Julia's story in Northern Harvest

Northern Harvest: Twenty Michigan Women in Food and Farming

JULIA BRABENEC

Before starting my book I didn’t know Julia, but when I was interviewing other women in the food world they told me to go talk with her. When I first met this beautiful woman it was shortly before her 90^th birthday. I was blown away. A home builder and a fruit grower, Julia is also a singer and a gifted poet. Also a believer in do-it-yourself!

She and her husband planted, by hand, 1100 fruit trees to produce peaches and apples. They built their own home. In fact, Julia told me, “We built all the homes we lived in.”

When they first settled in Leelanau County, “We lived pretty primitively for a while with kerosene lanterns. We had a well where we pumped our water for all the water needs. . . . We bought a little wind generator and attached it on the roof of our house . . . and we had some batteries which we bought used from the telephone company, and now we made our own power.”

To read more of Julia’s story and the stories of 19 other amazing women in the food industry you can order the book directly from Wayne State University Press or online from any of the independent bookstores now closed on account of the coronavirus, but taking online orders. Just give them my name and the title of the book, and enjoy meeting Julia and hearing her story.

https://www.waynesupress.wayne.edu/books/detail/northern-harvest

Comments

Dos manos in Matamoros

Dos manos Before the trip to Brownsville, Texas, to help prepare and serve food to asylum seekers held in the tent city across the river in Matamoros, Mexico, Marti told us to bring fanny packs or other bags that would leave our hands free. Whether chopping vegetables or serving from the trays of hot food to the 1,000+ men, women, and children of every age, we would need both our hands , dos manos , at all times. How did we come to be there and why were we doing this? Hunger and homelessness exist inside our nation’s borders, both in cities and rural areas. Tightrope, the new book by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, describes families shattered by what the authors call “death by despair.” Donating to good causes and volunteering at soup kitchens are not uncommon, and churches and other organizations strive to meet the need on a daily basis. Still, the need that drew a dozen women in their 60s, 70s and 80s to this community just across the Texas...

Barb's Story

NORTHERN HARVEST: TWENTY MICHIGAN WOMEN IN FOOD AND FARMING https://www.wsupress.wayne.edu/books/detail/northern-harvest BARB THOLIN Born in Illinois, Barb didn’t move to Traverse City until 2007. Farming was in her DNA. Her mom grew up on Barb’s grandparents’ farm. Barb studied agronomy, worked on an organic vegetable farm, and cared for draft horses, always a passion. After almost two decades of managing a food co-op and trying to educate people about food, health, diet, sustainability, she decided to devote herself fulltime to educating the public through promoting local farmers, vintners, brewers, bakers, restaurateurs and more. Happily for this region, she chose to do this in Traverse City, starting up the Edible Grand Traverse magazine, already surpassing 60 issues. To read more of Barb’s story and to learn about the 19 other amazing women in the food business in Northern Harvest , just contact your favorite independen...

Love and Loss on four wheels Falling in love at first sight is risky. You know nothing of the past history, of what underlies that enchanting façade. But the emotion and the magnetism are irresistible. Falling in love with a car at first sight—not looking under the hood, not kicking the tires—is not just risky but crazy. For many years I had a red stick shift Corolla that I loved dearly and kept way past its prime until the inevitable repairs accumulated beyond sustainability. I went to a local Toyota dealer where many of the repairs had been done and spotted the car of my dreams, except that I had never dreamed of any car or fixed on a model or color or anything else. But there in front of my eyes was a splendid turquoise car, and the letters on it identified it as a Prius, a hybrid, and if I had given any thought at all to my next car it was to select a hybrid. Someone else might say my new love was green. I believe the Toyota promot...

Vernalruminations

Search This Blog