Spring Break Staycation: Foraging with the Family

This is a part of “A Year in the Wild Kitchen of the Great Lakes,” a series in partnership with expert forager Lisa M. Rose, with the mission of nurturing a deeper connection with the natural world through foraging. To get started with your foraging journey, begin here with our “Framework to Sustainable and Safe Practices.” 

This spring break, transform your usual holiday into an educational excursion that connects your family with the natural world.

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Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/04/spring-break-staycation-foraging-with-the-family/

Lisa M. Rose

How community gardens serve as ‘third places’ for Detroiters

Toward the end of 2023, I was newly unemployed and living by myself for the first time. 

In between jobs, searching for employment and a means of fulfillment and community, I began to reflect on how my mom got into gardening. In the dead of winter, memories of childhood summers spent pulling weeds, tilling soil and fleeing the occasional garter snake alongside her began to color my mind. 

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Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/04/community-gardens-third-places-for-detroiters/

Ethan Bakuli

Tapping Into Tradition: It’s Maple Syrup Season

This is a part of “A Year in the Wild Kitchen of the Great Lakes,” a series in partnership with expert forager Lisa M. Rose, with the mission of nurturing a deeper connection with the natural world through foraging. To get started with your foraging journey, begin here with our “Framework to Sustainable and Safe Practices.”

In the Great Lakes, the maple syrup harvest season begins when daytime temperatures rise above freezing while nights remain cold — typically from mid to late February for much of the region, and a bit later further north.

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Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/03/tapping-into-tradition-its-maple-syrup-season/

Lisa M. Rose

Winter Wellness Pantry: Elderberry Elixir

Part of “A Year in the Wild Kitchen of the Great Lakes,” a series in partnership with expert forager Lisa M. Rose, with the mission of nurturing a deeper connection with the natural world through foraging. To get started with your foraging journey, begin here with our “Framework to Sustainable and Safe Practices” and check out Part 1 of “Winter Wellness Pantry” for tips and tricks to stay healthy this winter with wild herbs of the Great Lakes. 

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/01/winter-wellness-pantry-elderberry-elixir/

Lisa M. Rose

Climate takes its toll on the “cherry capital of the world”

By Izzy Ross, Interlochen Public Radio

This coverage is made possible through a partnership with IPR and Grist, a nonprofit independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future.

Walking between rows of dormant cherry and apple trees in mid-November, Raul Gomez, operations manager at Wunsch Farms on the Old Mission Peninsula, pointed out sweet cherry varieties like black pearls.

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Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/12/climate-takes-its-toll-on-the-cherry-capital-of-the-world/

Interlochen Public Radio

Smashing pumpkins in Traverse City to reduce trash

By Izzy Ross, Interlochen Public Radio

This coverage is made possible through a partnership with IPR and Grist, a nonprofit independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future.

Nine-year-old Gunner Vistisen was wearing goggles, a wooden mallet in hand, standing near a blue tarp lined with pumpkins on a lot in Traverse City.

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Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/11/smashing-pumpkins-in-traverse-city-to-reduce-trash/

Interlochen Public Radio

A Foraged Great Lakes Woodland Chai Tea

This story is a part of “A Year in the Wild Kitchen of the Great Lakes,” a series in partnership with expert forager Lisa M. Rose, with the mission of nurturing a deeper connection with the natural world through foraging. To get started with your foraging journey, begin here with our “Framework to Sustainable and Safe Practices.”

As the season shifts and the air chills, I find myself drawn to the warmth and sustenance that the wild foods of fall offer — from roots to mushrooms to nuts to herbs — and take great satisfaction in concocting nourishing recipes for my family and friends.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/10/a-foraged-great-lakes-woodland-chai-tea/

Lisa M. Rose

Nibi Chronicles: Manoomin as medicine

“Nibi Chronicles,” a monthly Great Lakes Now feature, is written by Staci Lola Drouillard. A Grand Portage Ojibwe direct descendant, she lives in Grand Marais on Minnesota’s North Shore of Lake Superior. Her nonfiction books “Walking the Old Road: A People’s History of Chippewa City and the Grand Marais Anishinaabe” and “Seven Aunts” were published 2019 and 2022, and the children’s story “A Family Tree” in 2024.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/10/nibi-chronicles-manoomin-as-medicine/

