The Leelanau Farmers Markets are now in full swing. The Northport market opens this Friday in the parking lot by the marina. The Suttons Bay market has been open on Saturdays since mid-May at the north end of town in the park area across from the intersection of M-22 and M-204. Glen Arbor opened this past Tuesday, Leland opens today, and Empire is on Saturdays. All markets are open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. This should be the last week for local asparagus, with lots of vegetables and herbs starting to appear. The markets also offer beautiful fresh flowers and wonderful local jewelry and crafts.
The May meeting of the Omena Women’s Club (OWC) was held at Saving Birds Thru Habitat (SBTH). Mike Berst, the new President of the SBTH Board, gave a wonderful presentation about native wildflowers and their importance to migrating and other birds. Mike and his wife, Kathie Albright, have been working hard on the SBTH property to restore and enhance wildfl ower and native vegetation. Most of his presentation was a beautiful video that he did chronicling over 160 wildflowers as he and Kathie discovered across Michigan as they appeared. Their goal last year was to find at least one new wildflower a day. While a few of the early spring days didn’t produce one, most days revealed one or more that they had not seen yet.
Wildflowers turn the sun’s rays and the earth’s nutrients into food for many insects, which, in turn, are a critical source of food for migrating, nesting, and newborn birds. The insects provide essential protein. Native plants provide the needed nutrients at the needed times in the birds’ lives and migratory cycles.