Green Living: Electric Cars in the UP Winter, Steve Waller

electric cars, UP winter, green living, sustainability, UP wellness publication, UP holistic business

The Fall 2022 issue of Health & Happiness UP Magazine included my article “Order Your Electric Car NOW” covering the basics of electric vehicles (EVs) after my 6,000 miles of experience, but didn’t answer questions many Yoopers have about winter driving. Now, after 16,000 electric miles, including winter miles and new tax credits, I have answers.

A critical detail is that 80% of EVs are charged while you sleep, at home, overnight, from an ordinary 240-volt clothes dryer-type circuit in a garage or outside fixture. Having a home or apartment/condo complex charger (30% tax credit to install) is a big winter advantage. A plugged-in EV is ready every morning to remote start, warm up, and drive all winter long. With home charging, you spend less time charging than you formerly spent pumping gas! Just plug in at night, unplug in the morning, and go.

Unlike many gas or diesel cars, EVs will start even in the coldest weather and are still very powerful. In all EVs, as the temperature drops, battery chemistry slows somewhat, but the power remains. Many EVs can be started remotely and are toasty-warm whenever you get in. Batteries heat the car interior. EVs with heat pumps warm the interior and passengers efficiently, faster than gas cars.

EV winter capabilities vary by model.

Some are absolutely ready for U.P. winters; others have some limits. Below freezing, the EPA range per charge in miles is reduced by about 25%. A daily 250-mile EPA summer charge range is reduced to 180 winter miles. Very few people regularly drive 180 miles per day so that’s rarely a problem. When road-tripping more than 180 miles from home, recharge at a fast-charger. Go to PlugShare.com to find medium and fast chargers on your route. Many EVs know where the chargers are and will route right to them.

Some people are tempted to think they need 400 – 600 miles of range and massive power. That’s usually a mistake unless you tow heavy loads long distances. If most of your driving is less than 180 miles per day, excessive range beyond 300 miles just means you paid extra for excess battery capacity which rarely gets used, which adds excessive battery weight, which drags down the EV truck’s already lower efficiency (MPGe – miles per gallon equivalent), which means you’ll spend much more time charging more energy into the truck than charging a speedy 250-300 EPA mile passenger EV on the same trip.

EV batteries on long winter road trips fast-charge fastest when warm. Cars best suited to long winter road tripping have a feature called “preconditioning” that automatically heats the battery to an ideal temperature as you drive to a fast charger. EVs without preconditioning usually charge much slower in the cold. Slow charging at home is essentially unaffected.

Most EVs are all-wheel drive. Snow and slush eat energy. Snow tires eat some energy too, but AWD EVs often handle winter road conditions better than gas cars. EVs are among the highest safety-rated vehicles on the road.

EV car shopping is fun.

For town/commuter EVs, add a 240-volt charger in your garage, then get almost any EV. For winter road tripping, consider sleek, beautiful, and sexy EVs with an EPA summer range over 250 miles, all-wheel drive, preconditioning, a CCS or Tesla charger connector, and a max charge rate over 150 kW. Tax credits are available for almost everybody—$7,500 for qualifying EVs, 30% credits for installing chargers. Go to shorturl.at/floWZ

Buying another gas car? You’ll be locked into gasoline for five more years. Yuck! Order or lease your electric car NOW!

Steve Waller’s family lives in a wind- and solar-powered home. He has been involved with conservation and energy issues since the 1970s and frequently teaches about energy. Steve can be reached at Steve@UPWallers.net.

Spotlight On…. Tamarack Builders with Owner Mike Potts

Tell us what Tamarack Builders is all about.

Tamarack Builders is a small company primarily doing remodeling and light commercial construction in Marquette since about 1998. We specialize in older buildings, some that might be considered tear-downs. I like that kind of stuff compared to more modern houses and buildings.

Very nice, talented, thoughtful people work with me. When we’re doing projects, we make sure things are done correctly. Sometimes previous work by others has to be corrected. It can be easy to breeze by those things and say they’re fine, but we try to make sure things are done properly.

For example, with remodeling for energy efficiency, we do insulation and venting to prevent ice dams, which can be a huge issue here. Water infiltration issues, proper flashing techniques—all are very important. By doing so, you extend the life of that building, increasing its energy efficiency and decreasing the likelihood that it will get torn down later.

By extending the life of a building, you’re minimizing its carbon footprint because of the embodied carbon in the materials.

