Protecting the wellbeing of humans and the natural world, through community, stewardship, education, and belonging.
Our vision is to be of service and do good for the people of Leelanau peninsula, the water that surrounds us, the land under our feet, and those who may stumble upon this place hundreds of years from now.
The Barn is a place where people will come to learn. It is a place where people will come to practice; skills, spirituality, being human. It is a place people will gather; a place people will share discussions, debate, laugh, dance and converse. The Barn is a place where delicious, fresh food is made, shared, processed, and preserved. The Barn is a place where people create; art, writing, ideas, tools, food, techniques, technologies.
The Barn is a place for history to be preserved; the building is 125 years old, and sits on a 5th generation Michigan farm. The historic architecture, and artifacts from a century of farming, will be displayed, preserved, and available for reflection and education.
The Barn is a place for provisioning; it is a place where affordable, fresh, delicious food can be found, along with other useful goods. The Barn is a place that welcomes everyone; not just as a rule to respect diversity that we post in a window, but as a feeling that pulls you in the doors. Wealthy Northern MI transplants will feel just as at home walking into the Barn as a blue collar man with dirt on his boots whose family has been here for generations.
Above all, the Barn is a home for community; a node in the web of life that keeps us all connected. Just as a pond connects the frog, the heron, the deer, and the muskrat, animals who have little in common otherwise, the Barn will connect people who may have thought themselves vastly different from one another. By offering a place for diverse, intricately interconnected community to grow, we can create resilience, resourcefulness, peace, and understanding that will serve everyone on the Leelanau Peninsula, even if they themselves never step foot in the Barn.
