White Lotus Farms Café: Bread, Beauty, and Belonging— Extending the Spirit of the Farm into the Heart of the Community

By Tchera Niyego • Photos by Heather Pennell

“To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts.” — Henry David Thoreau

The buzz had been building for months about White Lotus Farms opening a Café, and by the time you’re reading this, it is open.

I visited in September to meet with the farm managers Trinlé Tsomo, Kat Tsomo, and Byron Johnson, just as the space was coming alive. Sparkling new equipment was arriving, plans for the grand opening were well underway, and the air was electric with excitement. A story was unfolding, and you could sense the joy and dedication that had gone into every decision.

White Lotus Farms itself blossomed as a creative expression rooted in right livelihood, arising from the shared interests and inspirations of a Buddhist community. That spirit still shapes the farm, the food, the relationships, and the atmosphere, carrying seamlessly into this new venture.

“We hope our practice translates into the high quality of the business,” Trinlé shared. “It is linked with everything we do; It is how we treat people, the environment we create, and the kind of place this becomes—for both guests and employees. There’s a concept of a “third place” where it’s not home, not work, but a place where people feel good, and part of a communal gathering. That is the vibe that we’re hoping to create here.”

“People love coming out to the farm, but we can’t be open five days a week there,” Trinlé continued. “Now we can offer something all week. On Saturdays, our customers often head to the downtown Ann Arbor farmers’ market and then still drive out to the farm to spend the afternoon. It’s such a beautiful place to simply be. It’s an experience that goes beyond just buying food. The Café extends that experience, and with the farm only five minutes down the road, this location is just perfect.”

Kat added, “Our hours will be 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. We’ll start with espresso, pastries, and breakfast, then lunch for the nearby neighborhoods and shops, and early dinners or take-home meals. It’s more convenience, more days of the week, and a cozy spot in the winter months. We want it to carry the same experience as coming to the farm—a place to relax, enjoy, and eat really good food.”

Accessibility is part of the mission. “Here in Scio, there aren’t many options for fresh local food,” Trinlé noted. “It’s mostly fast-food chains and big groceries. With so many new housing developments, we hope to become a real destination and a source for fresh, local artisan products.”

Byron reflected on the location in broader terms: “We’re keeping the link to this being a historically agricultural area by having a storefront connected to a working farm just a couple of miles away.”

Poet Gary Snyder once remarked during a reading at the farm, that lotuses are not native to this region, yet lotus phenomena have begun appearing everywhere—including actual blossoms on the farmland—offering an apt symbol of White Lotus Farms’ growth, resilience, and blossoming creativity.

Kat recalled the early days. “We started in 2007 as Wishing Tree Gardens, mostly composting [food waste] with Ann Arbor businesses. Then we began growing produce and donating all of it to Food Gatherers. At the time, their food and faith program only got canned goods from church drives, and they weren’t receiving much fresh food. Our first farm cart was just a roadside stand—no advertising, just produce. Around then, I was working at Zingerman’s deli making coffee, and taking small business management classes, while Trinlé was at the Bakehouse.”

“Later I worked at Café Japon,” Trinlé said. “A French-Japanese bakery by Miyoko Honma, where I learned croissants. At home, I built a wood-fired oven in our backyard and started baking bread—about 20 loaves a week—which we sold at the farm cart. Around 2009 we officially became White Lotus Farms. I traveled around the country to visit bakeries and learn from them. Soon after, we opened our own bakery, and a year later we started our creamery.”

The spirit of learning and teaching continues. “We’re always researching and following what others are doing,” Kat said. “New food entrepreneurs in Michigan often come to see our setup. Our [Washtenaw County] health inspector sends them our way.”

Trinlé added, “Over the years I’ve trained a lot of bakers. Kat has focused on cheese, I’ve focused on bread and pastries, and the farm has expanded in many directions. But it’s very hard to have a successful farm just on produce without growing huge, so we’ve had to diversify.”

Kat agreed. “The evolution of the farm, the produce aspect, has gone through many phases, expanding with different vegetables, then cutting back to focus on microgreens. Now we’re building a salad brand that Byron is leading.”

“We’ve gone through a lot of iterations,” Trinlé said. “We once ran a CSA and sold wholesale to restaurants, like Jolly Pumpkin and other locals, but it wasn’t sustainable. We realized we wanted to keep things creative and personal, selling face-to-face at farmers’ markets. Even as we tried other things, we always came back to that. That’s been our foundation for almost 15 years now—Eastern Market, Ann Arbor Farmers’ Market, and the farm cart. The Café is a natural extension—it’s still us, still face-to-face, but in a new form.”

Part of what prompted White Lotus Farms to expand was necessity: the bakery had reached capacity. “We couldn’t make more bread in the space we had,” Kat explained. “It was either expand the bakery or open a second location. A café had been a long-term goal from the start, so this was the right moment.”

“This Café will be like the farm cart, but more abundant,” Trinlé said. “We’ll have pizza with seasonal toppings, artisanal breads and cheeses, produce, microgreens, salads, pasta, our staple sandwiches, and of course, croissants, and espresso—plus partnerships with other Michigan producers, just like at the farm.”

Byron added, “We’ll have more space than at farmers’ markets, so we can offer a broader range—almost like a small grocery, but centered on fresh, local foods.”

And it’s not only about the food. “The aesthetic presentation of this space is important to us,” Byron continued. “It’s about hospitality, the human connection, and the visual atmosphere. Nothing can be left out—it’s a whole vision.”

The Café’s offerings are wide ranging: pastries, artisanal breads, goat and cow cheeses, microgreens, greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, root vegetables, herbs, pre-made salads, pasta, frozen ravioli, frozen pizza, and frozen croissants to take-and-bake. Also, there are carefully curated complementary products like olive oil, vinegar, jams, mustards, eggs, honey, cured meats, olives, and cheeses from other local farms.

The pasta is a standout, made at the farm’s creamery on a traditional Italian pasta machine. “It’s handmade in small batches and naturally air-dried using nets over three days in the traditional Italian style,” Kat explained. “That’s what makes it so flavorful. We also make the ravioli fillings ourselves.”

“You can stop by, pick up four-cheese ravioli, olive oil, sage, and a baguette, and have a whole artisan meal ready to take home,” Byron said.

For the team, the Café represents the culmination of years of work. “It brings all the different aspects of what we do onto the plate,” Kat said. “Creating a warm place where people can enjoy simple, delicious, quality food.”

From the earthy hints of compost, and the charm of roadside carts, to the warm aroma of freshly baked bread, artisanal cheeses, blooming flowers, and restorative botanicals, White Lotus Farms has unfolded slowly and mindfully over nearly two decades. With the opening of its bustling Café, the farm extends an open invitation to savor life’s simple pleasures—a gathering place where mindfulness, craftsmanship, and community meet in a daily offering of nourishment, connection to the land, and the art of living.

White Lotus Farms Café is located at 355 South Zeeb Road in Ann Arbor. They are open Tuesday through Saturday, 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., closed Sunday and Monday. To contact them, call (734) 369-3205. Visit the farm online at whitelotusfarms.com.

Read Related Content: