The 13th Annual Civil War Muster takes places this weekend at the Van Raatle Farm in Holland. (pxhere.com)
This weekend, time travel back to 1862 and walk among more than a hundred of Civil War military, cavalry, and civilian re-enactors.
The 13th Annual Van Raalte Farm Civil War Muster will take Saturday and Sunday at the Raalte farm, located at 176 E. St., Holland.
Re-enactors will be setting up camps where they will live, sleep, cook over campfires, play games and relax until the Battle of Antietam. The Battle of Antietam, which originally took place in Sharpsburg, Maryland, was a clash of Union General George McClellan’s Army of the Potomac and Confederate General Robert. E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. The re-enacted battle will take place at 2 p.m Saturday and Sunday at the Van Raatle Farm.
Other activities include:
• Springfield, Illinois, actor Fritz Klein, will portraying President Abraham Lincoln
• Discussions from Generals Meade (Union) and Lee, Jackson, and Stuart (Confederate) about the Battle of Antietam
* A presentation by Professor Allen Guelzo, a foremost scholar on Civil War from Princeton University
* A lecture by Frank O’Reilly, a historian with National Park Service at Fredericksburg and Spotslvania National Military Park and Pam Welcome who portrays Harriet Tubman
• Music tom the Volunteer Regimental Band of Holland
• Tours of the Ben Van Raalte 1872 homestead
• An authentic 1860s church services will be at 10 a.m. Sunday
The muster runs from 9 a.m .to 9 p.m. Saturday and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m .Sunday.
The 10 Cents a Day program supports connecting Michigan schools to Michigan farmers for fresh produce. (pxhere.com)
LANSING — Nathan Medina recalls eating bland, boring, non-fresh foods at school as a child.
“I remember eating bagged iceberg lettuce, canned corn and green beans or broccoli stems served alongside our cardboard pizza,” said Medina, who now is the 10 Cents a Meal program policy specialist.
Medina said it was refreshing to see some of the eye-appealing meals that are being served by grantees across the state.
The state-funded grants provide matching incentive funding up to 10 cents per meal to purchase and serve Michigan-grown fruits, vegetables and legumes.
The program is in its second year statewide and was originally a regional pilot program that began in 2016, Medina said.
He’s with the Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities, which has offices in Traverse City and Petoskey, and which runs the program with the state Education Department, Agriculture and Rural Development Department and Michigan State University’s Center for Regional Food Systems.
“This program provides kids with the opportunity to eat real, fresh food that they might not have had the chance to experience before,” said Medina. “While before they might have been eating apples grown in Washington, now they get to try a farm-fresh Michigan apple.”
For the 2021-2022 school year, there were 229 initial grantees, according to the 10 Cents a Meal program. Kent County schools participating include Godwin Heights along with Byron Center, Forest Hills, Kenowa Hills, Kent City, Lowell, Thornapple Kellogg, and West Catholic. Other area schools participating are Jenison along with schools in Holland, Ionia, and Muskegon. According to the 10 Cents a Meal website, about 144 enrolled in the program.
Grants are available not only to school districts, but also to non-school sponsors of the U.S. Department of Agriculture nutrition programs. That includes child care centers, after-school programs and other food programs such as the one provided by the Kent County Juvenile Detention program, which also was a 2021-2022 grant recipient. It is estimated that this year’s grants will support more than 553,000 children.
The Michigan Farmers Market Association supports the program to help farmers, schools and children, said Executive Director Amanda Shreve.
“This program really gives school districts one of the tools they need to more easily engage with local farmers,” she said.
Medina said the program can create individualized plans for participating schools and other organizations.
Not only is the program aiming to create better nutrition options, but it also recognizes the agricultural benefits that come with fresh food. Small farms, distributors and every other person involved in the process of the “farm-to-cafeteria” movement” benefit, Medina said.
Shreve said, “This program really gives school districts one of the tools they need to more easily engage with local farmers.”
Some schools face barriers to access fresh produce, such as cost, time or processing equipment, she said.
“When we can expand the awareness and taste buds of children at a young age, they’re going to continue these eating behaviors for the rest of their lives,” Shreve said. “We hope they will continue to scout local produce and eat fresh fruits and vegetables, setting them up for a lifetime of better health and relationships with food.”
According to Medina, the current budget of $5 million may be expanded in the future.
Due to the fact that Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed the $17.1 billion K-12 budget into law in July 2021, the largest single-year School Aid Fund budget ever passed by the state, this doubled the 10 Cents a Meal’s budget from $2 million in 2020-2021 to $5 for 2021-2022. This has given 10 Cents a Meal an opportunity reopen its applications, which will close on Feb. 11. Officials noted that eligible purchases from the present year may qualify for retroactive reimbursement. For more about the grant, visit tencentsmichigan.org.
WKTV Managing Editor Joanne Bailey-Boorsma contributed to this story.
At the Metro Health Farm Market, not every booth is farm produce – some are fine crafts, coffees and spices, offering shoppers a variety of local goods to choose from.
