Wunsch Farms original format blog post.

Glowing Jonagold apples in the late summer sun.

There are two Old Mission Peninsulas. The first one you will encounter spreads out from the northern city limits of Traverse City and has become encrusted with McMansions that combine discordant architectural styles and garish opulence that to the artistically sensitive eye, produces a jarring visual experience. If you venture past the orchards that have turned into subdivisions and boutique wineries then past the only gas station/grocery store on the peninsula you will enter the Old Mission Peninsula as it existed during the great agricultural period that saw its peak in the 1970s. The homes are modest for the most part, turn of the century or post WW II, and the fruit trees and grape vines out number the tourists and residents combined. 

If you turn left at a certain point, then right, then left again on to a gravel road you will be nearing the entrance to a version of orchard life on the peninsula that is close to how it has been for the last 100 years. 

Josh Wunsch, a third generation orchard owner, has the persona of a learned sage on many subjects; orchard keeping is the one that pays the bills but it is by no means the sole object of his interest. "We raise crops for fun consumption" distills Josh's philosophy on fruit-growing quite well. The idea that his crops are not a necessary component in the effort to feed the world but rather items people enjoy as a luxury and an amusement is not lost on him. One of his main crops, black sweet cherries, are grown locally for the fruit stand market and fresh eating out of hand but their largest commercial use is as flavoring for yogurt. Apples comprise the bulk of his business this year and dominate most of his time in the late summer and fall. Much of his crop goes towards processing but a significant percentage stays in the area for fresh

Josh is a self-described "Why Manager" and prefers to work through problems in collaboration with his crew which he trusts to a high degree. Non traditional management techniques extend beyond operational details. Josh's apples are protected by a unique system of his own design. Stringing 30 lb. test fishing line above the trees from structures originally nicknamed "crow-cufixes" to secure them is just one of his innovations. He has dispensed with the "crow-cufixes" and attaches the fishing line to the end trees of a row but the end result is still very effective at keeping crows and seagulls out of his ripening fruit. The gossamer strings over and around the trees causes the crows no end of consternation and they will gather at the edges of orchards full of ripe fruit but they will not enter. In 2007, when he implemented the program, he claims he was the largest single buyer of fishing line in the Grand Traverse region, and who could say otherwise? The fishing line comes down after the harvest and is re-installed each season as the fruit reaches a stage that the birds would be interested in. 

HoneyCrisp apples ripening to perfection under the protection of 30 lb. test mono filament. 

The story of how the Wunsch family came to this place is an interesting tale as Josh tells it. Josh's grandfather Edmond was a law clerk in Detroit in the first decade of the 20th century who worked for a major railroad company. One of his many tasks was to ride to the ends of the rail lines all over the Eastern United States and scout for more real estate for railroad expansion. This experience fed his interest in real estate and the law surrounding it. In 1922 he purchased a property on Bois Blanc Island in northern Lake Huron on McRae Bay. From a distance the area appears to have a lovely wide beach but upon closer inspection what looks like a sandy beach is composed entirely of rocks the size of a softballs. The property was acquired with the intention of providing a haven for his family during the summer heat in Detroit, at a time when many communicable diseases were rampant in the large cities. Edmond's wife, Marion took on the task of watching over the family's children for the summer season while her husband stayed South and worked. This remote location for the children was quite like paradise found. But with a once a week mail boat as the only connection to the outside world, Marion began to feel isolated and because of her medical background was worried about the consequences of one her charges becoming injured or ill. After 3 years Marion convinced Edmond that she could no longer endure the austere island life anymore. Edmond soon purchased what was described as "the drowned 80" on the Old Mission Peninsula as an alternative to island life. The land was an operating orchard at the time but only marginally. Edmund's son Ellis took an interest in the orchard business and after World War II the family acquired more land and expanded. Ellis was quite a polymath and received a Fulbright Scholarship after the war to return to Europe to assist in the reconstruction of that devastated continent. When he returned to the orchard, Ellis was a great innovator in the fruit industry and by expanding the number of varieties that were grown in the area he greatly advanced the prominence of fruit industry in the Grand Traverse region.

As the 1960s turned into the 1970s Ellis's son Josh left college and returned to the farm to continued the agricultural tradition of his family. Josh has brought the family orchard in to the 21st century with modern varieties and techniques while maintaining the quiet lifestyle that his grandparents sought so many years ago. Wunsch Farms is located at 16888 Wunsch Rd. Traverse City, MI 49684.

