Les Cheneaux welcomes you to celebrate the legacy of Aldo Leopold — one of America’s most influential naturalists — during our festival, May 31st – June 4, 2023 hosted at the Hessel School House. Activities include paddling excursions, orchid and wildflower tours, birding trips, presentations, and many other nature-based activities. Experience the woods and water that […]
On Friday, June 2 from 2:30 - 4:30 PM fisheries biologist Dr. Kevin McDonnell from the US Fish and Wildlife Service will discuss the biology, history, and future of Cisco in Lake Huron. Cisco (also known as lake herring) were once the most abundant pelagic fish throughout the Great lakes. Unfortunately Cisco have largely been […]
Birdwatching 101 In this class you will learn the basics of birding such as optics, field guides, birding technology, predicting migratory flights using weather and radar, attracting birds to your yard, and the where, when and how to find and identify birds. Avid ornithologist, Jamie Pratt will provide everything you need to know to get […]
This class will examine the role birds have played in film, literature and painting. We will talk about the history of birds in art, such as John James Audubon's Birds of America, but will also explore how birds have been used to convey ideas, themes and even hidden messages in everything from modern films, such […]
Poetry depends on compression and distillation, and it succeeds when it makes (and shares) discoveries and surprises. These surprises often come by way of metaphor. How do we free ourselves to find fresh and surprising metaphors and make wild (but effective) connections between things in this world that have not previously been connected? How do […]
We know about the magic of salt, fat, acid, and heat in the kitchen. In this workshop, participants will explore two magic elements in poetry -- history and word play – and experiment with them to write their own poems. Note: Participants might consider using the poem they begin in this workshop as content for […]
In this workshop we’ll read examples of the epistle – poems written as letters to others – and then write our own letter poems or letter prose poems. The epistle allows a writer to engage in something that feels like a private exchange. The result can be delightful for both writer and reader. Epistolary poems […]
We’ll read some powerful and delightful examples of very short prose, and we’ll think about what a vessel the size of a paragraph can hold. Maybe you’ll create a map or a list. Maybe you’ll write a tiny essay. Note: Participants might consider using this as content for the artist’s book we’ll make in a […]
In this workshop, guest artist Cindy Hunter Morgan will be teaching participants how to make their own accordion books. We’ll cover book board with Italian book cloth and hand fold our paper to form the pages of our books. Participants will leave their own completed books and can choose whether to leave these books blank […]