U.P. MAGAZIN E
3 Readers’ Choice: Health & Happiness Annual Donation Recipients— Which Gets Your Vote to Receive 2023’s Donation?
4 Spotlight On.... Lakeshore Depot with Owner Mike Hainstock H&H
5 Positive Parenting: 17 Tips for Raising Eco-Conscious Kids H&H
6 Bodies in Motion: Reaping the Rewards of Silent Sports
Kevin McGrath
7 Senior Viewpoint: Going Green, Permanently, Part 2 H&H
9 Caring for the Earth
11 Healthy Cooking: Pumpkin Power for Fall
Val Wilson
12 Green Living: Are You an Earth-Caring Evolutionist or Revolutionist? Steve Waller
14 Health & Happiness Directory
15 Creative Inspiration: The Wood-Wide Web
Lisa Fosmo
Health & Happiness U.P. Magazine is locally and independently owned, operated, produced, and published 4x/year, distributing 10,000 copies to Marquette, Alger, Baraga, Houghton, Iron, Dickinson, Delta & Keweenaw Co. to promote greater overall well-being through education and information
For article submission guidelines and info. on advertising in &/or distributing Health & Happiness, contact (906) 228-9097, hhupmag@charter.net. Subscriptions may be ordered for $15/year at healthandhappinessupmag.com.
Editor: Roslyn McGrath
Marketing Consultant: Kevin McGrath
Ad Sales: Roslyn McGrath
Proofreader: Tyler Tichelaar
Distribution Coordinator: Kevin McGrath
The contents of this publication are meant to educate and inform, not prescribe, nor to substitute for professional health care. Health & Happiness is not responsible for the products and services of its advertisers, nor for how the reader may choose to use or interpret such products or services or the contents of its articles. It is both the reader’s right and responsibility to investigate any service, product, or information offered or described in this periodical before making a health care decision. Views expressed by contributing writers do not necessarily reflect those of this publication. © 2023 by Empowering Lightworks, LLC. All rights reserved. Written permission is required to reproduce any part of this publication.
Check Out Your Online Guide to Good-for-You-&-the-Planet U.P. Services, Products & Events at www.Yooptopian.com.
*Tell us which Local Children’s Organization YOU think should receive our next Annual Donation at www.Yooptopian.com!
Readers’ Choice: Health & Happiness Annual Donation Recipients— Which Gets Your Vote to Receive 2023’s Donation?
Each year since 2013, Health & Happiness UP Magazine, with additional support from someof our advertisers, has donated to a local children’s organization as part of its mission to help our community members live healthier, happier lives.
This year, we invite you to help us decide which of these worthy past recipients should receive our tenth annual donation. Below you’ll find a info from these worthy organizations that were able to respond before press time about what they do and why, as well as how you can vote for your choice online!
We look forward to sharing the results with you plus more about the winning organization in our Winter ’23-’24 issue!
Camp New Day UP
“I love Camp New Day because people here have the same issues as me!”
Camp New Day UP is exclusively for children whose lives are impacted by parental incarceration. These kids often feel traumatized, ashamed, isolated, and their families have often undergone abrupt changes, such as going from two-parent to single-parent homes, or even into foster care.
Our mission is to provide children of the incarcerated with a caring, safe, environment that nurtures their self-worth, thereby help to break the generational cycle of incarceration. We also help them learn to trust, work together, try new things, be proud of themselves, and take time to just “be kids.”
Camp is for kids ages 9 to 14 from across the Upper Peninsula. We fundraise to cover everything campers need transportation to/from camp, healthy food, access to medical care, swimming, fishing, arts and crafts, camp games, bonfires, and trained, supportive counselors. Visit campnewdayup.com
JJPACKS
Did you know that approximately 30% of children in Marquette schools fall under the poverty line?
JJPACKS is a 100% volunteer-based program that delivers healthy, supplemental nutrition to children to take home for the weekend. It was begun in 2014 by Habby Vigfusdotir and Kevin Carr, inspired in part by an act of kindness done by Habby’s son, Jakob Johannsson, hence the name JJPACKS.
