Your place for all that is wonderful about NorthWest New Jersey.  Come explore our corner of the Garden State’s Natural Beauty, Performing Arts, Festivals, Organic Farms & Markets, Holistic Healing, Green Living and more.

Let me tell you about my North West New Jersey.  We don’t have an exit.  We have mountains, lakes, rivers, forests and farms. We have more options for local organic foods then just about anywhere in the state.  We have National and State Parks making up a large part of our region. We have snowy ski slopes, amazing fall foliage, summer swimming holes and eye popping spring beauty.

Our downtown Main Streets offer theaters, art galleries, eateries and watering holes.

Enjoy your stay.

 

 

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http://www.blackpotatoe.com

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The Medicine Wheel Garden is a circular garden divided into slices, each representing the phases of the moon and earth astrology.  Each plant in the medicinal wheel has a purpose. This space is a true gem in NWNJ created by local horticultural therapists, teachers,  gardeners and volunteers.

 

 

 

There is a nearby crescent shaped moon garden with white and silvery foliage and flowers.

 

 

The gardens are located at the former Lusscroft Farm, now part of High Point State Park in Wantage, NJ.  It is a unique and beautiful setting for these amazing gardens created with love by a dedicated group of volunteers. Each May they celebrate with a festival featuring music, workshops, discussions, plant sale and community.

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the schedule:

Medicine Wheel Celebration

SATURDAY MAY 19th and 20th OUTDOOR WORKSHOP SCHEDULE:

9am – close Begin Plant Sale

9:30 – 10:30am Brian “Bio-Intensive Garden and Compost”
10:30 – 11:30am Frank Hennion “Forest and Woodlot Management”
11am – Noon Fran “Mandala Making”
1:30 – 2:30pm Roman Osadca “Garlic and Honey”
2:30 – 3:30pm Ian “Mushrooms”
3:30 – 4:30pm Pete Tischler “Orchard’s from Pollination to Maintenance”

MORE SATURDAY OFFERINGS AND ACTIVITIES:

11am-11:30am Spirit Hoopers Outdoors (needs PA)
Noon – 2pm Panel Discussion “People and nature Together” (Barn)
2pm – 3pm Tai Chi “Three Treasurers” (Outdoors)
3-4pm Calling of the Drums / Drum Circle (Barn)
4pm Poems by Peter Lott The Unionville Poet farmer, read by Matt Checker (Barn)
4:30pm – Sundown Open Mic Spoken Word and Music (Barn)

SUNDAY MUSIC IN THE BARN!!!!

11:00am – Deb D’Anne ( of Morning Door)
sing-a-long and instrument making for kids
Noon – 12:30 Mari Byrd
12:30 – 1 Geoff Doubleday
1 – 1:30 “Books”
1:30 – 2:15pm Billy Branson w/ Kevin Keck
2 :15 – 3pm Morning Door
3 – 4pm Mike Lawlor
4 – 5pm Maura Glynn
5 – 6pm Eric Waldman
6 – Sundown Jungle Jazz Initiative!!!!

Here is a video of Brian Hennessy of the Medicine Wheel Gardens talking about compost.

 

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Festivals run by local musicians tend to spotlight the best in local talent.  Renee Paddock of Mountain Ledge Music and her hubby Clark create great events shining a light on Northwest New Jersey’s Singer Songwriters.  And Vasa Park is the shadiest outdoor music venue ever.  One of the few where you can leave your sunblock at home.  Anyway, gotta love folks who approach local music with the the same fervor as others approach local foods.

Here’s the scoop:

Groove in the Grove is a grass-roots music festival featuring some of the
finest songwriters in New Jersey. We believe in extending the “local”
movement to music and art as well as food and other merchandise and have
created the festival out of our love of these songwriters and their music.
Groove 2012 will take place at Vasa Park on May 19 from noon-10pm.

Beginning at noon the MAIN stage will feature 11 local songwriters in a
round-robin format followed by an evening concert by the Eryn Shewell
Band. There will be familiar and new performers for local music
connoisseurs to discover. The line-up includes Kathy Phillips, Gregg
Cagno, Mef Gannon, Chelsea Carlson & John Graham, Plus One, Jazzy Jan Loe,
Chuck Schaeffer, Jack Tannehill, Mace Gill Trio, Chasing June and
Christine DeLeon.
Also starting at noon is our “Open Mic” stage where festivarians may
sign-up to show off their own talents. Mace & Carlos of the Mace Gill Band
will be hosting. The performer chosen as winner of the open mic stage will
get a 2 song set on the Main stage to open the evening performance by Eryn
Shewell.

Vasa Park and Ono Hula truck will provide festival-goers with delicious
food and drink; full-service bars will be open near both the main stage
and the open mic stage. There will be an assortment of art, craft and
service vendors as well.
Some items available will include art from musical instruments, henna body
art, face painting, quality hula hoops, hand made toiletries, tie-dye,
local artisan jewelry and much more!

