Winter is typically a time to slow down a bit and regroup, but for local farmers like Tyler Bradley of Maple City, it’s also a time for planning for next year’s crops and finding work to keep busy.
Bradley and his wife, Paige, started their “pay what you can” farmstand in 2022, aiming to get fresh produce into the hands of their neighbors in Leelanau County. He said since they started the stand and growing their own vegetables and perennials on their two-acre property, the concept has worked out great and has helped him build strong connections in the community. With the farmstand, Bradley has met dozens of people that have gotten to know him and his farm and where their food comes from.
“And I didn’t want someone to not be able to afford the food because it’s going to spoil,” Bradley said. “Once I got to know the community more and saw that there’s a lot of trust up here, there was no need to kind of police the stand, it really ran itself. People were more than willing to pay full price, if not more, to help those that maybe want to take everything they see… In my mind, it’s kind of breaking capitalism in its own way because it’s a sliding scale where people get to decide how much they think it’s worth.”
Bradley grew up downstate in Birmingham and relocated to Leelanau County on a whim to start working at Second Spring Farm in Cedar in 2013. Through the job, Bradley met his wife and they continued working there together for about six years. They eventually purchased a small property in Maple City a few years later where they would sow their own garden growing native flowers and various vegetables. From asparagus, beets, radishes and cucumbers, to melons, tomatoes, peppers, garlic and winter squash, Bradley usually has produce out until snow hits the ground.
“I had a passion for growing our own food and it basically blossomed into ‘lets grow as much as we can on our property because that’s what we were used to growing for Second Spring Farm production,’” he said. “I try to inspire those that maybe used to garden, but don’t garden anymore, to reach out to me because I could always use volunteers to come and help with small tasks like seeding things in the springtime or breaking up garlic…” Bradley said he’s had people with a green thumb stop by to help volunteer for an hour or two at the farm, and in return, he’s given them free produce, sort of like a volunteer trade. It’s something Bradley says he wants to move towards more as he was a farm manager for so many years and can identify peoples’ skill sets as well as help set them up for success if that’s the field they’re looking into.
“I really like the agrotourism kind of approach because there’s a lot of people out there that need to see it and walk around and touch it and know where their food is coming from… Once they understand how much work goes into making food taste so good, they’re more likely to support you,” he said.
While most people will catch Bradley in the garden during the summertime, they also will likely see him playing or producing music. Another passion of his, Bradley has been a musician for about the last 20 years. He’s part of local bands like The Boardman River Band and Simple Machines, as well as his very own band/label called The Dead Beets.
Like a garden though, his jobs change with the seasons, as he also works as a plumber/handyman in the off-seasons.
“I’ve always been on the side of innovative and making myself work and trying to figure out solutions with what I have,” he said. “A phrase more people need to know goes ‘a jack of all trades, master of none.’ What it really boils down to is the end of it, which says oftentimes better than ‘a master of one.’ I think about that all the time because being multifaceted in all these different areas allows you to really come up with different, outside of the box solutions. You have to basically be okay with failure and learning from that and eventually success will start following into place.”
Bradley recently added electricity and a coal burning stove to his hoop house, so he plans to get started much earlier in the season with planting and having some crops out for people. In the meantime, he plans to continue recording and working on his music this winter.
“I think this year is going to be spectacular though.. I’m going to be able to pick and choose my (jobs) battles a little bit easier,” he said. “I’ll get to choose what jobs and when I want to take them on, and winter time is when most of the recording and new tracks and band practice happen — then summertime is mostly gigging and festivals. I just wish the music would pay.”
