsula, between Lake Leelanau and Lake Michigan. The Carp River (known to locals as the Leland River) connects Lake Leelanau to Lake Michigan and runs through the village. Leland is well known for its 140 year old historic fishing village, Fishtown. Fishtown is popular, in part, because of it's rustic shanties that are reminiscent of commercial fishing life one hundred years ago.

The town of Leland was originally the site of the oldest and largest Ottawa village on the Leelanau Peninsula. A village on the top of the hill was supported by fishing out of the mouth of the Carp River. White settlers first arrived in 1830 and used the area as a fishing settlement. It was not until Antoine Manseau built a dam and sawmill on the river in 1854 that the town began to grow. Wooden docks were soon built to allow steamers and schooners to dock in order to deliver new settlers and supplies and pick up fuel and provisions. The village became the county seat in 1882, because of its thriving economy. The village had a booming fishing trade, a canning factory, and shingle and sawmills.

Many families moved to Leland from both North and South Manitou Island. Many of the descendants of those families are still around and now own many historic establishments in town. The Blue Bird Restaurant & Bar, Manitou Island Transit, and Carlson's of Fishtown are all owned by three of the historic families. Leland's beautiful sand beaches along Lake Michigan have been attracting visitors for generations. Lake Leelanau also draws many visitors who enjoy fishing, boating or just relaxing on the inland lake. The Leelanau Historical Museum is a great place to go to learn about the history of Leelanau County. Fantastic rotating displays tell stories of the County.

Local area links:
Leland Chamber of Commerce
Leland Township Library
Leelanau Peninsula Chamber of Commerce's Leland page

The Leelanau Conservancy will hold its annual "Friends" picnic and auction this Thursday (Aug 2) at Woolsey Airport near Northport. Proceeds from the auction benefit Conservancy protection efforts in Leelanau County.

In addition to Leelanau wines and food, there will be silent & live auction with almost 150 items including items for home & garden, art, food and services. The Enterprise also has a feature on one of the most sought-after items: a wine tasting, cooking lesson and dinner with noted chef and Conservancy supporter Mario Batali.

You can bid online and get more details about auction items and the event at the Leelanau Conservancy web site.

I ran into Sean Wanroy the other day, and he wondered if I'd checked out The Cove's new Fishtown webcam.

When I got a chance to check it out, I was amazed at how cool it was, with pre-set views including Fishtown, the breakwall, the dam, up river towards the Merc, north Lake Street, Leland's champion cottonwood and even a thermometer!

What's makes it even cooler is that you take control and zoom and pan the camera to look at what you want.

Great addition to the area net by the Cove!

Food For Thought will be hosting a celebration of local cuisine on Wednesday, July 18 at their facility on Oviatt Rd. in Honor that will feature many Leelanau-based businesses sampling their food, wine and beer products including Shady Lane Cellars, Black Star Farms, Ciccone Vineyard and Winery, L. Mawby, Higher Grounds Trading Company, Grocer's Daughter Chocolate, Stone House Bread, La Becasse and Cherry Republic.

The celebration runs from 5-8PM and is open to the public. For more information, please call 231-326-5444 or visit the Food for Thought web site.