Donations from groups, individuals, grocery stores, etc. help to cover costs, which are about $5/student each week. During the school year, over 225 bags are packed and delivered weekly, covering 7 schools, approximately 120 households, and over 225 children. Volunteers pick up the food, gather each Friday morning to sort it, pack bags, and deliver them to the schools. Student and their families at all Marquette elementary and middle school, high school, and the alternative high school are eligible. Facebook—JJ PACKS, Website – jjpacks.org
Big Brothers Big Sisters
The mission of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Central Upper Peninsula (BBBSCUP) is to build and support one-to-one relationships to ignite the biggest possible futures for youth. BBBSCUP has provided traditional and innovative one-to-one matches for over 50 years and site and school based mentoring for over twenty years. The goal of BBBSCUP is to provide a caring mentor to every child who could use a positive role model, effectively strengthening the entire community. BBBSCUP offers strong programmatic expertise, providing diverse and specialized programming for local children with evidence-based outcomes.
In June of 2023 at the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America National Conference in Anaheim, California, Big Brothers Big Sisters received the prestigious Quality Award. Out of 225 agencies nationwide, BBBSCUP is one of only 32 agencies to receive this award. For more information about BBBSCUP, please go to www.bbbsmqt.org.
Partridge Creek Farm
Partridge Creek Farm helps reduce local food insecurity by supporting food- Cont. on p. 8
Spotlight On…. Lakeshore Depot with Owner Mike Hainstock H&H
What is Lakeshore Depot all about?
Lakeshore Depot started as a way to help strengthen our food system by operating under a farm stop model, the idea being to combine elements of a farmers market, grocery store, and coffee shop into one place. All of the products are locally or regionally sourced. It’s an outlet for local food producers and farmers to sell their goods, and for customers to find local products.
We curate diverse product offerings to be as close to a full-service grocery store as possible, working in the confines of what’s available in our region. We have groceries, dairy, eggs, local produce and meats, and also some deli items and beverages that we produce in-house.
What led you to open Lakeshore Depot?
About ten years ago, I attempted to operate a micro-farm which grew a variety of vegetables and raised dairy goods. I experienced firsthand both how fulfilling and how difficult it is to make a career as a farmer, and had the opportunity to work alongside our local food producers. When I exited farming, I wanted to find a way to help support those other people because I could really see and relate to the challenges they faced.
When the COVID shutdown happened, all the local farmers met to discuss how to respond to that situation, and whether there would be a farmers market that year, and it sparked this idea. I opened Lakeshore Depot in July, 2020. It was my response to the trauma and uncertainty of the world–our shelves are emptying; how are we going to get food up here if the trucks stop coming?
What do customers like best about it?
The relaxed, friendly atmosphere, and knowing that all the products there are supporting our local food region. Lots of people really appreciate having a neighborhood grocery store they can walk to for staple foods like milk and eggs. Our multi-farm CSA box has gotten great feedback and allows us to provide local food to community members in need at a fraction of tis retail price.
We’re located in the Lakeshore Park building which is across from McCarty’s Cove off Lakeshore Blvd., back around the corner from Fred’s Rubber Stamp shop. So lots of tourists and neighborhood customers come in–people out going to the beach or for a walk around town, depending upon the weather.
What do you enjoy most about running it?
I love fostering an environment of community interaction and engagement, being able to use food and agriculture to create a space to build community, to gather people together and share experiences and knowledge, to gather vendors and employees together that really understand and resonate with the mission and want to engage with it on more than a basic level.
It’s led to new friendships and connections within the community. I’ve been able to connect different people who are into harvesting wild plants or want to brew something. I love facilitating those types of connections.
What’s surprised you most about running it?
How dynamic it is–the balance of customer flow and employees, product availability and cash flow. I’ve become more aware of some of the food industry’s challenges in general, besides those specific to farming.
Future plans for Lakeshore Depot?
We did $86,000 in sales our first year and had similar sales in July 2023 alone, with more transactions in that one month than we did in our whole first six months of business. Our retail space has gone from 400 square feet to 1500, so we have a larger space, better displays, wider product selection. So our biggest focus is stabilizing the growth and expansion we’ve undertaken and refining the systems we need to operate at the size we’re at, making sure they’re aligned with our mission–purchasing local items as opposed to others that might be easier for us to purchase.