Staci Lola Drouillard

Nibi Chronicles: The Gift of Manoomin

“Nibi Chronicles,” a monthly Great Lakes Now feature, is written by Staci Lola Drouillard. A Grand Portage Ojibwe direct descendant, she lives in Grand Marais on Minnesota’s North Shore of Lake Superior. Her nonfiction books “Walking the Old Road: A People’s History of Chippewa City and the Grand Marais Anishinaabe” and “Seven Aunts” were published 2019 and 2022, and the children’s story “A Family Tree” in 2024.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/09/nibi-chronicles-the-gift-of-manoomin/

Staci Lola Drouillard

Northeast Ohio composters reduce emissions from food waste, one pile at a time

By Zaria Johnson, Ideastream Public Media

This story was originally published by Ideastream.

In Northeast Ohio, composting is becoming more common due, in part, to local organizations sharing knowledge, resources and the benefits of composting for the planet.

Leftovers often end up in the trash rather than in our stomachs.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/09/northeast-ohio-composters-reduce-emissions-from-food-waste-one-pile-at-a-time/

Ideastream Public Media

Oberlin Food Hub brings fresh produce to Ohio’s food banks while supporting local farmers

By Zaria Johnson, Ideastream Public Media

This story was originally published by Ideastream.

One in seven Ohioans faces food insecurity, according to Feeding America. This story is part of a “Sound of Us” series in partnership with Lorain County’s Second Harvest Food Bank.

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Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/08/oberlin-food-hub-brings-fresh-produce-to-ohios-food-banks-while-supporting-local-farmers/

Ideastream Public Media

A Fleeting Wild Taste of Spring Ephemerals: Ramps and Ostrich Fern

This story is a part of “A Year in the Wild Kitchen of the Great Lakes,” a series in partnership with expert forager Lisa M. Rose with the mission of nurturing a deeper connection with the natural world through foraging. 

The Importance of Ecological Awareness in Foraging

As we delve into the world of foraging, it’s crucial to cultivate an understanding of the ecosystems we interact with, especially when harvesting wild plants like ramps (wild leeks) and ostrich ferns.

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Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/04/a-fleeting-wild-taste-of-spring-ephemerals-ramps-and-ostrich-fern/

Lisa M. Rose

Good news for Michigan smelt season: PFAS levels lower than feared

By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan

The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit PBS; Michigan Public, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; and The Narwhal who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.

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Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/04/good-news-for-michigan-smelt-season-pfas-levels-lower-than-feared/

Bridge Michigan

Your Foraging Journey: A Framework to Sustainable and Safe Practices

Foraging connects us with the natural world, offering a pathway to understand the land, its cycles, and the bountiful edible plants that grow wild around us. Whether you’re a novice eager to explore the greens outside your doorstep or an experienced forager looking to deepen your practice, this guide provides essential insights into starting your foraging journey, identifying plants, harvesting sustainably, and ensuring safety.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/04/your-foraging-journey-a-framework-to-sustainable-and-safe-practices/

Lisa M. Rose

Twenty companies pledge to use all parts of Great Lakes fish by 2025

This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.

By Shealyn Paulis, Great Lakes Echo

Fish-leather purses and wallets may make their way into Great Lakes fashion with an initiative to use 100% of commercially caught fish by 2025.

One of the latest projects of a binational Great Lakes organization is to fully use the region’s whitefish, lake trout, yellow perch, walleye and white sucker.

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Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/01/twenty-companies-pledge-to-use-all-parts-of-great-lakes-fish-by-2025/

Great Lakes Echo

‘A valuable resource’: Traverse City restaurants aim to reduce food waste, greenhouse gases

By Izzy Ross, Interlochen Public Radio

This coverage is made possible through a partnership between IPR and Grist, a nonprofit independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future.

On an early Thursday evening, people are seated around the dining room of Trattoria Stella, an Italian restaurant on the ground floor of the Grand Traverse Commons, just outside the city’s downtown area.

