Earthworks Farm Family Weekend

If you haven't heard by now, we have some favorite Michigan folk singers.  Their music got us through a hard year this past year.  I have been wanting to connect more deeply with the community that they represent and Family Weekend was one way that we decided to do that.

It started out on Friday.  We left home around 11 and arrived in Lake City at Earthworks Farm by around 2 pm.  We registered and set up the tent and then joined in on the art projects that were already in progress.  There was a shed which was set aside for making t-shirts.  Elijah decided to create a stencil of the Great Lakes and made a nice yellow t-shirt with blue lakes.  Several other people used his stencil to create their shirts.  There was also an ongoing tent called Art Zone where the kids could stop in anytime to play puppets, make crafts, look at bugs (or add bugs to the terrarium), or dress up.  Near the art zone, there were some hula hoops.  Brigham, Sariah, and Elijah had a lot of fun with frisbees any free time they had.

Around 4:30 we all got into a circle and played some get to know you type games.  Seth Bernard said that by the end of the weekend we'd feel like a community.  When he said that, I had a hard time believing it, being reserved as I am.  Also, I tend to be nervous about trying out new things.  I have to push myself to do things outside my normal range of activities.  We got a tour of the farm.

Dinner came next.  I will take this opportunity to say how wonderful the food was.  I wish I had someone providing me with that kind of food on a regular basis.  All of the food was either vegetarian or vegan.  It was organic, freshly and lovingly prepared, and so delicious!

People in line getting food!

After dinner we were introduced to Dick Siegel, who is also a Michigan folk singer (who I think we will be getting to know better).  He gave us a great concert including a song called "All of Mother Nature's Naughty Children" which almost made me cry.  I worry about the environment A LOT!

 Dick Siegel

The kids got some story time around a camp fire and then we headed to bed unaware that we were missing a great night sky.  In the middle of the night we heard a couple of things that surprised us.  First, we heard several peacocks calling.  Next, we heard coyotes howling.  That was pretty exciting for me since it was on my list of things to experience.  We are hoping to hear the wolves howling in Sylvania Wilderness coming up this summer.  We shall see.

In the middle of the night, we had to make a run to the bathroom.  On the way, I was astounded to see a backlight attached to a white sheet with all sorts of cool moths and bugs that had been attracted to the light.  It was like magic in the nighttime!  The next morning we were also able to get a look at this beauty that came in and landed during the night (Sariah found it):

Saturday was filled with more wonderful food and also workshops.  The kids, Joseph and I appreciated workshops including songwriting with Seth and May, clay works, drum and dance, nature walk, clowning, girl's and women's circle, and primitive skills.  My favorite workshop was song-writing.  We sat as a group and brainstormed, put together our ideas, split into groups and wrote verses with the musicians and then got back together to practice and record our song.  Three new songs were performed and recorded on Saturday.  Everyone was supposed to go home with a CD from the weekend (we did not as we left early).  I can definitely understand why people enjoy performing on a stage.

Rain was in the forecast and I was sure that I'd be in a bad mood if we had to pull down camp in the rain or in the mud, so we decided that after the talent show, we'd head home.  We used our break time to break down camp.  After dinner, we headed to the talent show.  I'm not a huge fan of talent shows in general, but this one was exceptional!  Little kids singing, little kids playing instruments and singing, adults playing and singing original compositions, groups performing theater or clowning shows, and the three new rock bands formed during the song-writing workshops performed their songs (myself included, yes, I am a rock star).

Sariah played her music-maker.  She did the song Clementine.  She meant to sing, but forgot and went right along as if she meant it that way.  May played her flute, Oh Danny Boy.  We sat in the audience and planned what we'd like to do next year to participate more fully.

We headed home, missing four more hours of fun the next day, but plan to return next year.

I think that Joseph and I both decided that the best part was seeing the kids with more freedom than they are used to having at home.  If for no other reason than that, we'd like to return and give them that freedom in such a place.  I found a lot of people I enjoyed talking to and look forward to perhaps meeting them again in the years to come.  Another reason to go back is that Nathan stayed at home working on his Fenner Nature Center project.  We missed him!