 Photo and article by Donna Iverson Red Cedar will surprise you. First, it’s the only native evergreen growing wild through the Midwest, including Michigan. And it’s not a cedar, it’s a Juniper, (Juniperus virginiana). Red Cedar is one of four plants sacred to the Native Americans. The others are sweetgrass, tobacco, and sage. Often planted as a landscape shrub, Red Cedar trees grow to about 18 feet in twenty years. The native shrub/tree likes full sun and can tolerate dry soil. In fact, it is extremely drought resistant. Red Cedar makes a great windbreak or visual barrier if one is needed. In the wild, it is found along woodland edges, on prairies, in meadows and pastures, where farmers often remove it because it sucks up groundwater. It is a succession tree, meaning it is one of the first trees to grow in land marred by fire or land clearing. A member of the Cypress family, it is not related to the ancient cedars of Europe which are members of the Pine family. The Cedars of Lebanon mentioned in the Bible are now an endangered species. You can identify the Midwest native cedar by its flat triangular leaves which have scales. The bark is reddish brown and female plants have blue berries, which are actually the seed cones. The wood is used to make pencils, fences, furniture, paneling and log cabins. The wood repels pests and mold. Young wood produces an aromatic oil that is used in medicine. It is a vital food source for cedar waxwings. It attracts other birds and mammals as well, who seek out its berries, shelter, and nesting spots. Rabbits are especially fond of hiding underneath its branches. On the downside, it repels bees and butterflies so if you are focusing on pollinators, best to avoid planting Red Cedars. As for foragers, Red Cedar is a wild edible. But beware. There are several toxic lookalikes….Juniperus sabina and Juniperus oxycedrus, but if you are sure that what you have is Juniperus virginiana, then it’s twig sprigs can be used for a soothing throat tea and it’s berries for flavoring meat dishes. 
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Photo and article by Donna Iverson In the winter landscape, it’s the colorful berries that stand out to a gardener’s eye. Take for example the American bittersweet with their bright yellow-orange berries hanging at the end of vine-like branches. American Bittersweet (Calastrus scandens) is a native perennial vine that attaches itself to trees in the Upper Midwest states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. It can be found in woods, swamps and along field edges. It can grow to 30 feet and has dark green oval leaves with serrated edges. The leaves are two to four inches long with a pointed tip. Vines are either male or female and you need both to produce berries. Although there is a new hybrid out of Minnesota called Bailumn that produces male and female vines on the same plant. American Bittersweet is extremely drought tolerant once it is established. It prefers full bright sun and is slow growing. American Bittersweet is not invasive unlike the Oriental Bittersweet that smothers plants and trees. In the wild, you can distinguish the two by where the berries grow. On the American Bittersweet the berries grow at the end of the branches while in the Oriental variety, they grow along the stem. Oriental Bittersweet also has thorny stems which American Bittersweet does not. Foragers should note that American Bittersweet is mildly toxic and should not be eaten. Although the berries provide winter food for grouse, pheasants, quail, rabbits, birds and squirrels.
Michigan Author Visit Highlights Busy March at FADL
The Fremont Area District Library is planning to host several fun and educational events in March for the whole family. These events are FREE, as always. Live @ the Library, a series of events including author visits and special presentations is welcoming Michigan author Michael Nagle as he presents his fascinating book, The Forgotten Iron King of the Great Lakes. This is a true story about a forgotten Michigan figure. Eber Brock Ward began his career as a cabin boy on his uncle’s sailing vessels, but when he died in 1875, he was the wealthiest man in Michigan. Ward was engaged in the steamboat, railroad, lumber, mining, and iron and steel industries. In 1864, his facility near Detroit became the first in the nation to produce steel using the more efficient Bessemer method. Michael Nagle demonstrates how much of Ward’s success was due to his ability to vertically integrate his business operations, which were undertaken decades before other more famous moguls, such as Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller. Nagle crafts a balanced profile of this fascinating figure whose actions influenced the history and culture of the Great Lakes and beyond. Copies of his books will be available to purchase at this event on Thursday, March 16th at 7:00 p.m. in the Community Room. The Winter Reading Challenge for all ages wraps up on Friday, March 3rd. Be sure to bring in your reading logs and collect your prizes! Winter Reading is generously sponsored by Koffee Kuppe and Friends of the Fremont Area District Library. March is Reading Month! To celebrate, we’re giving away a free library tote bag with candy inside to each patron who checks out at least 3 