  Gregory Sumner Michigan POW Camps in World War II at Fremont Library
Live @ the Library, a series of events including author visits and writing workshops is welcoming Greg Sumner to the Fremont Area District Library to present an interactive slide show about his book Michigan POW Camps in World War II which will feature the camp in Fremont. During World War II, six thousand German and Italian war prisoners came to Michigan. They picked fruit in Berrien County, harvested sugar beets in the Thumb, cut pulpwood in the Upper Peninsula and maintained parks in Detroit. While the work programs were not without their flaws, many of the prisoners established enduring friendships with their captors. Author and U-D Mercy history professor Gregory Sumner tells the story of these detainees and the ordinary Americans who embodied our highest ideals, even amid a global war. This free program will begin in the library’s Community Room on Tuesday, October 8th at 7:00
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 Gardening in small places is one of this years garden trends Story and photos by Donna Iverson
So what's new in gardening? Turns out, quite a few new trends are emerging. For example: According to the National Gardening Association, gardening has reached an all-time high, according to their 2019 survey. Thirty-five percent of us have either home gardens or are members of community gardens ..that is 1 in 3 Americans. Other facts and trends include: 1. There is a growing interest in potted succulents, like cacti and aloe, in cute pots. These succulents can be grown indoors or outdoors, are low maintenance needing little water and make attractive displays. You can find numerous vendors for these plants at any farmers market. 2. There is a rise in Millennials gardening compared to the Baby Boomers, with these younger gardeners being more interested in organic growing and sustainable practices. But the Baby Boomers are the biggest spenders averaging $500 a year on gardening plants, supplies and tools. 3. Urban farms now account for 15-20 percent of the world's food and urban farms a growing trend in all 50 states. This is really nothing new. During WWII, backyard gardeners produced 40 percent of this country's food in their Victory Gardens. There is also a growing interest in front-yard vegetable gardening, although I haven't seen evidence of it in this part of Michigan. 4. According to the Farmers Almanac, more of us are interested in Wild Gardening, letting a portion of our yard grow wild, to provide habitat for pollinators and native insects 5. There is also a growing interest in native plants, those plants that evolved in the local area. In Michigan, these include Black-eyed Susan, Columbine, Bee Balm, Butterfly Weed, Purple Coneflower, Primrose, Wild Rose (Rosa Rugosa), and Astilbe. 6. Technology is making gardening inroads including the use of smart watering irrigation systems, solar lightning, home weather stations, gardening apps of one kind or another, and robot lawn mowers and weed whackers. 7. People are gardening in even the smallest of spaces, like fire escapes (see photo ) and any nook and cranny they can find. 8. Interest in Moon-phase gardening, just won't quit. Moon-phase gardening is an ancient agriculture practice whereby you plant and harvest by moon phases. This also includes planting moon gardens with white or light-reflective plants or night-blooming plants like evening primrose. 9. The color most popular right now with gardeners is mint green. This explains the trend toward people buying more and more ferns as indoor house plants. And even the appearance of lots of mint in the garden, which can be used for cooking, drinks, as well as food for pollinators, repelling mosquitos, and reputed healing benefits. 10. The increasing popularity of farmers' markets, which are opening more and more days of the week in more and more towns and communities, and offering everything from locally grown fruits and vegetables to morel mushrooms (in season) and other foraged edibles.  Past winner captured by the eye and lens of Margaret Price Have some fun this fall and shoot away….with your camera! Newaygo County is prime country for that perfect fall photo. Take your best shots and enter the NCCA-Artsplace Fall Photography Contest. The contest is an annual community event that anyone can enter and showcases the fall beauty of our area. Entry deadline is Tuesday, October 1, by 5:30 p.m. This free competition is for all ages and all levels of skill. All entries must have a fall or harvest theme. Participants may submit up to two entries. Each entry must be an 8”x10” unframed photograph. All entries will be on display October 3 through October 26 in the corridor gallery at NCCA-Artsplace. First, second and third place ribbons will be awarded on Thursday, October 3 at 5:00 p.m. during Fremont’s Fall Harvest Festival. Registration forms for the competition are available at NCCA-Artsplace, 13 East Main Street, downtown Fremont or call 231.924.4022. The guidelines and forms may also be printed from www.ncca-artsplace.org.  