Earth Day in Oceana

Hey all, hope you're enjoying the great Spring weather we've been getting this week. For new folks who signed up at the Earth Day event, welcome to the newsletter! For everyone else, welcome back. We've got lots of cool stuff to cover this week.

This Week in the Commons

The main task this week was getting the campsite pavilion fully cleaned up and ready to hand back over to the campers for the season. I biked the biochar and remaining firewood back to my house, disassembled the firewood racks, and arranged for pickup of the straw bales that made up our walls. It's always a little sad to see the sugar camp taken down, but it's an important part of keeping the tourists unaware of how much fun we have when they're not here 😆 Now I just need to write the grant report, and wash fifty or sixty buckets, and then the sugarbush really will be over for the season.

Another project this week was getting started on our Artisan Market cabin. After talking about it for years, we finally took the plunge. We'll be selling biochar, baskets, tshirts, dog toys, and all sorts of other things that I've made over the years and never got around to selling 😆 Hopefully we can free up some storage space and raise some money for Montague Commoners at the same time. The Market opens on May 10th, so you'll probably get to see the setup process over the next couple of weeks (as long as I actually remember to take pictures.)

The biggest event of the week was our trip to the Oceana County Earth Day event up in Hart. This was our first attempt to take our biochar demonstration on the road, and while we ran into a few hiccups (it took us about 45 minutes to convince the chimney to attach to the stove,) overall it was a pretty successful first test. To make use of the heat coming off the biochar burn, we made a huge pot of soup stock, inviting people to bring their frozen poultry bones and veggie scraps to add to the "stone soup." We didn't get too many contributors, but we brought plenty of turkey bones and veggies ourselves, so we ended up with five or six gallons of some great-smelling stock that we'll be canning for use in future meals. I think if we put a little more work into educating the public and promoting the practice of saving bones and veggie scraps in the freezer, we could eventually build this into a regular community project.

One side-plot to the Earth Day event that proved amusing to Nate and to other attendees was the lawn-mowing robot that kept wandering over towards us, and my immediate old-man-yells-at-cloud animosity towards it. It was my first time seeing one in real life, and a part of my brain could not let go of the feeling that it was some sort of racoon-sized predatory crab. Nate insists that I was the one who initiated hostilities by lightly kicking it when it got too close, but in my defense, it was clearly trying to eat my charcoal scoop. Either way, if the eventual robot uprising is led by a Husqvarna Automower, remember that I tried to sound the alarm 🤣

Another of the presenters at Earth Day gifted us with a trio of Norway Spruce seedlings, so we went out to Treespeaker Woods this morning and planted them along the driveway. Treespeaker is a little short on the sort of full sun planting spots that Norway Spruce prefers, but we'll see how they do. While we were there, we were able to confirm that the ramps we planted last year had sprouted nicely, and that we already had another flush of Shiitake mushrooms waiting for us. We're still probably a month or so away from peak edible tree leaf season, but the Sassafras and Beech buds are looking good and I wouldn't be surprised if we got our first harvest in the next couple of weeks.

Coming Up Next Week

Thursday, May 1st is Beltane, the half-way point between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice. It marks the transition between early and late Spring. It's also known as May Day, which is celebrated as a workers' holiday by labor movements around the world. This year, it's being used as a focal point for pro-democracy protests here in the United States. There's going to be a march in Muskegon at 4:30 from 4th and Shoreline to Heritage Landing, and we'll probably be carpooling down if anyone wants to come along.

Friday, May 2nd at Noon, we'll be doing a May Day edition of our Dance For Democracy protest, complete with a table of info on mutual aid and workers' rights. Join us down at the Weathervane for a fun time.

Food of the Week

Dandelions tend to get a lot of foraging press this time of year, but they aren't the only edible lawn flower around. I've seen violets popping up all over town, and to my mind they make a much better snacking flower. The flowers and leaves are both edible, with mild flavors and a slightly crunchy texture. If you decide to give them a try, make sure that you pick from areas away from the roadside (car exhaust adds nasty stuff to the soil), pesticide-happy neighbors, and dogs.

Recommendation Corner

This week's recommendation is the Raybearer series by Jordan Ifueko. It's a YA series that follows a young girl who has been raised in isolation and suddenly finds herself at the royal court. It's got magic, found family, political intrigue, and more. If you want to forget the outside world for a bit, and get carried away by an engaging story, this is a great one to pick.

This Week's Nails

This week's nails are an homage to dandelions, which are just starting their season and are an important part of the foraging calendar. It's true that they aren't as nice as violets when they're picked fresh, but if you stir-fry or saute them, the bitterness breaks down and they get quite tasty. Plus, they are one of those plants that is absolutely impossible to overharvest.