For Elderberry Farms Estate brings families the “joy of the farm to table concept” with its u-pick on the property, owner Samantha Fall said.
While the pickings may be slimmer this year — Samantha expects a smaller crop of signature elderberries because of vole damage — the farm still will offer a u-pick experience. For the first time, blueberries may join lavender in the u-pick mix.
Like the lavender, the farm’s heirloom blueberry varieties — 1,000 bushes strong thanks to the help of volunteer planters including neighbors and chefs — are ready for picking in July. Lucky visitors may even get to harvest a vegetable or two from the garden (ask about “walking” onions).
The 14-acre farm is a relative newcomer along M-72’s “farm corridor” west of Traverse City. But it’s drawing more and more notice with its lavender and blueberry fields, three-acre elderberry orchard and white-sided equestrian barn-design market and café complete with cupola topped by an English bulldog weathervane, Samantha’s favorite breed.
“We get (people) every day who say, ‘I’ve been driving by and wondering what this is,’” said barista Vanessa Clark.
Samantha runs the farm with the help of life partner Jeff Krumm and farm hand Juan Carlos, a Spanish-speaking seasonal contract worker she communicates with through an online translator program. They use organic practices like composting kitchen scraps to help build the soil.
Her son, Cameron, helps with the animals, including bulldogs Apollo and Athena.
Even when u-pick isn’t an option, there’s plenty for visitors to do at the farm, like shopping the market for fresh produce in season and for specialty products including dried elderberries; elderberry/elderflower tea blends; elderberry jam, extract and syrup; and DIY syrup kits.
Then there’s the farm’s own raw honey, lavender products from its acre of lavender plants — each hand-trimmed by Samantha — and goat milk soap she creates in the café prep kitchen with a local milk share. The market also stocks beef, pork, lamb and chicken and duck eggs from nearby farms.
Visitors can even enjoy a farm stay — with optional chores — at the two-bedroom Airbnb apartment above.
“People want to have a reason to go to a farm,” said Samantha, a Michigan State University graduate and experienced mini-farm owner whose other passion is studying holistic and plant-based medicine.
Perhaps most relaxing in the summer is sitting outside at an umbrella-shaded picnic table with an iced tea or enjoying a bite to eat in the café. Open from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9 a.m to 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday (and for special ticketed dinners by guest chefs), the café serves up hot and cold beverages from coffee drinks to Italian sodas, and dishes like chorizo and bacon breakfast burritos, deli and chicken salad sandwiches, and baked goods including muffins, scones, pies, turnovers, lemon squares and Danishes.
Try the Elderberry Crepes made with lemon and elderberry jam, or the Italian Soda with elderflower syrup. Coming soon:elderberry-infused coffee and elderberry pie.
The farm grows six varieties of elderberries that are known for their antiviral properties, which ripen at different intervals from late September into October. Once the berries turn dark purple, they’re ripe and ready to be picked.
“They’re smaller than the size of a pea and when you cook them, they’re even smaller,” said Samantha, noting that fresh elderberries should be cooked first before consuming to avoid upset stomachs, and their stems and leaves should not be consumed. “That’s what’s difficult about working with them commercially because you have to have special equipment to get them off the stem.”
Elderflowers grow in umbrella-shaped clusters of cream-colored blossoms and bloom in June and July depending on the plant variety and can be picked to use in teas, cordials and elixirs.
“They smell like a mixture of lilacs and cupcakes,” Samantha said, who sometimes has enough to reserve some for u-pick. “I adore them.”
Daniel Lindsley and family from Northport, Florida were visiting relatives in the area when they spotted the market and cafe on their way to the Sleeping Bear Dunes and decided to stop for lunch.
“It looked welcoming,” said son D.J. Lindsley, who ordered an Elder-Blue Muffin and pronounced it “earthy.”
Until their visit, only Daniel Lindsley had tasted elderberries and only in an energy drink. That’s true of about half the farm’s visitors, Samantha said.
“Either it’s nostalgia — their grandma made elderberry jam and they want to relive that — or they want to try something new, even though elderberries have been around since the Middle Ages,” she said.
For u-pick updates and information on hands-on classes and special events, call 231-220-9098 or visit the farm’s blog, Instagram or Facebook pages.