Arugula waiting to be dded to a tasty salad Story and photos by Donna Iverson "Arugula persists in quiet superiority as the best tasting, most versatile and easiest to prepare salad green," writes Amanda Moll in the Atlantic magazine. I would have to agree with her. I have been growing arugula for a number of years and enjoying it's tangy, peppery flavor in salads. And I always find myself nibbling on its tender leaves whenever tending the garden bed. Recently, I read it's good on pizza, and may try that very soon. Although slightly bitter, it is high in nutrients like other wild salad greens including: endive, escarole, purslane, watercress, radicchio, mustard greens and Swiss chard. In fact, the more bitter a lettuce green, the more nutrients it has. These nutrients include something called phytonutrients,as well as Vitamin A, Vitamin C, beta-carotene, calcium, and folate. My first introduction to arugula was in a fancy restaurant, where it was served with a sweet dressing on a very expensive small plate. A few years ago, arugula seeds were not easy to find, but today they are sold in most seed catalogs and a few grocery stores. A native of the Mediterranean, arugula is popular with Europeans, especially the Italians. And it is getting more and more popular in this country as gardeners find it easy to grow and enjoy it as a flavorful addition to salads or as a salad in its own right, Like most lettuces, it prefers cooler temperatures, so plant it in the early spring and then again in early fall. The leaves can be harvested on a regular basis, although as they grow larger, they become too bitter for your tastes. Once the plant flowers, it is time to let it go to seed and let the pollinators enjoy it for the rest of the summer. Or pull it out, until the next planting season. As for preparing it for eating, it is definitely easy ..just wash the leaves and add your favorite dressing. No "massaging" it like you have to do to kale to make it edible. And It doesn't get limp or soggy I see the heaviest dressing. A member of the mustard family, your fall-planted arugula will survive a light frost. You will have edible leaves in about 6 weeks and the fall crop will be the most flavorful. While arugula may be a "nontraditional green," you may find it a favorite both in your garden and on your plate.  Purslane: Another unconventional salad green  By Donna Iverson Photo by Mary Aten If you're from Michigan, chances are you are familiar with dune grass planted along the Great Lake to stabilize the shifting sand dunes. But what you may not be so familiar with is dune grass as a landscaping plant. Due to Michigan's sandy soil and increasingly warm temperatures, more and more ornamental grasses are finding their way into yards, around commercial buildings and in city parks. And some of it is our own dune grass, Ammophila breviligulata. This beach grass is native to North America and grows around the Great Lakes and on the Atlantic Coast. Dune grass is a tall erect perennial with elongated flower spikes and long subsurface rhizomes, that can reach 20 feet deep into the sandy, shifting dune mounds. It also grows verticals rhizomes, thus stitching the dune in place. In our area, dune grass is sold by the Muskegon Conservation District located in Twin Lake. It is sold in bundles of 100 plugs in the spring and fall, which are the best planting times, according to Chad Hipshier, assistant executive director of the organization. Right now is the time to order for fall planting. A bundle of 100 plugs cost $15 and pickup date is September 10. They are located at 4735 Holton Road and their telephone number is 231.828.5097. While some people may consider dune grass as an accent plant, photographer Mary Aten on Muskegon is considering replacing her entire lawn with it. But you must have the right conditions to grow dune grass successfully, warns Hipshier. Dune grass needs lots of sunshine and sandy dry soil. “And if you think you could just go dig some up on Lake Michigan to give it a try, that is illegal,” said Hipshier. Also your neighbors might not appreciate it. A community gardener in Muskegon tried growing it in the terrace way between the road and the sidewalk. An unhappy neighbor called the city's building inspectors calling it a "weed" and she was forced to remove