For instance, concrete lasts a long time but it’s really carbon-intensive to make. If you can save a building, you’re preserving that embodied carbon. When things get torn down, it all goes in the landfill, plus you use new materials that have their own carbon footprint.

A lot of these old buildings in Marquette were built with old growth lumber. As they get torn down and their components are thrown away, it’s just gone. I try to save building materials. It often doesn’t take that much effort to save stuff. I put old two-by-fours in a pile. When you get enough stuff, you can make something—countertops, sheds—out of the recycled building parts. I’m a little bit of a hoarder of vintage building materials and try to re-use them the best I can. Old studs are beautiful. I try to save those for re-use.

The other day when it was raining, we had enough stuff saved up that we could build a couple of things at the shop out of recycled materials. It’s rewarding and fun to be able to do that. Not always cheaper, but very rewarding. We built a small boat shed entirely out of recycled materials. We installed a couple of recycled doors using recycled materials and re-purposed what we took out. Small stuff but it adds up.

It’s a personal thing.

It feels really good to be able to put something together, like a boat shed, from salvaged materials. It’s good practice for my employees to think it through and make things work. It’s always good for people to practice all these techniques, use them on a small scale. It’s a good way to gain more experience with something like this.

Three good-size commercial projects we did recently were in buildings that were in really bad shape. Little updating had been done to them; one even had some original wallpaper. We spent the time and money to bring them up to code. One building was far from meeting current codes. If there had ever been a fire there, it would have been devastating. We extended the life of these buildings for a very long time.

One of them was the McLean Chiropractic building on Third Street. It had been slated to be torn down for the last twenty years. Now since we’ve done the work on it, it’s up and running, and good for another hundred years.

I’ve worked on a lot of historic buildings—Donckers, Downtown Eye Care, Evergreen Market, what’s now Queen City Running Company on Baraga, the previous flower shop there, and many vintage residential buildings. I really enjoy that. It’s a lot of fun.

How did you get into this line of work?

I’d worked as a carpenter on Mackinac Island in the ’80s and ’90s. I moved to Marquette and building was a way I could make a living with my skill set, and offered a flexible schedule. When I had kids, I could take time off to be with them, go to their events, drive them around, or whatever. was needed. That was a huge draw for me, enhancing my life and hopefully the life of my family too. Having the ability to take care of someone when they’re sick is important. You can’t do that as easily if you run a retail store. Contracting gives a little flexibility. I extend that flexibility to my employees too. It usually doesn’t make a huge difference if we need to take a few hours off. People need that time to have a healthy balance. Work-life balance is number one. I’m not doing this to get rich, and that’s okay because my work-life balance has been very good.

What do you find most challenging about your work?
Doing the paperwork–billing and trying to keep track of that end of the business is not something I like to do. I love being on the job, being with my employees, and working on projects.

Anything else you’d like our readers to know?
As a builder, I think people should know these old buildings are worth investing in. It’s worth coming up with a systematic, comprehensive approach. These older structures are valuable and contain a lot of embodied carbon. If we have any hope for climate change, we need to take care of them.

It’s astounding to see what’s thrown away—it’s unreal, all the building materials. It’s heartbreaking to see what goes in the landfill. I’m not saying we can recycle everything, but we can do more. We’ve got to make efforts toward sustainability. I’ve encouraged green building, energy efficiency, and presrvation. The luxury of building a new green structure is not achievable for a lot of people, but in every structure, there’s potential for comfort, energy efficiency, and financial savings.

Green Living: We Keep Breaking Records! Steve Waller

climate change prevention, green living, sustainability, UP holistic business, UP wellness publication

The latest Emissions Gap Report from the United Nations Environment Program (https://www.unep.org/resources/emissions-gap-report-2022) states that the world has just emitted a new annual record amount of carbon dioxide (CO2). Given this increase, to limit global warming to 2°C, we must cut CO2 thirty percent by 2030. A stepwise approach is no longer an option. We need system-wide transformation.

Who is at the top of the emissions list? Americans, emitting over twice the world average CO2 per person. Even though we like to think we are protecting our environment, that “other” people are the problem, we are the actual culprits breaking world CO2 records.

New record: U.S. population–333 million people in November 2022, increasing by 1.4 million Americans per year (https://www.census.gov/popclock/). We must build a new Dallas, Texas (population 1.4 million) each year to accommodate our new Americans. New record: world population–8 billion people by November 2022, increasing by 70 million each year.

Those new additional 1.4 million Americans, our youth, our future, need a slice of our American pie–food, water, land, housing, heat, transportation, all from the limited environment already supporting 333 million Americans. Each must share a smaller, cleaner piece of green pie.

