Life on Earth

After all of these years living in Traverse City I finally made it out to the Stone Circle spoken word gathering north of Elk Rapids. Freelance writer Tom Carr, a frequent visitor to the weekly event, wrote an article celebrating the gatherings 25 th summer. You can read it online at: Stone Circle.

Three images I included here include the main image used for the article, 90 year old Bob Bennet performing like he has for many years and poet Terry Wooten, founder of the Stone Circle. Each Saturday night during the summer people are invited to sit around the campfire and simply listen or participate–the only rule for performing is that your work must be recited from memory.

Last month I spent a day witnessing the making of cheese. The story ran in yesterday’s Detroit Free Press. Basically, the process I saw was a few hundred gallons of milk slowly being stirred into a curd, poured into forms and then pressed into wheels that will become what was voted last year as the “best of show” at the American Cheese Society’s annual competition. Basically, making it the best cheese in the country. Not bad for a company with three employees.

The Leelanau Cheese Company is located in Suttons Bay, Michigan. The owners, John and Anne Hoyt make their artisan raclette in large batches that are aged around 8 months. The Free Press’s Sylvia Rector did a nice job describing the process, but also captured the uniqueness of the Hoyt’s mission–fine cheese, made right, from the cow to the plate.

See more pictures, and read her article online at: It’s the best cheese in America

Below, John Hoyt squeezes excess whey and water out of a fresh wheel of cheese. The cheese will sit with weights on top of it for another 12 hours before being placed in a cellar for 8-10 months.

In today’s New York Times is an emotionally moving article by By JERÉ LONGMAN and AIMEE BERG, “Small Town Mourns a Running Marvel“. It is a nice tribute to the runner Ryan Shay who surprisingly passed away last weekend. The village of Central Lake has been holding candle light vigils at the track each night this week. Despite freezing temperatures, hundreds have been taking part, if only to walk around the track once in honor of their hometown hero.

Images by Gary L Howe

The wait for a wave is a little longer than you would have in Maui, but that doesn’t stop Elloy Molano & Matt Dobrowolski from surfing off of Van’s Beach in Leland in late August. I was shooting for a travel story about Leland & Fishtown–link below. Molano suggested that we all check out the film, Unsalted, for more about surfing in the Great Lakes.

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Leland, Michigan: A Lower Peninsula Spot Draws a Wider Crowd

photography by Gary Howe

In the August 7th print of the New York Times Escapes section, you can read about Mario Batali’s choice of Northern Michigan for a vacation home.

A few images run with the story and also, online, there is an audio slide show of Batali making Pizza al Fresco in his backyard pizza oven. Audio capture by the reporter & produced by the New York Times. Oh, he also shared his very simple Pizza Dough recipe.