Cont. on p.11
Positive Parenting: 17 Tips for Raising Eco-Conscious Kids
H&H
Caring for the earth requires not only our participation, but that of the generations after us. And the sooner that begins the better! So below are seventeen tips to help raise eco-conscious kids.
1. Lead by Example: Children learn more from what you do than what you say. If you trash edible leftovers, choose plastic-wrapped produce over loose, or drive to destinations a block or two away, this may become their norm. One of the best ways to help your kids become ecologically conscious and caring now and as adults is to live this way yourself.
2. Spend Time Together Outdoors: “The single most important thing you can do to make your child aware of the environment is to spend time in it with them,” says TV presenter and author Nick Baker.1
“Try to replicate the experiences you had as a child…. Treat it as family time, and let them be led by their curiosity. If they have a question about something that you can’t answer, look it up together.”2
3. Teach Respect for Nature: Our presence in nature can affect the health of the plants and animals around us. Teach your kids why staying on trails protects ecosystems, or why a closure due to migrating salamanders or nesting birds is important to respect. View natural online webcams that show the lives of different species.
4. Shop Wisely Together: Discuss how our buying choices affect the environment. Encourage your children to choose foods with less or no packaging. Consider where foods come from and the impact of shipping distances. Compare how sustainably different products are produced.
5. Put them on Your Recycling Team: Have your kids help wash, sort, and recycle household rubbish. Describe where it goes and why that’s better than the landfill.
6. Tap Their Imagination: Engage your kids’ creativity and work together to repurpose items that would otherwise be discarded. For example, might a cereal carton become a small doll house? Old work boots be reused as planters? Metal cans as pen and pencil jars?
7. Take Indoor Time for Eco Messages: Read books and watch documentaries, TV shows, and movies with ecological messages together. Ask what they think about these stories and facts, and discuss anything they become inspired to do to help protect nature.
8. Watch Your Home Energy Usage: Talk with your kids about how to save energy and resources at home. Teach them to turn lights off when leaving a room, to unplug devices when not in use, and moderate the length of showering and toothbrushing time.
9. Enlist Their Care for Plants & Animals: Whether it’s a pet, vegetable patch, or flowerpot, teaching children to help take care of a living thing builds both eco-consciousness and a sense of responsibility. You can even set up a rain barrel to collect water with which they can nourish the plants.
10. Pick Up That Trash: Make a habit of collecting and disposing of rubbish you see on outings together, or do regular litter pickup in your area with your children and their friends, using strong gloves, bins, and litter-picking sticks. You can even tally types of trash and look at how your community might reduce this.
11. Suggest Joining a Campaign: Kids’ involvement can bring more attention to environmental issues, and their views may be taken more seriously than those of adults. Kids fo Saving Earth, founded by eleven-year-old Clinton Hill, offers many ways kids can help improve Earth’s health. Many environmental organizations also have ways to involve children.
12. Go Clubbing: Your child’s school, local garden center, or environmental organization may have a gardening or environment club, or run special holiday activities where kids learn more about taking care of our planet.
1 https://www.theschoolrun.com/how-raise-environmentally-conscious-child
2 Ibid.
Bodies in Motion: Reaping the Rewards of Silent Sports
Kevin McGrath
Sitting on my back deck here in Marquette on a beautiful summer afternoon, I couldn’t help but notice all of the noise. So I decided to make a log of everything I could hear while I just sat and listened.
To my surprise, I wrote constantly for the next thirty minutes and nearly filled an entire eightysheet college-ruled notebook. For example: Lawn mower—east; birds singing—north; car driving— west; truck driving—south; wind blowing—above; birds still singing—north; car driving—west; wind blowing—above, east and west; birds still singing—north; loud car driving—west; crows cawing— east; sustained gentle breeze—north, above, and east; loud car radio—east; dog barking—east; car driving—west; robin singing—north; leaf blower—south; car—west; dog barking—east; man talking—west, scooter going by—west; strong breeze above, then to the east; loud car—south to east.
