Selections from Her Read • Graphic Poem/Erasure • Jennifer Sperry Steinorth
This second issue of The Whole Field continues our focus on Benzie County farms, with Bernie Ware musing on mushroom enterprises, the goal of beginning an old-growth forest, and what it means to live and die well in place. Click below to watch the video—a poetic, philosophical 20-minute conversation and farm tour of Ware Far(m).
The Warp — Ideas and Inspiration
|| 1 || Bernie’s grin as he talks about dying in place hints at an unspoken truth: we aren’t comfortable talking about death. Nancy Gallagher, founder of Death Cafe Grand Traverse (FB link) describes it similarly as “this topic that nobody wants to talk about—but everybody wants to talk about.” Death Cafes were founded in England in 2011 as a place for open conversation about death—not as a grief counseling, or even as a way to become comfortable about death—but as a way to make space for the conversation. Here’s a beautiful write up from F. Josephine Arrowood at the Glen Arbor Sun. The national website includes instructions for starting your own Death Cafe—be sure to have tea and cake!
|| 2 || It isn’t just humans that grow from sharing together. Bernie talks about Suzanne Simard’s “Finding the Mother Tree”, a book that arose from her early impulse to “show that a forest is not a mere collection of individual trees competing for light and nutrients, but rather a sentient, interacting community.” (From NY Times; may have paywall for some.) If hour-long interviews are more your speed, find Susan talking about her research with the British Library and the New York Botanical Garden, or find a 5-minute audio excerpt here.
|| 3 || A healthy, diversified forest should be teeming with fungal life. Ware Farm is threaded together with mycelia—both wild and unseen underground communities, and their domesticated cousins bearing fruit on carefully prepared logs—ready for harvest and cooking.
“Entangled Life” by Merlin Sheldrake offers an illuminating look at these worlds often unconsidered. And yes, in case you were wondering, Merlin is the brother of Cosmo Sheldrake, who recorded this fun little weirdness in support of Merlin’s book. Reminds me of Peter Broderick. If this whets your appetite for mycelial material, go further along the mushroom trail with Michael Phillips newest, “Mycorrhizal Planet,” or Paul Stamets foundational “Mycellium Running,” or the 600+ page deep dive: Peter McCoy’s “Radical Mycology.”
|| 4 || You may have wondered about the significance of the terms “The Warp” and “The Weft” and recognized them as terms from fiber weaving. Crosshatch’s work is to weave together threads of different disciplines, always seeking comprehensive, not isolated solutions.
In the actual practice of weaving on a loom, the warp refers to the vertical strands that create the initial structure of the piece. The weft refers to the horizontal strands which establish integrity and allow for more complex patterns to emerge. The Whole Field’s Warp section offers interconnected ideas, and the Weft draws attention to events and current happenings.
The Weft — News and Events
|| 1 || Artists and those that love and support them: the Northwest Michigan Arts & Culture Network has developed two surveys to help guide its efforts in the future. The first, a community survey, includes 21 quick-answer questions about your attitudes toward art and artists, as well as asking for some demographic info to help tease out patterns. The second, tailored for artists and arts professionals (“professionals” including people answering on behalf of an arts institution) includes 30 questions, some asking for short written answers, in an effort to determine how the Arts & Culture Network’s growing capacity can best serve the regional arts community. My favorite question there is #17: What facilities/space needs do you or your organization need to support and strengthen your creative practice and/or audience or community reach?
Community Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2N9NRGQ
Creative Sector Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/3VNVTZV
|| 2 || We love Grow Benzie! If you're not familiar with our friends at Grow Benzie, you’ve got a whole summer to get to know the great work they do. Their Community Market takes place every Wednesday from 2 to 6 pm, from June 1 through September, and includes local farmers and artisans, cooking demonstrations and sewing workshops, and local clubs and guilds. Florence Festis a full-day art exhibition with musicians, poets, and vendors. It will also be a great time to visit their campus and explore the edible trail system, incubator farm, and community gardens. That’s on Saturday, June 4th. This year, Grow Benzie will also have two summer food and music fundraisers—both held at Elberta's Waterfront Park Amphitheater on the coastline of Betsie Bay & Lake Michigan. Elberta Summer Solstice on June 17th and Benzie Bayou: Blues & Zydeco Fundraiser on July 29th. The full events calendar is here.
|| 3 || Traverse City Dance Project is returning to the Crosshatch meadow! The program features a stellar cast of eight professional dancers from national and international companies, including Traverse City natives Sarah Wolff and Gabriella Dorman. This year, TCDP will feature four works, including new creations by directors Jen Lott and Brent Whitney, and a staging of Italian-born Mauro de Candia’s Something I Had in Mind. TCDP originally presented this playful balletic comedy as part of their very first season in 2012.
The evening will also feature live music—a collaboration by former Alonzo King LINES dancer and rehearsal director Kara Wilkes and celebrated Kalamazoo-based cellist and vocalist Jordan Hamilton. Hamilton and Wilkes are recipients of the TCDP’s 2022 NewVo Fellowship, which supports new creations by choreographers and composers. The NewVo Fellowship is made possible by a seed grant from Rotary Charities of Traverse City.
Scheduled date: Wednesday, August 3rd at 7 pm, with a rain date of Friday, August 5th. Tickets are available on a sliding scale from 0 to $20. (if that link is broken, start here instead.)