Posts filed under Issue #75

What Should We Ask Of Our Ten-Year-Olds?

It’s no secret that it’s a challenging full-time job to raise our children to be capable, contributing adults, especially during a pandemic. Yet, we don’t want to miss that critical middle ground to develop our children’s life skills—the window between the delight of infants starting to walk and the anxiety of teens starting to drive. Since we all have much more time at home with our kids right now, it’s a good time to practice these practical skills. When my own kids started to launch into their adult lives, it was suddenly and starkly apparent that the base of any competency had started years ago.

A Page from the Crazy Wisdom Journal — A Look at Our First 25 Years

By Kirsten Mowrey and CWJ Editorial Staff

(Editor’s Note: Kirsten Mowrey has been a steady journalistic presence on the Crazy Wisdom Journal staff for close to ten years. She has contributed numerous feature stories and interviews for us, including cover stories on Tiya Miles, professor of American Culture, Afroamerican Studies, and History at U-M, and Functional Nutritionist Coco Newton). 

Think back in time to twenty-five years ago. The year was 1995. You may have had kids, just out of school and starting your first career, or maybe you weren’t even born yet. People communicated by calling each other on landlines, though cell phones were beginning to appear. Magazines came with discs offering you a new service: America Online. When you turned on your computer (if you even owned one!), you watched it warm up, startup icon blinking for ten minutes before it was able to slowly process your requests.  

However, this article isn’t a nostalgic trip about the good old days. I’m setting the scene, reminding us of how things used to be before technology made our lives so fast and full. Before we could access information as fast as we could think of it. It's a reminder of the world that existed when the Crazy Wisdom Community Journal was born and introducing you to some of the reasons why it was ushered into this world. 

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The local community connected in those early days via word of mouth, bulletin board, or flyer. Finding a holistic practitioner was a time-consuming business of searching, questioning like-minded friends, and visiting events to learn more about nutrition, bodywork, energy healing, midwifery, or anything that constituted the mystery traditions: astrology, herbalism, tarot, Kabbalah, numerology, Neopaganism, and Gnosticism, to name a few. These often denigrated disciplines had spent centuries living on the edges of western culture—never part of the mainstream, yet never fading. The counterculture of the 1960s, its interest in leftist politics and consciousness, brought awareness to these practices, along with the religions and practices of Asia: Buddhism, Hinduism, yoga, Feng shui, Zen, and meditation. All of these interests found a home at Crazy Wisdom Bookstore, founded in 1982.  The store bridged, as U-M Philosophy Professor Emeritus Richard Gull said, “the connection between the New Left and the New Age.”  

Deep Spring Founder Barbara Brodsky recalled, “When I moved to Ann Arbor in 1968, and sought people with whom to meditate, there was nothing! I was delighted to see Crazy Wisdom open its doors in 1982 and meet a few people with similar interests while browsing for books. So many of us longed for connection and dialogue. Later in the 1980s, I began to open my home to people interested in meditation instruction and to talk with Aaron (a channeled entity). It was hard to reach people in those days. Word of mouth worked best, and flyers left in the bookstore. So many of us desperately longed for a forum, a way to exchange ideas, offerings, and to get to know each other.”  

Lori Fithiandrummer and community builderHow is it possible that 25 years have gone by so fast!? It really does seem like yesterday, when I first approached Bill about offering an open drum circle in the store. It has actually been so long ago, that…

Lori Fithian

drummer and community builder

How is it possible that 25 years have gone by so fast!? It really does seem like yesterday, when I first approached Bill about offering an open drum circle in the store. It has actually been so long ago, that I can’t remember when we first started doing it—I will have to go back to the archives of the CW Journal to find out. I am glad to know that they have a hard-bound archive in the store—such a rich history of activity in our special community!

I want to say a huge public thank you to Bill and Ruth for their support, in my own path of drumming—in the store and out in the community—but mostly for offering such an important resource to Ann Arbor. The journal is like an encyclopedia of information—so many treasures to discover—nutrition, wellness, spirituality, music, people, places, events and more. And I always enjoy the interviews—I love reading the stories of how people get to where they are now. The Journal has certainly helped me maintain my ‘business’ presence in the community, listing my events and monthly drum circle dates at the store, and sometimes a feature photo—which is always a bit embarrassing! If I ever need to find a practitioner of any sort, I head to my latest copy of the Journal first, even before an internet search!

I send huge gratitude and congratulations to everyone who puts together this lovely Ann Arbor treasure, to all that support it by advertising their amazing services and products, and to all the special people who read and love it like I do! May it (and the store!) live on for many more years to come!

