Featured Articles from Issue 56
It’s almost Solstice, and I am in the Irish Hills at the Great Lakes Foragers Gathering. Now fourteen years old, the Gathering has grown from twelve people sitting down to a foraged dinner to a community of 350—the largest east of the Mississippi. Mifsud, Boyd, and Elaina Sims are all organizers of the Gathering as well as foragers in their own right. We sit in a long open-sided roofed structure overlooking a grass-swathed hollow dotted with tents and scattered groups of people while I interview them. Along the rim of the hollow, I spot vendors with plants, glassware, salves, baskets, jewelry, ceramics, and a long line in front of a bakery. A steaming pot sits in the middle of a stone-rimmed fire circle at the center of the depression.
So far 2026 may have felt like being a backseat passenger in a car driving on the most uneven terrain. We’ve had long orbital planets changing signs, and some of them clustered together in Aries, making the world stage feel edgy. We had a mercurial summer requiring us to adjust to last-minute changes. On the plus side, this may have included revisiting comforting places we haven’t been in years. To top it off, we just had the lunar eclipse on August 28 in dreamy Pisces, so it’s completely understandable if you feel unsettled. I wish I could tell you it is smooth sailing here on out, but there’s more to come.
For some of us, getting our hair cut is an experience. It isn’t often that we allow other people so close into our personal space, touching our heads, changing the way the world literally sees us. For me, it is a way to allow myself to be cared for—pampered even–which is not something many people get enough of. We all need to be taken care of sometimes, but it requires the right environment. It requires trust. Getting my hair done is also a kind of ritual; a way to reset when I need to reconnect with myself.
For many, ghost stories belong solely to the crisp nights of October. But for Crysta K. Coburn and Kay Gray, the minds behind the Haunted Mitten Podcast, the eerie history of the Great Lakes State is a year-round passion. Having recently wrapped up their seventh successful season, the duo has spent years transforming dusty library archives, maritime tragedies, and local folklore into a gripping, highly successful narrative podcast.
If it is important to you to remain strong, active, and thriving as you age, yoga can be one of your greatest allies. However, not all yoga practices are created equal, especially when it comes to aging well. So, what should you actually be focusing on in your yoga practice to support your body in a meaningful, sustainable way? Let’s take a closer look.
In Hamtramck, a unique neighborhood establishment is redefining what it means to gather for a drink. Founded in 2023 by owner and creative director Zoey Ashwood, The Black Salt bridges the gap between a traditional craft cocktail bar and a dedicated space for metaphysics and ritual. For Ashwood, a former New York City painter, professional psychic, and lifelong practitioner of witchcraft, the integration of cocktails and magic is entirely natural.
In the living room of a farmstead outside Dexter, Michigan, a willow casket stands upright against the wall. It holds books for now, but eventually it will hold the woman who wove it. That woman is Michael Marie Schofield, a “fiber and funerary artisan.” Schofield weaves conventional basketry and dye work as well as teaches around Southeast Michigan. “But I also do funerary vessels,” she said. “I craft handmade caskets and burial trays and urns and plant dyed shrouds for use in more sustainable end of life options.”
Most Ann Arborites know the Leslie Science & Nature Center (LSNC) off Traver Road is free and open to the public. When was the last time you visited? Maybe you played around on the lawn, in the woods, or in the unique, tunneled playground on a school field trip. Or maybe you showed up for the Annual Earth Day Event or October’s Animal Haunts. The property is still there, better than ever, with a friendly crew to help you when you desire it. Some day you might just want to wander around, or let your mind relax on the Black Pond Woods nature trail.
More from Issue 56
So far 2026 may have felt like being a backseat passenger in a car driving on the most uneven terrain. We’ve had long orbital planets changing signs, and some of them clustered together in Aries, making the world stage feel edgy. We had a mercurial summer requiring us to adjust to last-minute changes. On the plus side, this may have included revisiting comforting places we haven’t been in years. To top it off, we just had the lunar eclipse on August 28 in dreamy Pisces, so it’s completely understandable if you feel unsettled. I wish I could tell you it is smooth sailing here on out, but there’s more to come.
If it is important to you to remain strong, active, and thriving as you age, yoga can be one of your greatest allies. However, not all yoga practices are created equal, especially when it comes to aging well. So, what should you actually be focusing on in your yoga practice to support your body in a meaningful, sustainable way? Let’s take a closer look.
Every fall, children head into orchards with baskets in hand reaching for apples that are finally ready to be picked. They search pumpkin patches for the perfect pumpkin. They fill bags at farmers’ markets with late-season vegetables and jars of honey. Harvest season teaches us to notice what has grown, but the most important harvests aren’t always found in orchards or pumpkin patches.
Over our lives, when we are shut out from things we want—getting into a school program, scheduling a date with a lovely person, not getting the job in your chosen field—we can tend to dampen our heart’s desire and diminish our joy in the world. We then tend to think of the world as a place to be tolerated. When we follow our open loving heart, we touch into that reservoir of delight and joy which we all have, and then we fully inhabit our precious life. When I get stuck on a project or something I want to do, I often think of this delightful energy we all have, and I reminisce about when I was small, and in my innocence, would not take no for an answer.