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Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/01/a-valuable-resource-traverse-city-restaurants-aim-to-reduce-food-waste-greenhouse-gases/

Interlochen Public Radio

I Speak for the Fish: Carp are crazy about corn

I Speak for the Fish is a monthly column written by Great Lakes Now Contributor Kathy Johnson, coming out the third Monday of each month. Publishing the author’s views and assertions does not represent endorsement by Great Lakes Now or Detroit Public Television. 

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/11/i-speak-for-the-fish-carp-are-crazy-about-corn/

Kathy Johnson

Eat Your Heartland Out: You, Too, Can Be a Galley Steward

Eat Your Heartland Out is a Taste Awards nominated  program about the intersection of food and culture in the American Midwest. The show is produced by the Heritage Radio Network, a leader in culinary audio storytelling and distributed on the Public Radio Exchange (PRX), which provides content to public radio affiliates across the United States.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/08/eat-your-heartland-out-can-be-galley-steward/

Capri S. Cafaro

Eat Your Heartland Out: Great Wine on the Great Lakes

Eat Your Heartland Out is a Taste Awards nominated  program about the intersection of food and culture in the American Midwest. The show is produced by the Heritage Radio Network, a leader in culinary audio storytelling and distributed on the Public Radio Exchange (PRX), which provides content to public radio affiliates across the United States.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/07/eat-your-heartland-out-great-wine-great-lakes/

Capri S. Cafaro

Eat Your Heartland Out: Touring Thunder Bay’s Craft Brewery Scene

Eat Your Heartland Out is a Taste Awards nominated  program about the intersection of food and culture in the American Midwest. The show is produced by the Heritage Radio Network, a leader in culinary audio storytelling and distributed on the Public Radio Exchange (PRX), which provides content to public radio affiliates across the United States.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/07/eat-your-heartland-out-touring-thunder-bays-craft-brewery-scene/

Capri S. Cafaro

Eat Your Heartland Out: How to Feed A Great Lakes Freighter Crew

Eat Your Heartland Out is a Taste Awards nominated  program about the intersection of food and culture in the American Midwest. The show is produced by the Heritage Radio Network, a leader in culinary audio storytelling and distributed on the Public Radio Exchange (PRX), which provides content to public radio affiliates across the United States.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/06/eat-your-heartland-out-how-to-feed-great-lakes-freighter-crew/

Capri S. Cafaro

Culinary masters aboard Great Lakes freighters: Navigating the high seas of flavor

Freighters are mysterious creatures, grazing the horizon at what seems a glacier’s pace, laden with commodities like coal or iron ore.  We accept them as part of the Great Lakes’ landscape, but we don’t often think about what it takes to run them. 

It turns out, it takes a sizable team.

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Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/05/culinary-masters-great-lakes-freighters-navigating-high-seas-flavor/

Capri S. Cafaro

These 3 Detroit restaurants are tackling climate change in the kitchen

By Nina Ignaczak, Planet Detroit

This story is part of a collaborative series from the Institute for Nonprofit News, Planet Detroit, Tostada Magazine, Energy News Network, The Land, and Borderless Magazine examining climate resilience across the Great Lakes.

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Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/01/detroit-restaurants-tackling-climate-change-kitchen/

Institute for Nonprofit News

Ian Outside: A Drummond Island summer recap … as winter gets here

Editor’s Note: Look for coverage of Great Lakes recreation and adventure in this new monthly feature. The author, Ian Solomon, founded Amplify Outside, a nonprofit dedicated to increasing access and representation by Black people in the outdoors, starting in the Great Lakes region. Find more about him HERE.

Life slows, that’s what I’ve come to love most about the changing seasons especially in the Great Lakes.

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Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/12/drummond-island-summer-recap-as-winter-gets-here/

Ian Solomon

Opposition to CAFOs Mounts Across the Nation

By Keith Schneider, Circle of Blue

The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/12/opposition-to-cafos-mounts-across-nation/

Circle of Blue

Know Your State Foods

Do you know if your state has an official food or drink? If you live in the Great Lakes region, chances are your state boasts multiple official foods, drinks and even crops. Some of them – not all – a part of the region’s water-related culture, history and traditions.

