15 Days Left of Through the Lens of L.H. Bailey

There is only 15 days left to view, "Through the Lens of L.H. Bailey: Plants, Places, and People." View the world through the eyes of America's Father of Modern Horticulture, Liberty Hyde Bailey. The exhibit closes September 15th. The Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum is open, Thursday-Sunday, 9-4 pm. Today we offer a another wonderful extension of the exhibit.

Many times in warm countries I have been told that the climate has transcendent merit because there is no winter. But to me this lack is its disadvantage. There are things to see, things to do, things to think about in the winter as in the spring. There is interest in the winter wayside, in the hibernating insects, in the few hardy birds, and the deserted nests, in the fretwork of the weeds against the snow, in the strong outlines of the trees, in the snow-shapes, in the cold deep sky. To many persons these strong alternations of the seasons emphasizeand punctuate the life. They are the mountains and the valleys. The winter is a part of the naturalist's year. -L.H. Bailey, The Nature Study Idea

L.H. Bailey Featured in New "Ink Trails" Book

Authors Dave and Jack Dempsey know well their state of Michigan and its richness in culture. Their new book Ink Trails: Michigan's Famous and Forgotten Authors —the first of its kind— explores the secrets, legends, and myths surrounding some of Michigan’s literary luminaries including South Haven’s own Liberty Hyde Bailey. 
    You can purchase the book through our blog link above and also meet co-author/historian Jack Dempsey on Saturday, September 8th, from 3-5 at Lake Michigan College, South Haven Campus. Here is an excerpt.

    "The fruit orchards blanketing the Southwest Michigan hills all the way to the vineyards on the Old Mission Peninsula might be described as Bailey Country. Lake-moderated breezes nurture trees and shrubs bursting with produce. And if production itself were not enough, the landscape all up and down the West Michigan shore surely would delight Bailey today, with field upon sun-embraced field reaching as far as the eye can see.

     Bailey’s ego never outgrew the humble setting of his childhood:

      I do not yet know why plants come out of the land or float in streams, or creep on rocks or roll   from the sea. I am entranced by the mystery of them, and absorbed by their variety and kinds. Everywhere they are visible yet everywhere occult.

     He never lost his fascination with the natural world—discovering new plants, or determining how to keep farmers more in tune with the land they should love. Bailey had no such lack, having grown up in the embrace of the family farm. This experience deeply influenced him throughout his long life, for he would vouch that his writings “all came out of South Haven. My roots are here and my experiences here must enter into my consciousness. All life comes out of childhood.” Growing from the fertile West Michigan soil, the life it yielded would enrich many a printed page." 

Through the Lens of L.H. Bailey Video

Snapshot from the Exhibit, "Through the Lens of L.H. Bailey: Plants, Places & People"

Bailiwick ca. 1900s.

The Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum's exhibit, "Through the Lens of L.H. Bailey," continues to turn heads. The show runs through September 15th. For the next months, we will feature a rare image digtially restored from Bailey's glass plate negatives. Enjoy!

The income from his varied and popular horticultural books enabled Liberty Hyde Bailey to establish a modest country place on the west shore of Cayuga Lake about six miles north of Ithaca, New York. Using stones from the nearby fields, Bailey built a comfortable stone cottage. He called the retreat Bailiwick. For his family it was a wonderful summer home; for Bailey it provided an opportunity to study nature.
    During the summer and early fall, Bailiwick became the scene of many outings for faculty and students in Cornell’s Horticultural Department. Later, Bailey donated Bailiwick to the local Girl Scouts chapter, which converted the place into a center for nature study and summer day camp which is still in use.

"Through the Lens of L.H. Bailey: Plants, Places and People," Opens

The Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum (LHBM) of South Haven, Michigan is pleased to present “Through the Lens of L.H. Bailey”, its premiere photo exhibition of the works by Liberty Hyde Bailey. The exhibit runs through September 15. The installation features nearly thirty works by Bailey, including plant life studies, family portraits, home life, and the Bailey estate culled from the museum’s collection of one-hundred glass plate negatives. In addition, the exhibition will be supported by archival material from The Liberty Hyde Bailey Horitorium, Cornell University and the LHBM’s collections, including artifacts, documents, and books from their Bailey library.

