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Foraging Grand Rapids: Plantain

Submitted 09-03-2013 under LOCAL LIFE

Plantain is one of my favorite plants - it's so round and happy looking, so unassuming, yet packed with serious medicine for much of what ails you. Once I learned to identify it, I found it everywhere; it's so ubiquitous the Indians called...

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Failure-Lab to host show in Detroit

Submitted 08-29-2013 under LOCAL LIFE

Failure-Lab, the Grand Rapids-based speaker series that focuses on failure rather than success, will soon be making its way to Detroit. The show will be held November 21 at the Detroit Opera House. The inaugural show in May sold out the 400-seat...

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Boiler Room director grows spiritual community

Submitted 08-29-2013 under LOCAL LIFE

Seven years ago, Tony Tendero quit his job as an education professor at Grand Valley to open the Stockbridge Boiler Room. He bought and renovated a former crackhouse to turn it into a house of prayer and hospitality in the neighborhood. Now, Tendero...

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Grand Valley professor breaks down educational borders

Submitted 08-29-2013 under LOCAL LIFE

Whether teaching, writing or organizing film festivals, Zulema Moret is constantly busy. The Argentine-born Grand Valley professor has had a hand in many diverse programs including prayer walks and recently an educational nonprofit, Plaza...

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Love's Ice Cream focuses on pure ingredients, local seasonal flavors

Submitted 08-28-2013 under LOCAL LIFE

In the beginning, Love’s Ice Cream was simply a way to avoid buying ice cream that was made with less-than-satisfactory ingredients. With the debut store opening at the Downtown Market, Love’s Ice Cream sources local and seasonal...

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Why are the birds not singing? Calvin biology professor and students investigate

Submitted 08-27-2013 under LOCAL LIFE

Earlier this year, Calvin biology professor Darren S. Proppe drew worldwide attention when an article he co-authored, “Anthropogenic Noise Decreases Urban Songbird Diversity and May Contribute to Homogenization,” was published in the...

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Join the conversation on urban food innovation

Submitted 08-27-2013 under LOCAL LIFE

This Thursday at 7 p.m., the Grand Rapids Public Library's GR Reads program welcomes local food advocate, urban farmer, herbalist and author Lisa Rose Starner to share stories of local people creating community change in our food culture. "...

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The Pickle Club sets up camp in East Hills

Submitted 08-27-2013 under LOCAL LIFE

For the past few years, the pale blue house on the corner of Hermitage and Fitzhugh in East Hills has sat vacant. Now the residence is about to welcome a creative new vibrancy to the Diamond Gate neighborhood: an experimental art venue. Dubbed the...

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Well House community garden to give access to fresh produce in food desert

Submitted 08-27-2013 under LOCAL LIFE

Well House hopes to improve access to fresh, healthy food in the north end of the South East Community Assocation (SECA) neighborhood by creating a community garden for residents to grow and harvest vegetables. SECA is one of several food deserts in...

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Vuela Grito; Picardo celebrates 25 years of art

Submitted 08-26-2013 under LOCAL LIFE

On Thursday August 29, 2013, local artist Erick Picardo hosts an evening of spoken word poetry, and authentic drumming. The show is titled "Vuela Grito", which loosely translates to "flying scream", or as Picardo explains it,...

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