A movement to teach “back-to-basics” life skills – in particular, growing your own food – is gaining popularity in northern Michigan. From creating edible forests to building a self-sustaining homestead to installing pre-fabricated garden beds in local backyards, The Ticker looks at several individuals and organizations promoting “living off the land.”

Leaving Hollywood for the Farm
Since he was young, Traverse City native Levi Meeuwenberg dreamed of being a stunt double in action movies. But when the parkour and freerunning athlete's dream actually came true – he appeared as the stunt double for Captain America in Avengers and was lead Jeremy Renner's double in The Bourne Legacy – Meeuwenberg found himself disillusioned with the Hollywood lifestyle.

“To be successful you have to play the game...and with the politics and egos involved, it wasn't something I was happy being a part of,” Meeuwenberg says. Instead, a growing interest in permaculture and a simpler lifestyle pulled him in the opposite direction: returning to northern Michigan with his partner, holistic nutritionist Brenda Baran, to build a self-sustaining farmstead on his family's land on Cedar Lake.

Meeuwenberg and Baran run Realeyes Homestead, a website that documents their journey as they learn how to build a home, construct a working greenhouse with an aquaponics system, grow their own produce and raise livestock. “We're trying to meet more and more of our needs from the land,” says Meeuwenberg, who studies farming systems that emphasize recycling, reuse and zero or little waste. “We've been consumers all our lives. Now we're trying to be producers, in a way that's ethical and healthy for both us and the land.”

The duo hopes the farm will eventually be revenue-generating; Meeuwenberg teaches parkour classes and Baran offers nutrition consultations to keep afloat. They also help host events and offer classes to pass on their hard-earned farming lessons to others.

GT Edible Trails Project
Working together as a community is what Realeyes Homestead, Traverse Bay Area AmeriCorps VISTA Jonathan Aylward, Perennial Harvest, ISLAND, Healing Tree Farm and several other organizations and individuals have in mind as they undertake a joint effort to plant edible ecosystems along the TART Trail network.

An Indiegogo campaign is now underway to raise $3,000 to plant public food forests of native wild blueberries, apples, plums, saskatoons and more – available to anyone who wants to partake of them – along two stretches along the Leelanau trail, next to Leelanau Conservancy's DeYoung Farm and Natural Area and across from Orchard Creek apartments.

“What good are our shared landscapes if they are not either supporting people or supporting a healthy ecosystem?” the campaign's website asks. “These edible landscapes will do both.” Plants will be labeled, providing educational opportunities for trail users, and additional stretches of forests may be planted if more funds are raised. The campaign currently is at 43 percent of its goal with 19 days left to go.

Midnight Harvest
For residents inspired to take on their own food-growing project but unsure of where to start, local entrepreneur Matthew Hall has launched a new business called Midnight Harvest that takes the guesswork out of home gardening. Hall is installing “plug-and-play” pre-fabricated, 3'x5'x'8 raised garden beds in local backyards complete with a custom organic soil mix, non-GMO fruit, vegetable and herb seeds/transplants, a timer and a micro-drip irrigation system.

“I want everyone to have (a garden)...to grow something of value and better yet, grow something that is healthy,” says Hall of the inspiration behind his business. For one flat fee (which is site-dependent – Hall offers free initial consultations), the company offers a ready-to-go garden bed, which can expand into additional beds if desired, as well as ongoing maintenance and consultation.

“All you need to do is a little weeding, set the water timer and harvest,” Hall says. “We aim to get people connected to their food again.”