August 2024 Swoon List: Our Editors’ Favorites This Month

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I’ve driven by it a thousand times—a little farmstead on W. Long Lake Road, between Long Lake and Lake Dubonnet. I don’t know why it took me so long to stop; I always seemed to be in a hurry to get back home, and maybe because it’s tucked up on a hill. From the road it doesn’t look like much, just a field full of flowers and an old barn looming in the back.

But this Saturday the sign by the road said PEACHES, and I pulled hard on the steering wheel and up the narrow two-track driveway. A little gray flower shed sat at the top of the drive. Near an old red hand pump, owner Becky Holmes was trimming leaves from the sunflowers spilling out of a five-gallon white bucket.

“The Holmestead,” as the sign on the old red barn reads, is the farm of Becky and Marshall Holmes, longtime hobby farmers who’ve been selling cut flowers, homegrown veggies, honey, eggs and Becky’s crochet work for the last 17 years when they found what Becky calls “the perfect farm.”

Things took off during Covid-19, when the couple renovated an old guest cottage into a tiny farm store, complete with sky lights and a gleaming white kitchen. Everywhere you look there are flowers. They had two painted rocking chairs they’d set outside, and folks would stop to sit and talk with Marshall, who is recently retired from the U.S. Postal Service. “We call these the therapy chairs,” Becky says. “Oh, Marshall loves to chat. He gets lonely after a few days if he doesn’t see people.” One visitor so appreciated the time to decompress and talk that they slipped a $100 bill into the honor jar.

Becky’s pretty great company, too. She told me the store stays busy throughout the season with cut flower arrangements, seasonal produce and here and there items from other local makers and farmers, like walnut cutting boards and maple syrup. They go through quite a few “Long for the Lake” sweatshirts and mugs, which were designed by the Holmes’ daughter.

This week I walked out with peaches ($5), cucumbers (.50 each) and a fat beefsteak tomato ($1), which was whipped into lunch salads and a blueberry-peach crisp. I have my eye on the crocheted sunflower coasters ($2) as a birthday gift for a friend.

I told her I worked at Traverse Northern Michigan magazine and Becky said, “Oh, I love to pick that up and just look. I get my ideas for floral arrangements from flipping through magazines and daydreaming. You need time to imagine. How else can something become real? You need to imagine it first.”

The farmstand is open until 8 p.m.; self-service if no one is around. 2102 W. Long Lake Rd., Traverse City. Look for the OPEN flag and the sign by the road.

Clean lines and a buttery soft finish are trademarks of Slowhouse, a custom furniture studio (formerly Wall Woodworking) by husband-wife duo Brad and Anna Wall. The couple recently made the move from Detroit to a 10-acre homestead in Thompsonville with their two boys, ages 4 and 2, and a third on the way. It’s a chance for the family to “live slowly,” Brad says, something they wanted their new brand name to reflect.

Outside of the wood shop, they’re raising chickens and their summer garden was filled with vegetables, berries and rows upon rows of flowers. Inside, Brad has been studying Danish woodworkers and incorporating some of their design elements (woven cord, rounded edges) into his own pieces—my favorites are the Mooney Bed with a beautiful woven headboard and the Lasso Coffee Table.

“What we do is pretty primitive in some ways—creating by hand and working with tools that are older than we are is a reminder to go slow,” Brad says. “We tend to let the materials do most of the talking when it comes to the design.”

Keep tabs on Slowhouse projects, upcoming workshops and a woodworking retreat on Instagram, @slowhouseco, or online: slowhouse.co.

If you haven’t been following the meteoric rise of pop’s new superstar, Chappell Roan, I’m gonna need you to open Spotify ASAP because she’s good. Really good. Roan spent the summer playing massive crowds and taking the festival circuit by storm with her brand of indie synth-pop; think emotionally charged, unapologetically queer lyrics set to super catchy melodies.

I’ve had her most recent album, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” on repeat since January, but this month, I’m swooning at the realization that Roan is an Interlochen alum. Last week, The Ticker ran a story about the pop icon’s summer camp roots, citing an article from the Ann Arbor publication, Pride Source. They published an interview with Roan last November, where she detailed her time at Interlochen:

“I’ve never met creative kids before that camp, and it changed my trajectory forever,” Roan told Pride Source. “I’d never been with other songwriters before in my life that were my age. Everyone was a f***ing hippie, and I’m from Trump country. I’m from a heavily church background, and this is not that. There were kids from all over the world there. It was just so inspiring.”

Interlochen: Please consider this my formal request for a return of the Midwest Princess next summer …

What I’m listening to:

• Good Luck, Babe! > Arguably the song of the summer. That’s all.
• Pink Pony Club > This iconic anthem was inspired by a visit to a gay bar in West Hollywood; Roan said it changed her life. I can’t help but love the name connection to Mackinac’s own Pink Pony. And I’m not the only one.
• Femininomenon > The word play. The high-energy beat. There’s a reason she likes to start her sets with this one.
• HOT TO GO! > An absolute banger that comes with its own choreography—think YMCA meets the Macarena.
• Red Wine Supernova > An OG hit from “Midwest Princess.” She performed it on Colbert. She performed it at NPR’s Tiny Desk. And I guarantee it’ll be stuck in your head indefinitely. You’re welcome.

In the north, we savor every sweet moment of cherry season—and well beyond the peak growing months. At Cherry Republic, our region’s signature fruit takes center stage all year long, offering an impressive variety of cherry-based products. (Salsa, cookies, coffee, wine!) I’ve frequented the downtown Traverse City shop for many years, but this summer was my first visit to Cherry Republic’s motherland in Glen Arbor. Honestly, I didn’t want to leave. 

As you enter the campus, you’re surrounded by lush gardens, cherry trees, fairy lights and rustic buildings with hand-painted signs—it’s magical. There’s a winery, a shop with hundreds of products and an eatery, the Cherry Public House. This visit was mostly business, but here are a few tips for newcomers.

1. Don’t skip the ice cream. 
2. Try the pickled cherries. 
3. Arrive early.

You don’t have to love cherries to find a spark of joy at this Northern Michigan destination. But if you do, it’s heaven. 

More to Swoon Over:

• • July 2024 Swoon List: Our Editors’ Favorites This Month
  • June 2024 Swoon List: Our Editors’ Favorites This Month
  • May 2024 Swoon List: Our Editors’ Favorites This Month