From the Editor: Winter 2020

HERE-OUTSIDE-MICHIGAN-EARTH-GARDENS-ROOTED-ORGANIC MATTER-WATERSHEDS-NATIVE PLANTS

HOMEGROWN!

Welcome back and thank you for opening these pages to join us for another season of Edible Grande Traverse. This being our 60th issue, thus my 60th letter, I wanted to have a little fun and indulged myself in that little homegrown cheer above. Hurray for homegrown!

This magazine is devoted to local: the food, the farms and landscapes. The people who farm and fish, brew and cook, grow and live and work here. The rivers, lakes and shores around us. The soil we walk on and the plant and animal kingdoms we walk amongst. These are what make our local community—or any community—unique and precious.

“Homegrown” is this issue’s theme, this season’s spin on local. Homegrown plants can be species with ancient roots here—like the pines—or from seeds tended for several generations— like heirloom runner beans. Homegrown business starts from hometown people, not national chains. Homegrown food and drink are produced as part of the ecosystem they spring from. Homegrown talent is kids in school learning arts and trades and applying their skills in their own hometown.

With homegrown, it’s easy to see where things come from and where they go. With homegrown the connections are just closer. We hope you find a sense of connection to the homegrown stories in the pages ahead—and make some of the delicious recipes, too. And as the days of another winter grow longer and warmer, melting into spring, let’s all step out and freshly enjoy the flavors of the world immediately around us, the flavors of the place we call home—that taste we call homegrown.

-Barb Tholin