Keystone XL pipeline: First Nations protest tar sands project | rabble.ca

December 6, 2011 – 12 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College
13466 N. Trepania Road, Haoward, WI
Environmental Film Festival
Film: GASLAND

Below is a video clip. See and Listen to Clayton Thomas-Müller of Alberta, Canada, explain why he is a protector of the Earth. Clayton Thomas-Muller is a leader in the movement to stop the Alberta Keystone XL Pipeline. I heard from him recently with a recommendation of two Wisconsin environmental advocates:

Patricia Popple, Concerned Chippewa Citizens will speak about silica sand mines and the health and environmental risk.

Frank Koehn will speak about the Bad River Iron Ore Mine that could pollute 23 waterways of Bad River Reservation. It isn’t only Koehn and Bad River that are concerned about fresh drinking water.

Happy Tonics and Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College (LCOOCC) and LCO Public Library are also concerned.  This is way we are sponsoring the III Annual Environmental Film Fest at LCOOCC.

Learn about mining and pipelines that could contaminate precious free flowing clean water. Wisconsin is known for its pristine environment. We must protect these natural resources for our own health and for the health of future generations. Natural resources are a gift from one generation to another and should not be allowed to come to harm.

If we don’t accept responsibility now for what is happening to the earth, when? This is our last chance to stop dirty fuel which will put us at such high emissions that the “game will be up,” according to some scientists and environmental organizations.

Keystone XL pipeline: First Nations protest tar sands project | rabble.ca.

LCO Environmental Film Festival – January 26, 2011

Lac Courte Oreilles James “Pipe” Mustache Auditorium
Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College
Hayward, WI, USA
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Topic: Treaty Rights

10 am – Visit InformationBooths/Displays
10:15 – Opening Prayer
10:30 – Guest Speakers(s): Jim St. Arnold, GLIFWC, Fred and Mike Tribble (Invited), LCO Conservation
12 Noon – Potluck (please bring a dish to pass and your own plates/utensils)
1215 pm – Film: “Lighting the 7th Fire”
1:15 pm – Advocacy to Action! How do we make a difference in our community?

“This PBS documentary skillfully weaves together spear fishing treaty rights issues in Wisconsin, the Chippewa prophecy of the 7th Fire and profiles of some of the people helping to bring back the tradition of spear fishing. This video captures a highly significant historical transition and it is the first program in the United States that vividly documents contemporary racism toward Native Americains.” (48 inutes)

Environmental Film Fest at Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College

Join Happy Tonics, Inc., Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College and the Sustainable Living Institute for the first Annual Event (Nov. 2010 – May 2011). The program takes place on November 3, 2010.  Hope you can join us from 12 noon – 2 p.m. Pot luck, film: Power of Community and Guest speaker.

Address: 13466 Trepania Road, Hayward, WI 54871.

Click on link to view flyer of event:  LCO_EFF_November3

Happy Tonics September News

Ryall, M. E. (2010, October 6). Happy Tonics September News. Washburn County Register, p. 10

Alex paying attention to learning to identify leaves

 There was a Fall Youth Plant Science event at the Spooner Ag Research Station on Saturday October 2, 2010. Area 4-H youth and other youth were invited to attend the event. Happy Tonics is proud to announce that the Pines and Lake Girl Scout Troop of Shell Lake attended. The Girl Scout Troop had a container garden at Friendship Commons this past summer. Offering youth gardening opportunities is one way to jumpstart their interest in gardening. 

Emily experiences pure joy as she catches a falling leaf

Kevin Schoessow, UW-Extension Spooner Area Agriculture Agent and UW-Extension Master Gardener Volunteers lead discussions and demonstrations on making compost, planting garlic, pruning grapes and raspberries and putting the garden to bed. There was a tour of the Spooner Ag Research Station Display gardens were youth learned about the “off the grid” drip irrigation system, powered by an airlift tech pump and windmill and the newly constructed hoop house for season extension. The girls learned something about seed saving and enjoyed tasting fresh fruit, vegetables and berries right from the garden.

