By Ricardo Martin
Cadillac News, Sep 8, 2026
LAKE CITY — It has been 49 years since Seth Bernard’s family moved to their farm.
Located between Lake City and Moorestown in Missaukee County, the 181-acre farm has been the place he calls home for his entire life. The family has done just about everything you can imagine on their farm, from raising animals and growing crops to making maple syrup and beekeeping.
The farm soon opened its doors to Lake City Area Schools students, so they could learn homesteading skills through different workshops. The family also had a passion for music, and Bernard would go on to organize a multi-day music festival called Earthwork Harvest Gathering at the farm.
The festival was held 22 times over the span of 25 years. It had its last hurrah in 2024, as rising costs and declining attendance made it increasingly difficult to sustain the large event.
Bernard has spent the past few years bringing the farm back to its roots and turning it into a place where people can connect through regenerative agriculture and music.
“I think that the arts and farming on a small scale are tools of empowerment for individuals and communities,” Bernard said. “When we see young people finding an interest and getting some agency, making things, working in the garden, working in the kitchen, writing songs and sharing them with their community, it’s very clear to us that this is important work to pass on.”
Growing up on the farm
The family farm was like any other when Bernard’s father, Bob, and mother, Chris, bought it in 1977. They tended to animals like chickens, goats, turkeys and rabbits, and had abundant gardens to supply their roadside stand.
Bernard explained that his parents were looking to be as self-reliant as possible and wanted a place to homestead. He said his father had already been keeping bees and his parents were interested in other projects like making maple syrup and tending animals.
The family fell in love with the farm after Bernard’s father discovered it for sale while doing fieldwork for the Michigan DNR. Soon, the farm was theirs.
“My sisters were young at the time, and so they wanted to give them the opportunity to grow up on a farm,” Bernard said. Life threw a couple of curveballs at the family shortly after they bought the farm.
Bernard said his father got sick with spinal meningitis that rendered him paralyzed from the shoulders down. He was in a wheelchair for some time, but was able to recover enough nerve function to switch over to crutches.
There was also a house fire on the farm that the family had to overcome.
Bernard’s parents were joined by other families in homesteading during the farm’s early days. He said his mother and these families created a natural foods network, while his father built a sawmill on the farm.
The family started tending bees and tapping into the farm’s maple trees to make syrup in the spring.
A partnership between the farm and Lake City Area Schools was forged sometime in the early 1980s. Bernard said his parents would host students and have them partake in different farming activities.
The birth of Earthwork Harvest Gathering
There were lots of musicians coming and going from the farm during Bernard’s childhood. He said his parents also took him to local music festivals.
“I remember those early music events very fondly as a young person, just noticing how happy the adults were and how much the music kind of gave me energy and a great feeling and inspiration,” he said. When Bernard released his first music album in 2001, he decided to organize the first Earthwork Harvest Gathering festival as a celebration.
The multi-day music festival became the main focus for the farm as various music artists were invited to perform each year. Bernard said they also hosted workshops that revolved around farming, homesteading, activism, music instruction and more.
“It’s something that we’re really proud of,” he said. “It was a lot of work and a lot of fun. We hosted around, I think, in the last couple of years, 3,750 people, and sometimes up to 100 bands.” While the festival was a big hit, the farm wanted to connect with the community on a smaller scale.
In addition to working with students, Bernard said the farm held its Earthwork Family Weekend, where families could visit to learn about agriculture and music.
There was also a one-day event called Skill Swap where people could attend different workshops. Bernard said the workshops focused on topics like the arts, cooking, pickling, canning and more.
He explained that the farm’s smaller events provided people with the opportunity to grow and learn in a way they might not have been able to at a large festival.
A return to the basics
The farm had its eye on the future when Earthwork Harvest Gathering came to an end. Bernard said they could’ve raised ticket prices or brought in corporate sponsors, but those options didn’t fit what the festival was all about.
He also said they wanted to go in a different direction with the farm and focus on connecting with the community.
“With our family, there’s enough of a shared vision and shared values and support from my sisters, who don’t live in Michigan, to hold the farm together and carry forward a plan that is rooted in a lot of the values that my parents had and that my sisters and I grew up in,” Bernard said.
This summer, the farm launched its Earthwork Farm School, and invited students from Lake City Area Schools to attend. Bernard said their program included one week each for high school, middle school and elementary students.
The farm also invited different teachers to lead activities at the school. Bernard said Dr. Susan Fawcett, a National Geographic explorer and botanist, led a botany walk where students learned about ecology and biodiversity. The kids also discovered different edible and medicinal plants.
The farm used its simple gardens to teach the students about growing their own food. Bernard said one of their gardens, called the Three Sisters garden, is an Anishinaabe tradition where beans, corn and squash are grown together in a mutually supportive ecosystem. Elsewhere on the farm, students learned about beekeeping and made maple syrup. Bernard said the kids also made their own ice cream sweetened with the farm’s honey and syrup.
The students learned about foraging too, and used sumac and mint they found to add flavor to their ice cream. In the farm’s kitchen, he said the kids made sourdough and pizza, pesto and other foods. There were different music and creative writing workshops that students got to participate in. Bernard said the kids learned about songwriting, made beats and played different instruments.
“They’re learning in new and creative ways,” he said. “They’re demonstrating their knowledge and their growth through experiential and creative means.”
Each week culminated in a variety show where the students’ families and teachers were invited to see all the art projects they completed. Bernard said the kids also performed songs and read stories they had written.
Later, the kids led a farm walk to teach their parents and teachers about the animals and plants growing on the farm.
The farm has its eye on expanding the school program in the future. Bernard said their goal is to add a week of farm school over the next five years, giving them a total of eight weeks.
He also wants to partner with other schools outside of Lake City and invite their students for a week at the farm.
Another project in the works is the farm’s library and community hall. Bernard said they are renovating a space in one of the farm’s barns to serve as a classroom.
He added that the space could be used year-round. Currently, the farm holds its activities during the summer and fall months.
The farm is hosting a pair of fall retreats this year. Bernard said one will be only for women, while the other is only for men.
The women’s retreat will go from Friday, Sept. 25, through Sunday, Sept. 27. The men’s retreat takes place from Friday, Nov. 6, through Sunday, Nov. 8. You can learn more about the retreats and how to sign up at earthworkfarm.com.
The farm also wants to work more with senior citizens starting next year. Bernard said they want to bring seniors to participate in different workshops and activities, similar to what the Lake City students did.
“We’re looking at building a multi-generational, multicultural community through the arts and regenerative agriculture as our prime mission,” he said.
Other activities coming to the farm will be announced next year. Bernard said they’re looking at hosting more workshops and small music events for the community.
The farm also has a nonprofit connected to it called Earthwork Farm. It was launched by Bernard and his friend Hans Voss to help raise money to supplement the farm’s events and make them more accessible for people.
As the farm’s begins its next chapter, Bernard said he’s hopes to continue empowering the next generation by passing down the skills he and others have carried with them.