Michigan Ecovillages and Intentional Communities Tour Ends After Seven VERY Full Days

The tour has concluded successfully. We will be writing summaries about each place we visited, and highlighting the many lessons learned and successful practices already underway in Michigan. We will also be writing a guide for others, outlining how we made our plans for this first tour and inviting other communities to plan their own tours!

Everyone interested is welcome to visit the Appropedia "appropriate and sustainable technology wiki," to review the information already there and add your own ideas. We will be adding pages to show off our Michigan tour, and list additional Michigan resources for later visits. https://www.appropedia.org/Ecovillages_%26_Intentional_Communities_Energy_and_Climate_Action_Research_Project

Please reply with your contact information if you wish to be notified about future Michigan events like this.

In the meantime, while we are gathering all the mini-reports and checking our write-ups to make sure they are accurate, here are a few of the best photos from each day.

July 17 at Interlochen Center for the Arts.

Interlochen Sustainability Team leader, Emily Umbarger, gives the group a tour of some of the organic gardens. The team-member in the foreground is Bodhi, the certified therapy dog.

July 18 at SEEDS in Traverse City, Grow Benzie at Benzonia, Thetford Farm Intentional Community and Traverse City Farm Club at Cedar, Michigan.

At SEEDS.

SEEDS demonstrations include solar energy, rain-water collecting and irrigating, pollinator habitat, and more.

At GrowBenzie Rural Prosperity Incubator. https://www.growbenzie.org/

Grow Benzie Executive Director Josh Stolz leads a tour for Tom Stanton. The metal rings are for container gardening, and can be used for making raised beds, accessible without bending over or kneeling.

At Telford Farm Intentional Community

Telford Farm Intentional Community is located at the former Telford Dairy Farm, near Cedar, Michigan. These photos show some of the lay of the land, which includes nine single-family homes, some community gardens including a greenhouse structure -- under construction now -- and a multi-acre vinyard. Large portions of the property are held in trust as prarie, forest land, and farm land. See: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064254566464  and https://www.gvsu.edu/traverse/module-news-view.htm? storyId=FF0DF25B-FFAB-92E7-FF556D3F8EFA0ABB&siteModuleId =56D76B49-D13A-15AB-FA0A3682D7D01CD9.

DINNER AT TRAVERSE CITY FARM CLUB … Restaurant, Brewery, Farm Market, Bakery, and more. https://www.farmclubtc.com/. Farm Club is “a celebration of food, land, and community.” Guests are invited “to gather and linger over quality food and drink.”

BONUS EVENING ACTIVITY AT INTERLOCHEN . . . Evening “Let’s Sing Taylor” concert, starring Taylor Swift unofficial tribute band. Young and old sang and danced along with every song.

July 19 at the GasTechno, Corp., Energy Center at Boyne Falls and Middle Coast Brewing Company in Traverse City.

This drawing shows plans for the completion of the GasTechno, Corp. Energy Center, whish is now in the early development stages on Skop Road in Boyne Falls. https://www.gastechnol.com.

July 19 presenters included:

• Chris Miller, from Adrian, Michigan, who is CEO of the National Coalition for Community Capital (NC3; https://www.nc3now.org). NC3 is opening up new community financing options, including major demonstration projects in Detroit, Lansing, and Petoskey.

• CJ Rapp, director of ecovillage cooperative (https://www.ecovillageco-op.org/). Ecovillage cooperative is working to identify properties in Northwest Michigan, where development can begin on one or more ecovillages.

  

  BONUS FUN: Returning to Traverse City from Boyne City, Cassandre and Tom drove by several of the Earl Young Mushroom Houses in Charlevoix. https://www.visitcharlevoix.com/Earl-Young/

• Middle Coast Brewing, Distilling, and Kitchen owner Joel Mulder met with the team and taught us about the many community projects and sustainability efforts already underway there. https://www.middlecoastbrewingco.com/. 
  

July 20 at Crystal Mountain Resort, Arcadia Marsh Natural Area, Hope Village "Tiny Homes Neighborhood," and Founders' Taphouse in Grand Rapids.