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Michelle K of It’s a High Raw Life makes adding more raw living foods to your life fun and accessible.  I love her youtube uncooking videos.  Michelle keeps it real with her enthusiasm and down to earth nature.   Her recipes are loaded with high energy, raw organic veggies, fruits, nuts and seeds.  Michelle has been featured on the Raw Food Rehab social networking website.   And she is NWNJ’s only Raw Food educator!

Why Raw you ask?

According to Michelle, “Live foods are a key to a long, healthy, vibrant life. You can lose weight, heal your body, increase your energy, look and feel younger by eating Raw and Living foods. These are uncooked, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and sprouted grains. These raw foods can be eaten whole or combined to make the healthiest, most delicious meals”.

Here are some demos from a recent class Michelle gave in Sparta, NJ.

 

 

   ^{Find Michelle on Facebook and}

   ^{at It’s a High RawLife.com.}

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I love spring dandelions  in bloom.  Their sunny, perky nature and their Yellow Aura of Energy brighten my day.

Growing up in Brooklyn they were one of the first flowers we saw in spring.  I remember as a kid watching a woman in Prospect Park digging them up.  The neighbors thought this was rather odd.  I was fascinated, but had never eaten anything that did not come from a container. Fast forward mumble mumble years,  and I had a chance to go on a wild plant walk with one of the world’s greatest Plant Traveler’s, the late Frank Cook.

Here is a video from one of the walks Frank lead at Genesis Farm speaking about dandelion.

Frank Cook of Plants and Healers on Dandelion

Those walks with Frank rocked my world and were the beginning of many mini mind shifts for me.  I love the dandelion for itself, but I always think of Frank when I am around these beings.  His words stay with me…

“This Being is so giving, it’s so present.”

“This Being for me represents courage.”

“Here’s a food, here’s a medicine that is right outside our door.”

Frank whizzed through his time here, leaving us to fill his large sandals.  I want to do what I can to keep eating a “little nibble each day” from the land and sharing his message of locally sourced abundance. There is something quite magical and sacred about a direct connections to wild, nourishing plants.

So enjoy these Beings and their Blessings.  Ask them if you can enjoy their leaves, flowers and roots.

Here are some recipes to enjoy the die-hard Dandelion: One for fritters and one for pesto.  Frank told us pesto was a “whole genre” and there are many possibilities for wild greens pesto.

Keep an eye out for Foraging Walks with locals like Bradley White, Jessica Towle Krause and Lara Greenspan.  There are also quarterly Wild Plant walks at the Wallkill River Wildlife Refuge.  There are local food storing workshops through Transition Newton and the reskilling meet up group.

For more info on all the amazing wild foods growing in your lawn and even cracks in a sidewalk, Frank recommended a book called “Botony in a Day.”

Enjoy the journey and share your wild plant wisdoms…on down the line.

 

 

 

 

 

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Hurricanes Irene and Lee walloped Northwest New Jersey with a one two punch in 2011.  Homes were evacuated and businesses closed.  Blairstown took the brunt of the rushing rain water that deluged down the Paulinskill River.  There was no place for the water to go once it got to Btown but up.  Now the waters have receded and the town is recovering.

 

It was a hard time for many and I did not see anything good about the floods. The damage to buildings in Footbridge Park ultimately closed my own new preschool business, but there was an unexpected gift.

While the waters came rushing down the Paulinskill, it carried with it trees, rocks, sand and all kinds of stuff.  Amazingly almost no garbage because our area of Jersey is clean and respected by our peeps. 

When the waters receded along the Paulinskill river’s edge there were all kinds of new treasures…beautiful drift wood, tiny shells, glistening spent coal from the old railway and funky colored rocks.

 

The best surprise of all was the fine silty sand deposited below the dam at East Crisman Road, creating a new beach.

 

We drive past there every day and stopped to explore on one of those warm winter days.  We have gone back several times with friends to play in the sand, listen to the water and even watch kayakers launch. Blairstown’s new hot spot may not be the Jersey shore, but I like it better.

 

Now as the water flows, I soak up the sun and watch my daughter exploring the sand.  I think about how those two hurricanes closed some doors for me and opened others.

Crisman Beach is a place where I can be in the moment, soak up the sun and have gratitude for life’s twists, turns and unexpected gifts.

 

 

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I’d call Damian the Rube Goldberg of music.  He takes sounds and put them through contraptions, bonking into levers and pullies.  At the end emerges a unique collection of rootsy funked up madness and melody.  Always a fun excursion for the ears.  The new Damian Calcalgne CD is out.  His first since the scattering to the winds of Swampadelica.  That scattering has opened space for new music from Nadine Lafond, who will be opening for Dai.  Looking forward to the new musical explorations from Dai and emerging tunes from Nadine.

http://damiancalcagneband.com/

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