Kevin showing a button bottom and a peanut shaped squash

Happy Tonics exhibited at the Lac Courte Oreilles Convention Center as part of the Wellness Fair and Farmers Market on September 30, 2010. The nonprofit organization is a member of the Green Team at the LCO Tribal College which sponsored the event.  A pumpkin and squash display was on Exhibit. The plants are native to the Americas. A Three Sisters Garden (Corn, beans and squash) was grown in the habitat to teach visitors how heirloom organic crops may have been grown by Native Americans in the prairie of long ago. WOJB did a live interview of the Three Sisters Garden with Mary Ellen Ryall.   Happy Tonics volunteer staff shucked Hidatsa beans and packaged organic herb tea and organic culinary herbs for their online Store at http://stores.ebay.com/HAPPY-TONICS

Happy Tonics received a Matching Gift from Hachette Book Group from Park Avenue, New York, as a match to the donation made by Erica Hohos of Worcester, Massachusetts. The donation will allow us to implement memory pavers around the large wild black cherry tree in the Memory Tree Grove. We will honor Happy Tonics members who have passed on with pavers. The nonprofit organization will invite the public to participate in this upcoming fundraiser. Citizens will be able to purchase an engraved paver in memory of their loved ones including family, friends and pets.

Response to Argumenative Article – Letter to the Editor

Last week the Monarch Butterfly Habitat received bad press from a woman who did not understand the purpose of the habitat. Here is a response from Tabitha Brown, Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Community College, Hayward, Wisconsin, USA.

Letter to the Editor, Washburn County Register:

In regards to the letter sent by Laureli Anderson from Cumberland, I would like to say VOLUNTEER. Happy Tonics is run by volunteers. No one is paid and it is run off of donations and grants. If you want to make a difference do something about it that is constructive. Happy Tonics butterfly Garden is a nonprofit run by volunteers and if you want to make changes to it then volunteer time or make a donation. That “nice pergola” you mentioned was a donation, and so were those benches begging to be sat upon. As a volunteer I tried to find local artists to donate artwork to add to the sanctuary. Maybe you would be more successful?

Some of the grants used to run the gardens have strict guidelines. Grants by the DNR or the Forestry service have stipulations where only certain plants can be used at the sanctuary. Why is that you may ask? Because the plants used at the Garden are Indigenous to the area and these plants are what local wildlife need since people destroy their natural habitats by planting “cute little gardens.”

A natural habitat does not look like your manicured garden. It is wild and beautiful in its own way if you take the time to study and appreciate it. I volunteer at the Butterfly sanctuary. I study plants and wildlife at the Lac Courte Oreilles Community college. Prairie habitat has been reduced to 1% of what it once was less than 100 years ago. People mow it down for their gardens, homes, and farms. The wildlife that once called it home is being destroyed. Did you know the habitat of Palos Verdes blue butterfly was reduced to the size of a baseball field? Guess what that town did to the habitat? They turned it into a baseball field. Now that butterfly is extinct in the wild.

Shell Lake is taking huge steps towards environmental awareness. The Organization that supports the Butterfly Garden in Shell Lake also provides festivals, seminars, and education on environmental awareness issues. They promote sustainable living.  So next time you visit the habitat keep that in mind. You can also ask for a guided tour and learn about the plants and maybe once you know what they do you can appreciate them as much as I do.

Sincerely,

Tabitha Brown

ENVIRONMENTAL FILM FEST, Hayward, Wisconsin at LCO Convention Center

 

 

Monarchs copyright Cindy Dyer, Dyer Design

 

LCO Convention Center, Hayward, Wisconsin
Thursday, May 6^th, 2010
Environmental Film Fest

 

Schedule

11:30-12:00pm: Free Luncheon
12:00pm Speaker:  Mary Ellen Ryall, Happy Tonics Inc. on Plight of the Monarch Butterfly and reasons why Happy Tonics creates native habitats for pollinators and migrating butterflies.
12:20pm Film: “Incredible Journey of the Butterflies”
1:20pm Community Discussion – Advocacy to Action

Visit Informational Booths Before and After Film:

How to Build Butterfly & Rain Gardens, Local Foods, Recycling, and more!

