“Zingies” is a nickname that’s found its way to our house, which can refer to the Delicatessen, the Roadhouse, or even the Bakehouse at Zingerman’s. Whatever your family calls it, if you live in the Ann Arbor area, you can expect that family or friends will want to eat out at this delightful dining destination. “Making food that’s safe for our guests” is one of the mottos of the many-faceted food palace, and it’s good to know in advance what will be safe for you.  

In the middle of the growing season in 2017, something brand new sprouted in Ann Arbor. Grown with care, the Michigan Flower Growers’ Cooperative was founded on July 5, 2017, and ran through the rest of the growing season with great success. Now, they’re approaching their second year of bringing locally-sourced flowers to southeast Michigan, serving everyone from local flower shops to DIY brides to individual consumers with beautiful blooms. 

Imagine a living thing that has an effect on almost every food you eat. It also plays a role in the trees you see, the weeds you pull, and the coffee you drink each morning. Our entire ecosystem would be radically changed if these beings were to disappear. Bees are the tiny, hard working, often pesky pollinators that so graciously play a part in maintaining the delicate ecosystem we share. We need them, desperately, to be able to do their job: pollinate.

There are few places left in our area where we can find natural gems that are virtually unknown yet created for the public’s use and enjoyment. Michigan State University owned and operated Hidden Lake Gardens is just one of those spots in Southeast Michigan within a short and scenic forty-five-minute drive from Ann Arbor. 

Hello, Spring! Hello sunny days, birds singing, flowers blooming, and green, green, green! Hello to light layers, wind on our skin, warmth in the air, and soft soil underfoot. Our planet is full of awakening and liveliness.

On the night before winter solstice in 2017, I was part of a small group that set out at dusk from the parking lot at Matthaei Botanical Gardens, carrying paper globes as we entered the adjacent woods on a footpath. Our guide, Ann Arbor artist and art teacher Cayla Samano, had distributed the lanterns beforehand. As darkness came down around us, the light-sensitive globes turned on, bright white orbs in the shadowy woods. Ice and snow crunched underfoot. We took our time, Cayla reminding us not to rush, asking us to slow our pace. 

Whether you’re a seasoned yogi or getting ready to roll out your mat for the first time, here you’ll find a variety of useful tips from local yoga instructor Katie Hoener. 

In the World of Dog, evening crazies are actually a thing, particularly in puppies. “International Puppy Zoomie Time” often occurs between 7:00-9:00 p.m., on a nightly basis, immediately before your new youngster crashes for the evening. You hope. Or, it may not be until the early hours of the morning.