But what more can we Americans do?

How can we emit less and still be Americans? Since most of the rest of the modern world seems able to emit less, how can we break their lower emission records?

We need to learn to live without CO2, then teach the next generation. Eliminate old, fossilized thinking and think anew. That’s hard. But if nothing changes… nothing changes!

Imagine a life without fossil fuels. Cars emit twenty pounds of CO2 per gallon of gas. How would we still drive? We must shift to electric cars (rebates available). No excuses. How would we heat or cool our homes? Homes must rely entirely on electricity so we must install heat pumps (for heating and cooling–rebates available).

How can we clean all that electricity? It still depends mostly on fossil fuels. Our only clean, cost-effective, sustainable option is using renewables. We must install solar at our homes (rebates available). Encourage wind and solar farms in our neighborhoods. Learn to love the look of solar and wind.

Some fossil fuel use will be irreplaceable, but if you think better, most can be eliminated.

Yes, there is a price to pay for changes. Fossil fuels were dishonestly cheap, so cheap that we used them for everything, everywhere. Cheap because we didn’t pay then for our CO2 consequences. The honest, responsible bill is now due. We must pay for the fixes, and fortunately, the fixes create jobs.

Existing homes and apartments must convert to all electric with solar and heat pumps. New construction needs to use less wood to keep trees alive and absorbing CO2. Use less concrete and steel. Making a pound of cement emits a pound of CO2. Making a pound of steel emits 2 lbs. of CO2.

Smaller homes are better, cheaper, have lower emissions, and are easier to clean and maintain. McMansions are fossil thinking. It’s time to upgrade to smaller. Upgrades always have a cost but fossil thinking costs more. That’s the honest price of a healthy environment. We cannot afford to wait for the environment to be on sale.

Let’s break good records this holiday season. Upgrade to eliminate CO2. Get rebates for efficiency, energy, and electric cars. Emit the least CO2 in your life, ever. Let’s have the cleanest water and air, ever. Let’s consume less than ever. These are records waiting to be broken. The next generation is counting on us.

Green Living: Order Your Electric Car NOW! Steve Waller

PEV, plug-in electric vehicle, green living, sustainability, UP holistic wellness publication, UP holistic business

We finally got our all-wheel-drive plug-in electric vehicle (PEV)—no gasoline engine and no more CO2 emissions. We’ve been driving it hard for a couple of months and tallied over 6,000 miles, including a few 400-mile trips from the U.P. to Chicago and to Detroit.

Based on my experience, you should order yours now because it takes 6 months to more than a year for delivery. As you hesitate to order, the prices keep increasing. They can now cost as much as a new crew cab fossil truck, but cheaper models are available.

Fossil gas drivers have “range anxiety” (fear of running out of battery) but PEVs today have plenty of range, some over 300 miles on one charge. We rarely drive more than 100 miles a day and we recharge at home. It’s like having a gas station in your garage. Charge overnight with an ordinary 240V garage outlet and wake each morning to a fully charged vehicle ready for another long day of driving. For apartment dwellers, there are programs for owners to add parking lot chargers or just fill up at your local public charger, then drive home, just like you do with a gas guzzler. Either way, PEVs drive cheaper.

We drive electric for about $.04 per mile.

Our gasoline car averages a respectable 28 MPG but still cost $.16 per mile. Our PEV gets 131 MPGe in the city and 117 MPGe on the highway. It’s 75% cheaper to drive, saving about $300 per month in gasoline expense. Plus, there is almost no maintenance–no oil changes, muffler, catalytic converter, or tune-ups. PEVs have few moving parts, there is much less to fail so there are fewer repairs. We do occasionally add a windshield washer.

People worry that the batteries will die in a couple of years but federal law mandates that batteries be warrantied for a minimum of eight years or 100,000 miles. Old PEV batteries don’t die, they just have about 5%-10% less range. Experts suggest today’s batteries will last 10-20 years–300,000 miles or more.

On our 400-mile trips, after about 250 miles we needed to recharge as expected, but plenty of rechargers are available. We never experienced “range anxiety.” It takes 20-40 minutes, depending on the recharger’s power, to recharge to about 80% capacity, enough to finish the trip. Rechargers are usually in the parking lots of major grocery chains or near snack areas, and more are being added nationwide. Recharging takes just enough time to stretch your legs, tap a kidney, visit the stores, enjoy a snack, or just lay back and relax for a bit. After hours of continuous driving on a long trip, the break is welcome and healthy. We recharge while the car recharges.