it. While only a few Michiganders are growing dune grass as a landscape plant, increasing numbers of people are planting ornamental grasses, that look like beach grass. Ornamental grasses that remind you of dune grass are admired for their stark beauty and easy care. They are drought resistant needing little water and free of most pests and plant diseases. Maintenance is extremely low. Ornamental grasses are being planted in parks, in the back of townhouses, around garbage bins, next to commercial establishments, and even around telephone poles. Trying to figure out what varieties of ornamental grasses these were, I contacted Barry's Nursery on Whitehall Road. I took some photos of these ornamental grasses and emailed them to Barry's asking for plant identification information. Dawn Barry replied the same day and said the most popular ornamental grass sold in the area is Cslamagrostis Karl Foerster. A dune-grass look alike, Karl Foerster is better suited to most people's soil unless you live near the beach, she said. So if you want to give dune grass a place in your yard, now is planting time. Winter is a coming. Note: Mary Aten's photographic prints of Lake Michigan dune grass are available for purchase on her website (atenphoto.com) and at the Muskegon Farmers Market.  Dune grass lookalike Karl Foerster. Photo by Donna Iverson  Story and photo by Donna Iverson
Mother Nature is a guerrilla gardener. She doesn't leave any waste place, abandoned lot, alleyway or backwoods path without a perfusion of flowering weeds. Or sometimes, escaped cultivated flowers. Many of them are aliens and invasive, but also beautiful. Among my favorites are Queen Anne's Lace, Creeping Bellflower, Canada Thistle. Common Milkweed, Chicory, Mullein, Spotted Knapweed, Motherwort, Deadly Nightshade, Yarrow, Mallow, and the vetches, like Crown, Hairy and Cow Vetch. More and more I am seeing homeowners and even business owners landscaping with "weeds" like Queen Anne's Lace, Common Milkweed and even Lake Michigan dune grass. Our love-hate relationship with these flowering weeds is perhaps best exemplified by the vetches. Vetches grow prolifically and can quickly take over a yard or garden. They are difficult to eradicate unless you catch them early, by mowing them down in early spring before their roots and tendrils spread. To the casual observer, it is a lovely plant that beautifies many a waste place and personally, I am always delighted to see their colorful pink flowers which attract endangered pollinators like bees and butterflies. Historically, vetch was more than just a pretty weed. In earlier days, farmers used vetch as fodder for their livestock and municipal crews planted it along roadsides in the 1950s to prevent erosion. That is likely why there is so much of it in lower Michigan. Still vetch is controversial. My cousin and I argue whether vetch is a friend or a foe . She says foe as it has taken over much of her suburban yard and is impossible to eradicate now that it has spread so invasively. I on the other hand, think vetch is beautiful and am thrilled to find it along abandoned lots and in city alley ways, growing profusely on wire and wooden fences. . Depending on which side of the fence you are on, some gardeners are deliberately welcome these invasive flowering weeds into the yard. A neighbor of mine has let Queen Anne's Lace grow along the side of her lot, looking for all intent and purposes like a wild flower garden. And a downtown retail store, grows it in the terrace way along a busy street. Of course admiration for flowering weeds flies in the face of the recent focus on growing native plants, adapted to the environment they evolved in. Invasive aliens tend to crowd out the native plants, which provide the best source of food and habitat for pollinators, birds and other wildlife. For example, Queen Anne's Lace is an alien flower native to the temperate regions of Europe. It is highly invasive and crowds out native plants like Common Milkweed. Still I love Queen Anne's Lace and its look-alike cousin Yarrow, which is native to North America. Bottom line for me is: enjoy these flowering aliens in the waste places where they crop up. But to save our pollinators, it's time to seek out native plants and begin to incorporate them into our yards and gardens, to help sustain local wildlife, especially milkweed which Monarch Butterflies depend on for their survival.  Andrea and Terry Grabill at Magee Marsh Boardwalk, NE Ohio By Terry Grabill