Nutritionist Cindy Klement remembers going to Crazy Wisdom in the very early 1990s. “In the back of the store was an 8-1/2” x 11” four-page Crazy Wisdom flyer with the names of about 80 individuals in Ann Arbor who were practicing some form of holistic healing in town. (It was called the Health and Healing Resource Guide, and had been created and produced by Jonathan Ellis.) I was honored to be one of the people on that list as an herbalist, nutritionist, and health educator.” Having a physical location was the first, and sometimes only connection, point for many in Ann Arbor in those days. Mainstream publications, newspapers, and television did not cover these areas. Sound shaman Norma Gentile said, “As a student at the University (and of all things metaphysical) I scanned the mounds of flyers on the billboard and picked out many events to attend. As I became a performer and energy healer myself, I found few resources to widely publicize events that were classified by mainstream magazines and newspapers as being within this brave new world.”

Into this brave new world, the world of the dreams of the baby boomers, hippies, spiritual seekers, and political wonks was born the Crazy Wisdom Bookstore. Over time, the store needed a voice. Flyers are good, but collecting them, merging them, and creating a chorus from the individual components—that was the needed next step. So, in the fall of 1995 those flyers on the bulletin board became a publication: the first Crazy Wisdom Calendar, put together by bookstore staffer Rachel McKee. It featured yoga, Reiki, Polarity Therapy, and a vegetarian Thanksgiving cooking class, because meatless meals were an anomaly in the Midwest. Within a year the Calendar was multiple pages and had begun featuring interviews with local practitioners.  As publisher Bill Zirinsky wrote in September 1996, “This is not northern California, but Ann Arbor’s alternative community has matured and thrived over the last twenty-five years. A new generation has arrived and added to the richness and diversity of what is being offered here. This fourth edition contains 150 listings; it's exciting to take note of just how alive this community is!”

Photography appeared in 1997, adding faces to those featured interviews, as well as quotes, book reviews, and staff biographies. Like any young being, the Journal found its legs and took off running. By 1998, the community had grown enough that advertising debuted, listing practitioners as full-blown businesses, not merely people offering an occasional lecture or class. Psychologist Cam Vozar wrote, “As a practitioner, the Journal was supportive in starting my private practice business. Twenty-five years ago EMDR and transpersonal therapies were not accepted as alternatives to more traditional psychotherapy. I could advertise a lecture for free and a business card listing for a modest price. I always felt it was a good return on my energetic investment.”

As the “alternative” community became mainstream, nationally known speakers were promoted in the Calendar: Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Marianne Williamson, Susun Weed. Williamson was even interviewed in the Calendar while she was at the Church of Today, but only because she was local. Zirinsky said, “My aspirations were to make this an intelligent magazine about these subjects, but locally focused. That's really been key. We all get to read Tricycle or SageWoman or any of the others that are national magazines about our related content. But to say [that] there’s enough interesting material in Ann Arbor and in the southeastern Michigan region that we're not going to do any sort of syndicated articles—what we're doing is pretty cool. We’re not going to have Deepak Chopra in the Crazy Wisdom Journal. Even if he comes to town. We might put his event in our Calendar section, but we're not going to feature an article about it.” 

Crazy Wisdom Bookstore moved in 1999 as if readying itself for the new millennium. Writing about the move in one of his very occasional notes in the January 1999 Crazy Wisdom Calendar, Zirinsky wrote, “We want to create a more permanent home (in a world of impermanence) for a countercultural haven.” Reflecting on the arrival of Whole Foods and the growth of the Calendar, he wrote, “In this town, the counterculture has become part of the culture, and we don’t even stop to think about it much.” Psychotherapist Brian O’Donnell agrees. He said, “I’m proud to be a member of a community that has such a well-crafted and comprehensive journal that covers the domains of consciousness, healing, and engaged civic life. This journal continues to grow and flower sprouting new branches that showcase the wide array of opportunities for well-being and contribution in our area. I often marvel at the incredible variety of offerings and practitioners that occurs here in my back yard.”

