March 2025
Before immigration and settlement by European stock, Northern Lower Michigan was inhabited by native people who, as far as we know, did not keep a written history or have the concept of deeds. The idea of ownership showed up here in the 1700s, and around 1920 Dayton and Leora Willard acquired the land from Dayton's father and farmed until the late 1960s.
In 69, Jim and Eileen Kelly in partnership with Jack and Marge French purchased 400 acres from the Willards and set aside ~100 acres for residential development. The remaining ~280 acres was eventually acquired by Jim and Eileen's son Dan in 2020 and 2023 with the intention of rebooting the farm with a wilds resonant aesthetic.
Dan Kelly, that's me. Near the end of 2024 I started an upgrade of the farm's water system... and tore up the place in the process. For a month or two the farm was an authentic World War I movie set, what with all the trenches, piles of dirt and frozen mud. The backhoe uncovered concrete megaliths and unique artifacts from before the ubiquity of plastic. The trenches are mostly filled as of February 2025, but we've still got plenty of mud.
The trench from the 4" well head to the barn
Six feet deep and over one hundred feet long. On the left is the remnants of a glazed brick wall
One takeaway from this project was never rely on MISDIG. They were supposed to mark the primary electric lines and... they didn't. So I ended up snipping them with the backhoe. About 5 guys and 3 trucks from Consumers Power showed up within 30 minutes to get us electrified again. Great work!
Bottles buried and amazingly intact
Thanks to Dave and his guys at Glen Lake Electric and for sure Joe and his lads from Demerly Well Drilling for service way beyond the call of duty.
We'll have to wait for a full thaw to restore the rolling meadows, for now we'll start prepping for 2025 maple syrup season.