JoAnna Graves & The Gift of Nirvana

The property is two 10 acre parcels and a house on Sanborn Creek. We were also given all the contents left in the house which amounted to quite a bit. The deeds were delivered to us in March by Ken Chambers, the executor of her estate. We got a first look at the property then.

MCWC has never owned any property. We do not even have an office we rent. Our homes are our offices. JoAnna Graves gave us the property because she knew we would protect it as she had done for many years. Thus we began the process of becoming property owners and caretakers of a really special piece of land. JoAnna had lived in Nirvana during the summer months, growing food in a large greenhouse, and returned to her home in Milwaukee during the winter, closing down the Nirvana house in November. Since she thought she was returning in April, she had left the house full of her belongings and stored food. It was all ours now, minus some personal things, and we began cleaning it out with volunteer help throughout the summer.

We held our annual meeting at the property in August and put out a yard sale at the same time. It was lightly attended so we made numerous trips to Goodwill, the compost pile, recycling bins, and some to the dump. We have left the house furnished for now. Members who worked on the place were able to use some things and made contributions to MCWC. Those of us working there have comfortably stayed over night.

We filled the propane tank, put insurance on the property and paid the summer taxes. We kept the electricity on in our name also. The house is shut down for the winter which means there is no water. However there is heat from two propane heaters and a wood stove if needed. We have been grateful for the help we’ve had from Ken Chambers who was a caretaker there for 26 years and built most of the additions on the original cabin that turned it into a house. The plumbing is complicated and we are on a steep learning curve.

It is our intention to sell the property to a conservation buyer. As much as we like it and have enjoyed occasionally camping out in the house and walking along the creek, we cannot afford to support it financially for very long. We have our own debt to consider and will want to use the proceeds to support our future
work. But we want to honor her wishes for it, so we are planning to put a protective covenant on the deed which protects it from subdividing, clear cutting, building too close to the creek, and running motorized vehicles through the forest. In other words we want to make sure future owners care for it as JoAnna did.

If any of our members have an interest in this property please contact us to set up an interview and showing. See the following description and photos for more detail.

Nirvana Property Description

The property consists of two 10 acre parcels, combined into 20 acres of taxable land adjacent to the Manistee National Forest on the west side, bordering Sanborn Creek to the south with about 600 feet of creek frontage, and bordering private land to the east and north. It is forested land consisting mostly of oak, white pine and maple. The Creek supports trout and salmon and feeds into the Baldwin River, which feeds into the Muskegon River.

Out buildings include a large greenhouse with plastic cover, two sheds and a garage.

The house overlooks the creek. It features two bedrooms, one full bath, one partial bath, a spa room with tub, shower, sink and message table, living room, kitchen, dining area and family room with wood stove, utility room with laundry, a pantry. There is a finished attic with storage closets and studio space. Appliances run on propane and electricity and are fairly new. Two refrigerators are present, and washer and drier as well as new hot water heater.

The well is only 15 feet and has a small reserve tank plus reverse osmotic equipment. It will likely need to be upgraded to a larger well further back from the creek at some point but is functional now. It does require winter shut down if no one is in residence to avoid pipes freezing. The septic field will also likely need upgrading but currently works. There is no central heating, but the two small propane furnaces and the wood stove work well to heat the house. The house works best as a seasonal residence.

Who was Joanna Graves?

The journey to answering this question has been well worth the trip for those few of us who had the privilege of sorting through the contents of her house in Nirvana. She was a very private person, particularly in her later years. But it was clear that she was a life-long learner, an artist, a seeker of wisdom and connection to the natural world, an activist in pursuit of civil rights, peace and environmental awareness. At some point she joined MCWC and added a ban fracking sticker to the bumper of her car.

JoAnna grew up in the Detroit area, but moved north early on, lived in Chase near Nirvana and made a home in Milwaukee where she became a teacher of autistic children and a therapist for 32 years. Later in life she taught Tai Chi and Qigong and offered workshops in Ecology and Spirituality emphasizing the healing, restorative and creative powers of Nature. She solo camped and trekked all over the Great Lakes, with a particular focus on geological treasures she turned into jewelry and sculpture which won awards at exhibits. In her words, “exploring more and more areas along lakes Michigan, Superior, and Huron, solo camping, rock-hounding, singing, dancing and painting with Nature became a way of life.”

She purchased the property we inherited when it was just a small cinder block cabin, later adding to the property with her husband. It became her summer home. Over the years, with the help of friend and caretaker Ken Chambers, she added to the home, put in a few sheds, and added a large greenhouse. She settled into a summer life in the forest beside a pristine trout stream and grew her food organically. She was passionate about recycling or composting everything and took particular care not to leave any pollutants around that would contaminate the creek.

Much of her art work was inspired by her life in the natural world of Nirvana and the Great Lakes. A few of her paintings were left with the house at her request. She wrote, “These paintings were created using the energies of a springfed flowing creek deep in the Manistee National Forest in Michigan.”

JoAnna focused her attention on the shores of Lake Michigan in the 90s and began the work that resulted in publication of Great Lake Oracle in 1995, revised in 2005. It is subtitled “ A Meditation and Inspirational guide.” It gathers photographs of her sculptures on cards (36 of them) with a poem that emerged from each one. She called them beachscapes. These are matched with meditations and lessons she calls oracles. “GLO has been presented in numerous workshops and art exhibits and provides an opportunity to connect individual soul with universal soul, the process of individuation.” Only two copies of the work were ever made, but many people were able to experience them in her lifetime. The house in Nirvana is surrounded by rocks and parts of sculpture that didn’t make it to an art show, but did leave a sense that this place was protected by someone truly connected to her world.

Peggy Case, with gratitude to Ken Chambers for sharing