This nature documentary from NOVA follows the epic migration of the monarch butterfly over 2000 miles, providing a butterfly’s-eye-view as the two month journey passes over forests, swamps, desserts, and open water, eventually touching down at their destination in Mexico.

Source: http://www.fandango.com/nova:theincrediblejourneyofthebutterflies_v480610/summary

email: maryellen@happytonics.org for more information.

 

Background photo courtesy of: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/27/52666376_2d5156903c.jpg

Event: Environmental Film Festival at Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Community College March 11

Join us for the March Environemental Film Fest
LCOOCC, 13466 Trepania, Hayward, Wisconsin

LCOOCC James “Pipe” Mustache Auditorium
Thursday, March 11th, 2010
Lunch Available on Site @ 11:30am for $5 – Provided by LCO Elders Association
12:00pm  Speaker:  Dr. Damian Vraniak
12:30pm Film: “America’s Lost Landscape: The Tall Grass”
1:30pm Community Discussion – Advocacy to Action

Common Sunflower at Damian Vraniak's Prairie in Springbrook, WI.

Prior to Euro American settlement in the 1820s, one of the major landscape features of North America was 240 million acres of tall grass prairie, but between 1830 and 1900 the prairie was steadily transformed to farmland.  This change brought about an enormous social change for Native Americans.  The film creates a powerful and moving viewing experience about the natural and cultural history of America.  Loss of prairie and fragmentation is a loss of many species, plant, animal, and human. (57 minutes) 

Save the Dates for Upcoming Environmental Films and Sustainable Living Education!Thursdays –April 22nd and May 6th For More Information Contact:  Amber Marlow – GIS Lab/ Rm 508 or @ 634-4790 ext 156

 

Environmental Film Festival “King Corn”

Yesterday Happy Tonics was a co-sponsor at the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Community College’s Film Fest featuring “King Corn.”  Mary Ellen Ryall, Executive Director of the nonprofit spoke about Oneida Corn, a tribal corn, that originated in New York State near Syracuse and Utica.  The corn seed was gifted to the Oneida tribe to the west side of Green Bay, Wisconsin in 1992.

Oneida tribal corn

In 2009 Oneida corn was grown out by Mike Brenna of Little Footprint Farm, Turtle Lake, Wisconsin.

Mike told me that the Oneida Tribe in Wisconsin gave him some of the corn seed.  He cherished the seed and only gave us three ears.  I take one dried ear with me when I am lecturing. 

Corn silk is medicinal and good for urinary tract infection.  The dried silks can be added to soups and stews.  Ayner Larson (originally from Turkey) told me the silks can be used in tea. 

Phytochemicals:  Maysin, Carvacrol, Flavonoids and Polyphenols make up some of the medicinal properties of corn silk. 

Maysin helps protect the plant from bag bug larva such as European Corn Borer.  What is good for the plant may be good for our own intestinal health. 

Carvacrol may have antibacterial, anti fungal, antiviral and anti-cancer  properties when naturally distilled in liquid.  If corn silks are in a liquid base such as tea, soup and stew, this will allow the phytochemical to release its essence into the liquid.

Flavonioids have antioxidant properties.  Polyphenol also has antioxidant properties.  Rather, they may affect cell-to-cell signaling, receptor sensitivity, inflammatory enzyme activity or gene regulation.

Food sources are more than just a question of eating.  Are we conscious of what we eat?  For example, Oneida corn is a life substance to the Oneida people.  My ancestors came from Ireland and I am tied to the potato.  Being connected to our ancestral food has an effect on our DNR.  We are linked to our past through food.

King Corn points out that corn being grown today is often not for human consumption.  Corn is grown to feed cattle in the concentrated animal feed operations.  It is often grown as a byproduct called corn syrup.  It’s in mayonnaise, ketchup, boxed food and soft drinks.  Corn syrup is a processed product from a non food source. Diabetes is often caused by a diet of high corn syrup.  The closer to the natural food source, the healthier we can be. 

