It’s hard to imagine a job tougher than one that relies on the whims of Mother Nature. In southwest Michigan, those whims inspire a spectrum of temperatures and temperaments from wind, ice, snow and rain to sweltering summertime temperatures.

Nevertheless, across Berrien and Cass counties, farmers’ have persisted and their efforts help to feed not only the people but the economy, providing grapes to fill glasses along the wine trail, apples to fill the super market shelves and so much more.

Fourth generation Niles farmer Steve Lecklider earned his name as the “pit boy” when he was a teenager spending long hours removing the pits from the tart cherries that grew in rife bushels on his grandparents’ Niles farm.

Stationed at a mechanized device in a barn, Lecklider fed cherries through a machine that pushed the pits from the fruit.

Today, Lecklider has a new title: farm manager. Since earning the role, he has worked to continue his family’s legacy running Lehman’s Orchards. Lecklider’s title is not the only thing that has changed since his early days helping out on the farm. Looking out on the landscape, the farm now grows more than
tart cherries.

Peaches, multiple varieties of apples, currants, raspberries and grapes now fill out the farm’s acreage in neat rows. The farm functions primarily as a U-pick operation. From summer through late fall, droves of people make their way to Lehman’s to spend an afternoon picking fresh fruit.

Adapting crops to entice more people to visit the farm for more fruit is only one way the Niles farmer has helped to keep the business thriving. Using creativity and a quest for sustainability, Lecklider has also stemmed a new business from the farm’s produce, called Lehman’s Orchard Brewery and Farmhouse. The business opened in August 2017 as the first brewery and tap house in Buchanan, offering a variety of products created from fruit on the farm.

Lecklider’s grandfather Ralph Lehman, traded a farm in northern Indiana in 1929 to acquire the Niles farm property that now grows so many varieties of fruit. Ralph and his wife Raphael both served as school teachers in Niles. Their tart cherry crops helped to supplement their income during the summer months. Eventually, Lecklider, their grandson, took over.

Lecklider did not exactly plan to step in and run the farm. He moved back to the farm after college because there was a nearby job prospect.

“After college, I was looking for some work,” Lecklider said. “I had gone to school to learn how to fix musical instruments and one of the largest music stores was located right up the street [from the farm].”

Lecklider took a job opportunity as a technician with the company. Like his grandparents before him, he also worked as a teacher. When he was not working he played with multiple bands in the area.

“It was multifaceted and fit my training,” Lecklider said.

In between his jobs and playing music, Lecklider helped out on the farm during harvest seasons. As a safety measure, Lecklider said the family made the decision to diversify their crops, adding in other fruit varieties for people to pick from. He said he believes the tart cherry is still the most popular because it has had the longest running market.

“Multiple generations have come out to pick the tart cherry,” Lecklider said.

Lecklider eventually took on a marketing role, helping to peddle the fruit at markets in Chicago.

“That actually became my primary occupation for about 10 or 12 years,” Lecklider said.

On an average Friday evening at Lehman’s Orchard Brewery and Farmhouse, people are filling the bar seats after a full work week to unwind with a cold craft beer, cider or glass of wine, complemented by a burger, sandwich or soup. Since opening in 2017, Buchanan’s first brewery and tap house – an extension of Lehman’s Orchard — is a gathering place for locals and a destination for out-of-towners.

Looking at the space today, it can be hard to imagine the building’s former life as a vacant factory floor.

Once a Clark Testing Lab, the building, at 204 N. Red Bud Trail, had sat vacant since 1993 and might have otherwise continued to be an eye sore to local Buchanan residents, if not for Lecklider’s ambition to transform it.

The city of Buchanan had tried to make use of the building. In 2006, they bought the structure with the goal to use it to house the fire, police and city hall services, but they did not realize the investment it would take to make the building habitable. Major leaks and the need to replace the aging structure’s roof were only two of many issues. For Lecklider, the building’s proximity to his farm was a plus, and he said he saw the potential to give the building life again.

Crafting fruit beers and wines has become another one of Lecklider’s creative passions. Customers can find an array of fruit, session, IPAs, porters and stouts.

“There just aren’t that many other places that have the fruit incorporated into the different beers,” Lecklider said. “It’s kind of neat to discover more and more of the different products you can use.”

For Lecklider, farming is important not just to Berrien County’s roots, but its future as well. Today, he said agritourism has become an important part of the industry, from the wine trail to his own farm, which draws people from across Michiana to pick farm-fresh fruit.

“It’s vitally important to investigate the different products that will bring people in and experience the local cuisine and stay a little while, and take some of the value-added products with them,” Lecklider said.

Looking to the future, Lecklider expects his family farm will continue to provide farm to table products to locals and visitors alike.

“I think having that combination [of crops and farm products] and always having that link to the land is pretty important,” Lecklider said.