Volume 4 • No. 11 • Full Moon • June 11, 2025
Forms III • Minerals on Canvas • 10" x 10" • 2025
At the Foot of the Mountain • Minerals on Canvas • 12" x 12" • 2024
I Vårskog • Minerals on Canvas • 22" x 26" • 2024
A Virtual Visit
with Andrew (Alpine Forest Farm) after the Spring Ice Storm
I visited Gaylord's Alpine Forest Farm to document destruction, but the outing also felt like a gift due to Andrew's presence and hospitality. We're thankful for his time and offering of a brief look at what they went through and are continuing to work through. Your contributions to the Ice Storm Farm Relief fund make a difference for small operations like AFF.
If your farm was affected and you're interested in relief funds, please submit a short application here.
The Warp — Ideas and Inspiration
|| 1 || If you weren't there and would rather listen to Brad's NMEAC keynote than read it, here's his talk (along with the rest of the ceremony). Speaking of Brad speaking, Lyla Hollis asked about composting while interviewing Brad for her Living Sustainably podcast. He countered with an approachable, hands-on take for composting food scraps, even if you're limited by the confines of an apartment: vermicomposting.
Beware of the perils of diving into efforts like that with your own hands, though. I just heard a bit of the origin story of Partridge Creek Compost in Ishpeming. In short, someone started saving their food scraps to feed worms, hoping for free bait for fishing. As tends to happen, something extraordinary and unexpected arose from that humble backyard heap of organic waste: a community composting effort spanning Marquette County. We're talking four hundred households and sixteen businesses involved. The initiative makes as much sense as it does soil (a lot) and folds perfectly into their local food systems.
|| 2 || From PCC incoming executive director Phil Carter: "The U.P. has short growing seasons, fairly harsh weather, and not a lot of topsoil, so we see it as one of our primary goals to increase the soil fertility in this area and allow for more food to be grown, and allow for our soils to be healthier, and reduce our dependence on chemical fertilizers and herbicides and pesticides and what not."
That's a powerful vision for feeding a place and its people. It didn't make it into the cut above, but Andrew too shared about long-term work to support soil life by utilizing what most would consider waste and debris—chicken carcasses, manure, messes of downed tree limbs—problems essentially. He's in cahoots with others to do that shifty work—some of those partnerships having been sparked through Crosshatch's Carbon Cohorts program. That's the work of considering how best to work within limits, with what you already have, and with others. That's a big part of what Brad talks about in the podcast linked above too. Well, to be clear, it's that consideration, and actually doing the thing too. I'm always thankful to be encouraged, reminded, and provoked to aim to do just the same.
|| 3 || One final tidbit for this edition: I mentioned provocation. I haven't listened to the whole thing, but from what I did listen to, along with what I know of Helena Norberg-Hodge and what I can see from the show notes, there's good provocation to be found in this wide-ranging talk—Globalization End Game: How Localization Builds Resilient Communities & Economies.
The Weft — News and Events
We’re heartened by a wide-range of expressions of resilient communities and gatherings. Here’s a smattering of regional events and happenings that reflect that diversity, collected for your consideration. Choose your own adventure!
|| 1 || Ice Storm Farm Relief Fund—With farmer livelihoods under threat, Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities, Crosshatch Center for Art and Ecology, the Local Food Alliance, and the Northeast Michigan Healthy Food Initiative have partnered for a fundraiser to help the region recover. Money raised will be distributed to impacted farms through a simple application process, providing much needed assistance to those impacted by the storm. Click here to donate, or here if interested in applying for farmer relief funds.
|| 2 || Northern Michigan Small Farm Conference Tickets Now Available!—Leelanau County. Mon-Tues, Aug. 18th-19th. Space is limited; two days packed with valuable content designed to get you excited about the remainder of the season and thinking ahead to future years. Not quite ready to commit? Click here to learn more about this year’s conference, or here to purchase your ticket now.
|| 3 || Repair Café: A Green Door Folk School + TADL Collaboration. June 14th, 10am-2pm. Traverse Area District Library-Woodmere. Bring items for repair, get paired with a fixer, and repair your item. Free, more details available here.
|| 4 || Earthcraft Skillshare. July 10th-13th, at Tillers International in Scotts, MI. "Come camp with us under the starry summer sky. Three days of hands-on ancestral, survival, music, and kids classes." Find more information or purchase tickets here.
|| 5 || Earful of Fiddle Music & Dance Camp. Rodney, MI, June 22nd-27th. Classes, jam sessions, camping, and community. "We encourage learning to play by ear, knee-to-knee, foot-to-foot, from tradition bearers in a non-competitive setting. The result is the perpetuation of community-based entertainment and creative traditional arts practice." Find out more here.
|| 6 || Interlochen's Nature & Art Series—"A variety of two-hour programs focusing on creative exploration of nature, art, and food," offered June through August. Check out classes and dates, and register here.
|| 7 || The Crosshatch NW MI Small Farm Jobs Board—Check out the job board here. Posting positions is strongly encouraged. Please share in your networks, and keep an eye out for more openings that might be a good fit for you or someone you know.
|| 8 || Happenings at The Alluvion Between Now and the Next Whole Field include: the return of Wheatpaste Wednesdays, The Jeff Haas Trio featuring Laurie Sears + Lisa Flahive, Viridian Strings presents: Passions & Colors, Dave Sharp Worlds Quartet with special guests Elden Kelly & Sheela Bringi, Big Fun, An Evening with Claudia Schmidt, and Funky Uncle.
Find more information at www.thealluvion.org.
sponsored by:
Desmond Liggett Wealth Advisors is a mission-driven, fee-only wealth management company with a simple purpose: to generate exceptional value for the individuals, families, small business owners, and non-profit organizations they serve. Desmond Liggett Wealth Advisors believe in and adhere to triple-bottom-line analysis for portfolio investments, ensuring that they review how a company’s environmental and social values impact its long-term resilience and, consequently, value.
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