Exhibit Members Only Preview on June 22nd.

 Born in 1858 in South Haven, Liberty Hyde Bailey Jr. became known as, “America’s Father of Modern Horticulture.” A naturalist at heart, Bailey’s childhood passion for learning about the living world around him, brought him acclaim for his visionary work in botany, education, environmentalism, and horticulture. When Bailey learned to use a camera in 1886, his goal was not to create outstanding images, but to document plant life. Bailey’s eye for beauty and his affinity for the natural world became evident in his graceful compositions. “Is it not strange that all our galleries are indoors? […] Yet the world of out-of-doors is the real source of art and the real gallery; all our best galleries and best buildings are but adaptions, imitations, and interpretations” (L.H. Bailey) 

    The Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum is proud to be part of the national Blue Star Museums initiative. While admission to the museum is always free, active-duty military and their family (up to 5) will receive free admission to this special exhibit. General admission to the exhibit is $5. Student/Senior admission: $3. Kids 5 & under are free and members of the museum are free.

ABOUT THE LHBM The Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum is the homestead and birth site of America’s Father of Modern Horticulture. Constructed in 1857 by Liberty Hyde Bailey Sr., the museum is one of the oldest standing homes in South Haven, Michigan and was part of the Bailey farm that encompassed nearly eighty acres of land. In addition to artifacts belonging to the Bailey family, the museum also contains an extensive library of out of print books, magazines, bulletins, encyclopedias, and personal letters by Liberty Hyde Bailey. The museum grounds also host period gardens, including an heirloom vegetable garden and a wildflower trail. The museum is open Thursday through Sunday 9-4. We welcome you, your friends, and your family to come and discover one of history’s most interesting individuals.

Through the Lens of L.H. Bailey: Plants, Places, & People

In the archives of the Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum over one-hundred glass plate negatives taken by America's Father of Modern Horticulture, Liberty Hyde Bailey were uncovered. This summer, for the first time in over a century, these images will be able to be viewed by the public. At the Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum's premier exhibit, "Through the Lens of L.H. Bailey: Plants, Places & People,"  connect to America's eminent horticulturalist-philosopher through these rare images taken at the turn of the 20th century. 

JUNE 22ND: MEMBER PREVIEW

OPENING JUNE 23RD - SEPTEMBER 15TH

General Admission: $5; Student/Senior Admission: $3; Kids 5 and under: Free; Members: Free

 - Group Tours Available -

For more information email lhbm@south-haven.com or call (269) 637-3251

48th Annual Blueberry Festival, with Sundaes to Boot!

It's that time again! The 48th Annual Blueberry Festival in South Haven kicks off this week. You can visit the Liberty Hyde Bailey booth on Friday the 12th down at South Haven's waterfront from 10-3 to toss some blueberries (by hand) and even test your knowledge on blueberry trivia. To top it off, come to the museum from 2-4 pm Sunday the 14th for blueberry sundaes. Clever, aren't we? Be there or be blue!

Liberty Hyde Bailey Podcast for July 31st

Exploring a 19th Century Home: Part 2

Podcast for the Week of July 17th-FREE SUMMER PROGRAMS THIS WEEK!

Brunch at the Bailey's Preview Discovering the Bailey Farm-July 15th, 10-11am

The Bailey Farmstead...the Most Important Fact in Agriculture

    Leafing through a copy of L.H. Bailey’s most autobiographical book, The Harvest, I came across a passage on the importance of the home, specifically the home as a farmstead. Bailey wrote that the farmstead, “…is the greatest and most important fact in agriculture…The good single-family farm in the real open country (not in the environs of cities and towns) is one of our greatest social assets…Any estimate of agriculture that misses this situation is defective and of little avail...” I have no doubt Bailey pictured his childhood home in South Haven with its colonnade arches and tracks of orchards.  What are we to make of this bold statement, that Bailey saw the home as the “most important fact in agriculture?” I would have thought that the crops, livestock, commercial output and technical ingenuity would be the important facts in agriculture. Not so for Bailey. It is the home. Happily for us, through the interventions of past generations, the iconic image of the Bailey farmstead/home in South Haven still stands, its longevity supported by its historical significance attachment to Bailey.

