Spring 2022
Through the dedicated work of many friends and partners Partridge Creek Farm is Growing. We are building new programs, community gardens, and an intergenerational farm, and we are at the beginning of creating structures that will help other communities do the same.

Farm to School Programming
We have expanded our Farm to School programming from weekly classes with the Ishpeming fifth grade to weekly classes with both the fifth and sixth grade, including a six-week healthy cooking class which culminates in a “Local Food Cook-off”. The winning team’s recipe will be added to the cafeteria menu for the whole school to enjoy. We are also creating the curriculum and staffing for K-8 farm-to-school curriculum and a Career Technical Education program in Regenerative Farming at the Ishpeming High School.

New Gardens
This year we are building a garden at Birchview Elementary School to accommodate our farm to school programming there. This will add another food producing garden to our inventory of five other downtown gardens in Ishpeming and will increase hands-on classroom opportunities for our younger Ishpeming residents

Ishpeming Intergenerational Farm
We are embarking on the construction of a 3.5-acre intergenerational farm next to the High School/ Middle School at the Jasperlite Senior Housing Campus this spring. Through planning and proactive grants provided by Michigan Health Endowment Fund and Superior Health Foundation we have created deep community investment for this project. In February, Partridge Creek Farm, in partnership with Ishpeming School District #1 received a $100K MDARD Rural Development Grant to install water and add topsoil to the site. A generous contribution from Lindberg & Sons has provided the 30% match, allowing us to BREAK GROUND in spring 2022! We hope to have a U-PICK Pumpkin patch for the community this year and our first planting of apple trees through a donation from Hoovers Tree Service.

Although we’ve come a long way, we still have a lot of work to go until this farm space is everything the community deserves. Please reach out if you are interested in becoming a founding partner or donor for this innovative community space.

Spreading the Love through Lions
The District 10 Lions (53 Lions Clubs of the UP) have made Partridge Creek Farm a District Project, and are taking its programs and initiatives to the rest of the Upper Peninsula, gathering local food security champions in each community together and offering the resources and partnerships that PCF has discovered or created while building its presence in the Ishpeming community.

Please consider helping us with your time or donations as we teach our children, seniors, and community as a whole how to grow, prepare and eat healthy local food, and educate the next generation of farmers and value-added food processors to create a local food system in the Upper Peninsula.

Sincerely,
Dan Perkins,
PCF Founder