Ask any Michigander to define “Up North,” a colloquial term for Northern Michigan, and you’ll find the answer varies widely. For the past 40 years, my family has defined it as the greater Grand Traverse Bay — an arm of Lake Michigan where miles of white sand beaches and towering dunes stretch alongside freshwater lakes so vast they resemble oceans. Here, wildflower meadows bloom, cherry orchards thrive, rolling farmlands unfold and nowhere else do we eat as well.
Over the years, we’ve learned that the best way to experience the flavors of the land and the lakes is by visiting local farm stands, orchards, wineries and fisheries to gather the region’s bounty at the source.
A tour beginning in Traverse City, either venturing west to the villages of Suttons Bay, Leland and Northport, or east to Elk Rapids, Williamsburg and Eastport, could have your vehicle, by day’s end, brimming with organic fruit and vegetables, freshly caught whitefish, bottles of Riesling, creamy cheese, baked goods and more.
Each stop on this sweet and savory tour offers a taste of a region as diverse as it is delicious. As the season starts, farmers are planting their crops and preparing for the busy summer months, when the region welcomes more than eight million tourists between now and Labor Day.
A Different Way of Farming
Just seven miles from downtown Traverse City lies Farm Club, a restaurant, bakery, brewery, market and fermentation project that has quickly become a cornerstone of the region’s food scene. The restaurant offers a true farm-to-table experience (minus any pretension), while the market overflows with fresh produce, wines, East Coast Pale Ale beer ($13 for a six-pack), sea salt chocolate rye cookies ($3 each), stone-milled heirloom cornmeal ($7 a bag) and five-pound brown bags of flour milled on-site ($12). Coolers are stocked with housemade pickles ($10) and sauerkraut ($12) fermented on-site, a vibrant snapshot of what the farm — two acres at Farm Club and an additional eight acres down the road at their main farm, Loma Farm — has to offer.
Loma grows nearly 300 varieties of crops, like French breakfast radishes, baby mustard greens, rhubarb and Hakurei turnips, using organic, regenerative practices, and supplies not only Farm Club but also seasonally focused restaurants nearby such as the Cooks’ House, Sugar2Salt and Taproot Cider House.
“A deep love of land and water drew me to farming over 20 years ago, and it’s why I continue to farm today,” Nic Theisen, a founder of Farm Club and Loma Farm, said.
Lakeview Hill Farm, in Traverse City, founded in 2017 by John Dindia and his wife, Bailey Samp, also grows certified organic produce for local grocery stores and restaurants.
Stop by their charming farm market, housed in an 1890s one-room schoolhouse, where they sell their produce, as well as meat, dairy, soap, cut flowers and other provisions from producers across the Traverse area. While Lakeview Hill Farm cultivates about 50 different crops, they particularly excel in early-season greenhouse heirloom tomatoes, Lebanese-style cucumbers and nutrient-dense baby leaf greens, which they grow year-round using greenhouses and hoop houses powered by solar energy.
Joann White, whose family has owned Interwater Farms in Williamsburg for four generations, has begun shifting portions of the farm’s 200 acres of fruit orchards from conventional to organic practices. Ten acres have already made the transition: five dedicated to Red Haven peaches, and another five to a mix of SweeTango, Honeycrisp, Golden Delicious, Pink Lady and Northern Spy apples. This year, her goal is to earn U.S.D.A. organic certification.
“Fruit farmers need to diversify. Whether it’s making cider, opening a winery or starting a farm market, we have to adapt,” Ms. White said. “For me, transitioning to organic felt like a different, healthier way to diversify. And we’re responding to consumer demand.”
Cheese That Tastes of the Terroir
Idyll Farms, known for its world-class goat cheeses, has also embraced regenerative practices since opening in 2012, including rewilding its more than 500-acre farm in Northport. The freshness is palpable when you try their creamy, flavorful cheeses. A four-ounce round of their classic Idyll Pastures costs less than $6, and is available in a variety of delectable flavors, like Garlic and Herb, Fennel Pollen, Honey Lavender. Their newest cheese, Idyll Goata, a rich goat’s milk Gouda with deep notes of caramel and butterscotch that costs $28 a pound, won a 2025 World Cheese Award when it was introduced.
“Our cheeses reflect what our goats are eating and the terroir of the land,” said Amy Spitznagel, who owns the farmstead with her husband, Mark.
Just over a dozen miles away in Suttons Bay is Leelanau Cheese, opened by John and Anne Hoyt, two of Michigan’s most celebrated food artisans, in 1995. Now owned by Joshua Hall, an award-winning cheesemaker, and Gary Smith, a food safety specialist, Leelanau Cheese continues to produce handcrafted artisan cheeses made from locally sourced cow’s milk using Swiss and French cheesemaking practices. Stop by to watch cheesemaking demonstrations and to browse the cheese shop for cellar-aged, nutty, buttery Swiss Raclette ($18 a pound) and fresh, creamy Fromage Blanc ($13 to $16 a pound depending on variety).
Fish Straight from the Dock
Freshwater fish have long been the backbone of Michigan’s culinary culture, with myriad lakes brimming with whitefish, walleye, perch and lake trout. For more than a century, the Carlson family has operated Carlson’s Fishery, in Fishtown, an enclave in Leland with weathered shanties, docks and fishing boats that’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Though they’re now focused on processing rather than fishing, the Carlsons remain committed to quality and sustainability, collaborating with organizations like the Michigan Fish Producers Association and Michigan Sea Grant to promote responsible fishing. The family continues to hand-fillet fish on-site. Be sure to sample their smoked fish (about $18 to $23 a pound depending on variety), whitefish sausage (about $21 a pound) and smoked fish pâté (about $10 for an eight-ounce tub).
At Bellaire Smokehouse, in Bellaire, the art of smoking fish has been passed down to the second generation of the Watters family. Their technique starts with fresh fish (arriving daily from their fisherman in nearby Charlevoix) which is brined overnight before being smoked for hours over sugar maple wood. At the shop, located at the back of the family’s home, you’ll usually find a family member behind the counter offering expert recommendations and recipes. Their most popular items include smoked whitefish and trout ($12.50 to $14 a pound, depending on variety), whitefish pâté ($10 a half pound) and fresh fillets (starting at about $14 for whitefish).
Follow the Wine Trails
The region is situated along the 45th parallel — a distinction shared with notable winemaking localities, including France’s Burgundy and Italy’s Piedmont — and its freshwater shoreline and glacial soils provide local wines with unique terroir. The Old Mission Peninsula Wine Trail comprises 10 wineries, while the Leelanau Wine Trail includes more than 20, growing and pouring a range of cool-climate whites and robust reds. Riesling remains the flagship grape, with winemakers crafting everything from bone-dry to lusciously sweet late-harvest versions.
Dave Bos, owner of BOS Wine, grows his own grapes and consults with wineries on the Old Mission Peninsula trail. He spent a decade cultivating organic and biodynamic wine in Napa Valley. Biodynamic agriculture, a form of organic farming, shuns pesticides and chemicals, relying on compost, cover crops and biodynamic preparations made from herbs, minerals and manure, all timed with nature’s rhythms.
BOS Wine Garden, in Elk Rapids, offers tasting flights paired with dips and charcuterie boards in a 1920s restored farmhouse. You can enjoy wines by the glass, like Bos Wines juicy, fruit-forward All That Is Gold Riesling ($28 a bottle), or floral, elegant, Pét-Nat style sparkling Methode Agricole ($32 a bottle). “This is what I’m pouring alongside spring’s earliest arrivals, like ramps and asparagus,” Mr. Bos said, proving there is a Michigan wine for every season.
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