books at once during the week of March 1st-7th. Please limit one tote bag per person for the week. Toddler Storytime, for babies and toddlers up to age 3, will be held on Wednesdays at 10:00 a.m., and Family Storytime for children up to age 5 will be held on Thursdays at 10:00 a.m. Please note there will be no Storytime on March 30th. A special Lego Saturday will be on March 11th from 10:00-3:00 in the Children’s Department. Saturday Storytime for children up to age 5 will be on March 18th at 11:00 a.m. We’ll also be showing a Children’s Afternoon Movie on Thursday, March 23rd at 3:30 p.m. Snacks will be served, and all are welcome. Fit for Life Exercise is on Mondays at Wednesdays from 12:00-1:00 p.m. This is a low-impact exercise class perfect for all adults and levels of fitness. Junk Journaling for ages 10 and up will take place on Thursday, March 9th anytime between 6:00-8:00 p.m. This is a scrapbooking and journal hybrid. Use up what you have and supplement with found, recycled, repurposed and thrifted items. Materials provided. We’ll show the movie A Man Called Otto for our Movie Monday on March 13th at 2:00 p.m. (PG-13; 126 min). Snacks will be provided. Grab your friends and family or meet up with people for our Gather & Game event on Sunday, March 26th from 1:30-3:30 p.m. Bring your own board games or check out ours and play at your leisure in the Community Room. Please do not drop off and leave young children unattended. The Wednesday Readers Book Group will meet on Monday, March 13th at 7:00 p.m. to discuss Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor. The Non-Fiction Book Discussion will meet on Monday, March 20th at 6:00 p.m. to discuss The Agitators by Dorothy Wickenden. The Daytime Book Group will meet on Thursday, March 30th at 12:30 p.m. to discuss Moonlight School by Suzanne Woods Fisher. The new Young Adult Book Club will be meeting on Tuesday, March 28th at 4:00 p.m. by the north fireplace. Book title is yet to be determined. The group will eat pizza while discussing their book, and new people are welcome to join anytime, even if you haven’t read the book! Both high school students and adults are welcome to join this book group. Books for all of these groups are available at the library’s front desk ahead of the meeting if you’d like to check out a copy and join the groups. For more information about any of these events, please contact the library at 231-924-3480 or visit www.fremontlibrary.net.
New Young Adult Book Club, Valentine Crafts, & More at Fremont Library
The Fremont Area District Library is planning to host several fun and educational events in February for the whole family. These events are FREE, as always. The Winter Reading Challenge for all ages continues through March 3rd. Children can sign up in the Children’s Department and teens and adults can sign up at the Reference Desk. Each age group will get a reading log with a challenge to complete, and when finished, you can bring it in for a prize. Teens will also be entered into raffle drawings for each book read and a grand prize drawing when finished, and children who finish will have a grand prize drawing as well. Winter Reading is generously sponsored by Koffee Kuppe and Friends of the Fremont Area District Library. Toddler Storytime, for babies and toddlers up to age 3, will be held on Wednesdays at 10:00 a.m., and Family Storytime for children up to age 5 will be held on Thursdays at 10:00 a.m. A special Drop-In Valentine Craft Saturday will be on February 11th from 10:00-12:00 in the Children’s Department. We’ll also be showing a Children’s Afternoon Movie on Thursday, February 23rd at 3:30 p.m. Snacks will be served, and all are welcome. Saturday Storytime for children up to age 5 will be on February 25th at 11:00 a.m. Fit for Life Exercise is on Mondays at Wednesdays from 12:00-1:00 p.m. This is a low-impact exercise class perfect for all adults and levels of fitness. Junk Journaling for ages 10 and up will take place on Thursday, February 9th anytime between 6:00-8:00 p.m. This is a scrapbooking and journal hybrid. Use up what you have and supplement with found, recycled, repurposed and thrifted items. Materials provided. We’ll show the movie Till for our Movie Monday on February 13th at 2:00 p.m. (PG-13; 130 min). Snacks will be provided. The Wednesday Readers Book Group will meet on Monday, February 13th at 7:00 p.m. to discuss Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams. The Non-Fiction Book Discussion will meet on Monday, February 20th at 6:00 p.m. to discuss Between the World & Me by Ta-Nehisi. The Daytime Book Group will meet on Thursday, February 23rd at 12:30 p.m. to discuss Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore. Plus, we are starting a brand new book group for both high schoolers and adults called the Young Adult Book Club. This group will be reading young adult books and eating pizza and snacks by the north fireplace while discussing the books together. The first book title will be chosen soon, so check back with us if interested! Books for these groups are available at the library’s front desk ahead of the meeting if you’d like to check out a copy and join the groups. For more information about any of these events, please contact the library at 231-924-3480 or visit www.fremontlibrary.net.