Now if you take away the man-made noises from the log sample above, you’re left with someone sitting outside listening to the glorious sounds of nature, which studies indicate help you relax, be more willing to help others, score better on tests, and sleep well, as opposed to the increased blood pressure and other negative health impacts of noise pollution.1 Additionally, as silence expert Gordon Hempton explains that research on children who have attention-deficit disorder shows experiencing quiet in nature can be as effective for them as medication.2
Couple this with the many benefits of physical activity and you get the super-boost of silent sports! In the Upper Peninsula, we’re fortunate to have loads of non-motorized sport choices, such as cycling, windsurfing, kiteboarding, kayaking, paddle boarding, running, hiking, swimming, and fly, stream, and shore fishing.
These sports don’t add to the constant barrage of noise pollution we humans create, and are a great way to be active in our natural habitat. Plus, they cause far less degradation to the environment than motorized sports.
As Associate Professors Robert Fletcher and Crelis Rammelt describe, “Sustainable development is an oxymoron that carries inescapable negative environmental impacts.”3 Eco-conscious land use must be on the agenda for municipalities, counties and state authorities if we and those who come after us are to enjoy healthy, pleasurable lives. Silent sports are a step in the right direction, and the UP has many clubs and organizations that can help you participate in them. For example, Upper Peninsula Rowing of Marquette welcomes new members and provides most of the equipment needed to become a rower. Copper Country Cycling Club organizes separate beginner and intermediate/advanced rides, as well as UP and nationwide weekend and spring break trips, plus collegiate mountain bike and casual races, helping to keep participation both safe and fun. Come winter, you can enjoy the camaraderie of cross country skiing clubs in many part of the UP. But whether you dash or stroll through our beautiful land or water, I invite you to open to the bounty offered by the sounds of nature.
Kevin McGrath can be found enjoying the peaceful sounds of nature while hiking, swimming, kayaking, or just being among planet earth’s greatest gifts to us.
2
Senior Viewpoint: Going Green, Permanently, Part 2
H&H
Health & Happiness’s Spring 2017 issue included “Going Green, Permanently” by Nicole Walton on green burial. In response to increased local interest and opportunities in this arena since then, here’s an update on this important topic.
Cash in your chips, kick the bucket, pushing up daisies, buy the farm, bite the dust—regardless of what you choose to call it, we’re all going to do it someday.
For those of us fortunate to have lived long enough to attain senior status, thoughts of our demise may come along more often than in our earlier days, as well as questions about what our legacy will be to those who come after us.
When you do “push up those daisies,” will you be hurting the web of life, or helping it thrive?
According to a Berkeley Planning Journal article, over 800,000 gallons of formaldehyde are put into the ground with dead bodies every year in the US. “….the process of preserving and sealing corpses into caskets and then plunging them into the ground is extremely environmentally unfriendly. Toxic chemicals from the embalming, burial, and cremation process leach into the air and soil, and expose funeral workers to potentials hazards. And maintaining the crisp, green memorial plots is extremely land-and-water-use heavy…. with sprawling, pristine lawns that require a ton of water, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides to keep them a vibrant green. These chemicals can seep into water supplies or harm wildlife, such as bees.”1
“Conventional burials in the US each year use 30 million board feet of hardwoods, 2,700 tons of copper and bronze, 104,272 tons of steel, and 1,636,000 tons of reinforced concrete. The amount of casket wood alone is equivalent to about 4 million acres of forest and could build about 4.5 million homes.” They also use up lots of land—approximately 1 million acres of land total in the US alone.2 Many now choose cremation instead. According to the National Funeral Directors Association, cremations have recently become the most popular end-of-life option for the remains of loved ones in the US. But as a 2019 National Geographic article explains, “While it’s true that cremation is less harmful than pumping a body full of formaldehyde and burying it on top of concrete, there are still environmental effects to consider… Cremation requires a lot of fuel, and it results in millions of tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year.”3
Matthews Environmental Solutions, which manufactures cremation technologies, estimates that one cremation produces an average of 534.6 pounds of carbon dioxide. Its marketing division manager Paul Seyler estimates US cremations are responsible for approximately 360,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions each year.4
For those who don’t want to use up so much fuel or release so much carbon dioxide when they die, alkaline hydrolysis, also known as water cremation or aqamation, may be a more appealing option. This method of dissolving a body in water “has about a tenth of the carbon footprint of conventional cremation,” says Nora Menkin, executive director of the People’s Memorial Association.5
The process uses ninety-five percent water and five percent alkali, not acid, to dissolve the body. The amount of alkali used is determined by the person’s weight.6
Aquamation’s water byproduct is a great fertilizer that’s sometimes used on farmland. “But most places, it just goes into the municipal sewer system. And a lot of sewer systems actually appreciate it, because it actually helps with the quality of the wastewater,” says Menkin.7
While aquamation appears to be happening in elsewhere in Michigan, currently there are no facilities for it in the Upper Peninsula. So to do more good than harm when you leave your physical form behind, you may want to consider green burial.
