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Featured Blog Posts – September 2010 Archive (19)

October's Bright Blue Weater--a poem by Helen Hunt Jackson

A special thanks to Rachel North for helping me find this poem.

Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885)

October's Bright Blue Weather

O SUNS and skies and clouds of June,

And flowers of June together,

Ye cannot rival for one hour

October's bright blue weather;

When loud the bumble-bee makes haste,

Belated, thriftless vagrant,

And Golden-Rod is dying fast,

And lanes with grapes are fragrant;

When Gentians roll their fringes… Continue

Added by Dean Bull on September 27, 2010 at 7:27pm — 1 Comment

Dear Dean We would like to buy this garlic and start planting it in OCT IT IS the best can you point us in the right direction thanks Myra

Dear Dean

We would like to buy this garlic and start planting it in OCT

IT IS the best

can you point us in the right direction

thanks

Myra

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Added by Myra J Fall on September 26, 2010 at 3:26pm — No Comments

the zen of fishing traverse city's boardman river in fall

There is something quite reassuring about finding a fisherman standing in the Boardman River on the way home from work. Peaceful. Strong. Earthy. Resilient. I snapped these sunny shots about a week ago. I was dashing home from the busy streets of shoppers on a sunny day. Heels clicking over the brickways, past the fountain… Continue

Added by Rachel North on September 24, 2010 at 9:30pm — 1 Comment

Free Nordic Walking Classes Returning to “Senior EmPower Day”

Free Nordic Walking Classes and free Nordic Walking Pole Demos Return to "Senior EmPower Day" on Friday, September 24 at Timber Wolf Lake Camp and Conference Center in Lake City from 8:30 am – 3pm.

The theme for this year’s Senior EmPower Day is "The Power of Fun!" Attendees at this sixth annual informational day…

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Added by NordicWalkingUSA on September 23, 2010 at 10:55am — No Comments

Stomp grapes at Chateau Chantal's Annual Harvest Fest on October 2

Chateau Chantal’s Harvest Fest is an opportunity to rub elbows with other wine lovers, attend mini seminars and sip a breadth of wines. It’s also a fun family day. Kids can munch on brats, beans and apples for $5 (get your lunch tickets here) and participate in Old World-style grape stomping, while you chat with winemakers Mark Johnson and Brian Hosmer and enjoy Chateau Chantal’s charming hospitality. Be brave… Continue

Added by Sharon & Lorri on September 22, 2010 at 9:08am — No Comments

Wilderness Deer Hunting Starts Soon

If you’re interested in true wilderness hunting and pretty good odds of bagging a big buck this fall, consider North Manitou Island Deer Hunt in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The deer on the island don’t have any natural predators, so hunting is the only way to keep their population in check.

In the 1970s, the deer…

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Added by Kerry Kelly on September 21, 2010 at 7:37pm — No Comments

Not a Polish joke

I posted last week about the mutant "peppermato" we found in our garden, but it turns out the joke is on me. My Polish brother-in-law gave us a tomato plant, which we planted near a red pepper plant. And as I've mentioned, everything became tangled so that we could barely tell one vine from another, so it's obvious we are a couple of clueless gardeners.

It turns out we are not the harbingers of a mutant cross-breed, but the owners of a Polish heirloom tomato plant called an Opalka.… Continue

Added by abaskovic on September 19, 2010 at 1:20pm — 5 Comments

New! Conservation Communities book

Below is a blog post I wrote for LandChoices on our blog, LandVoices.org about a new book I think you will find very helpful if you are interested in managing growth and protecing the lands and waters you love. Follow LandChoices on Facebook, and follow LandChoices' project to save outdoor camps for kids, SaveCamps.org on… Continue

Added by Kirt Manecke, Smile book on September 16, 2010 at 6:56am — No Comments

Learn More about Sleeping Bear Dunes - Join me at NMC

Want to know more about the dunes, how they were formed and the habitats established there? I’ll be teaching a class at NMC for three Thursdays starting September 23. The last class (October 7) will be a field trip to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore where you can see some of…

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Added by Kerry Kelly on September 13, 2010 at 4:15pm — 2 Comments

Mutant vegetable invades messy garden

I don't have a green thumb. My one house plant has lasted because it's hearty and impervious to my inabilities. But in my quest to eat local and organic foods, Dino and I planted a garden…

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Added by abaskovic on September 12, 2010 at 10:35pm — 9 Comments

harvesting hops on herman road in suttons bay

I'm on the periphery of the local microbrew explosion. I like wine and vodka martinis better. I've been known to quaff a brew (only occasionally) and I do prefer our local talent. To continue the metaphor I have, however, been remarkably struck by the shrapnel of all that's happening here in microbrewing and I remember the… Continue