This year’s biggest hurdle for the Metro Farm Market has not been COVID but the cold weather.
“Some of the farmers have told us that due to the cold snap, they may not have as many things when we open,” said Metro Health’s Head of Community Health and Wellness Michelle Rademacher. “These farmers have experienced this before and I know what to do and some of them have been pretty clever at helping to keep their crops going.
But the cold has had some impact, Rademacher said, which means that there may not be as many produce options when the market opens this Thursday at the Metro Health – University of Michigan Wyoming campus, 5900 Byron Center Ave. SW. The market runs from 9 am. – 2 p.m. and entrance is free.
“We are really excited to be able to operate with an almost full market,” Rademacher said, adding the market will be offering punch cards this year and food samplings.
Signage at the Metro Health Farm Market will remind patrons of social distancing guidelines. (WKTV)
About 34 vendors will be on-site selling produce and food products, including baked goods and cheeses. Artisan vendors will be providing handmade items such as clothing and wooden toys.
Rademacher said the market will be following all Center for Disease Control guideline as well as the Michigan Farmers Market Associations recommended best practices. Vendors will be safely spaced apart, and there will be clearly marked signage reminding customers to social distance. Hand sanitizing stations will be set up through the market as a reminder to shoppers to sanitize their hands.
Customers are encouraged to let vendors handle touching all products. Rademacher said food sampling will be allowed this year, but samples must be pre-packaged off site.
While the market is an open-air environment, vendors will be expected to wear masks and customers are highly encouraged to do the same.
Rademacher said they are excited to bring back the punchcard, which is free. Patrons visiting the market will be able to get the card punch and after five punches, will be able to receive a free market tote bag.
“We are excited to be able to offer a positive experience to our community by having a more normal year for the market that will service their needs,” Rademacher said. “This is a great opportunity for the community to do some healthy shopping, be out in the fresh air and purchase their produce for the week.”
On average, the Metro Health Farm Market sees up to 1,300 people daily during the peak season. as in past years, the market will continue to accept EBT/SNAP dollars and WIC/Senior Fresh coupons.
The Metro Health Farm Market will run each Thursday through early October. For more information, visit www.metrohealth.net.
The Michigan Agritourism Association has released the 2020 edition of Discover Michigan Farm Fun, Michigan’s Agricultural Tourism Directory, a popular guide for finding fun activities on Michigan farms. The directory features farm markets, U-pick orchards, educational farms, and other agritourism destinations, along with suggestions for food and fun in every region and season.
Although some farm events and activities have been cancelled or delayed due to concerns about the spread of the Coronavirus, farmers are coming up with creative ways to serve their customers, while following social distancing guidelines, such as offering curbside or drive thru pick-up, virtual educational farm visits, and take and make items such as home gardening kits.
“During this challenging time, with COVID-19 affecting so much of our lives, it’s important to know that local Michigan farmers are open and ready for your business,” says Janice Benson, executive director for Michigan Agritourism. “Every day, farmers adapt to new challenges and they are working hard to keep their customers safe, as they continue to offer fresh, locally grown food and family-friendly activities at their farms. Things will be different this year and it’s a good idea to call ahead for the latest information. Michigan farmers don’t stop and they look forward to your visit.”
“The Agritourism guide promotes hundreds of farm destinations across Michigan where visitors can enjoy our state’s bountiful harvest,” said Farm Bureau Insurance CEO Don Simon. “While we understand that this year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, things will look a little different for farmers’ markets, orchards, cider mills, and all popular agritourism spots, we’re excited to get this directory into the hands of Michiganders and to promote Michigan’s farms.”
Things were different back when Donna Troost was a kid in the 1930s. She walked two miles to school everyday (yes, really), and in the 1940s, her dad had to get permission from the government to allow Donna to carry her sister, Mary to school on a bicycle. Sounds strange until you realize that there was a rubber shortage during World War II.
Troost was born at home in Wyoming, Michigan, and from little on always wanted to live on a farm. As a young girl, she relished spending a couple of weeks each summer at her grandparents’ farm in Irving Township, between Hastings and Middleville.
“When I first went there in the summer to visit, there was a hotel and a grocery store in the town of Irving, but they were all boarded up,” she recalled. “The only things left were the church and a gas station. When Middleville took over, Irving became a ghost town.”
It was a simpler time. Troost walked everywhere she needed to go with friends, or her sister, or cousins. She met her future husband at a roller rink one evening; their first date was a hayride on a farm on Kalamazoo Ave. and 60th Street.
“He gave me an engagement ring, and his father gave me two calves to raise on our farm,” said Troost. “We bought a farm on Patterson and 36th in 1949.”
They got married on a Thursday night and honeymooned in Niagara Falls that weekend but had to be back by Monday because they had to “hay”. Troost and her husband lived on that farm until 1962, when the airport bought the land around it. They then moved to a farm in Allegan County.
“Moving everything was just awful because it had to be done in one day,” Troost said. “We milked the cows in the morning, then loaded them up with all the equipment. And we milked them again that night at the new farm.”
