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PAST EVENTS : Summer 2007 Sunday, August 26, 1:30 p.m. and 3 p.m.-- With the growing season in high gear, the 2007 "Daily Special" Farm Tour series sponsored by Farms Without Harm and Marie Catrib's Restaurant kicked off with a visit to Crane Dance Farm in Middleville. Farm owners Jill Johnson and Mary Wills gave visitors a free tour of their 45-acre farm where animals live the old-fashioned way – free range and on pasture most of the year. Fouad Catrib and Kim Casey of Marie Catrib's were on hand during the tour to offer samples of dishes on the restaurant's menu that are made with meat products from Crane Dance Farm. The animals were friendly...  And happy as a pig in a trough to know people cared how they are raised. 
Next, we visited Mud Lake Farm, a hydroponic farm south of Hudsonville, on Sept. 8. Owners Steve and Kris Van Haitsma grow a variety of greens year-round in a biomass-heated hydroponic greenhouse fueled by a furnace that burns local corn, pellets, and Michigan cherry pits. They don’t use pesticides or herbicides to grow colorful, tasty hydroponic lettuces including red and green romaine, burgundy leaf, red and green bibb, and red and green Batavia. The couple raises spinach, micro-greens, and a variety of herbs and has chickens and pigs as well as eggs from some of their pastured hens. And they offer “salad shares” as part of their year-round CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program.
 After the tour, Fouad Catrib from Marie Catrib's was on hand to dish out a tasty salad made with Mud Lake Farm greens.
On a lovely Saturday afternoon on Sept. 22, we took a drive out to Heritage Acres, an 80-acre Mennonite farm in Montcalm County. Heritage Acres owner Kenton Martin uses sustainable practices to raise a variety of animals and crops. Tour participants took a wagon ride around the farm and learned about how Martin raises pastured, chemical- and hormone-free goats, chickens, cows, turkeys, ducks, rabbits and pigs as well as organic crops without the use of machinery. Martin, with the help of a brood of 10 children, does most of his farming with horses. For a first-person look at the experience, visit the West Michigan Co-op blog.The 2007 Daily Special Farm Tour closed out with a visit to Creswick Farms, a pastured animal farm in Ravenna on Saturday, Oct. 20. Nathan Creswick is a degreed Mechanical Engineer and fifth generation farmer. Nathan and his wife, Andrea, have been raising hormone- and steroid-free, grassfed beef and lamb, pastured heritage pork and free-range poultry and eggs for over 14 years and also make hand-crafted sausages.
Their egg-laying chickens run around outdoors....
....as do their pigs, which are a real hoot.
They're like dogs only goofier!
Big and little people had a great time on the tour. Thanks, Nathan and Andrea!
Public Health Expert Michael Greger M.D. in three WM appearances:Wealthy Theater, 1130 Wealthy SE, Grand Rapids Seminary Auditorium of Calvin Theological Seminary, 3233 Burton SE, Grand Rapids (Sponsored by Calvin College's Biology and Philosophy Departments, Office of Community Engagement/Provost's Office adn the Contextual Discplines Division.) Herrick District Library, 300 S. River Ave., Holland, MI
Jan. 31, 2007, 7 p.m.--How to Eat Locally....in Michigan....in the Winter
@ the Wealthy Theater. Screening of the film "Broken Limbs" about the struggles of American apple growers followed by a discussion of the growing options West Michiganders have for eating local food in the winter.Speakers include Tom Cary of the Greater Grand Rapids Food Systems Council and Chris Bedford, a founder of Sweetwater Local Foods Market in Muskegon. The evening includes a presentation of the new West Michigan Cooperative, an online farmers market that seeks to connect local farmers and consumers all year long. Visit our Press Room to see media coverage of the Co-op.
Oct. 7, 2006, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.-- Hastings Harvest Festival
Sept. 10-17, 2006 -- Local Food Week includes Films, Tours, Tastings and Festivals -- Click here to read the Grand Rapids Press story about Local Food Week. Area groups have come together to celebrate the unique bounty of West Michigan with Local Food Week, a series of events highlighting the importance of a strong and diverse local food system.
Sept. 16, 2006, 1-10 p.m. -- THE LOCAL FOODFARMFILMFEST, a day-long food-tasting and screening of films about food and farming presented by Farms Without Harm and GGRFSC at the Wealthy Theater, 1130 Wealthy St. SE, Grand Rapids. Kirsten Kelly, an Oceana County native who directed the award-winning ASPARAGUS (A Stalk-umentary) headlines the festival. Kelly will discuss her 90-minute documentary, which will be shown at 7:30 p.m., and answer questions after the screening. The film tells the story of Oceana County's struggle to remain the self- proclaimed "Asparagus Capital of the Nation" in the face of a global economy.
Aug. 20, 2006 --The "Daily Special" Farm Tour @ Trillium Haven Farm--Take a wagon ride around this 50-acre Jenison farm and see how owners Anja Mast and Michael VanderBrug raise healthy, chemical-free produce. Learn how to participate in their CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm. Meet Chef Fouad Catrib, of Marie Catrib's restaurant in Grand Rapids, who uses their produce in his daily specials.
July 22, 2006 --The "Daily Special" Farm Tour @ Steve N Sons Grassfields--See how the Meerman family raises dairy cows on this transitional organic farm and how they make cheese. Chef Fouad Catrib, of Marie Catrib's restaurant in Grand Rapids, who uses their cheese in his daily specials. Tour participants get ready to take a wagon ride at Steve-n-Sons Grassfields.
-April 19, 2006, 7 p.m. -- Label Me Confused: What Organic, Free Range and All Those Other Words Really Mean -- at the Wealthy Theater, 1130 Wealthy SE, Grand Rapids--A panel of small farmers will discuss the mind-numbing array of food terms used at the supermarket. The evening will begin with a screening of the award-winning documentary, My Father's Garden (www.bullfrogfilms.com). Suggested donation: $5
-Nov. 2 and 3, 2005 -- Debut Events of Farms Without Harm, a series of free events that explore the economic, environmental and health impacts of large-scale agricultural operations called factory farms:
- Wednesday, Nov. 2, at 7 p.m., a free screening of “As We Sow,” an award-winning documentary about the rapid transformation of rural America from a landscape of small farms to factory farms, at the Wealthy Theater, 1130 Wealthy St. SE. and panel with: William J. Weida, director of the Factory Farm Campaign for the Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE), a New York-based non profit, and Ann Woiwode, director of the Mackinac Chapter of the Sierra Club. Other panelists are: Jill Johnson, owner of Crane Dance Farm in Middleville; Marilynn Momber, Michigan Farmers Union president; and James Hurst of Uniting for Justice, an animal advocacy group.
- Thursday, Nov. 3, at 7 p.m., Weida will discuss the impact of factory farms on local economies in “The Hidden Cost of the Food We Eat,” a free presentation at Aquinas College’s Donnelley Center. The event is co-sponsored by Aquinas’ Sustainable Business Program.
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