Moments from our Lake Glazon adventure The Lake Glazon Nature Area, eight miles north of Eagle Harbor, has about 1,100 feet of Lake Superior shoreline. On its 26 acres, you can hike, explore, and scramble around on rocks. It features interesting geology, such as cobble beaches far inland, evidence that the big lake shoreline moves […] Continue reading "Pictures from an Expedition"
It was dirty, buggy work, but someone had to do it: fulfill the final chapter of Project Wingspan and plant dozens of common milkweed seedlings at the Keweenaw Land Trust Boston Pond Nature Area. Armed with shovels, trowels, and other implements from the gardener’s toolkit, Keweenaw Wild Ones volunteers joined KLT intern Kyle Naparala and […] Continue reading "Project Wingspan, Part 2: Planting Milkweed at Boston Pond"
by Marcia Goodrich, WOK president Jill Fisher and her husband, Casey Huckins, caravanned with me to Escanaba April 25 to pick up about 20 trays of seedlings from our benefactor Brian Black, master of the Bay College greenhouse. Many will be potted for our summer sales. The rest will go to the Keweenaw Land Trust […] Continue reading "Plant Pilgrimage to Bay College"
Pre-dawn on Oct. 6, WOK members Marcia Goodrich (me) and Valorie Troesch packed Marcia’s Honda Fit with the requisite food, water, garden clippers and bug dope and launched ourselves southwest at the barely tolerable hour of 8 a.m. Two chatty hours later, after missing two turnoffs and getting well-meaning-but-not-all-together-helpful directions from a very nice guy […] Continue reading "Plucking Seeds for Pollinators and Project Wingspan"
Keweenaw Wild Ones made appearances this summer at both the Houghton and Hancock farmers’ markets. While we sold a few plants—maybe $100 worth—the best part was connecting with members of the community who were unfamiliar with natives and our organization. Valorie Troesch, Kristine Bradof, Karen Cayce, Kathe Salmi and I (Marcia Goodrich) staffed the tables. […] Continue reading "Native Plants among the Turnips and Tomatoes"
Micaela Geborkoff, left, president of the Houghton County 4-H Service Club at Houghton High School, receives a flat of native plants from Marcia Goodrich, president of the Keweenaw Wild Ones. Micaela is the daughter of environmental science teacher Sarah Geborkoff, whose students are working with the 4-H Club to install a new pollinator garden at […] Continue reading "WOK Donates Native Plants to Houghton High"
Project Wingspan is a three-year, landscape-scale project designed to increase monarch and rusty patched bumble bee habitat. Locally, the Keweenaw Wild Ones are partnering with Project Wingspan to help gather seeds from native plants in the Ottawa National Forest. Those seeds will be used to increase the quality, quantity, and connectivity of pollinator habitat across […] Continue reading "Volunteer for Project Wingspan to Help Bees and Monarchs"
Work by volunteers from the Keweenaw Wild Ones and the Hancock Beautification Group was featured in an Aug. 13, 2021, article by staff writer Chris Jaehnig. Jaehnig visited volunteers as they weeded along Tezcuco Street, in the block just north of Porvoo Park. The planting was funded by a $1,500 grant from the Upper Peninsula […] Continue reading "UPEC-funded Hancock Planting Featured in Mining Gazette"
RJ Laverne introduced Michigan Tech’s weirdest tree with an even weirder anecdote from ancient times. The Kentucky coffee tree grows well almost everywhere, but it has a very limited range. Scientists think, says Laverne, that its seeds were once dispersed by seed pod–munching mastodons. Now, with no mastodons to spread it around, the occasional seed […] Continue reading "Tall Tales of Tech Trees"
WOK members Beth Flynn and Christa Walck welcomed chapter members to their homes skirting the west side of the Keweenaw Peninsula July 24 for a Show Me, Help Me visit. Beth has a magnificent fenced-in, deer-proof vegetable garden which is gradually getting shaded by a line of trees. Members encouraged her to plant natives in […] Continue reading "Fun and Food Up the Keweenaw"