Tapping His Leelanau Roots

Leelanau County’s history is deeply rooted in agriculture– much of it from a handful of families that have farmed the land for more than 150 years.

This summer, a member of one of those historic families launched a project to highlight his family’s farming history, generate a social media following and hopefully build a successful small business in the process.

Meet Dustin Schaub of Lake Leelanau, creator of the Leelanau Roots Facebook page. He’s taking his social media followers on a learn-as-you-go adventure to grow flowers, vegetables, fruits and other products on his parent’s 8-acre homestead on S. Lakeshore Drive just south of village. It’s part of his multi-year vision to create a farm stand on the property to sell the products grown there.

“I thought what a great idea to kind of build a market – everyone who follows is invested in the whole thing and you’re doing it together,” Schaub says. “Now they have a reason to come and stop at your stand.”

So far, Schaub’s Facebook page has grown to more than 350 followers. Some of his early posts generated more than 10,000 views, although he acknowledged he’s still on a learning curve on the social media production stage.

“I didn’t know a lot about social media and creating content, so I’m just kind of winging it,” he says. “I’m just kind of making it up as I go.”

Schaub is a descendent of brothers Jacob and Simon Schaub, who immigrated to Leelanau County from Germany in 1854. The brothers were winemakers in their home country, Schaub says, but gave that up to pursue more traditional agriculture. Today the Schaub family is a familiar name across the heart of Leelanau, with family members spread across numerous interests including real estate, building trades, professional services – and agriculture.

Schaub graduated from Leland High School in 2009, and grew up working at popular local eateries including the former Early Bird restaurant in Leland, and Dick’s Pour House just up the road from his home.

After spending a year in California, he returned to Leelanau County and went back to work in the hospitality business as an event and sales director at Black Star Farms in Suttons Bay. While he enjoyed professional success in that role for more than five years, the stress associated with wedding and event planning wore on him. He went back into food service, and now works as a server at Streetside Grille in Suttons Bay.

But his experience in the event business helped plant the seed for his business idea. Schaub says local-grown flowers are becoming more in demand for weddings and parties, and he’s already working to grow cut and wildflowers on his plot at Leelanau Roots.

“Brides who are becoming more aware are looking for more locally sourced flowers,” Schaub said. “That’s where we’re starting. I want to build that first and get that going, and I feel like the rest will come… you can’t do it all at once.”

Schaub came up with the idea for Leelanau Roots last year, and started working with his parents to make it happen.

“I wanted to start a little garden - we did two raised garden beds last year, and we talked about doing a farm stand and what we could do,” Schaub says. “And then this year something switched … I couldn’t stop thinking about it.”

“I said I’m going to go do this, but I want to film.”

His father Dennis helped him clear and mow the site. Much of his early work has revolved around bringing electricity and irrigation back to the growing area. He found a large water tank online that he’s using as a water source, and spends hours doing online research on various aspects of small agriculture – one recent night he was up until 4:30 a.m. learning about composting.

“There’s a lot of information out there – it’s a little overwhelming,” Schaub says.

He’s also spending time researching other small markets and farm stands in Leelanau County. Schaub and his mother Kim went on a recent farm stand tour to check out and learn from other county residents.

“Basically everything is really off the beaten path,” Schaub says. “(His site) is right here, in the center of Leelanau with a little bit of history tied to it… I just feel like people would come to it, especially if they’ve seen the journey.”

So far, Schaub has posted more than a dozen videos on the Leelanau Roots page highlighting the preparatory work he’s done on the property. He hopes to post new videos at least once a week going forward, although he has to work that in with his full-time job in Suttons Bay and the extensive hours of research he’s putting into the project.

“Balancing that has been the biggest challenge,” Schaub says. “The list is long of what I could do, but the rest of the day is short.”

The Schaub family also has nine chickens in a coop on the property that lay fresh eggs they sell, and there’s also a small sugar shack there to make maple syrup. There’s also the potential to raise things like fresh herbs and tea leaves along with his plans to grow flowers, fruits and vegetables. He wants to build out his vision over the next five years, which could eventually include a brick-and-mortar farm stand or small market on the property.

“I want to turn it into a miniature farm market for the summer, for the full season,” Schaub says. “I don’t know the full journey to get there, but that’s part of taking one step at a time and seeing what we come up with.”