Zirinsky published sporadic personal essays, as well as comments on community and world events, until about 2010.But his voice was mostly to be found as the questioner in lengthy and in-depth interviews with local community figures. He conducted deeply engaging interviews with herbalist Brownen Gates; Jewel Heart founder and Tibetan Buddhist teacher Gehlek Rimpoche; integrative physician Dr. James Neuenschwander of BioEnergy Medical Center; Author and Psychic John Friedlander; Traktung Rinpoche and Tsochen Khandro, husband-and-wife founders of Flaming Jewel Dharma Center; legendary U-M Psychology-and-Religion Professor Richard Mann; Carole Lapidos and Sally Wisotzkey on Raising Strong and Confident Daughters; Zen Buddhist Priestess Haju Sunim; and Dr. Tariq Bel-Bahar of the U-M Center for Consciousness Science, among other notable interviews. Meanwhile, Linda Diane Feldt and Jonathan Ellis also contributed in-depth interviews with the likes of Barbara Brodsky, founder of Deep Spring Center; Dancer/Choreographer Jesse Richards; and Dr. Sara Warber, key player in the founding of the U-M Complementary and Integrative Medicine Program. 

Cindy Klementholistic health educator and authorI am not sure if Bill wants memories from before he owned the store, but I recall going to Crazy Wisdom in the very late 1980s. At the time Aura Glaser owned the store and it was located on 4th Avenue …

Cindy Klement

holistic health educator and author

I am not sure if Bill wants memories from before he owned the store, but I recall going to Crazy Wisdom in the very late 1980s. At the time Aura Glaser owned the store and it was located on 4th Avenue close to People's Food Co Op.

In the back of the store she had an 8 1/2” x 11” piece of paper with the names of about 8 to 10 individuals in Ann Arbor who were practicing some form of holistic healing in town. I was honored to be one of the people on that list as an herbalist, nutritionist, and health educator.

Because of the work and passion of Bill Zirinsky, that single sheet of paper is now a robust and well-known journal across the state of Michigan and beyond. Bill has continuously featured health practitioners in the Ann Arbor area over the decades and has been a strong advocate for those of us in the healing arts. I have been extremely fortunate to have my work featured in CW twice over the past 28 years, and I remain quite grateful for those opportunities.

Please congratulate Bill for me and offer my sincere thanks to everyone who has contributed to this work!

The Journal continued to expand. Back in 2001, 4,500 copies were distributed. For the last ten years, 11,000 copies have been distributed all over southeastern Michigan. Tarot reader and sage woman Jeanne Adwani said, “Through its informative pages you can find pretty much anyone and anything that is resonant with health and well-being, to crafting the magical, and so much more in the in-between. Events, interviews, advertisements, new faces, old faces, all invite us to know our community better, and know whom to find when we are in need for alternative expertise. And also, to simply sit with a cuppa and read through the informative pages of the many incredible people and opportunities that surround us.”

In 2004 the Calendar officially became the Crazy Wisdom Community Journal. Color—the ultraviolet kind—adorned the cover as well as photographs, so artists’ work could be seen in all its original glory, though color didn’t make its way throughout the Journal until 2010. By the mid-2000s, the Journal was regularly reaching fifty pages, a ten-fold growth from its inception. Also, in 2010, the Journal came full circle with the addition of a Kids Section, giving the next generation a chance to look into a broader world. Now multi-generational and mainstream, the community publication sustained itself financially, and offered all the dreams and aspirations of the sixties to anyone receptive. Haju Sunim of the Zen Buddhist Center said, “We are so much more a community in this part of our state because of the Crazy Wisdom Journal. Our hearts and minds have been opened and many of us, discovered, through the fine articles, pictures, books, performances, and talks which have been offered.”

 O’Donnell concurs with this statement. “The Crazy Wisdom Journal, like the many expressions of wholeness it features, is also itself a healing presence. It illuminates, it integrates, it challenges, it links, and it explores what is below the surface.”

As the years went on, the publication grew into a real team effort. In the early years, the publication was largely produced by Zirinsky and Molly Nuzzo, who was the creative and dedicated Design and Production Editor for 15 years. Local psychotherapist Linda Lawson took many of the best cover photos, and the advertisements just sold themselves. And Sarah Newland, now the General Manager of the Bookstore, meticulously oversaw and edited the Calendar Section, (which she did for almost 20 years). 

Starting in 2010, two key players joined up, and the Journal began to take off. Carol Karr, who had been a longtime manager at the bookstore, became the Design and Production Editor, when Nuzzo moved to Maryland to become a professor of Art.

Karr brought new design and computer skills and talents to the look of the publication, and she provided a steady hand at the helm of the entire production process.

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And Rory Russell joined up, becoming the Ad Rep, using her charm and soothing presence to double the publication’s ad sales almost right away, tapping into a well of appreciation for the local focus, journalistic integrity, and visual appeal of the Journal.

