The Whole Field • Volume 5 • No. 4 • Full Moon • March 3, 2026

Leland Bluestone

Petoskey

Lake Superior Agate 

Samantha Hall Art • Colored Pencil Drawings • 11" x 13" • 2024

Hazelnut Zine Download + Assembly Instructions

The Warp — Ideas and Inspiration

|| 1 || What good are hazelnuts anyway? I mean, that’s what much of the zine linked above outlines, but in fairness, it offers answers like “hedgerows!” Is a hedgerow trivial? Ask an NRCS agent or an old-school farmer, and you might get an emphatic no. Hedgerows, living fences that support an abundance of life, soil conservation, and even hazelnut harvests, have their place, and when they disappear, their absence is felt. 

Have you ever driven northern highways traversing rural farmlands in the midst of winter squalls? When visibility is otherwise zero, and roads are mounded with windswept snowdrifts, vegetative infrastructure like hedgerows, shelter belts, and living buffers are your best friends. Thorsten Arnold’s Why Climate Change Can Make Winter Driving More Dangerous connects the dots and lays out a case for hedgerows, and by extension, hedgerow classics like hazels, being wildly pertinent in the midst of stormy rural climes. 

The conditions that make winter driving dangerous are shaped long before the first snowflake falls—by policies that govern land use, by economic pressures that favour efficiency over redundancy, and by a collective failure to recognize that stability is something we build, or dismantle, together.

In a warming world, winter is not disappearing. It is becoming more punchy, less forgiving. And the road, like the landscape around it, reflects the choices we have made and continue to make. We can do better.

|| 2 || Farm help from an AI ag bot? A friend sent me a news clip to consider, but the glowing premise of AI-driven assistance on small- and medium-scale farms is an almost immediate no from me. Maybe that’s unfair. What about DIY, open-source, rightly scaled, and properly mission/profit/limit-oriented options? Would the tech even have to be one of those things to be a step in the right direction, a tool that supports rather than supplants?

I watched the video. I didn’t care for the framing at the beginning or the ending, but I would give a gander at more details, numbers, and accounts. Much of the pitch was more compelling than I expected. The clip’s last statements broke the thin spell, though, as the words offered smacked of Earl Butz's “fewer farmers on the land” philosophy. When it comes to which side of the Butz-Berry divide I'm on, I'm pretty firmly entrenched. How about you?  

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 || The Ship Yard: Agnes Su & The Country Band and Neutral on Rice.Tuesday, March 3rd, 5:30-7:30pm at The Alluvion. Ship Yard is a community artist program supporting emerging local musicians. Be among the first to experience our region’s rising talent and support their journey as they set sail as artists! Find more on the evening and featured artists here. 

|| 2 || Inland Seas March Cafe – Beech Trees & Passenger Pigeons: A Love Story. March 3rd, 10-11am. Held at the Capt. Thomas M. Kelly Biological Station in Suttons Bay, MI. "Join Jess Piskor for a presentation and discussion of his work on Passenger Pigeons and Beech Trees. It is a one-of-a-kind love letter to these two surprisingly interrelated species... Expect dramatic narration, physical props, original art, and a lively question-and-answer period. If you love birds, forests, sculpture, and local history, this Cafe is for you. There will be no PowerPoint." Find more details and RSVP here.

|| 3 || Traditional Cooking Series - A Seven-Week Anishinaabe Foodways Journey with Cam Stott. Blandford Nature Center, Grand Rapids. Sundays, March 22nd-May 17th, 11am-2pm. "Guided by traditional teachings from elders and knowledge keepers, this seven-week series reconnects participants with traditional Anishinaabe foods, preparation methods, and the cultural knowledge carried through our foodways. Sessions blend cooking demonstrations with Cam Stott, storytelling, and community dialogue, with guest traditional teachers." Find more details, including the schedule, and register here. 

|| 4 || Michigan Good Food Fund and MSU Center for Regional Food Systems' Emerging Farmer Learning Series. "Not only must farmers juggle soil health, growing seasons, and pests, but they must also manage many facets of running a business. This free, 7-week webinar series explores key business skills for Michigan growers... These virtual sessions will be held on Wednesdays from 12-1:30pm, March 4-April 15, 2026." Find more details on the session topics here and/or register here. Bonus: Crosshatch will host group viewings for this series at our Commongrounds office space (414 E 8th Street, 2nd floor, "The Grove" in Traverse City). Come for free coffee, no tech setup to worry about, and in-person connection with other farmers and farm supporters in the room.

|| 5 || Save the date - NW Michigan Small Farm Funding Workshop and Opportunity Fair. Thursday, March 25th, 10am-1pm, Petoskey Library. "Are you a farmer looking to strengthen your business, invest in new equipment, or access the capital needed to grow? Join Crosshatch, Michigan Good Food Fund, and Venture North for a hands-on workshop and resource fair designed to help you navigate funding opportunities and prepare your farm for investment and long-term sustainability." Registration coming soon. 

|| 6 || Indigenous Food Sovereignty Summit. April 6-8th, at the Kellogg Hotel & Conference Center in East Lansing. Find details on the gathering, co-hosted by Michigan State University & University of Michigan, celebrating "Indigenous food systems, cultural resilience, and community-driven solutions for food sovereignty" here. 

|| 7 || Food Literacy for All—January-April 2026. "Launched in 2017, Food Literacy for All is a community-academic partnership course based at the University of Michigan. Structured as an evening lecture series, Food Literacy for All features different guest speakers each week to address challenges and opportunities of diverse food systems. The course is free and open to the public." Find the series schedule, more details, and instructions for registration here.

|| 8 || Catalyzing Agroforestry Grant Program. "Direct financial support is available for farmers who seek to join our effort to mitigate climate change through agroforestry." Click here to find out more about the payment-per-acre-based reimbursement program focused on implementing projects like "Alley cropping, Forest farming, Riparian forest buffers, Silvopasture, Urban food forest, and Windbreaks." Applications are now being accepted and are due today (March 3rd). 

|| 9 || Happenings at The Alluvion Between Now and the Next Whole Field include: Ship Yard Series - Agnes Su & The Country Band and Neutral on Rice, The Jeff Haas Sextet featuring Laurie Sears, Rob Smith and Chris Glassman + Lisa Flahive, Laura Rain and the Caesars present The Soul of Detroit wsg Dawn Campbell, Alluvion Arts Presents We Will Not Whisper: Opening Reception, Big Fun, Here:Say Presents: Rebel Rebel, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Funky Uncle, and Branford Marsalis Quartet - Belonging. 

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.

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