SeedKeepers

SeedKeepers is a nonprofit environmental organization incorporated with the goal to promote environmental conservation, outdoor recreation and historical and cultural preservation.  
We accomplish our goals through two major purposes: To acquire and preserve cultural, historical, and environmental resources for posterity.  To educate and inspire people to appreciate our agricultural and natural history, natural environment and wildlife.

Beaver Island Artist/Naturalist in Residence

SeedKeepers Artist/Naturalist In-Residence Program is designed to foster the creation of artistic works which celebrate Beaver Island’s natural wonders while encouraging their conservation and preservation. The residency requires participants to share their experience with the public via two presentations. Artists are also required to donate a piece of work created during the residency to the SeedKeepers' permanent collection. These works will remain on exhibit at the SeedKeeper Lodge and also viewable via SeedKeepers website.

The Beaver Island Artist-in-Residence Program offers artists/naturalists: (writers, composers, visual and performing artists) a 10-12 day immersion on "Apple Blossom Farm," a 40 Acre regenerative farm and nature preserve leased by SeedKeepers. The preserve, located within biking distance from the village of St. James, includes a historic farmstead (dating to the 1850s) orchard and natural area. The property is adjacent to Conn's Cove Preserve, a 266 acre wilderness area owned by Little Traverse Conservancy.  

This immersion provides time for participants to connect to the island’s landscape which includes 16 unique habitats across the Beaver Island archipelago. Included are globally rare ecosystems, including multiple coastal fens, a high-quality Great Lakes marsh, old-growth yellow birch, abundant sphagnum moss peatlands, and rare, threatened and endangered wildflowers found in but a few places in Michigan.