Help out a Farmfester, and discover new travel ideas

Jen Winkelman has been a volunteer at Farmfest for the past three years. Recently she started Thee Vagabonds, a TV show about traveling across America to promote non-tourist destination spots, education and historical stuff in a fun way. Finding free and affordable attractions that everyday Americans can actually do!

Find out more at their Facebook page www.facebook.com/TheeVagabonds.

#TheeVagabonds #farmfest19

2016 Farmfest Blog:

Auguts 6, 2016:

Every song I hear on the farm tugs at my heart strings -- five I cannot narrow down to -- but one, one I will never forget. Being less than 10 years old dancing in front of main stage, Electric Violet was on and my mom was there, dark hair spinning all around her and eyes alight with the palpable energy that surrounded us. More than fifteen years ago no performance burns brighter in my mind's eye than that screaming guitar and my fairy goddess mother. I suppose I could call The Cookies a close second as I find myself, once again, center stage, dancing endlessly but now with my own small one who gazes in wonder, who lights up every time we hear a song they cover on the radio throughout the year. With this all brought to the forefront and Farmfest just around the corner, I find myself filled with such gratitude to be able to call it home -- a safe place filled with so many sweet memories, and one I can pass along to my son. A place he will one day call home too, where he will walk when the grounds are empty and quiet and hear the echoes of his own childhood laughter. We are all so blessed to have known this place, these people, and this love. Farm on.

- Darleen Wood (drum kiva caretaker)

May 23, 2016:

Welcome to the Farmfest blog. Here is where we will share our stories our memories and our dreams. 2023 Farmfest will be Farmfest's 25th year. At that time we will print all the stories and publish a book...a history of us. So please write down your stories. Share your favorite memories, good and bad. Here goes: In 1983 I went to Blissfest and fell in love as many of us do with the festival vibe, the people, the freedom and especially the music. It wasn't until 1997 when, again at Blissfest, I met a guy that gave me the courage and help to transform the farm into the sweetest little festival site in Michigan. Tom was his name and he knew how to build things. We gathered people and supplies and started a non-profit 501c3 organization we named Farmhouse Music Organization. We began taking the old Barn down in the fall of 1997 and recycled the lumber for the mainstage. Many people came all summer to help build the stage and get the place ready. We worked hard and played hard and loved hard. We ate well and got sun burned and sore muscles and splinters. One fun memory for me was listening the “guy talk” when they didn’t know I was listening. I could go back up to the house and open the upstairs window and hear it all. The acoustics are amazing from the stage because it’s location is in a perfect natural amphitheater. I could hear it all! Guys sure like to reference their penises a lot when women are not around. LOL And Yo Mama Jokes were fun too. All summer they blamed all the mistakes on a fictitious guy names Bob…then a real Bob came to help. Poor guy. We also had Chuck. Fun and full of life. He decided he was going to be our spiritual advisor. I don’t think he ever gave us any advice, but he liked the title so we went with it. There was Reva too. She was a sweet elderly lady who has since passed away. She always wore a shirt that said FOXY LADY on it. She was a gem! There were many great people that year. Some still come every year. Some don’t, and like Reva some have died and are now remembered in our memorial area by the labyrinth.

In August of 1998 we hosted our first Farmfest. 363 people came, most for free. (musicians, volunteers and children) There was a huge thunder and lightning storm on Friday which affected our attendance greatly. We had to hold off on the music until the lightning stopped many times that evening. People found shelter in tents and campers food tents and back stage. I was back stage. Tom was too. I remember seeing him high in the rafters just hanging out waiting for the lightning flashes. Were you back stage that night? If you were we need to hear from you! What do you remember about that night? On Sunday we realized we were losing our butts, so we asked all the musicians and food suppliers, the porta potty people, even the electric company to discount what we owed them. Everyone did except one. That one saw me coming months earlier, knew I was green as a cucumber being my first attempt at booking a festival, way over charged us and demanded payment that day knowing we didn’t have the money. I borrowed the money from a relative that night for them. THEN…I got a second mortgage on the farm to pay the bills which took 10 years to pay off. We learned a lot that year. In fact we have never stopped learning since that first year. The next 19 years has been quite a journey indeed! As this blog continues I will share my stories. I am looking forward to hearing your stories too.