1 https://www.businessinsider.com/burying-dead-bodies-environment-funeral-conservation-2015-10#the-embalming-process-is-toxic-1
2 Ibid.
3 https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/is-cremation-environmentally-friendly-heres-the-science
4
Annual Donation Recipients (cont. from p. 3) based economic development and providing learning opportunities on sustainable food systems through hands-on education.
In a community where 18% of the population is food insecure and 42% of members are one paycheck from homelessness and hunger (based on ALICE* statistics), Partridge Creek Farm supports long-term community health and vibrancy to better combat these statistics.
Partridge Creek Farm is continuing the third year of their Healthy Cooking Program at Ishpeming Middle School, and will begin a CTE Agriculture program in the High School this school year, as well as provide community workshops.
PCF also offers CSA Salad Box Subscriptions and encourages Snap/EBT users to sign up for them to receive freshly grown and harvested produce weekly from Partridge Creek Farm’s gardens. 100% of donations go to PCF’s youth programming and community food access. You can learn more at our website, partridgecreekfarm.org.
U.P. KIDS–Caring for Children. Building Brighter Futures
Our foster and adoptive programs provide loving homes where children are protected and nurtured. The primary goal of foster care is reunification with the child’s biological family. When reunification isn’t possible, our goal becomes finding the child an adoptive home.
Adoptive families are offered supportive services through the Post-Adoptive Resource Center (PARC). Specialists partner with adoptive families to connect them to resources, and offer training, support and advocacy.
Families UPWARD is an innovative new program. Its goal is preventative—strengthening families before they become involved in the child welfare system.
The Big Brothers Big Sisters Program seeks to change the lives of children facing adversity -for the better, forever. Through one-on-one friendships, mentors help children become confident, capable and caring individuals.
If you are interested in becoming a foster or adoptive family, please contact Dolores Kilpela at dolores@upkids.com.
If you’re interested in the Big Brother Big Sister program, please contact Maggie Munch at bbbs@upkids.com.
The Women’s Center
The mission of the Women’s Center (WC) is to provide supportive services to primary and secondary survivors of domestic and sexual violence in Marquette and Alger Counties through programs that Protect, Educate, Advocate, Counsel, and Empower (P.E.A.C.E).
The services the WC provides work toward preventing violence and enhancing survivors’ ability to be fully functioning members of society, free from violence and harm. The WC staffs a 24/7 support line and provides emergency response for domestic violence and sexual assault. The WC also supports survivors through temporary emergency shelter, supportive advocacy and services, legal advocacy, transportation assistance, therapeutic services, services for youth who have been exposed to violence, community education and outreach, and a transitional supportive housing program. As a community-based organization, the WC’s services are 100% free and confidential. This year the Women’s Center is celebrating 50 years of operation. Go to www.wcmqt.org to learn more about the Women›s Center.
West End Suicide Prevention
West End Suicide Prevention (WESP) is a dedicated group of individuals working to end suicide. Along with promoting evidence-based suicide prevention training and distributing suicide prevention materials, WESP engages the community. In 2019, WESP developed LIVE, encouraging individuals to LOVE (yourself), INCLUDE (others), VALUE (life)