    Reflecting on his essay I realized the farmstead/home in South Haven preserves immediately at least two values for us. First, is its historical value. This 19^th century Greek Revival home is an important physical artifact of Michigan’s agricultural settlement that, as historian Kenneth E. Lewis unabashedly puts it, shaped the destiny of the lower south Michigan region. Secondly is the value that Bailey points out, the farmstead as the symbol of naturalness and rightness in the place of things. As Bailey puts it in the same essay, “[The home] outweighs the quantities of things, the turnovers and the activities of the produce market. The home is still part of the farm, rearing new generations in the very midst of the realities of life, without make-believe, stage-play, patronage, advertising, go-betweens, or superfluities. It is a twelve month institution, seemingly as native and unremovable as land and trees and ceaseless brooks.”

    I never experienced a farmstead life. My childhood was nestled in the concrete of suburban Detroit bereft of any natural process besides the ritual of public school and Sunday mass. However, my monthly visits to the Bailey homestead awaken some dormant aspect that is connected with the land and its long history, where the dictates of modern life are only a small passing drama. The value of naturalness comes through. As a historian, I am happy to see that the Bailey home still stands. As an individual, however, I am more keenly aware of this deeper value that Bailey realized of this home, sown from the seeds of his youth. It is a good thing to know both.          

Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum Exploring a 19th Century Home

Improvsational Farmer Stand-Up More Than Just a Routine

Local southwest Michigan farmers Julie Cowley and Will Hart love what they do; plant food, grow food, provide food for their immediate community all within a half hour drive from their farm in Casco township where 2010's growing season is sprouting cabbages, lettuces, spinach, melons, celery, zucchini, scallions, squash, tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, sunflowers, zinnias, radicchio, leeks, and even blue popcorn. Their story of launching their first farm, Improvisational Farmer, was shared at the last 2010 Brown Bag series in the Bailey woodshed. Will spoke in how he rediscovered the longer cycle of the land that goes beyond the one year mindset. Julie shared the challenges of operating a private farm. Those challenges are paying off with a public more aware of their food. Even Michigan Governor, Jennifer Granholm recently spoke to the value of locally grown food, “Local food is fresher, tastes better and comes from farmland near you,” Granholm said.  “And because many fruits and vegetables can lose up to 50 percent of their nutrients in just five days’ time, buying locally grown food is a healthier choice.” Julie and Will also offer Fresh-Prep food kits, ready for the grill. The farm is part of the Lakeshore Harvest Country which is sponsoring an upcoming local food dinner on August 22nd (see Lakeshore link for more info). Farm hats off to Will and Julie. Keep growing and we'll keep eating and growing.

CONTACT INFO THE IMPROVISATIONAL FARMER: Email:  Fresh@ImprovFarmer.com, 1-866-254-4633, 269-639-1970, Farm location: 991 62nd Street, Pullman, MI   49450 (about 4 miles east of US 31/196 off Pullman Road, 109th Avenue), Mailing address: 876 1/2 Blue Star Highway, South Haven, MI  49090

BROWN BAG BIOLOGY: What Would Bailey Plant?

BROWN BAG BIOLOGY/LUNCH & LECTURE

Wed., July 21th, 12:30-1:30 PM

Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum

903 S. Bailey * South Haven, MI * (269)637-3251

Come to sit under the museum's historic Walnut Tree with your lunch for the free program that started it all! Topic: "What Would Bailey Plant?"