Next came some stronger and skilled editing, with Maureen McMahon, Amy Garber, Julianne Linderman, and, more recently, Jennifer Carson. McMahon, as Managing Editor, lifted the range and quality of the content, and Linderman, later on in that same role, brought a striking minimalist design sensibility to many of the page designs. Carson, now the Managing Editor, has brought with her an astonishing range of editorial and design abilities. With real verve, she jump-started The Crazy Wisdom Weeky e-Zine during the pandemic, as a complement to the print publication, which had to take a pause during the coronoavirus lockdown. 

Having stronger editors meant better writers wanted to write for the Journal, and so Rachel Urist, Sandor Slomovits, Karl Pohrt, Richard Gull, Laura Cowan, Crysta Coburn, Madeleine Diehl, Irena Nagler, Maureen McMahon, Angela Madaras and others became regular contributors and feature writers. In particular, Rachel Urist contributed sensitive and beautifully written profiles of local people who were members “in good standing” of the regional consciousness community, including cover stories on Cantor Annie Rose of Temple Beth Emeth; Anthroposophist Marian Leon of the thriving Rudolf Steiner community in town; Tantre Farm couple Deb Lentz and Richard Andres; Blue Turtle Camp founders Frank Levey and Larissa Czuchnowsky; and again, a profile of Haju Sunim of the Zen Temple, only 20 years later! 

Sandor Slomovits contributed wonderful narratives and interviews, including cover stories on Paul Tinkerhess and the Water Hill Music Festival; beloved Community Farm couple Annie Elder and Paul Bantle; Fair Food Network founder Oran Hesterman; and fifty years of the Ecology Center. And McMahon brought her keen intelligence to stories on tile craftswoman Nawal Motawi, U-M Jazz and Consciousness Professor Ed Sarath, and local Pioneer High philosophy teacher, Jim Robert.

Meanwhile, the decline of print media came with a bonus for the Journal—excellent new photographers coming on board, such as Rachael Waring, Susan Ayer, Joni Strickfaden, and Hilary Nichols, among others. All in all, the publication became thicker, more colorful, deeper, and more wide-ranging in its editorial content. A food section was added, plus travel, pets, sustainable health, green living, and yoga columns. A veritable feast of good local writing, photography, original illustrations, events, and information.

Here we are now, twenty-five years later. “Because of the work and passion of Bill Zirinsky, that four-page flyer is now a robust and well-known journal across the state of Michigan and beyond,” said Klement.  San Slomovits, of the duo Gemini and a writer for the Journal said, “I often find things in the Journal that turn out to be interesting and useful in my life.” Zirinsky himself said, “The Journal has grown into this really wonderful realization of what I wanted it to be. I was a publishing person since I was a kid. The gift that meant the most to me when I was nine was a little printing press. The rest of [the paper] was already done but you got to create the headline. I [also] played a card game with fifty cards, each card with a little face of a person and a profession. What appealed to me: it was publisher.”

Jeanne Adwaniartist and poetCrazy Wisdom Journal is a gift of service to the whole community. Through its informative pages you can find pretty much anyone and anything that is resonant with health and well-being, to crafting the magical, and so muc…

Jeanne Adwani

artist and poet

Crazy Wisdom Journal is a gift of service to the whole community. Through its informative pages you can find pretty much anyone and anything that is resonant with health and well-being, to crafting the magical, and so much more in the in between.

Events, interviews, advertisements, new faces, old faces, all invite us to know our community better, know whom to find when we are in need for alternative expertise. And also, to simply sit with a cuppa and read through the informative pages of the many incredible people and opportunities that surround us. We are made better for having this service gifted to us three times a year.

I have had the honor to be part of Bill and Ruth’s journey before the advent of the Journal. My gratitude is vast for knowing them and being on the pages of this great community paper. Thanks Ruth and Bill.

It is with great love that I say thank you to all whom make this journal a true community experience.

When I contacted individuals for their memories about the Journal, drummer Lori Fithian wrote, “How is it possible that 25 years have gone by so fast!? It really does seem like yesterday when I first approached Bill about offering an open drum circle in the store. The Journal is like an encyclopedia of information—so many treasures to discover—nutrition, wellness, spirituality, music, people, places, events, and more. I always enjoy the interviews. I love reading the stories of how people get to where they are now.” Everyone I corresponded with expressed their thanks, gratitude, and appreciation of the Journal for the way it had assisted them personally and professionally, and for the benefit of the greater community as a whole.

