Southwest Michigan: a Splendid Place to Live!

I love southwest Michigan. This has been one of those slow-growing, creeping affections, not a love-at-first-sight passion.

I transplanted to the area in 1985, from the beaches, and mountains and deserts of California. By comparison, Michigan seemed dull--flat, mono-colored. Not ugly, just bland.

But slowly, surely, the place grew on me.

Lake Michigan was a draw of course, the sunsets assuaged my homesickness.

In the fall, the smell of ripening grapes lured me into the gentle hills surrounding the towns where I lived and worked. I began to notice the subtle differences in geography,learned to identify the native flora and fauna.

I watched the trees change color and drop their leaves.
Then came winter’s snow blanket, and later the wildflowers of spring. With each cycle I grew fonder of the area.

I love Michigan’s beaches for their fresh water (you need inhale salt water only one time to understand that!) and soft sands. I like its changeability. Ocean tides are regular, Lake Michigan’s movement is much more complex, unpredictable.

The high dunes and blue, blue skies have captured me.

But I think my favorite thing about southwest Michigan is the availability of fresh, ripe, high-quality produce to choose from during the growing season.

I’ve learned to pick raspberries in July, and blueberries. I’ve found farmers who grow asparagus and rhubarb and apricots, peaches and apples.

I know people who produce honey and maple syrup.

I love that I can actually know the people behind the food I eat, the wine I drink and the plants I grow.

I love the act of driving out to the farms to procure each one’s specialty.

I roam the farmers’ markets buying fresh baked goods, canned fruits and vegetables for winter, and homegrown bouquets. People offer herbs: basil for pesto, dill for pickles. There’re organic catnip toys for the puss and lavender soaps and potpourri.

Nurseries display their shrubs and flowers.

As summer gives way to fall, pumpkins and decorative corn will fill the stalls.

Apples will come on, good for eating and canning sauces and butters, and of course for pies!

Southwest Michigan isn’t just rich in good food, clean air and nice scenery, it is also rich with human ingenuity, imagination and industry.

If I could offer advice to anyone finding themselves in southwest Michigan, it would be: get out and enjoy it!

This essay previously appeared in the South County Gazette, Three Oaks, MI.