 4-H families from around the county gathered for 4-H Family Day at Camp Newaygo! Between archery, hiking the wetland trail, and crafting pinecone birds, youth and adults alike enjoyed the day. Of course, between activities, everyone enjoyed s'mores and hot cocoa while warming up around a bonfire. Special thanks Scott Lakin and the staff of Camp Newaygo for coordinating the activities and to Newaygo 4-H Council for sponsoring the event. 4-H Family Day has become an annual event happening at various sites throughout the county!
 DNR announces new 'free snowmobiling weekend' Photos courtesy if Jim Maike Next month, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources will debut its free snowmobiling weekend, which will allow snowmobilers to operate their machines over a two-day period without the requirement of a snowmobile registration or trail permit. The dates for the free snowmobiling weekend are Feb. 11-12. The Michigan Legislature approved bills requiring the DNR to offer the weekend, saying it will allow experienced riders to bring along friends new to the sport who may get hooked on the experience for a lifetime. Michigan also offers Free ORV and Free Fishing weekends each year. "Free Snowmobiling Weekend is a great opportunity for those that haven’t dusted off their snowmobiles to jump on the trails," said Ron Olson, chief of the DNR Parks and Recreation Division. “It’s also a great time for out-of-state visitors to come explore thousands of miles of trails found in the Upper and Lower peninsulas. During these weekends, the requirement of a license, registration or trail permit is suspended, but operators and anglers must still adhere to all regulations and rules governing these activities. For more information on snowmobiling in Michigan, including trail maps, visit Michigan.gov/Snowmobiling.
 Nicole Looy with her daughters Addyson (L) and Natalie (R) Painting wooden snowmen
Kids love art! Whether they are getting messy with paints, drawing with markers, or just plain doodling, there’s nothing that makes young people happier than creating their own art! The Discover 4-H! Club, which began meeting in December at local libraries, allows kids a chance to do all that while having fun! The Discover 4-H! Club will feature different hands-on art projects each month through April. To learn more, contact Laurie Platte Breza, 4-H Program Coordinator, at platteb1@msu.edu or by calling the MSU Extension office at 231-928-1056. The Discover 4-H! Club is open to youth, ages 5 - 19  Photo and article by Donna Iverson Three seed catalogs arrived in December, and one of them offered a seed packet labeled “honey bee garden.” I purchased the “honey bee garden” seed packet, aiming to grow some new flowers for the bees, come next summer This past summer, my community garden bed was divided in half ..half for the bees and half for me.The half for me was planted with salad greens, like lettuce, chives, arugula, and radishes. In the other half, I grew sunflowers and calendula, flowers attractive to pollinators. Both me and the bees ate well with daily foraging. When the seed packet arrived, I looked at the list of flowering seeds inside, and decided to do a little research on them. The list was long including aster, coneflower, hyssop, cosmos, poppies, clover, and forget-me-nots. Googling “bees,” a YouTube link appeared featuring a TED talk by Nicholas Dorian. The talk was entitled, “We’re saving the wrong bees.”Native bees are under threat due to a loss of habitat and use of insecticides, while honey bees are doing just fine,” he says. Dorian’s notes that honey bees are domesticated, live in hive colonies, and are raised by humans. Native bees are one their own, wild, solitary, and endangered. After listening to Dorian’s TED talk, I decided to plant food for native bees. Bees with names like leaf-cutter, carpenter bees, squash bees, sweat bees, miner bees and the ubiquitous bumble bee. So what plants do native bees prefer? Turns out, they are often specialized and not generalists like the honey bees. For example, the squash bee is attracted to squash blossoms. Doing a little more research, I found that all bees prefer plants native to their environment. Luckily, the seed packet contained mostly native plants. Bees also prefer simple flowers, not complex structures, and prefer flower colors of blue, purple, white and yellow. Besides planting native flowers, what else can gardeners do to attract native bees? Among the most important are leaving leaves over winter, and perhaps a dead log to provide habitat. Discontinue the use of pesticides and leave a little open ground for them to dig nests for their young. Bees are important to our own survival. The vast majority of plants we need for food rely on pollination, especially by bees,” according to Friends of the Earth. Bees pollinate 35% of our food, while 75% of plant species require an insect to pollinate them. The Honey Bee Garden seed packet is available at https://www.seedsavers.org where you can request a free garden catalog.  