What then, do the next twenty-five years look like? Zirinsky said, “It’s a  dream that’s been realized, but it's still evolving. I'm not tired of its evolution. It's cool what the publication is doing.” The Journal has an online presence and growing that is the current focus. “[I want] more feedback,” said Zirinsky, “That's where the online piece matters to me. And with the pandemic, Jennifer Carson started The Crazy Wisdom Weekly, a breezier online weekly e-zine. We get to do what we’re doing with the Journal still, and we’re committed to its in-depth articles and interviews, but we now also have a more timely way to engage our regional readership.”

Desires for peace, an end to war, and hopes for harmony characterized the consciousness movements of the sixties and continue to be relevant for the community. In an interview with social worker, Gae Winn, on the one-year anniversary of September 11th, she said, “I want people to wake up: to the knowledge that we are one planet and one community. We are diverse, unique, but the hatred with which we approach one another, the disdain and negativity, has got to stop for the sake of us all.” Giving voice to our hopes for harmony, internal and external, and building community around our passions, celebrations, struggles and joys, the Journal reflects our community in all its many facets.  

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Preserving the Emerald Arc: The Legacy Land Conservancy Celebrates 50 Years

In 2021, the Legacy Land Conservancy will be celebrating its 50th anniversary. The Conservancy is a nonprofit, the first certified land trust in Michigan and one of the first in the nation, was originally named the Washtenaw Land Trust (WLT) and was founded in 1971 by a number of people in Ann Arbor to protect the Bird Hills Nature Area and other land along the Huron River. Legacy has grown from that modest beginning to holding 82 conservation easements and seven nature preserves, protecting over 9,200 acres of land in Washtenaw and Jackson Counties.

The Crazy Wisdom Community Journal A 25 Year Journey

2020 marks 25 years that The Crazy Wisdom Community Journal has been in print. What an exciting and celebratory journey! What started out as a thin black-and-white publication focusing on holistically-oriented events in the area has grown into a 120+ page full-color regional magazine with glossy covers, and a vibrant freelance staff of writers, photographers, editors, illustrators, page designers, distribution helpers, calendar proofers, and ad salespeople.

Random Acts of Kindness-- Saved By the Squirrels

From the moment I woke up, I knew it was going to be a bad day. Not because it was a Monday, though that didn’t help. And the cold rain pelting against my windows didn’t help, either. No, I knew that it was guaranteed to be a Very Bad Day because I had slept through my alarm clock and woke up two hours late. I’m in business for myself so normally my boss would have cut me some slack, but on this particular Monday, I was on deadline to write an article and hand it in by 5 p.m.—just seven hours away. I didn’t have a first draft and hadn’t even decided on a topic yet. Sometimes, with the help of adrenaline, I can wing it, but I was sure that I wouldn’t be able to this time.

Posted on September 1, 2020 and filed under Animals, Around town, Columns, Issue #75, kindness.

Kintsugi and the Art of Mending the Broken Heart

Try to remember a time you held something fragile in your hands. You were so careful not to damage it by holding too tightly, but your grip had to be firm enough to keep it secure. Now, imagine that in the next moment it slips from your fingertips and falls to the ground in slow motion. You know that whether you swipe at it or stand in frozen disbelief, the end result is the same. You are left gaping at the broken pieces and wishing you could take back the last three seconds.

Posted on September 1, 2020 and filed under Healing, Issue #75, Wellness.

Plant Medicine and Magic

When people ask what drew me to herbalism, there are two stories that I tell. One is of my time working in the Mojave desert, where my boss—a botanist by training—would point out various native plants and tell me snippets of how the indigenous people of the area used them for food or medicine (he always spoke of this in the past tense). For him, it was an interesting tidbit of information, but I thought, “couldn’t we still?” This story is true, but the deeper truth goes back many years, to my childhood.

Psychic Shields - Protecting Yourself from Negative Energies

The moon hid behind clouds in the night sky, as I stumbled my way through fresh snow headed for the barn. Even using my cell phone as a flashlight, I was barely able to see two steps in front of me. Crossing the threshold in the dark, I could sense the mold and mustiness that clung to the wooden structure, which appeared quite new. I reminded myself to even my breathing, while searching for a light switch, which I finally found behind the door.

Posted on September 1, 2020 and filed under Intuition, Issue #75, Pagan, Psychics and Tarot.

Pandemic Q+A’s for the Community Leaders on our Anniversary Cover

For our 25th Anniversary Issue, we invited eight well-respected leaders in the regional conscious living community, all of whom have been on our cover before, to gather together for a cover photo shoot to help us celebrate. (Plus, since it was our anniversary issue, we asked our founder/publisher, too.)