In 1862, a young Liberty Hyde Bailey witnessed his mother's passing from diphtheria in the very room he was born in only five years previously. Sara Bailey, left behind at the Bailey homestead, a collection of cottage of pinks, Dianthus, that she gardened. The young, grief stricken Bailey, continually kept-up the garden, marking a rite of initiation into the world of Horticulture and Botany. He writes in his book, The Garden Pinks, "From earliest boyhood the pinks have been my companions. Mounds and rings of Grass pinks were in the front yard, left there by my mother...to this late day the memory of them lingers." This is his list of his mother's extensive pinks: Dianthus Deltoides, D. graniticus, D. Alpestris, D. Arenarius, D. Petraeus, D. Caesius, D. Plumarius, D. Caryophyllus, D. Gallicus, D. Atrorubens, D. Croaticus, D. Cruentus, D. Barbatus, D. Laciniatus, D. Heddewigii.
 

Find out more at this program at the Bailey Museum!

Museum Becomes a Certified Wildlife Habitat™

Nature cannot be antagonistic to man, seeing that man is a product of nature. We should find vast joy in the fellowship, something like the joy of Pan. - L.H. Bailey, The Holy Earth

The Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum, a National Historic Site has it all for wildlife now: food, water, cover, place to raise their young and sustainable gardening. These are the criteria set out by the National Wildlife Federation. As they mention, "Whether you have an apartment balcony or a 20-acre farm, you can create a garden that attracts beautiful wildlife and helps restore habitat in commercial and residential areas. By providing food, water, cover and a place for wildlife to raise their young--and by incorporating sustainable gardening practices--you not only help wildlife, but you also qualify to become an official Certified Wildlife Habitat™." Check it out at their webiste, Garden for Wildlife.

Seasonal Sundaes this Saturday

It's all local and good!

Ice Cream & Fruit Festival at

the Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum,

903, Bailey Avenue, South Haven, MI 49090, A National Historic Site

Saturday, June 19th from 2:00 to 4:00 PM

South Haven's own Sherman's Ice Cream covered with locally grown Michigan strawberries!  $5 donation.

Upcoming Programs & Events At The Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum

APRIL PROGRAMS & EVENTS
    > NIGHT FOR MUSEUMS: Thursday, April 1st, 5:30-7:30 at Phoenix Cafe
    > MEMBERSHIP KICK-OFF OPEN HOUSE: Saturday, April 17th, 12 Noon- 3PM at the Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum; Even if you are not a member, come on down and see the changes and opportunities for you and the family at America's National Historic Site for the Father of Modern Horticulture!

MAY PROGRAMS & EVENTS
    > KOUSA DOGWOOD SALE PICK-UP: Saturday, May 8th, 9 AM- 1PM at Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum: Pre-order the official flowering tree of South Haven. Trees measure approximate 36 inches for $30. Pre-order your tree by Wednesday May 5th! Call Anne French at 269-639-2412 or Esther Hanson at 269-637-2478:

JUNE PROGRAMS & EVENTS
    > STRAWBERRY ICE-CREAM FESTIVAL: Sunday, June 19th, 2PM-4PM: Bring the family and taste the season's best! Locally grown strawberries adorn locally made ice-cream. Being ecological never tasted so good!

Restoring Liberty Hyde Bailey's Birthsite

The Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum is currently being restored to bring alive this Greek Revival farm house. With the help of Picasa, take a close peek at the process.

Preserving the Birth Home of L.H. Bailey

As posted in our November 14th blog, Liberty Hyde Bailey's birth site home (a National Historic Place and museum) is being historically accessed inside and out in order to uncover, rediscover and finally recover this priceless artifact. For this installment we start with the home's most noticeable feature, the arched front porch.

THAT IS ONE FASCINATING PORCH!
A popular Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum anecdote that has been bandied about by docents and trustees explained the four asymmetrical arches that grace the home's front porch as a Masonic symbol, secretly announcing to any passing Mason of the homeowner's connection to the brotherhood. While making a good story ala National Treasure there wasn't any evidence (besides the story) to support this claim. Even with pressing a museum docent further about how he new about the Masonic symbolism, he cryptically shook out the well worn trope of keeping Masonic secrets, secret. This doesn't hold water even more so now that the Masons have public radio commercials to help boost their waining numbers. Not much cloak and dagger as wishful projection. Here is what historical preservationist, Erica Pearson-Eklov uncovered for us.