N3 Note: A "life bird" is a species that a birder has seen and identified in the wild for the very first time in their life. 2018 was a disappointing birding year. My health hit a significant speed bump and kept me grounded to my front window. Nearly everything was put on hold while this old body tried to mend. I submitted exactly zero checklists to eBird and added zero birds to my life list. 2019 promised better opportunities as the body grew stronger. Sure, there were some lingering things…and I had this neat handicapped tag that hung from my rear-view mirror, but the atrophied cardiovascular system was ready to rebuild. Early May found Andrea and me in North-west Ohio: our migration happy place. More detail on this location once I finish Kenn Kaufman’s new book discussing what he calls “The warbler capital of the world”. We were unable to do our usual volunteer work and birding at The Biggest Week in American Birding last year (the first year we’ve missed). This year we birded for three days on Lake Erie’s coast and volunteered at the registration desk. We met some great people and I even got my life black-necked stilts! The following weekend brought the Tawas Point Birding Festival on Lake Huron. Andrea had never been able to be there with me, so I’d taken a boy from school that was interested in birds. Three years ago, Brennen and I went for the day and had a great time. This year, Ann was able to go and so was Brennen, who was then in the ninth grade. A special day was made more special because our oldest daughter, Caitie, was with us on her birthday! It was the first time she’d been birding with us. I picked up my life Kentucky warbler too! As I looked forward at the weekend that followed, I realized that we would be on Lake Michigan. Three weekends on three different Great Lakes. A plan started to form. “Warblers on the Water” is an event on Beaver Island in Northern Lake Michigan (lots more about Beaver in a later message!). Andrea and I have been field guides for this event for the past four years. It’s a really special privilege for us to lead here. The island has a special place in our hearts and the opportunity to give back is huge. We’ve been relegated to leading the “windshield birding adventure” trips. These field trips are perfect for our “folksy” personalities. Our groups are often birders not looking for a rigorous hike. The trips offer a great way to see a lot of the island in a morning of birding. I’m also offered the opportunity to speak about birding. This year’s topic was “Sharpening Your Birding Skills”. I’m very happy that it was well-received. And, I got my life black scoter! Well, I’d birded on three of Michigan’s Great Lakes in three weeks. So, on week four, to complete a mission, off to Michigan’s UP I went! Whitefish Point juts out into Eastern Lake Superior. It’s known for several things, including the site of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. But, I was there for Whitefish Point Bird Observatory. The Michigan rare bird report told of a lazuli bunting there (seriously?!). My oldest son, Trevor, had never birded with me but offered to take the day trip with me. He helped me with my photography and I saw a piping plover, my life lazuli bunting, and my life Eurasian tree sparrow! Here’s to 2019. Better health, more birds, more travels.
Story and photos by Donna Iverson
As a community gardener, I am all about growing food, community ties, sustainable practices, and getting my hands in the dirt ..err soil. Quiet and reserved by nature, I nevertheless thrill when one of my plants makes a spectacular appearance in the garden bed. Last summer, my giant sunflowers towered over the vegetable beds and could be seen from a block away. Swaying in the breeze, their yellow disk flowers caught the eye of anyone who was tending garden beds or even just walking by. Look at us, they seem to shout silently..aren't we beautiful? And we are useful too..our seeds and petals provide food for butterflies and bees who love us. ...as do birds and people, who harvest the seeds in the fall for a healthy treat. However, visiting the garden toward the end of the summer, I was shocked to see the sunflowers had disappeared. Something had cut them down mid-stalk. I'm guessing either the little rabbit I spied hopping out from behind a neighbors bushes one day or a woodchuck, who had dug a tunnel under one of the beds. Figuring that sunflowers were probably doomed and not a reliable showpiece in the face of these predatory hungry mammals, I decided this summer to plant something almost equally showy and eye-catching. I chose Scarlet Runner Bean. By August it had overgrown its bamboo stakes and was flashing showy red pea-like flowers. Other gardeners were commenting and admiring its beauty. So far, mammals have left it alone and it has attracted pollinators and is a favorite of hummingbirds. A native of Central America, Scarlet Runner