Some dreams arrive loudly. Others begin with a quiet conviction that life could look different.
For Andy and Tracie Roush, the dream behind Petoskey Farms was never simply about opening a winery. It was about creating a place where people could slow down, reconnect and enjoy the kind of experience that had meant so much to them. At nearly 40, with two young daughters and an established life, the couple made the kind of decision most people only talk about: they changed course, moved their family and built something new.
Today, Petoskey Farms is part vineyard, winery, coffeehouse and lavender farm, but its real story is still rooted in family. It is a story of risk, work, faith and, perhaps most unexpectedly, the return of the next generation.
That evolution also gives the property a layered appeal. A visit can be as simple as a glass of wine or cup of coffee, or it can stretch into an afternoon of food, conversation and time outdoors. The vineyard, lavender, coffeehouse and wood-fired pizza are different pieces of the business, but they all serve the same purpose the family envisioned from the beginning: giving people a reason to linger rather than rush on to the next thing.
“We want visitors to feel loved, served, and inspired by the story,” Andy says. “At the age of almost 40 we decided to drop everything, take a leap of faith, move our young family and start something new and the same opportunity is present for so many with a dream.”
For daughters Natalie and Alaina Roush, the family business was never an abstract idea. It was simply part of childhood.
“Growing up, work was just a part of life,” Natalie says. “Weeding, picking up rocks in the vineyard, folding bar towels in the evening after school, bottling wine out of the basement next to the box of our Christmas decorations...this was part of our normal routine.”
Those memories paint a picture of Petoskey Farms long before it became a destination for guests. There was no neat line between family life and the work of building a business. The vineyard needed tending. Towels needed folding. Wine needed bottling. And sometimes the family’s Christmas decorations shared space with the growing operation.
What began as Andy and Tracie’s dream became the backdrop of their daughters’ childhoods. Yet the goal was never to create an obligation for Natalie and Alaina to eventually take over.
“As parents, you want your children to grow up and live their dreams,” Tracie says. “We never wanted them to feel pressured into coming back to run the family business. It is truly a dream to have them both back with us. One we never expected or anticipated, but certainly a gift and a blessing.”
That distinction matters. Natalie and Alaina did not simply stay because Petoskey Farms was the family business. They left, developed interests of their own and ultimately found reasons to return.
“Yes, it started as our parents' dream, but what has made this season so special is that both Alaina and I chose to come back because we love it so much apart from our parents and we found our own passions within it,” Natalie says.
Those passions are helping shape what Petoskey Farms is becoming.
Natalie found hers in coffee. While in college, she worked as a barista, and that interest grew deeper when she studied abroad in Costa Rica and learned more about the process from bean to cup. When space at Petoskey Farms became available, she saw an opportunity to bring something new to the family business: a coffeehouse.
It was more than adding another drink to the menu. It was a way for Natalie to contribute something distinctly her own to the place she had grown up helping build.
Today, she coordinates private events and manages the farm’s online and social media presence in addition to her involvement with the coffeehouse. Her role reflects the broader evolution of Petoskey Farms itself. What began with a vineyard and wine has expanded into an experience that can include coffee, lavender, food, events and time spent simply enjoying the property.
Alaina’s path is still taking shape, and that is part of the appeal.
“My individual role at Petoskey Farms is whatever's needed,” she says. “Most days this summer it has been serving customers, but every day is different.”
Different, in this case, can mean very different.
“On any given day I could be the bartender, pizza cook, barista, shepherd, tour guide, or even an extra hand to help in the cellar, vineyard, or lavender field,” Alaina says.
That job description may not fit neatly on a business card, but it says something about the reality of a family-run destination. Everyone is connected to the larger experience, whether the day requires pouring wine, making pizza, working with guests or heading outside to lend a hand.
Alaina and Natalie also work together to hire, train and support seasonal staff. For Alaina, who recently returned after graduating, the coming year will bring opportunities to learn more about harvest, winter operations and the rhythms of the business beyond its busiest seasons.
“As I learn more about the business, wholistically from farm to table, I am excited to see what I'm specifically passionate about,” she says.
That openness may be one of the most interesting parts of the Roush family story. Andy and Tracie created the foundation, but the next generation is not being asked merely to preserve it. Natalie and Alaina have room to discover where their talents and interests can take it next.
For Tracie, seeing both daughters back at Petoskey Farms has added an unexpected chapter to a dream that has already changed dramatically over the years.
The dream, however, was always about more than what the family could build. It was also about what guests would feel once they arrived.
“One of our goals and dreams for the business was to create a place where people could come to relax and escape their everyday hustle and bustle,” Tracie says. “When I walk around and see people enjoying their wine, coffee, and wood-fired pizzas, solo or with family and friends, it warms my heart to know this goal and dream was fulfilled.”
That sense of escape is woven through the different pieces of Petoskey Farms. Wine may bring one guest through the door, while another may come for coffee. Someone else may be drawn to the lavender, a meal or simply the chance to spend time with people they love. Together, those pieces form the destination the Roushes imagined.
Behind the polished guest experience is a family that remembers when the work looked like rocks in the vineyard, towels after school and wine bottles beside Christmas boxes.
There is a certain symmetry in that. The daughters who grew up doing whatever needed to be done are now adults doing much the same thing, but this time by choice, and with their own ideas beginning to leave a mark.
For Andy, the story carries a message larger than wine or hospitality.
“Visitors can look out and see not only the dream, but also the hard work fulfilled,” he says. “There are always going to be ups and downs along the road, but we rest assured God has us and walks beside us through it all.”
Petoskey Farms is proof that a dream can change shape as it grows. It can begin with two parents willing to take a risk, become part of two daughters’ childhoods and then, years later, turn into something all four choose to build together.
What makes the story especially compelling is not simply that Andy and Tracie’s dream came true. It is that the dream became large enough for Natalie and Alaina to find dreams of their own inside it.
For visitors, Petoskey Farms offers wine, coffee, lavender, wood-fired pizza and a place to slow down. For the Roush family, it represents something far harder to put on a menu: years of work, a leap of faith and the rare gift of discovering that the next chapter of a family dream can be written together.