In This Issue: Summer 2018

Last edition’s tenth anniversary theme was so much fun I am running with it again in these few words I get to share with you here. The watermelon splashed on our cover is iconic summer no matter where you live, but ten years ago in Northern Michigan it was not something you’d find easily from a local farm. Tomatoes and sweet corn, cherries and peaches, sure. But melons, well, they were risky in our short growing season, and ripening came at the end of the summer tourist run, so who would even be around to buy them?

Fast forward ten years. There are more produce growers, more markets, more people—and a groundswell of support for everything locally grown. Farmers find it well worth their while to diversify and bring new items to their market tables, and the customers—visitors and locals alike—no longer disappear on Labor Day weekend. In fact, between a vibrant fall agritourism scene and the farm-to-school movement that needs fresh local produce for our children, growers no longer feel like they’ll need to close up shop in September. Among other benefits we can find melons at the markets in late summer.

What a thrill it’s been to see our foodshed flourish so!

However, alongside the pleasure that this developing culinary scene has brought us, there is a dark side: plastics. I cringe a bit imagining the ten years’ worth of plastics used as our food economy has grown. For each carryout meal a hinged container, for each drink a lid and a straw, for each head of lettuce a bag. The food inside soon gone; the plastics persisting virtually forever on our land and in our waters.

Did you know that in 2016, the State of Michigan passed a law against municipalities banning plastic bags, utensils and containers? It’s a ban against banning plastics. That means it is up to each of us to modify our plastic use on our own. It is not easy to remember, because plastics are so convenient and we are used to not seeing their harm; but we can choose to reduce the single-use plastics in our lives. At restaurants, tell servers you don’t want plastic straws or styrofoam boxes. For markets and grocery stores, take your own bags. Drink from public fountains and carry your own water bottle. And sometimes simply opt against buying something if it is in a singleuse plastic container—perhaps you can just do without. In the matter of plastics, every little bit less really does help.

In summer in Northern Michigan it truly is possible to have a wonderful time without leaving behind a trail of trash. Enjoy the beaches, the fruits, the markets, your backyards. “Zero waste” has become the buzzword for catered events but why not make it the buzz everywhere you tread?

Eat well, live lightly and enjoy summer!

Barb Tholin