Author: Sue Ahrendt

Last spring, I went to the Sustainable Tourism Conference in Duluth. At Tuscarora we’re always striving to be more “green”. To be honest with you, Tuscarora has been around for many years, and the previous owners were thrifty and tidy. I think those old fashioned thrifty and tidy values are often synonymous with the newfangled green values.

But, always there is room for improvement. Starting with our garbage.

An assertive woman named Ellen was displaying a LaVermi Worms composting system. Sold.

I LOVE my worms. It’s such a win win! They turn 27 gallons of garbage into one gallon of rich dark dirt. Through the spigot I collect the “worm tea” which, looks really nasty, but completely odorless, and honestly, I don’t believe worms actually void worm tea. It’s supposed to be great concentrated fertilizer that I use on little pine trees in the summer, but in the winter, I have no plants. I can’t keep plants alive…..which actually speaks volumes for the hardiness of these worms.

In goes the pineapple. The next day—there are swarms of worms covering it.

A week later, pretty much, just dirt in that spot. In the mean time…I’ve been burying other garbage in other spots in the bin.

This worm system doesn’t stink..I’ve started another bin this winter, all they ask for is something biodegradable, from meat products to leather boots. Then they reproduce like crazy to devour it.

However, they do not handle things like white bread, Hostess Twinkies, or bleached white paper. So, a respectable goal would be to only consume things that the worms will eat (except Hostess Twinkies shouldn’t be a problem, who in their right mind will ever THROW OUT a Hostess Twinkie???)

Once last summer, Andy and I were standing in the outfitting yard chatting with guests, when Denali showed up. They were charmed by her, as I explained that she’ll love to retrieve all day long…. no pressure, but feel free. The nice woman smiled and then Denali dropped a dead bunny into her outstretched hand. They were a little horrified and I quickly left the awkward moment with the poor little cute but dead thing. I wondered what the worms would do to a bunny? Ellen the worm lady said it wouldn’t stink, or attract bugs, as long as I never used newspaper for bedding. (Newspaper has clay, and Ellen was very militant about NO NEWSPAPERS). So I buried the dead bunny in the bin. Two days later, I pulled out an empty fur bunny case, completely clean of any gushy innards—like a dried up fur sock.

Wow!!! I was so impressed. It was the coolest thing…I showed it to our staff…then I showed it to Andy. He was repulsed.

Andy separates compost, but doesn’t want to THINK ABOUT the worms. Our friend Ben had the same squeamish reaction to them. Daniel confided—“Mom, I just worry that you’ll get mad at me and I’ll end up in the worm bin sometime, in the dead of night.”

No worries, no bodies in the worm bin. Just milliions of little buddies eating our garbage.

Thanks to Sky Dan for sending us these aerial photos this month. We think they’re pretty cool. The biggest roof you can see-next to the parking lot (and buried canoes) is the Outfitting Building.

On the lake you can see the Broomball rink.

Check out www.becomingaboundarywatersfamily.com to see (or order) a sample of our newly finished book project. It’s dandy!

The History of Becoming A Boundary Waters Family

Last winter, some Gunflint Trail Outfitters got together and began to envision ways to support Boundary Waters adventures for families. We wanted to take the mystery out of canoe camping—and the 6 of us initiated a program called BECOMING A BOUNDARY WATERS FAMILY.

It was a fun little project, and the content flowed naturally—camping with our kids—this is what we’ve always loved to do.

(Andy and Shelby)

Nancy and Will

Mike and Abby and Josh

Dave and the boys.

Bonnie

We’re continuing free seminars for families on Tuesdays this summer. All of the outfitters on the Gunflint Trail will participate, along with US Forest Service Rangers.

We approached Kelly Dupre to help us spruce up our Woods Wisdom ideas–add some images and some whirly-gig activities. We had envisioned some pdf files.

Well, it turns out that Kelly Dupre doesn’t just spruce up a project.

She took hold of this idea and ran with it, and she pulled me along with her. She’s an animated educator, advocate for children, avid outdoors woman, author, illustrator, connector,—all around pretty amazing person.

And, she’s fun. So, this winter I’ve been drinking a lot a lot of licorice tea in her kitchen, as she has shepherded us through a book project. She does FABULOUS work.