Photo and article by Donna Iverson Recently, the Old Farmer's Almanac ran an article on plants of the winter solstice. They include Yew, Oak, Pine, Holly, Ivy and Mistletoe. These trees and plants were used in ceremonies at the winter solstice by the ancient Greeks, Druids, Celts and Norse. Ceremonies included burning a Yule log, retelling tales of the Holly King and his reindeer, and making kissing balls of holly and mistletoe. The kissing balls were hung and couples were required to kiss when passing under one. Today, mistletoe can still be found during the holiday season adorning entrance ways. Symbolizing life, it is an evergreen that retains its green color all year. In the wild, it provides food and shelter for birds and animals, such as house wrens, chickadees, and mourning doves. Squirrels also nest in its foliage. It also provides food for pollinators like butterflies and bees. Its berries are mostly white but can be red or pink depending on the species. Mistletoe is native to North America and Canada. A parasite, it attaches itself high in the branches of trees and bushes, especially the Oak tree. Mistletoe foliage can grow to five feet wide and weigh 50 pounds. It does not kill its host tree but can cause damage to its branches. Mistletoe in trees look like baskets, and have been called “witches brooms” and thought to ward off evil spirits. There are over a thousand species of Mistletoe, which belongs to the genus Phoradendron. Its common names include the tree thief, kiss and go, and the healing plant. While toxic if eaten, it was nevertheless used in ancient times as a tonic for menstrual cramps, spleen disorders, epilepsy, and ulcers. Today scientists are studying its properties as a possible cure for colon cancer. While bird droppings are the way that mistletoe is usually propagated, you can grow it yourself. Mash the berries into the bark of a healthy tree, especially oak, and it will migrate through the tree's circulatory system and establish itself in the tree’s branches. For more details on growing your own Mistletoe, checkout: https://www.thespruce.com/growing-mistletoe-plants-5088986  Winter Reading, New Young Adult Book Club, Healthy Living, & More at Fremont Library in January
The Fremont Area District Library is planning to host several fun and educational events in January for the whole family. These events are FREE, as always. The Winter Reading Challenge for all ages is back this year beginning January 2nd, and runs through March 3rd. Children can sign up in the Children’s Department and teens and adults can sign up at the Reference Desk. Each age group will get a reading log with a challenge to complete, and when finished, you can bring it in for a prize. Teens will also be entered into raffle drawings for each book read. Winter Reading is generously sponsored by Koffee Kuppe and Friends of the Fremont Area District Library. Storytimes will begin again and run from January 18th-April 13th. Toddler Storytime, for babies and toddlers up to age 3, will be held on Wednesdays at 10:00 a.m., and Family Storytime for children up to age 5 will be held on Thursdays at 10:00 a.m. A special Snowman Saturday Storytime, for children up to age 5 will be on January 28th at 11:00 a.m. in the Community Room in partnership with the Fremont Area Chamber of Commerce’s Cabin Fever events. We’ll also be showing Disenchanted (PG; 119 min) as our Afternoon Movie on Thursday, January 26th at 3:30 p.m. Snacks will be served, and all are welcome. We’ll show the new Elvis movie for our Movie Monday on January 9th at 2:00 p.m. (PG-13; 159 min). Snacks will be provided. Junk Journaling for ages 10 and up will take place on Thursday, January 12th anytime between 6:00-8:00 p.m. This is a scrapbooking and journal hybrid. Use up what you have and supplement with found, recycled, repurposed and thrifted items. Materials provided. A presentation on Healthy Living for Your Brain and Body for adults of any age will take place on Wednesday, January 11th at 2:00 p.m. Learn 7 tips for keeping your brain and body healthy based on the latest research. Includes a 4-page participant workbook to help you create your own plan for healthy aging, presented by the Alzheimer's Association. The Wednesday Readers Book Group will meet on Monday, January 9th at 7:00 p.m. to discuss Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Dare. The Non-Fiction Book Discussion will meet on Monday, January 16th at 6:00 p.m. to discuss Midnight Rising by Tony Horowitz. The Daytime Book Group will meet on Thursday, January 26th at 12:30 p.m. to discuss Radium Girls by Kate Moore. Plus, we are starting a brand new book group for both high schoolers and adults called the Young Adult Book Club. This group will be reading young adult books, and the first meeting will include free pizza! Please call 231-928-0256 or see the Reference Desk to let them know you plan to attend so we can order the right amount of pizza for the first meeting on January 31st at 3:30 p.m. by the North Fireplace where we will discuss details of the book club. Anyone is welcome to join these book groups. Books for these groups are available at the library’s front desk ahead of the meeting if you’d like to check out a copy and join the group. For more information about any of these events, please contact the library at 231-924-3480 or visit www.fremontlibrary.net. |
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