The experience of PEV driving is different—tons of power, electric everything. It’s like driving a computer with wheels except that PEVs often do much of the driving for you. With multiple cameras and sensors, PEVs are very good at adjusting your cruising speed to traffic, keeping the car centered in the lane, and avoiding hazards. It sees and senses more than you can and reacts faster, making PEVs some of the safest cars on the road. People express fears of battery fires, but records show that you are ten times more likely to have a gas-guzzler car fire than a battery-car fire.

Michigan charges a $100 electric registration fee and a $40 electric tax to compensate for road maintenance gasoline taxes that PEVs don’t pay. One month’s gas savings easily exceeds Michigan’s fees, so drive safer, save money, and stop emitting CO2. Order your PEV today.

Gifts from Nature: Pusilli et Magni (Great and Small), Crystal Cooper

natural living, holistic wellness, U.P. wellness publication, holistic health

Photo by Crystal Cooper

It’s 4.5 billion years ago—the unstable atmosphere is comprised of noxious gases, and life is yet to begin. Barren rock exists, but most of the Earth is oceanic. This vast ocean, a cauldron of primordial soup, is where the elements of life originated. Algae began experimenting. Through time, random chance, and fungal help, it creeped onto the rock and succeeded. Our first land ancestors were born, assembling premier leaf and root-like structures to harness energy, making static life possible. This ancestor is moss, the first land plant.

Maximizing opportunities between air and earth for the greater good of all, moss began an atmospheric and terrestrial revolution. Along with algae, it created an oxygenated atmosphere, making this space more habitable. Through the weathering of rock with their root-like structures, moss cultivated soil. Growing together in tightly bound communities to conserve resources and communicate, moss also provided a physical nursery from which other plant and animal life would spring. This led to the forests and plant-covered earth we now inhabit. A living affirmation of the fractal nature of existence, each cushion of moss sustains a micro-rainforest, complete with predators, prey, and a thriving food web.

Today, still a master of microscopic minimalism, moss has survived history with around 22,000 current species worldwide. Remaining small and simple has been the key to its fundamental efficiency. To reduce requirements, moss only grows as big as necessary, keeping assimilation of raw materials easy. Lacking the more evolved structures of higher plants, moss takes in nutrients and water directly through its tissues, which are only one cell-layer thick. This highlights just how sensitive they are, identifying them as indicators of healthy habitats.

Moss inhabits places considered unfavorable by most plants, utilizing their small size and adaptive ability to become strikingly specialized or remain generalized. One often pictures a lush rainforest of moss flourishing on all available surfaces. At the same time, it can persist on our barren rock outcrops, the branches of towering frozen pines, in the cracks of a sidewalk, on roofs, and even traveling on the shell of a turtle. Displaying its amphibious demeanor, moss’s main concern on land is water availability. To sustain life in the variety of environments it does, moss exhibits the skill of desiccating, or drying up. Halting photosynthesis, it patiently awaits the return of water and favorable conditions.

The ancient and intimate relationship between moss, water, and the atmosphere still evolves. This is prominently observed in the health and functioning of bogs and peatlands. Here, Sphagnum mosses begin growing at the edge of a nearly stagnant body of water. Many distinct properties enable the Sphagnum to create an ecosystem of its own. The water-holding capacity of its leaves and production of humic acid result in water-logged, oxygen depleted, acidic, and nutrient-poor conditions that inhibit most plants from surviving. Over thousands of years, creeping inward on the water, the moss creates a floating mat—growing, accumulating, compressing, and storing plant matter. This also inhibits bacterial function and decomposition. The world’s peatlands and bogs sequester twice as much carbon as trees on the planet.

Considering the earth’s greenhouse gas and climate crisis, the function and health of bogs and peatlands are imperative for our future. Humans use peatlands and bogs for fuel and convert them to agricultural land. This, along with other environmental threats, inhibits or destroys the function of these critical habitats. When healthy, these places act as crucial carbon sink, storing carbon in the form of plant matter. However, when function ceases they become an immense carbon source, releasing greenhouse gases back into the atmosphere. One hectare (about 2.5 acres) of peatland can hold approximately 1,500 metric tons of carbon—and millions of hectares have been damaged. Raising awareness of our social and environmental responsibility as stewards of the earth, perhaps we can look to moss for lessons in surviving.