Added by Rachel North on September 10, 2010 at 11:30pm — No Comments

Vote to Help Win a $50, 000 Grant for the Laundry Project in Leelanau and Grand Traverse Counties

When I think of the Leelanau and Grand Traverse Laundry Project I imagine poverty as this big scary, hairy giant that no one knows how to subdue. Then along comes this freckled, fiesty, funny, fabulous social worker named Egan McGlynn with an idea that seemed tantamount to slinging a pebble at that old Goliath: help people in need do their laundry. I'm pretty sure most of us take clean clothes for granted, but it turns out that if we couldn't… Continue

Added by Elizabeth Edwards on September 10, 2010 at 6:00pm — No Comments

We'll Have To Find A New Room For The Maid: A Victorian House Remodel In Petoskey, Vol. 3

On a crisp fall morning, before the sun was up to light the bay, before the trains began running and the town below became a hustle-bustle of resorters starting their journeys home, and perhaps around the same time that Ignatius Petoskey himself greeted the dawn, a woman in a starch-stiff apron rolled out the dough for the day’s bread in the small, closed-off kitchen at 105 Division…

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Added by Lisa Doublestein on September 9, 2010 at 10:37pm — 1 Comment

Continuing Competency Required for Licensed Builders

The Home Builders Association of the Grand Traverse Area, Inc. is hosting eight Continuing Education seminars for licensed Residential Builders and Maintenance & Alteration Contractors. Sessions are available from 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. and 1-4 p.m. on Sept. 15th and 29th and October 13th and 27th. This course fulfills the 3-hour requirement for contractors whose licenses expire in May 2011. The cost is $59 for HBA members and $99 for non-members. For more…

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Added by Home Builders Association of the Grand Traverse Area on September 8, 2010 at 11:50am — No Comments

Advanced Green Building Course Coming To Traverse City

Beyond Efficient: Creating the High-Performance Home

The Home Builders Association will be offering the Advanced Green Building Course: Building Science on October 28 and 29 at the HBAGTA Professional Development Office on Veterans Drive. This two-day course instructs builders and remodelers on proper building science techniques for construction and remodeling high-performance homes. The high performance ideal encompasses…

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Added by Home Builders Association of the Grand Traverse Area on September 8, 2010 at 11:46am — No Comments

Sustainable Economy Thoughts from the Michigan Environmental Council Regional Gathering in Traverse City

Keeping it good as we grow--sustainable economy is possible (but not easy), and now's our chance.

I had the honor a week or so ago of moderating a session about Sustainable Economic Development in Northern Michigan during a regional gathering of the Michigan Environmental Council.

The meeting was at the Top of the Park, the 10th story bar and meeting room at the Park Place Hotel in Traverse… Continue

Added by Jeff Smith on September 8, 2010 at 8:33am — No Comments

Thinking about the Third Annual Ultimate Up North Kitchen Tour, October 16, 2010

Autumn is in the air, which makes me feel like cooking, which makes me think kitchens ... Our third annual Ultimate Up North Kitchen Tour, October 16, 2010, has taken shape and I can tell you that this tour is stuffed with flavor. The kitchens on the tour are cutting-edge and gorgeous, but don't let the bling fool you: these are working kitchens. Pop open the pantry, the oven or the refrigerator and you'll find home-canned peaches, pears,… Continue

Added by Elizabeth Edwards on September 8, 2010 at 8:30am — No Comments

Menu for Labor Day Weekend: Surf and Turf in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

Wednesday and back to work—but I'm still basking in endorphin afterglow from the two events I took part in over Labor Day Weekend. Saturday was the first annual Port Oneida Run—a 5 k on the trails that wind through the old farmsteads of the historic Port Oneida district in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. This first annual was a smashing success with over a 150 people showing up on a windy, chilly morning to run a course that started at the… Continue

Added by Elizabeth Edwards on September 8, 2010 at 8:00am — 1 Comment

Sign petition: End horrific bear farming

I'm going off topic today to ask you to sign a new petition from the World Society for the Protection of Animals to end horrific bear bile farming at http://www.endbearfarming.org/en/. It will take you less than 20 seconds.

Imprisoned in coffin sized “crush cages” barely big enough for a bear’s body, bears enslaved in bear bile farming suffer this way for a lifetime. They endure this torture for up to 25 years. Try to imagine…

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Added by Kirt Manecke, Smile book on September 1, 2010 at 12:11pm — No Comments