County residents looking to adopt more eco-friendly waste disposal methods can learn about composting from displays at the Leo Creek Preserve in Suttons Bay and the Poor Farm Barn in Maple City. Kate Thornhill, a lifelong resident of Suttons Bay, made these displays after studying composting for close to a decade.
A Leelanau Conservation District release says the Leo Creek Preserve was founded by Thornhill. A land easement was donated to the Leelanau Conservancy in 2016 to protect the creek and woods from development. According to the conservancy website, the preserve spans a little less than nine acres and includes 2,250 feet of Leo Creek.
The Leo Creek Preserve was once a popular hangout for students at Leelanau Montessori before the school moved to Lake Leelanau in 2010 and became a chartered public school. The site still has the boys’ and girls’ wooden tents and other things that may evoke former students’ memories of their childhood, but Thornhill says she is more interested in taking care of the site and providing education on the soil.
