Hello World! Welcome to Michigan! Here, frolicking on the sunny lakeshores, blanketed under lake effect snow (but not his year), or strolling through a music festival with our friends, we Michiganders embrace life to the fullest.
We love Michigan!
I am a Michigan native and a Michigan lover, and I shall be your host on this glorious voyage though all kinds of folky adventures in our beloved state. Folky… reveling in exuberant life and love, sharing heart-felt music and dance, working toward a better world for all… crafting, carving, hiking, cooking… deep conversations and good beer… hugging trees, animals, and everyone you meet… art, art , ART!
My friends, the fantastic Fauxgrass Quartet, playing at Harvest Gathering 2011.
A longtime hiking, flower-smelling, player-in-the-forest, I have fallen in love with the idea of natural living whole-heartedly in the last year. Although it is- as counter-intuitive as it seems- more difficult and costly to transition to a natural and organically-based life, I have realized that I cannot knowingly embrace a life that is intrinsically harmful to everything beautiful and true in this world.
Our world is far to precious...
So I started taking steps. I started shopping more and more at the Farmers’ Market, a stronghold of our West Michigan community. I fell in love with cooking, and began to cook with mostly fresh and organic foods, developing my culinary skills in both tasty and healthy ways. This past year, my friend and I planted and harvested an organic garden in her backyard, and I learned that freshly picked purple beans rank among the world’s delicacies. I planted several semi-successful container gardens, watering them faithfully, and mourned when the lack of sun in my backyard led to eggplant death. I have been working on saving, recycling, and upcycling everything from mason jars to old tee-shirts (once I get it running, you can see my craftiness in my etsy store). I unsuccessfully started a small compost before I realized that my current apartment setup simply is not conducive to one; then I started saving my compostables to contribute to my friends’. I check out just about every book on homesteading and organic farming that comes across my desk at the library, and devour them voraciously. I still have a very long way to go to make a real dent in the world, but the more I get involved, the more enthused I find myself…
Foraging in the fall forest
In the words of May Erlewine, one of Michigan’s most beautiful souls,
“What makes you alive? It’s not what you take; It’s all that you give…” …what wisdom…
Here we go, my lovelies!
-Alex
MittenFolk 