In the meantime, the Forest Service has been supporting the project as well—they are equally enthusiastic about getting kids in the woods. Jon Benson added expertise in editing to the book, and joined us with his Ranger buddy Ryan at the Canoecopia show in Madison. He’s sitting by the mock campfire to be approachable. Not a slacker, nosirreeee! Neither one of them. They brought Smokey out of hibernation, and hauled him along with them. And you can see, even if it might have been a bit warm for Smokey inside the building, a little sweatiness was not keeping children away.

We met many families at this outdoor show, some were already avid BWCAW campers, some were tentatively exploring the possibilities. Dave Seaton worked his magic as a show speaker.

It is really rewarding to share our “secret.”

We know that there is great joy to be found in the BWCAW…and actually it just might be most accessible through 4 year old eyes.

(Excerpt from the book)

“We believe the natural world holds fundamental value for kids’ physical, emotional, and cognitive well being. We’ve experienced the amazing power of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. We’ve seen the ways it call calm and focus children at the same time it stimulates their senses. We want to welcome you and your kids to this place that our families love.”

It’s been raining today..we have ice on EVERYTHING….even the gravel on the road. School let out early, and Mother Nature flooded Round Lake for us. I can’t quite get over how lucky we are to live on a lake. Lucky to have a couple of giddy adolescents I suppose too.

Denali and I wandered out yesterday to poke around in the woods….on top of the crusty snow. Since last Thursday (at 33 below zero) we’ve had a big old dose of spring….up to 60 on Tuesday I think….so the landscape has changed.

First of all, we were being stalked by this Canadian Jay. I tried unsuccessfully to capture his grumpy face, you’ll just have to take my word for it. He was swooping us. Too close to our heads. One of these jays (maybe the same guy?) has done this to me before–when the bird seed on the deck ran out. I’m always skeptical of that conclusion–thinking that it might just be a coincidence…he isn’t really trying to tell me he’s hungry? But yes, the birdseed was empty again. So maybe he is just that smart. And communicative.

Then, we noticed the new woodpecker holes on a nearby white pine. I don’t know that much about woodpeckers…why hit on this apparently healthy tree? I know most bird books say that woodpeckers won’t kill a tree—they peck the rotten places. These spots sure didn’t look rotten to me. Was the woodpecker going for bugs inside? Was he doing the spring marking of the territory (with the sound not the holes)? Was it an attempt to make a nesting spot? Why so close to the ground? Shelby says the holes were made by a Pileated pecker for sure, down this low. I don’t know if just one, or many would have done this. But I don’t like it. Looks to me like the tree will be wide open to bug infestation now. What comes first…the bug or the woodpecker hole? Is it possible that the woodpecker is making a breeding place for bugs? Attracting them for future lunches?

I do have to shake my head at myself as I get mad at the woodpecker. Somehow, walking through the trees, makes me feel like I’m presiding over them. Is that just human instinct? I can boss the Pileated Woodpeckers around? What am I going to do? Sit by the tree with a sling shot?

So, on we went. Denali can float on the crusty snow, but the deer can’t. Poor guys with their pointy feet, they must be in up to their arm pits. We don’t have many deer on our road, but we followed these tracks.
I planted a bunch of trees with the Gunflint Green Up crews of the past few years— so now I’m the keeper-of-the-trees. (back to the presiding over the woods role). Most of them are still deep under the snow, but here is a little stunted white pine. A deer browsed this poor little one—several times over. Supposed to be tall, but just mowed down.

So, now I’m mad at the deer too. Not to fear, plenty of wolf activity in our corner.

And they have the advantage this time of year—floating on the crust like Denali. You can see this path across the ice by the Cross Bay river….not people prints, but wolf tracks. Big wolf tracks.

The fur in the scat might be bunnies…or mice…or rodents…but….looking awfully deer-like. If I am also presiding over the scat…then I’m OK with that!
When we spot the actual wolves (not so much anymore), they are looking really healthy. And big.

And that’s it for the windy walk. This big old dead tree was rocking like crazy in that wind. Beautiful too…in a stark sort of way. Sure is good walking weather!