Bean was introduced in the 1600s to the colonists by Native Americans. In colonial America it was grown as a food plant, with beans appearing late in the growing season. President Thomas Jefferson was reportedly fond of this heirloom plant and grew it at Monticello. Scarlet Runner Bean is easy to grow, making it a favorite with children, beginning gardeners as well as home owners wanting to make a floral statement. It can reach 10 feet in height and therefore needs some kind of support. The perennial plant cannot tolerate frost and its flower die when temperatures reach the 90s. This ancient bean is edible but must be well cooked to kill off toxins. But even if you don't eat the beans, this native-born plant will make a showy display that will impress your neighbors and friends. It is a plant that likes to show off. ...for gardeners with the same urge.  Or in the local pre-contact language Anishinaabemowin: Gash Kozin, Niibawin, Giigidoon
By Marsha Reeves On the first Wednesday of the month at 7 PM locals and not-so-locals make their way to Flying Bear Books to exercise their courage and satisfy their curiosities. If you are one of the crowd there on any given Poetry Night you might hear poems read by those who wrote them and those who appreciate them. Not all of the poetry is original, but you can bet it’s all good if someone wants to share it enough to get up and read it. The idea of a poetry night at the bookstore is the brainchild of Gabe Schillman (Studio 37) and John Reeves (Flying bear Books). It started in October of 2018, and since then people from all kinds of surprising directions have revealed themselves to be poets and/or lovers of poetry. All people, writers and listeners alike, are invited to check this event out. Customary attire is Newaygo County Classic (AKA whatever you feel like wearing) and the event is MC’d by Gabe. We’ve seen the award winning Robert Fanning join us as well as Alan Basting from Bitely. In the near future Alan will be our Featured Poet, but this month, August, the mic will be open to everyone from the get go. Oh, and Gabe has been known to grace us with some of his original songs.  Gnome watching over the 'maters Photo and story by Donna Iverson
Check around any neighborhood and you will likely find many a deck, porch, or front step with a potted tomato plant. People who no longer garden, for one reason or another, will buy a tomato plant, pot it up and place it in a sunny spot near their doorstep. The potted tomato plant seems to satisfy the need to get your hands in the dirt and watch a small seedling turn into a plant with edible delicious red fruit that tastes better than anything you can buy. This spring, I rescued two tomato plant seedlings from the farmers market and potted them up and gave them a new home on my second-floor apartment deck. Unfortunately, within a few weeks, I learned that when it comes to potted tomato plants, I had a lot to learn and had done pretty much everything wrong. While the tomato is the most popular potted plant, it is also one of the more difficult to grow. But I didn't know that until mid-summer, when my spindly tomato plant was taller than me and looked like a plant from outer space My first mistake, apparently, was planting the seedlings in a too-small container. Tomato plants like to grow in a big pot, the bigger the better. And they don't like to share that container with another tomato plant or any other growing thing. My two seedlings were sharing a too-small container and their roots were competing for nutrients. Tomato also like to be planted deep and have their lower leaves removed. I hadn't done that either. To compensate, I purchased a small bag of potting soil and poured the dirt to top of the container. I was trying to trick my tomatoes into thinking that their stems had been planted in deep soil. Am not sure that worked. Another mistake was that my deck does not provide enough sun, only about four hours worth. Tomatoes require six hours of direct sun and prefer eight hours. I crossed my fingers that the extra hot summer we were having would make up the difference. Not sure that's working either. According to the Farmer's Almanac, tomatoes are incredibly fussy. To quote: "in layman's terms, plants stress when it is too hot or too cold, too much nitrogen and/or too little potassium and calcium, too much or too little water." Despite all these pitfalls, I am doing some things right like watering every day but not over watering, I also apply a steady dose of tomato-specific fertilizer. Potted tomato plants like to be watered in the morning, so I have adjusted my watering schedule accordingly. |
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