Orchard inspires at Community Days

Aug 30, 2023

Michelle Granger, an educational consultant with the Marquette-Alger Regional Educational Service Agency, makes cucumber and chickpea salad during a Community Days event on Monday at Inspiration Orchard in Ishpeming. The orchard is part of Partridge Creek Farm. (Journal photo by Christie Mastric)

ISHPEMING — Tucked away in a neighborhood at York and North streets in the city of Ishpeming is a place called Inspiration Orchard, a spot where people can learn about fresh food, watch wildflowers grow and see honey bees gather.

It might sound like something out of a children’s book, but it’s an actual place that’s part of Partridge Creek Farm, an Ishpeming-based nonprofit dedicated to providing year-round food access and educating the community on sustainable food systems.

“It’s a community orchard, so it’s got all of the fruits and perennials and berries,” PCF Director May Tsupros said during a Community Days event on Monday.

For instance, she pointed to a peach tree laden with ripened fruit, which residents had recently picked.

That’s the point of the orchard.

“It’s for the community to come and pick,” Tsupros said.

She said PCF has been holding Community Days throughout the summer, which included healthy food demonstrations with local partners followed by work in the garden.

Tsupros said that next week, PCF will restart programming with hands-on experiential learning at Ishpeming Public Schools, with PCF having gardens at Ishpeming Middle/High School and Birchview Elementary School. PCF also will help kids access the food, and is working on a farm near Jasperlite Senior Housing that will provide food for the school cafeteria.

Tsupros said PCF focuses on an intergenerational component and helping people build good eating habits and connect with each other.

“We saw from COVID that there’s a lot of separation, so working together in the garden is a really great way to bring everybody back together — over food, over shared work,” she said.

Inspiration Orchard, which Tsupros said is one of PCF’s six sites, has fruits for people to enjoy, but also wildflowers such as purple coneflower, wild bergamot, and hoary and blue vervain that are magnets for bees.

Speaking of bees, the orchard has a beehive with real bees. Nearby is a sign that educates the public that honey bees pollinate one-third of the world’s food supply.

“‘Bee kind and bee aware. These honey bees are here to help,” ‘the sign reads.

Michelle Granger, an educational consultant with the Marquette-Alger Regional Educational Service Agency, showed visitors how to make cucumber and chickpea salad, a healthy dish that include those two main ingredients as well as onions, tomatoes and various seasonings.

She made note of the freshness of the food items on her table.

“There’s just something about that summer produce that just is magical,” Granger said.

And food can be prepared in a nutritious way.

“Often times people like to peel cucumbers,” said Granger, who likes to use as much of a food item as she can. “You have a lot more of the fiber and the extra vitamins and minerals, especially that dark green part, so you want to make sure you’re scrubbing the outside of your fruits and vegetables.”

She found the flattest part of the cucumber so it wouldn’t roll on her, which segued into Granger stressing the importance of knife safety using the “bear claw” method — a good tip for youngsters to learn.

“We want to squeeze it and use a bear claw, and make sure that our fingers are not in the way of that knife,” Granger said.

The adults and kids then tasted the salad. The event included a children’s activity that involved making pictures out of found objects, such as twigs.

“Another piece of what we do is we help people connect with the outdoors, connect with nature,” Tsupros said.

You never know what a child might find.

“I found a big acorn!” one girl exclaimed.

For more information on PCF, visit partridgecreekfarm.org.

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