Tuscarora Lodge & Canoe Outfitters

The kids were off school last week-we journeyed to Louisiana for the wedding of two Tuscarora staff members. Unfortunately Andy had to stay home, my folks joined us. Mostly, my dad chauffeured, it was a road trip!
We had a week to cross the country and back- our first mission was to drive south until we hit 60 degrees. It was a little chilly countrywide, and we stopped in Arkansas at 50. I sure liked that part of Arkansas. We hiked near Mena on Tuesday, a charming little town in the middle of Ouachita National Forest—(Shelby said—“Mom, I can imagine living here,” and coming from Shelby, that’s a big thing ). We recognized Mena on the news on Thursday night, when unfortunately it was socked by a tornado.
Eventually we ended up in southwest Louisiana near the little town of Elton, for the rehearsal dinner on Friday night.
Cassandra has been on our staff since 2005, she has won her way into each of our hearts. The truth is, sometimes it feels like she holds us all together in the summer…that’s the kind of person she is.
Last summer, she brought Paul to Tuscarora. Actually Paul came a month ahead of her. He was first to arrive in May, and we scrutinized him. Was this serious lanky Louisiana guy (without eye teeth) good enough for our beloved Cass? He was a quiet worker, not quick to smile, and could get downright ornery at the end of the day. We were skeptical.
I had a pretty good chance to chat with him during Gunflint Green Up. He was my partner. I manned the shovel and he tucked in the trees. We talked about politics and religion, pretty much disagreeing. He had a fresh perspective and I liked that. When Cass showed up, he definitely lit up. And together they made comfortable pair. They were engaged on some campsite last summer, and …. this is why we found ourselves heading south, Shelby to be a bridesmaid, Daniel to play the guitar.
The Garbarino farm looked like a Louisiana movie set…dogs on an old porch with rocking chair-the original homestead. Ah, I wish I had remembered my camera for that rehearsal dinner…for the moment during the prayer when the big German Shepherd begged us to pet him (whining if we wouldn’t) with his sidekick puppy with a crawfish in his little mouth. For the moment that Paul’s dad appeared with a hoe and killed the rattle snake in the garden next to the porch. For the scene of Cass’ Minnesota family mixing with Paul’s Louisiana family, as the northerners learned to peel the mounds of crawfish. Definitely worth the work for the spicy meat (maybe it was Cajun? I suppose, but I’m not really sure what Cajun is, and I forgot to ask). At any rate, authentic, tasty, really fun.
Cass’s family we already knew, and Paul’s family welcomed us with hugs and lazy Louisiana drawls– they fit us in. I loved Paul’s dad’s colorful stories about the original Garbarino immigrant—straight off the boat from Italy, and “recruited” to fight for the Confederate army in some battle, before homesteading the place. Or their horse, that nobody rode, but became one of the family hanging out on the porch looking in the windows when everyone went inside. Finally they had to ban him from the yard because he stuck his head through the glass door.
The plan for this farm, passed down through generations, is that Cass and Paul will eventually move in to take care of it.
The truth was, inside the original farm house, were beautifully finished hardwood floors, air-conditioned, modernness. Inside this solid Louisiana farm family were incredibly smart artists and teachers and professors. Inside Paul’s ornery façade is a gentle guy with a sense of humor that we have come to love. And inside this marriage, between a groovy college town Minnesota woman with a nose ring and a conservative Louisiana artist from a farm in the deep south—- I’m confident will come a depth…a firm quality…I feel it in my gut. This was a great lesson for the kids, for all of us really. If you stick around for a while and pay attention, the combination of external reality and the heart of things often creates a whole different story. And the new story—it’s richer, it’s worth the effort. Weren’t we lucky to be welcomed into the heart of the southland in the springtime?
Saturday was a beautiful day for the wedding on the porch. When the contra-dance caller was almost done that beautiful afternoon, we said goodbye to our new friends, invited them to Minnesota (not a snowballs chance……). The MN contingent we’ll see soon— and are looking forward to next month when our beloved Cassandra AND our beloved Paul spend another summer with us at Tuscarora.

A couple days ago, in the local garage waiting room, getting the brakes fixed on the truck, I ran into a friend waiting for new brakes too. We did a double take: I was wearing a baseball cap, he was bald, we both had to look hard to recognize each other. I haven’t seen him all winter, although he lives on a lake nearby. Time slips by….
It turns out that my friend and his wife were both recently diagnosed with different forms of cancer. With a twinkle in his eye, he told me they’ve been married for 52 years, and began their chemo treatment on the same day, in adjacent easy chairs, with tandem IV drips. My heart did a little clenching thing. I have been particularly drawn to him because he reminds me of my Uncle Dan, and I’m really fond of Uncle Dan. And this guy has always been a friend to Tuscarora, long before we came along.
He has been my personal towboat trainer, for canoe shuttles across Saganaga. It is a little complicated to navigate that big lake from above, but ever so much trickier to know the rock piles just below the surface…..I believe Saganaga means “lake with many islands”. Many many islands lie below the water, waiting to sabotage the prop.
The deal is, on some calm spring day, I make the sandwiches, and he patiently shows me more rock piles. He’s trained many of our staff boat drivers too…. identifying Red Tank Island, Munker’s Narrows, giving little navigational tricks, naming “Your Friend” the small island with the cradle knoll deadfall on it. He identifies the wind route, and the mnemonic tricks for Red Rock Bay…truly, he’s the master. I still have more to learn, because I can’t actually plug in a cord and download his years of quiet knowledge into my head. So, I try to go out with him every year. It’s very pleasant.
I read somewhere, that the view from the edge of life is much clearer. So, as I sat next to this good guy, I tried to download some some of his insight, and some sort of hope in his prognosis. There is always calmness surrounding him, but if I look directly into his eyes, sometimes his emotions are subtly revealed. During the Ham Lake fire, we were eating the evacuation meals at the church, he was composed, but his eyes were really worried. At an unexpected funeral of a dear friend of theirs, in his eyes I could feel his deep sorrow.
In the shop the other day, I think I was reading clear optimism in his eyes. And kindness, and always interest in us. No awkwardness. Honest straight up replies. Every so often, his eyes would shine a little, as I wondered how he and his wife pulled all that off at once…physically, emotionally. He looked really healthy and happy. He admitted with humor, that he had been told that “bald is hot” when I complemented him on his nicely shaped head. He tenderly said his wife’s bald head was even more attractively symmetrical. Then we were quiet for a minute, at the irony of the conversation.
He clearly has a solid faith, not often revealed in his reserved Lutheran style, but radiating through his serene self.
As I drove away in my car with the new brakes, I remembered my farmer grandpa saying “it just feels funny that I won’t be around for another harvest.” And I wondered how my daily choices would be different, if I thought I my spring seasons were numbered? It made me resolve to take more time for people that I wish I knew a little better…and to live a little like there’s no tomorrow.
It made me grateful for people who are my teachers. People who model ways to approach the rock piles under the surface of life with grace and kindness, and wide open optimism. I realized that my friend had shared really sad news with me, but after the time hanging with him, I was driving away happier. And that was a great navigational trick!

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.”