A myriad of symbolic treasures can be gleaned from the life and ways of moss. Returning to a small, simple, sensitive, and adaptable life, we might begin to heal our relationship with ourselves and nature. Moving forward in the face of our changing climate, living this way would be beneficial for all.

Humbly holding on to the rocks, fallen trees, and humic earth of our north woods, moss lives in the shade of the showy, flowering plants of spring and summer. As those plants grow fast and tall, moss pales in their wake, remaining small, whispering the virtues of simplicity. As autumn falls across the land, leaves and tall plants browning as they perish, the small and mighty plants once again begin to shine. Moving into winter, the enduring moss can photosynthesize at near-freezing temperatures. Blazing emerald, stark against the white snow, moss offers a colorful solace and the promise of life.

Resources:
Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses by Robin Wall Kimmerer – A book I reference in this article and in my life. A beautiful balance of science and Native American wisdom, the author paints a living awareness and importance of moss.

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/bog/
Great general information on bogs/peatlands and other resources.

https://www.bogology.org – A fun, informational platform of bogs and an enthusiast’s goings-on.

Biello, David. (2009, December 08). Peat and Repeat: Can Major Carbon Sinks Be Restored by Rewetting the World’s Drained Bogs? Retrieved from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/peat-and-repeat-rewetting-carbon-sinks/- A good article, though dated, for getting a general picture of the significance of bogs and peatlands around the world.

Crystal Cooper has called Marquette, MI home for a decade. She received a degree in Biology Ecology, emphasizing Botany at Northern Michigan University. Passionate about traditional ecological knowledge and sustainable, minimalistic lifestyle, Crystal’s focus is community resilience in the future of our changing climate. Reach her at crystal.coocooper@gmail.com.

More Info. from Steve Waller on “Wind Energy – Hot Air?”

Here’s the formula for relating turbines to trees:

A 2-megawatt turbine X 35% load factor outputs 700 kw X 8,760 hrs per year = 6,132,000 kWh per year X 650 g/kWh average intensity = 4,394 tons of CO2 / 2 tons CO2 absorbed per acre of trees = 2,196 equivalent acres of forest per 2-megawatt turbine

A single 2-megawatt turbine has the CO2 reducing effect of 2,196 acres of forest while generating $367,920 (@ $0.06 wholesale per kWh) of electricity per year.

One megawatt of turbine = roughly 1,000 equivalent forest acres.

A higher turbine “load factor” (percent of maximum possible output actually generated) increases the forest equivalent. The newest turbines have higher load factors.

50 turbines in a wind farm (50 X 2,196) have the CO2 reducing effect of 109,840 acres of forest

Example:

Summit Lake wind farm’s 50 turbines utilize a footprint of only 560 acres (2%) of the 28,000 acres of wind farm forest. 98% of the forest remains forested.

219,700 turbine tons of CO2 + 54,880 unmodified forest tons of CO2 ((28,000 original acres – 560 turbine acres) X 2 tons CO2 per acre) = 274,580 tons of CO2 kept out of the air per year.

The wind farm increases the CO2 reduction of the original 28,000 acre Summit Lake forest from 56,000 tons of CO2 absorbed per year without the wind farm to the equivalent of 274,580 tons of CO2 absorbed per year with the wind farm.

Looks like we should REALLY encourage the Summit Wind Farm!

$ value of turbine power:

6,132,000 kWh X $0.06 wholesale (AKA “offset” price) price per kWh =

$367,920 annual wholesale value of electricity per turbine.

$367,920 X 50 turbines = $18,396,000 annual wholesale value of wind farm power.

6,132,000 kWh X $0.14 retail price per kWh = $858,480 annual retail value of electricity per turbine.

$858,480 X 50 turbines = $42,924,000 annual retail value of wind farm power.

Here are just a few of the sources I used for Wind Energy – Hot Air in the Spring 2019 issue of Health & Happiness U.P. Magazine.