Happy Tonics display featured Tarahumara corn from a remote area of  Sierra Tarahumara, Chihuahua, Mexico.  Growing biodiversity of corn species can keep the landraces alive. There are more types of corn besides yellow sweet corn.  Tribal people understand the importance of growing dent, flour, flint, popcorn and sweet corn. 

tarahumara serape corn

 Tarahumara serape corn tassels.  Just look at the beautiful red striked tassels.  This species is a  Flour/Flint Corn.  When dry, flints generally store better and have a great resistance to insect damage.  The kernals can be toasted and ground and popped.

There is more to the corn story.  Visit http://happytonics.org/mbr13b1.htm to read the Colonization of Maize by Mary Ellen Ryall.

Be happy insectamonarca friends where ever you are.

Day Ten – Counting Votes for Climate Change Native Habitat Community Gardens in Shell Lake, WI

http://vimeo.com/7327532     Check out Brighter Planent’s short video of a bee and a daisy.

Happy Tonics Environmental Education Intern Tabitha Brown is a student at Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Community College.  She took the initiative to email the entire student body with permission from the college staff.  Tabitha is also getting out the word out on her MySpace Blog So what’s up?  She is recruiting for friends and students to Sign Up and Vote for Happy Tonics grant proposal at Brighter Planet for Climate Change Native Habitat and Community Garden in Shell Lake, WI.  We need your votes at http://brighterplanet.com/project_fund_projects/100

Our Morph Your Mind Environmental Education Program teaches about Colony Collapse Disorder and importance of native wildflowers as pollen sources for bees that need our help.   Seeing Beyond Ourselves, we hope you too will help our friends the native plants, bees and butterflies and the crops that feed us.  All these species are experiencing stress because of climate change.  Help us make a difference in our hometown.  We are a sustainable city but to plant gardens and maintain a Restored Remnant Tallgrass Prairie and butterfly meadow, we need funds to do so.  We are grateful to Brighter Planet for this opportunity.

You are voting for species that cannot speak for themselves.  Bless your hearts.

Day Nine – Teaching Importance of Native Crops through Brighter Planet Grant Proposal

A special thank you to Tim Reedy, State Farm Insurance, of Spooner, WI, for voting for our cause.  To the countless anonymous voters, we are grateful that you are supporting our grant proposal.  

Happy Tonics collaborates with Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Community College to teach that we need to grow local and native crops to support biodiversity of plants and pollinators during climate change.  Please Sign up and VOTE for Climate Change Native Habitat and Community Gardens Shell Lake grant proposal at Brighter Planet at http://brighterplanet.com/project_fund_projects/100  Your votes may help decide if we are able to secure funding for the Morph Your Mind Environmental Education Program that reaches far and wide to bring Indigenous wisdom of sustainability to the public.  

Beautiful corn silks that add flavoring and nutrients to soup.

The Lac Courte Oreilles OJibwe Community College (LCOOCC) Sustainable Living Institute in partnership with the LCO Green Team, Happy Tonics Butterfly Sanctuary, and LCOOCC Library are bringing an Environmental Film Festival to LCO! 

 February 18^th Event in the Auditorium includes: 

 Luncheon: Prepared by LCO Elders Association, Student Center $5 – serving starts at 11:30 a.m.
Noon:  Speaker:  Mary Ellen Ryall, Happy Tonics Butterfly Sanctuary Executive Director.
Topic: Role of biodiversity of native corn and reasons why native crops best survive climate change.
12:15pm Film:  “King Corn”
1:45pm Community Discussion:  Advocacy to Action! 

Native dent, flour, flint, popcorn and sweet corn

 Almost everything Americans eat contains corn: high fructose corn syrup, corn-fed meat, and corn-based processed foods are the staples of the modern diet.  Ready for an adventure and alarmed by signs of their generation’s bulging waistlines, college friends Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis know where to go investigate.

Eighty years ago, Ian and Curt’s great-grandfathers lived just a few miles apart, in the same rural county in northern Iowa.  Now their great-grandsons are returning with a mission:  they will plant an acre of corn, follow their harvest into the world, and attempt to understand what they—and all of us—are really made of.  Visit the movie link to learn more at http://www.kingcorn.net/ 

Good night dear voters where ever you are.