The Whole Field • Volume 5 • No. 14 • Full Moon • July 29, 2026
The Wildflower's Song • 16" x 20" • 2026
Winter Solitude at Sunset • 24" x 30" • 2026
Marie • 30" x 40" • 2025
Lucia Ritacco • Oil on Canvas
an excerpt from
milk maker
the path to survival is shockingly sweet and perfectly warm
by Leah Sienkowski (of Belding, MI's dreamgoats)
Presumably, milking goats is a central piece to being a dairy goat farmer. The annual cycle of breeding and kidding and milking, and the daily cycle of milking, fence moving, herding, and raising kids have shaped my routines and brain for the last decade.
When I became an (actively) lactating mammal myself last year, I knew my relationship with milk would change. Fortunately, I was down to a single nighttime nursing by the time the goats gave birth last spring and there were only a few days where I ricocheted between nursing my human baby, tube feeding a weak kid in the kitchen, and driving to the farm to help just-born kids to latch.
I have a new appreciation for milk. Its relational specificity, its mysterious wisdom. The fact that it builds immune, endocrine, and metabolic systems with each drop.
I’m honored to be a milk medium, but I am also tired...
The Warp — Ideas and Inspiration
|| 1 || Thanks to Brad, I enjoyed On Quality earlier this week. If you're intrigued by subjects like intangibles and felt indicators of quality and durability, and/or modern historical analysis of quality-shifting trends in manufacturing, it might be your cup of tea. One of my favorite parts draws from Pirsig's classic, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. The example: when Robert Pirsig offered to fix a friend's slipping handlebars on his shiny new motorcycle, the friend refused. He didn't have any interest in Pirsig's proposal of shims cut from beer cans. The very idea of the solution, the aesthetics of the shims, repulsed him, despite the fact that the material's makeup uniquely fit the bill to fix the issue. In short, the shim would have been high quality, but the packaging and story around it were subpar. Keyana Sapp (who wrote On Quality and brings up the Zen and the Art story) notes that this is a relationship we generally find reversed these days:
"That was 1968's confusion: good things that looked cheap. We industrialized the reverse. The heritage fonts, the small-batch copy and the unboxing moment engineered to simulate the exact feeling my Les Paul earned honestly. The surface has never been more perfected, wrapped around the glued joints and the plastic gears.
Fifty years ago a man refused a great repair because it looked like trash. Today we pay premiums for trash because it looks like greatness. Same confusion, now commoditized at scale."
|| 2 ||This brings to mind a number of rabbit-trails worth tailing—one being how we judge language. By language, I'm referring to writing as well as other forms of communication. What are the actual indicators of quality when it comes to communication? And what's arbitrary?
Another is AI and its impact on marketing. If AI-driven design excels and proliferates to the point that everyone selling something has easy access to great packaging and copy, what takes its place as a significant indicator of quality? (Yes, the "if" in the last sentence is doing some world-class lifting, but the crux of the question remains.)
And the last rabbit trail I'll point to—car manufacturing. The hour-long video I Bought And Restored "Old" Technology To Prove The Economy Is Imploding wades into this terrain with a plethora of angles for consideration. My appreciation lies in what ties them all together: the chronicling of the purchase and restoration of an old Mercedes-Benz 190E.
The Weft — News and Events
We’re heartened by a wide-range of expressions of resilient communities and gatherings. Here’s a smattering of regional events and happenings that reflect that diversity, collected for your consideration. Choose your own adventure!
|| 1 || From Pasture to Plate: Learn to Process Your Own Chicken—Sunday, August 16th, 10am-3pm, Danu Hof Farm, Mancelona. "This experience is about more than just learning a skill — it's about getting to know where your food comes from, supporting a farm that's doing things the right way, and feeling more confident and connected in the kitchen and beyond." Click here for more info and registration.
|| 2 || Jordan River Arts Council presents Roots: A Cultural and Environmental Exhibition. Now open and available for viewing until August 29th. "From family legacies and cultural shifts to landscapes that leave a lasting imprint, Roots invites viewers to consider the many ways our backgrounds inform who we are and how we express ourselves. The exhibition features work across a wide range of artistic mediums, united by a shared exploration of origin, connection, and growth."
