Northwood Wildcraft

02/12/2025

This year, I had the honor of joining the Blue Heron Headwaters Conservancy Board of Directors. I’m grateful to be part of this work, standing alongside a team and a mission I’m deeply proud of.

Today, in honor of Giving Tuesday, we’re inviting our community to support the work we do to protect our land and the wild places that make this region so special.

If you feel called to give, your donation helps keep these spaces alive, protected, and thriving for generations.

Thank you for caring about the place we call home.
🔗 in bi0

Photo by Silent Light Photography

29/11/2025

Northwood began on the Winter Solstice of 2016, first as Northwood Apothecary. Over the years we’ve shifted and grown, moving through seasons and names until we finally settled into who we are today: Northwood Wildcraft.

Wildcraft reflects the spirit of the woods itself… threads woven by hand, tallow and beeswax poured with intention, and medicinal plants gathered from our gardens or ethically harvested from the land.

Our community carries the old ways forward: herbalism, archery, hide tanning, song, stewardship, and the quiet work of conservation. Each craft, each tradition, roots us deeper into the place we call home.

With every turning of the year, we grow a little wilder and a little truer. Thank you for supporting small, handmade, earth-rooted craft. Your support keeps these traditions alive. 🪶

25/11/2025

04/11/2025

Our waters are connected, from small streams to big lakes. The Great Lakes basin spans eight U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. Today, we’re celebrating that connection and inviting you to think local: how does your water flow to the Lakes?
Photo courtesy of the Fred and Barbara Erb Family Foundation.

24/10/2025

Learn the names of some awesiinh (animal) relatives in Anishinaabemowin! Learning these words helps us connect with ancestors, the land around us, and each other.

What other awesiinh names do you know or want to learn? Share in the comments!

22/10/2025

Notable Native: Pumpkinseed Sunfish (Lepomis gibbosus)

These small sunfish are one of the most colorful fish in Michigan’s inland lakes. You’ll usually see them in the shallows during summer, but by late fall they head to deeper, quieter water for winter.

Fun fact: Pumpkinseeds have a bony plate in their throat (pharyngeal teeth) that lets them crush snail and clam shells, giving them a unique ecological niche among sunfish. If you’ve ever seen a flash of orange and blue near the shoreline, it was probably a pumpkinseed! 🎃

13/10/2025

Today is Indigenous Peoples’ Day - a moment to reflect on what Michigan looked like long before industry and development.

Imagine Michigan then:
Forests and wetlands shaping watersheds, streams winding freely over glacial till, lakes filled with clear, cold water teeming with native fish, mussels, and aquatic insects. Shorelines dotted with marshes, sedges, and native vegetation protecting banks and water quality.

Though the landscape has changed, tribal water protectors continue to monitor and care for many of the same lakes and streams today - and MiCorps volunteers have joined in that work for the past 50 years. That shared stewardship connects past and present in the work of appreciating our waters.

07/10/2025

06/10/2025

where stillness meets falling leaves, move slowly 🦌

03/10/2025

The Michigan Lakes and Streams Association has made it super easy for Michiganders to find their watershed. Their website brings together multiple tools that let you explore watershed boundaries at various levels, and some tools only require entering your ZIP code. From tributary creeks to Great Lakes basins, these maps give you a clearer picture of your local and regional waterways 😎

Check them out here: https://mymlsa.org/lake-and-watershed-management/managing-michigans-watersheds/