Former Chrystal Mountain CEO Jim MacInnes offered a detailed and highly educational presentation about the many sustainability and eco-restoration projects throughout the resort properties. https://www.crystalmountain.com/ environmental-commitment/.  

On the way to Grand Rapids, a visit to Arcadia Marsh Nature Preserve. Thank you dragon fly for posing! https://www.gtrlc.org/recreation-events/preserve/arcadia-marsh-nature-preserve/

This "tiny home" neighborhood called "Hope Village" is taking shape in Grand Rapids. The project is intended to provide pathways for relieving homelessness. https://greatlakesecho.org/2024/11/26/tiny-homes-tackle-homelessness-around-michigan/

Founders Taproom in Grand Rapids offers tours. Founders is among the many Michigan microbreweries that are undertaking many kinds of sustainability and community benefits projects. A separate report about innovation in Michigan breweries, cideries, and distilleries is forthcoming. https://foundersbrewing.com/?s=sustainability

July 21 in Lansing, at:

• Genessee Cohousing. https://www.cohousing.org/directory/genesee-gardens-cohousing/ and https://www.facebook.com/GGCohousing/.

• Eastside Compost. https://eastsidecompost.com/.

• Montgomery Drain (Stormwater Management) Project. https://montgomerydrain.org/

  and https://www.ingham.org/departments_and_officials/drain_commission/.

• Michigan State University new Experimental Dairy Farm and Anaerobic Digesters. https://www.egr.msu.edu/bae/adrec/, https://www.michiganfarmnews.com/msu-s-transformational-dairy-teaching-and-research-center-focused-on-the-future, and https://www.agproud.com/articles/61755-michigan-state-university-dairy-nears-completion.

• MSU Dairy Store. https://msudairystore.com/ and https://www.wlns.com/news/msu-dairy-store-named-grand-champion-of-ice-cream-competition/.

• MSU "Mass Timber" STEM Building and Mass Timber Project. https://www.canr.msu.edu/masstimber/, https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/take-a-3d-tour-of-the-mass-timber-msu-stem-building, and https://stembuilding.commons.msu.edu/mass-timber-in-the-stem-building/.

• Horrock's Farm Market and Beer Garden in Lansing. https://www.shophorrocks.com/, and https://www.facebook.com/horrockstavern/.

July 22 in Ann Arbor, at Veridian at County Farm by Thrive Collaborative, three Ann Arbor Cohousing Neighborhoods, and Homeland Solar.

• Veridian at County Farm by Thrive Collaborative. https://thrive-collaborative.com/veridianatcountyfarm.

A map of the Veridian project shows properties available.

• Ann Arbor Cohousing Neighborhoods (Great Oak, Sunward, and Touchstone). The three neighborhoods are contiguous. Tours are regularly available. https://aacoho.org/.

A statement of community values for Touchstone Cohousing in Ann Arbor.

• Homeland Solar. https://homelandsolar.com/.
  

July 23 in Detroit at the Detroit Arboretum and Georgia Street Community Collective, Urban Garden and Composting Facility Tour.

• Arboretum Detroit. https://aacoho.org/.

The map shows Arboretum Detroit greenways and connecting paths. Forest areas are spreading through previously empty city lots.

The tour group poses by the Arboretum Detroit mural, celebrating the Greenbelt Movement, headed by Kenyan Nobel Prize Winner, Wangari Maathai. https://www.greenbeltmovement.org/wangari-maathai . 

• Detroit Georgia Street Community Collective, Urban Gardens and Composting Facility. https://www.georgiastreetcc.com/ and https://detroitmi.gov/government/mayors-office/office-sustainability/urban-agriculture. The composting facility is using a solar and battery powered fan to blow plenty of fresh air through the working compost piles. The design for these neighborhood composting facilities is being improved, and more will be made available throughout the City.

The July 24 plans for visiting the Motown Museum, Henry Ford Museum, and Greenfield Village are postponed temporarily. We will find another date for those visits.

Tom Stanton and Cassandre Torres, Community Energy Solutions.