This rare winter phenomenon was captured in the Fruit Ridge area of Kent County, Michigan when freezing rain coated apples still hanging on the trees. The fruit eventually fell away, leaving behind these wild, hollow ice apples ❄️ Moments like this are uncommon, these photos were taken several years ago during just the right conditions 🧊🍎
I confess that even though I grew up surrounded by orchards that I have not, and it is extremely cool! Here are a couple more shots from Robinette’s Facebook post!
This holiday season I’m encouraging folks to consider Michigan photo calendars from many of the photographers I feature on Michigan in Pictures as the perfect gift to share your love of the Great Lakes State.
We’re going to keep our eyes on the skies today, because in addition to the waning but nearly full Super Hunter’s Moon & Taurid Meteors from yesterday, the NOAA NWS National Space Weather Prediction Center is calling for G3 level aurora activity to continue tonight, which means that Northern Lights are more likely, and they could be seen all the way to the southern state line if conditions are right! They have also launched an experimental Auroral Viewline graphic that shows where you are likely to be able to see northern lights, but to be clear, this is an inexact science AT BEST and hunting for the northern lights is very often unrewarding … unless you think being out under the stars is its own reward.
I have featured dozens of photos from John McCormick aka Michigan Nut Photography since the first pic I blogged in 2011. In all that time & even though he’s taken TONS of northern lights shots over the years, I’ve never shared one of them!! 😲 Here are a pair from John plus a couple of his night shots that I am particularly fond of. See many (many) more on his Facebook and for sure view & purchase his work at michigannutphotography.com!
Jordyn Hermani of Bridge Magazine shares that Michigan lawmakers passed the nearly $81 billion dollar budget early this morning. Highlights include almost $2 billion for roads, cuts of “ghost employees” in government jobs, and continued free meals for Michigan K-12 students. The key to the whole deal is a new 24% wholesale marijuana tax in January that is anticipated to bring in a conveniently estimated $420 million a year. The article is an excellent overview of the budget and says in part:
Marijuana industry advocates have decried the plan, arguing it will lead to higher prices for consumers, force companies out of business and benefit the illegal black market.
“This is going to drive Michigan customers out of the legal market,” said Sen. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, who opposed the bill. “This is telling customers from other states, ‘Stop bringing your money to Michigan.’”
...The budget will continue to make school meals free for all students, a top priority of Whitmer and Senate Democrats. It includes $201.6 million to cover meals for students who don’t qualify for no-cost programs through the federal government. The budget includes a record $10,050 in per-pupil funding for Michigan schools, up from $9,608 this year, and also provides full funding for cyber charter schools. Those changes will cost the state $593.5 million. It also adds $321 million for mental health and safety grants that are available to both public and private schools.
These photos are from one of my favorite companies in the Michigan cannabis industry, Grasshopper Farms. One of the reasons for this is how lovely their outdoor cannabis farm looks, and another huge one is how they work to be a part of their community in the Paw Paw area! Here are some more photos from the farm – follow them on Facebook & Instagram for more.
On mornings like this when fall is touching the tips of the leaves, I like to remember photographer & friend Jeff Lamb who passed on fourteen years ago. Here is a collection of photos that he shared from the Leelanau Peninsula back in the day.
June is Pride Month, which means that a lot of people are getting mad about rainbows right now. As a wholehearted supporter of the right for people to love, marry & be who they choose to be, that seems really silly but I guess that’s where we are.
I’m sharing these photos because Michigan in Pictures wholeheartedly supports the rights of people to love & marry who they choose, but also because a whole month of rainbows gives me a chance to post about how cool rainbows are starting with this shot of a rainbow with anti-crepuscular rays that Jamie took!
My go-to rainbow resource for years has been Atmospheric Optics, and they explain that wile crepuscular rays appear to converge on the sun, anticrepuscular or antisolar rays converge in the opposite direction and you must have your back to the sun or sunset point to see them:
They appear to converge towards the antisolar point, the point on the sky sphere directly opposite the sun. Like crepuscular rays they are parallel shafts of sunlight from holes in the clouds and their apparently odd directions are a perspective effect. Think of a long straight road, it converges towards the horizon but turn around and it also converges to the opposite horizon. Crepuscular and anticrepuscular rays behave in the same way. Anticrepuscular rays are not rare but they must be sought carefully. When ordinary crepuscular rays are visible, turn around and search for their opposite numbers.
While a lot of cherries in the lower half of the Lower Peninsula have already bloomed, cherry blossoms in Michigan’s Cherry Capital of Northwest Lower Michigan are just getting going!
Mark Smith shared the first picture below with me last Thursday from the western side of the Leelanau Peninsula along with a couple recent pics & several more from years past. Cherry blossoms should be great up there for a few weeks at least – follow Leelanau.com for the latest and for sure check out Mark’s Leelanau Landscapes website to view & purchase his work!
The organization is now working to replace about 600,000 pounds of meat, cheeses and milk that would have come from these USDA shipments. “We’re looking at our current food suppliers, and donors, but we’re also looking at the fact that we’re going to have to purchase food in order to fill in some of the gaps,” Estelle explained.
A USDA grant allowing the food bank to purchase from Michigan farms was also initially suspended but has since been reinstated through October following meetings with elected officials. “We’re just getting into the Michigan growing season and we have made commitments to a lot of these smaller farms of what we would be able to purchase from them. So they were… the farms were also depending on us to be able to be one of their customers for their products,” said Estelle.
No word yet on if hungry folks in West Michigan will be able to “pause” their hunger, so consider a donation to Feeding America West Michigan or your local food bank. Big fan of Forgotten Harvest in Metro Detroit.
Mark took this photo back in March of 2017 when the Popp farmstand on the Leelanau Peninsula was closed as it normally is. See lots more from Northern Leelanau County in his East of Leland gallery on Flickr.
“It is always safe to dream of spring. For it is sure to come; and if it be not just as we have pictured it, it will be infinitely sweeter.” ― L.M. Montgomery
Paul has been a member of the Absolute Michigan group on Flickr for a long time. He shared this incredible photo from May 2024 that makes me long for spring a few weeks ago. He took it in , so in the interests of being seasonally balanced, here’s one of his most popular photos on Flickr from way back in 2013 at the Grand Haven Lighthouse. Head over to his Flickr for lots more!
Michigan in Pictures 