A Tribute to Michigan Produce

Good news!  I am moving to North Carolina sometime in July!  Some friends of the family have agreed to let me live with them for a couple months so I can find a job, get my own apartment, become a resident of North Carolina, get a reduced tuition price, and FINALLY...get my masters degree.  I am so excited for this to happen and to start my new adventure.  It does have it's cons though.  I love my state.  I love spring, summer, fall, and usually winter in my state.  I like to say that Michiganders are a step below Texans and any Texan will tell you that "you can insult my mother, but never insult my state".  So I am obviously not that devoted to the Great Lakes State, but it is close.  There are a couple things included in a Michigan summer that I absolutely love.  And these are the two things that I will just happen to miss by moving to North Carolina in July.

                                                      Grand Haven Lighthouse


The first event would be the Coast Guard Festival.  This is the biggest thing to hit Grand Haven every year and it occurs in Grand Haven because our little city is indeed Coast Guard City, USA.  The population sometimes doubles for the week because of this festival and honestly, it is a little annoying dealing with all the tourists, but that is for another time.  Basically what happens is a carnival comes in, the main roads are closed off, and our downtown area becomes completely walkable. It is fantastic.  Add to that all of the carnival food and wonderfulness such as too sugary lemonade, and you have a pretty good time on your hands.  It is the place to be if you live anywhere near Grand Haven, and even if you don't.  The best part about the Coast Guard Festival is definitely the fireworks at the end.  You have NEVER seen fireworks like these.  I am not even kidding.  Bigger than any Forth of July celebration, the show gets bigger and better every year.  The goal is to outdo themselves, and they accomplish it.  Pure genius.  The finale alone is bigger than most cities will ever be able to afford, and people will sit in the grass for two days, just to have a good seat.  The festival takes place the end of July, so I will be gone.  Oh well!

The second thing that I am going to miss is the produce.  Michigan is in the prime location for growing fruits and veggies that are delicious.  The list might shock you.  We have growing in our soil a plethora of blueberries, strawberries, cherries, peaches, more blueberries, and MORE blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, black raspberries, blueberries, rhubarb (which I really don't like but we will add it to the list anyway), corn, and of course other veggies as well...corn is just my favorite, and we will add apples to the list too even though their season is in the fall.  These are pretty much every fruit that I like, and they all get ripe in the Michigan summer.

You have not truly enjoyed a blueberry unless you have had a handful of Michigan blue crop blueberries.  They are by far my most favorite ingredient to bake with (I will subconsciously choose to make recipes that include them) and they are good plain.  The best part is, you never know which ones are going to be sweet and which ones are going to be sour.  They are so fun to munch on.  Another great thing about Michigan blueberries is the fact that it enables to bees to make blueberry honey.  I don't generally like honey, but I like blueberry honey.  One cool thing about it is the fact that it has an ever so slight blueish tint to it.  Pretty sweet if you ask me....pardon the pun.

The moral of the story is that I am going to miss my home a lot, and I am going to miss it even more leaving in the middle of the summer.  BUT, I am so excited to see what God has in store for me and how I will change being out of my element.  Who knows...maybe my new home will have something I like even more than my favorite produce and festivals.  We will just have to wait and see!