|| 3 || Northwest Michigan TOPP Field Day: Farming for People, Purpose, and Profit. Tuesday, August 18th, 8:30am-3:30pm. Begins at Bear Creek Organic Farm in Petoskey, and continues at Lakeside Farm in Boyne City. Tours, discussions, and more. Click here for the full schedule and more details. This event is organized by Michigan TOPP in partnership with the Northern Michigan Small Farm Conference (presented by Crosshatch Center for Art and Ecology).
|| 4 || The Writing Room — A Creative Writing Workshop with Author Dirk Ruff. Saturday, August 22nd, 10am-3pm, at Grass River Natural Area (Bellaire). "Join author Dirk Ruff for an immersive afternoon writing workshop... Bring something you've been working on, be it an idea outline, a started piece, or a rough draft. Be ready to share and collaborate on the creative process with others, and to receive feedback on your work. By the end of the workshop, you should have direction, if not a completed piece." More details and tickets here.
|| 5 || Perennial Farm Ecosystem Conference. Saturday, August 22nd, 8:30-5pm, TC. "The Perennial Farm Ecosystem Conference is a free, full-day learning event focused on regenerative agriculture strategies for orchard and vineyard systems. Hosted by the Grand Traverse Conservation District in partnership with the MSU Northwest Horticultural Research Station, this conference will help growers explore what “regenerative” means in the context of perennial crop production." Find more info and registration here.
|| 6 || The Antrim Writers Series is pleased to welcome Chad V. Broughman.
-Reading & Book Signing, Wednesday, August 26th, 7-8:30pm, at Bos Winery in Elk Rapids.
-Fiction Writing Workshop, Thursday, August 27th, 1-3pm, Grass River Natural Area in Bellaire.
Click the respective links above for more information on the gatherings and registration, as well as more on Chad and his work.
|| 7 || Bees!-Little Traverse Bay Beekeepers Guild. Overwintering in Northern Climates, Tuesday, August 18th, 6-8pm, Bear Creek Township Hall in Petoskey. "Dr. Adam Ingrao will explore the key factors that impact winter survival and share proven strategies used at Bee Wise Farms to successfully overwinter bees in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, including a step-by-step hive setup process." Find more here.
-Benzie Bee Guild. Bee Yard Work Sessions at Grow Benzie: Wednesday, August 5th, at 10am, and Wednesday, August 19th, at 10am. Find more details on Benzie Bee Guild happenings here.
|| 8 || Water is Life Festival, Saturday, September 5th, noon-9pm, Petoskey. A unique celebration of Water and our connection to it, with art, food, music, and more. Check out the website to learn more here.
|| 9 || Mark your Calendars! The 2026 Northern Michigan Small Farm Conference is coming to downtown Bellaire, Oct. 4th-6th. Find more on the theme, Culture Keepers, and the conference here.
|| 10 || Happenings at The Alluvion Between Now and the Next Whole Field include: Viridian Strings Presents: Undercurrents, The Adrianne Evans Quintet, Funky Uncle + DJ Ras Marco, The Mad Angler & The Mad Cellist, Pickle Party with The Pickle Mafia & DJ Ras Marco, and Big Fun + DJ Ras Marco.
Find more information at thealluvion.org.
sponsored by:
Desmond Liggett Wealth Advisors is a mission-driven, fee-only wealth management company with a simple purpose: to generate exceptional value for the individuals, families, small business owners, and non-profit organizations they serve. Desmond Liggett Wealth Advisors believe in and adhere to triple-bottom-line analysis for portfolio investments, ensuring that they review how a company’s environmental and social values impact its long-term resilience and, consequently, value.
Crosshatch’s The Whole Field is a biweekly (meaning roughly every other week) human-written newsletter. We aim to provide engaging, thought-provoking content that’s worth your time. Click here to subscribe to our mailing list.
We also envision this best as a collaborative work. If you have any suggestions, leads, questions or feedback, let us know.
Copyright (C) 2026 Crosshatch. All rights reserved.