It turned out to be on Thursday, March 12th, the eve of the national pandemic lockdown.

Thankfully, they are all well, and so we asked them to tell us what they have been up to since that fateful evening, and what they have been thinking about during these months of sheltering in place. Here are their answers…

Healers of Ann Arbor

You can try a new type of massage or read a chiropractor’s online reviews, but how do you really know when a healing modality is right for you? This new column, from tech and wellness journalist and meditation coach Laura K. Cowan goes in depth with local healers to give you a behind the scenes look at what they really do to help people relax and heal.

Green Living: More Than the Three R’s: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle… Rot

When thinking about ways to be more sustainable, recycling is often the first option that comes to mind. Sustainability is often presented to us in the neat and tidy rule of three: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. However, recycling should actually be viewed more as a last-ditch effort since most materials can only be recycled a few times before hitting the landfill. Instead, the focus needs to be centered around the Five R’s: Refuse unsustainable products, Reduce the amount of resources you consume, Reuse or repurpose what you can, and Recycle anything possible before jumping directly to your trash can as the easiest method of disposal.

Stepping Into The Current of Wisdom

I recently came across a photo of an autumn leaf inside a hand. The veins of the leaf lined up with the lifelines of the palm, blending into one another. A beautiful image of our interconnectedness. I think of the psyche similarly, as an extension of nature, an invisible landscape with its various terrains, different weather patterns, and inhabitants.

Tea Time With Peggy-- Tea for Energy

To say that it is an interesting year would be an understatement. At best it feels like a surreal dream has covered the landscape of Michigan. Never in my life did I think that toilet paper would be worth more than gold, that I would long for more than just an intimate gathering of a few family members, that I would be sharing internet time with children going to school—let alone have the energy to keep up with them! Some days my brain is so foggy that I would need a better jump start than what a good strong cup of black or Oolong tea could offer. So, as an alternative to true tea, I have turned to tea combined with yerba mate.

A Conversation with Erin Stohl and Dan DeSena about Somatic-Oriented Psychotherapies

An Ann Arbor couple, Erin Stohl and Dan DeSena, has found a place within the local somatic psychotherapy community. I sat down with Stohl and DeSena, pre-pandemic, to learn about how they came to somatic psychotherapy, and how their experiences as somatic psychotherapists have impacted their relationship. Stohl and DeSena are both seeing patients via video chat and doing appointments by phone.

Covid, Death, and Living in Flow

I just got off the phone with my mom and sisters discussing funeral arrangements for my father. He has COVID and he is dying. For the last days, we have been having zoom calls for several hours with him by the grace and compassion of the Canadian field hospital staff who make an iPad available for us each day. We sing, we read poems, meditations, and prayers, and share everything from our heart that we want him to hear. He is not responding and he is breathing the way dying people do: with big gaps of not breathing followed by a few shallow breaths in a row. We know however, that dying people hear everything being said to them so we don’t shy away from giving him our song and deep communication.

CW Kids in the Community: Love You From My Head To-ma-toes: Ann Arbor’s Immersive Farming Programs For Kids

In a busy age, and now in a time that encourages outdoor activities and social distancing, how do parents help their kids get the most out of outside play time? I recently looked into starting a small cut flower farm on land next to our home. It’s an amazing opportunity to expand my daughter’s knowledge—from watering plants around the house to a full-scale growing operation. This plan may take a few years, if we ever get through the experimental stage, but it got me thinking about how modern parents can get their kids involved in gardening if they don’t have a lot of space in their yard or schedule. Now that Covid is in the picture, we also wanted to check in with local educational and farming programs to find out what is still scheduled for kids.

Vestergaard Farms: Pasture-Raised Local Meats and Local Foods

This past winter I was eager to visit the newly built storefront of Vestergaard Farm, attractively situated on the farm property. Along with their farm raised meat, the store offers other goods from Matty’s Bakery in Saline, Zingerman’s coffee and treats, Calder Dairy products, The Brinery products, Aldente Pasta, Amaizin Pop Popcorn, honey, bath products, maple syrup, eggs, and many other locally sourced items.

Great Tastes in Local Food, Fall 2020

These locally-owned businesses are doing their best to accomodate pandemic restrictions and keep both customers and employees safe. While these reviews were written pre-pandemic, we’ve provided updated hours and services, but due to frequent restriction changes, please give them a call before visiting.