Each state chooses their respective official delicacy for a variety of reasons.

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Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/know-your-state-foods/

Capri S. Cafaro

Coastal craft beers come to Lake Superior

“Craft beers inspired by Lake Superior.”

That’s how Sleeping Giant Brewing Company describes its menu. Founded in 2012, this Canadian beer brand was the first independent brewery to open in Thunder Bay, Ontario. And its beer is more than just inspired by the lake.

Sleeping Giant uses roughly 50,000 liters of lake water per month to produce beers with colorful names like Northern Logger and Mr.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/coastal-craft-beers-come-to-lake-superior/

Capri S. Cafaro

Minnesota Ojibwe harvest sacred, climate-imperiled wild rice

By Giovanna Dell’Orto, Associated Press

ON LEECH LAKE, Minnesota (AP) — Seated low in her canoe sliding through a rice bed on this vast lake, Kendra Haugen used one wooden stick to bend the stalks and another to knock the rice off, so gently the stalks sprung right back up.

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Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/09/ap-minnesota-ojibwe-harvest-sacred-wild-rice/

The Associated Press

Detroit and Toronto among Time Magazine’s “50 Greatest Places”

Two Great Lakes cities are among “The World’s 50 Greatest Places of 2022” as compiled by Time magazine.

Detroit and Toronto made the list along with destinations on all the continents and in outer space. The magazine said the list came from its “international network of correspondents and contributors, with an eye toward those (destinations) offering new and exciting experiences.”

What puts these key Great Lakes cities in such company?

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Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/07/detroit-toronto-time-50-greatest-places/

Sandra Svoboda

The Great Lakes sugaring season is changing

An area like the Great Lakes that has rain and higher temperatures in the summer, followed by a cold, snowy winter, is best suited for maple production.

But the Great Lakes maple season is evolving as climate change increasingly impacts maple syrup production with shorter harvest seasons, less sugar production and unreliable sap flow.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/great-lakes-sugaring-season/

Capri S. Cafaro

Small portions: Michigan puts PFAS advisory on Lake Superior rainbow smelt

By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan

The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/03/pfas-advisory-lake-superior-rainbow-smelt/

Bridge Michigan

Thousand Island Dressing Mystery: Uncertain origins of one of America’s favorite sauces

What do you get when you mix mayonnaise, a vaudeville star, two swanky hotels and a fisherman’s wife?

If you guessed Thousand Island dressing and an age-old mystery, you’d be correct. 

Today, Thousand Island dressing is bottled and sold in grocery stores nationwide. You may even find a simplified version of the dressing (mayonnaise, ketchup or tomato puree, and pickle relish) at your favorite burger spot, masquerading as their “special” or “secret” sauce.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/07/thousand-island-dressing-uncertain-origins/

Rachel Duckett

PFAS News Roundup: PFAS in Lake Superior smelt, McDonalds drops PFAS packaging, White House weakened EPA guidelines

PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of widespread man-made chemicals that don’t break down in the environment or the human body and have been flagged as a major contaminant in sources of water across the country.

Keep up with PFAS-related developments in the Great Lakes area.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/01/pfas-news-lake-superior-smelt-wisconsin-settlement-mcdonalds-epa/

Natasha Blakely

Great Lakes Gift Guide 2020: Remember that road trip, boat ride, microbrew or sweatshirt you should’ve bought with this list

Want to give your loved ones a holiday gift that connects to that summer trip up north or the fall color tour you took together? 

Or maybe you have a trip planned for after the COVID-19 vaccines have been distributed and want to give them something to remind them they have something to look forward to. 

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/12/great-lakes-gift-guide-2020-list/

Natasha Blakely

Virus threat creates unease in Michigan summer tourism haven

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Clare Nagrant earns her living from tourism, so she’s taken a beating during the coronavirus-imposed shutdown. A few months ago, she was juggling four jobs. Now she’s down to one part-time gig with a distillery that stayed open by adding hand sanitizer to its product line.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/05/ap-coronavirus-covid-19-michigan-traverse-city-tourism/

The Associated Press