Glacier National Park

karl

Karl’s loss.

The doctor seemed perplexed by Helena’s symptoms. Her shoulder was stiff and sore from what he had determined was over exertion. There was some slight swelling in her armpit and neck but not enough to merit further examination. He could only recommend continued rest and warm soaks twice a day to ease her pain.

Her pain was however only going to become worse as the cancer that had gone undiagnosed continued to spread through out her body. She had begun to suspect something other than just shoulder strain about a week before the doctor’s most recent visit. Her diminished appetite, a marked loss of energy, and a deep sense of imminent mortality surrounded her like a distant, cool fog that could be felt, but not seen.

She continued to maintain her daily routine and camouflage her condition from her family but soon that would become impossible. She fell down the stairs on a Sunday morning while getting ready for church during a particularly difficult bout of fatigue and broke her collarbone. The pain was incredible. She screamed out for her husband Lucas outside and he and Karl raced in. Seeing her crumpled at the foot of the stairs unable to move terrified the father and son, whom on most any other occasion would be afraid of almost nothing. The sense of powerlessness was new to them. Lucas tried to help her turn over but she only grimaced and sucked in a large breath of air. Her skin seemed different. He had always loved her skin, it had a smoothness and warmth that he never tired of but in trying to help her he noticed a distinctive waxy quality that had never seen. Lucas calmly asked Karl to get the doctor and he would stay with Helena.

Her eyes seemed only shadows as she sobbed in pain and he was at an utter loss at how to help. Finally, he could see the broken bone under her skin and he tried to position Helena again to make her more comfortable but with limited success. The shock of the pain had taken her away from the moment and pushed her into a place where she could not escape the reality of her situation. This was the moment she knew she was going to die. Not die that very moment but much sooner than she had realized and it was not going to be an easy death. She could see the faces of her family at her funeral, the outline of and even the taste of the tears on the faces of her son and daughter standing next to each other just like when they were very little and she kissed them away. She could even see her own face as she lay in the coffin, expressionless and pale. She could feel the cold stillness behind her eyes that she could not open. She tried to use the pain in her shoulder to bring her back but she could not rid her mind of the images. At that moment she felt very weak and was grateful to finally pass out just before the doctor arrived.

Lucas was a man who worked hard for a living. Combining lumber jacking and fishing he made a comfortable living for his wife and two children. Karl helped his father in the woods part time in the winter skidding logs and full time in the summer fishing for whitefish on Lake Huron. Karl’s brother, Russell was smaller in stature even though he was two years older that Karl. Russell was gifted with a high proficiency in math and had received a scholarship to Wayne State University and was studying civil engineering. Russell was interested in the small details of very large things, like the way the edge of a curve in the road was constructed or the proper size of a bolt for the underpinnings of a bridge. Karl knew these things were important but could not be bothered by those details. Details did interest Karl, just not contrived details. Karl thought about the details of the distribution of tree species in the woods he worked in. Why did Trillium grow on this hillside and Ulvaria grow in others? Why were some porcupines almost black while others were brownish gray? How was it decided that Fox squirrels, Red squirrels, and Chipmunks would all occupy one section of woods?

Tasty and healthy with a dose of philosophy and politics!

A little introduction is called for. The name is Stuart and my game is great food with an omnivorous appetite for more great food along with politics and whatever else strikes my fancy. I am a chef by training (35 years in the business as dishwasher to F&B director) and a voracious consumer of books and great web content. My tastes run from the blogs Why Evolution is True, Pharyngula, Sam Harris, The Daily Kos, and Salon to Arts and Letters Daily, The Agate Lady, and of course the Elvis Costello Homepage. Some of my favorite authors include Christopher Hitchens, Steven Pinker, Sam Harris, Jim Harrison, Alice Monroe, and Bart Ehrman. I am not a huge TV guy but I do love Iron Chef, Chopped, and Top Chef along with anything that involves Neil deGrassie Tyson or Brian Cox. I try to be involved with social issues that resonate with me such as Universal Healthcare, Women's Rights, Evolution, Global Climate Change, and the World Wide Extermination of Bio-Diversity. I am a painter and writer (quite amateur) and will also post my work here. That's it for now!