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 90th 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.
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