https://cleantechnica.com/2018/02/21/wind-power-results-bird-deaths-overall/

https://www.eia.gov/environment/emissions/co2_vol_mass.php

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1530-9290.2012.00464.x

https://www.nrdc.org/experts/arjun-krishnaswami/renewable-energy-brings-economic-boost-rural-communities

https://www.factcheck.org/2018/03/wind-energys-carbon-footprint/

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140616093317.htm

https://www.awea.org/wind-101/benefits-of-wind/environmental-benefits

https://www.awea.org/wind-101/benefits-of-wind

https://www.awea.org/Awea/media/Resources/StateFactSheets/Michigan.pdf

https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/life-cycle-analysis-of-the-embodied-carbon-emissions-from-14-wind-turbines-with-rated-powers-between-50-kw-and-34-mw-2090-4541-1000211.php?aid=74577

https://www.awea.org/wind-101/benefits-of-wind/economic-development

https://www.aweablog.org/the-truth-about-wind-power/

https://www.aweablog.org/fact-check-really-causes-electricity-prices-rise/

http://www.windustry.org/how_much_do_farmers_get_paid_to_host_wind_turbines

https://www.landmarkdividend.com/wind-turbine-lease-rates/

https://cleantechnica.com/2014/05/07/wind-power/

https://www.nrdc.org/experts/arjun-krishnaswami/new-report-clean-energy-sweeps-across-rural-midwest

https://www.awea.org/Awea/media/Resources/StateFactSheets/Michigan.pdf

What Is . . . . Marquette Growth?

More and more we hear about the lack of understanding of the connection between our food and where it comes from, but how many of us are actually doing something about it?

In 2012, a group of friends asked each other what they’d do for our community if they had a million dollars, and realized they all wanted to empower the community’s ability to grow food. This led to the creation of Marquette Growth. Marquette Growth is a non-profit community garden initiative aimed at providing access to free, healthy, organic, growing sites and education for the community, with a focus on getting food from farm to school.

As Vice President Scott Lawrence describes, “We heard the same reasons over and over for why people don’t take responsibility for a portion of their food—no time, space, money, or education. We realized a free educational community garden group was the answer, where people can donate time for fresh produce.”

It took months of sustained effort for group members Tyler Phillips, Jess Zerbel, Miriah Redmond and Scott Lawrence to find a place to start the program. Thankfully, Marquette Alternative High School Principal Andrew Crunkleton believed in their vision and work began on the hoop house at Graveraet, where the school was located at the time.

Lawrence also began a Kickstarter Fund in 2013, which raised $2500 to start a food forest of fruit trees and other perennials, plus annual garden beds at Vandenboom Alternative High School. Marquette Growth facilitated a full day of gardening workshops leading up to the actual planting of the trees and other perennials, which was accompanied by live music. Annual gardens were also planted, which the students help maintain.

Since then smaller sites have also been established, including at Cherry Creek Senior Living, behind the Wild Rover, Ore Dock Brewery, Sandy Knoll Elementary, Black Rocks Brewery, Teaching Family Homes and Sweet Water Café, with items such as sunflowers, a mint garden or fruit tree.

Lawrence explains, “The hoop house is open to all community members, young or old. We like the way that gardening connects all walks of life. We all eat. Why not eat the best quality food? We are happiest seeing young working next to old, poor working next to wealthy. We want to bridge the gaps of our community through growing high quality food. And get kids excited about growing their own food, or at least give them the knowledge of where their food comes from.”

At Gravaeret Elementary, students have access to hands-on agricultural education through the school garden from seed to fork. They help as much as possible in the hoop house, which is watered, planted and maintained solely by volunteers, and their garden produce is implemented in school lunch options. “Last year’s 4th graders even sold seeds and seedlings to raise funds for a field trip to MSU North Farm as part of an educational unit Marquette Growth ran in partnership with MSU Extension, Marquette Food Co-op, Transition Marquette, and the school district. Students toured the farm, seeing how the transplants used in the school garden were started, and saving seeds from these and other plants,” describes member Miriah Redmond.

Marquette Growth would like to help establish hoop houses at all of Marquette’s public schools. Once approval is obtained, the group will seek funding. Already, “hundreds of pounds of food, lots of enlightened/educated community members, and tons of new relationships have been created,” describes Lawrence. He’s passionate about the need for this initiative, explaining, “We are at the end of the food delivery routes. Major grocery stores only have enough food to support our community for two to three days. If fossil fuels seize to exist, so will our food. We need to work together to build a food sovereign community. Younger generations need to be educated on these matters to encourage them to take responsibility for a portion of their own food. Together, we can build a more resilient community. Spread the word of Marquette Growth, get people excited about growing food and bridge any gap in existence to get us all working together.”

New helpers are welcome to join Wednesday work nights at Gravaeret Elementary, as well as additional open hoop house hours, various workshops, and Facebook.com/groups/marquettegrowth. The initiative can also be supported by financial contributions through Paypal by contacting mqtgrowth@gmail.com.

Reprinted with permission from Health & Happiness U.P. Magazine, Spring 2016 issue.