About Us » Our Place

Little Artshram is located in the heart of the Historic Barns Park within the Grand Traverse Commons, just west of downtown Traverse City. This historical farm site produced the majority of the food for the patients at the Old State Mental Hospital, and once again, through the efforts of our Community Garden and Little Artshram CSA--an entrepreneurial agriculture project, it has become a site dedicated to local food production. This time around, we are committed to regenerative horticultural practices to ensure a healthy, productive future for this beautiful community-owned land.

The heart of our creative impulse begins with educational programming and projects that place children and youth in an outdoor setting where they can explore and wander in the woods, wade in a nearby creek, learn herbal and wild-crafting skills, grow food and tend plants in the Community Garden, experience art, puppetry, music-making and more! Our programs are guided by nature awareness and an ecological design process based on Permaculture principles and ethics.

Opportunities for adults include Permaculture education that teaches us to align ourselves with nature. In the spring of 2011, 28 students were certified in the first-ever Traverse City/ North West Michigan Permaculture Design Course focusing on our home place within the 56 acre tract of the old farm. We are working to synthesize the seven-student design projects, and phase in projects that include remediation of our garage building which will become a community learning center, and along with expansion of our present Community Garden, planting an Edible Forest Garden.

The Historic Barns Park is owned by the Recreational Authority, a joint committee of the City of Traverse City and Garfield Township. Little Artshram shares management responsibilities at the park with two other nonprofits, SEEDS and the Botanical Garden Society of North West Michigan. This shared space is adjacent to 400 acres of wooded park and one of the largest historic redevelopments in North America complete with a wood fired bakery, fair trade coffee roaster, two wineries, an award winning restaurant and a growing walkable community.

Above photo by Brian Confer