Tara's Meadow

06/09/2026

This year’s 10th Anniversary Beaver Island Sustainability Fair will feature the Powerful “Spirit Lake” Odawa Tribe’s Singers & Drummers with traditional Jingle Dancers, along with enchanting tales told by 5 times Champion Irish Storyteller Jane McDaniel from Eagle (Achille) Island Ireland!

Storytelling will weave Celtic tales by Ms. McDaniel with Anishinaabe stories told by Nichole Biber, Turtle Clan of the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians, honoring both ancient and historical cultures of Beaver Island.

FRIDAY, JUNE 19 EVENING EVENT at the BEAVER ISLAND COMMUNITY CENTER:

7PM – IRISH & ODAWA “BRAIDING CULTURES” PERFORMANCE: The Drumming, dance and storytelling tickets are just $20 and can be purchased via this link: https://store.biccenter.org/tickets/. Order now to save your seat! https://store.biccenter.org/product/sustainability-fair-braiding-cultures-irish-odawa-jam-session-with-song-storytelling-drumming-dance/

This concert performance is sponsored by Tara’s Meadow Education & Retreat Center, and supported by a generous anonymous donor from the Charlevoix County Community Foundation. It will be just the highlight of a stellar weekend of fascinating free educational workshops, presentations, and “hands-on” Sustainability Activities for the Summer Solstice Weekend: Thursday June 18 - Saturday June 21.

FRIDAY JUNE 19 – MORNING EVENT, PARADISE BAY PARK (Downtown St James)

9AM - ANISHINAABE WATER CEREMONY AND CELTIC BLESSING – You are welcome to join this special annual gathering to kick off the Beaver Island Sustainability Fair. We will come together along the waters of Michigami to honor the Day, have gratitude for our Waters of Life, and give thanks for our Lives as we come together in peace.

FRIDAY JUNE 19 - DAYTIME EVENTS, BEAVER ISLAND COMMUNITY CENTER

12noon WELCOMING RECEPTION: Begin the Beaver Island Sustainability Fair weekend with “Seanachie” Irish Storyteller Jane McDaniel at this public reception complete with snacks and refreshments. Ms. McDaniel is co-hosted by Tara’s Meadow and the Irish Heritage Group, and with the reception sponsored by the BICommunity Center.

Also welcome and meet Dr. Nichole Biber, Water Protector from the Turtle Clan of the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians, along with visionary author activist Mitch Distin of the New People Foundation.

FRIDAY JUNE 19, 1PM - “On Being Native - Indigeneity & Environmental Activism.” After the reception, join these fascinating folks in a free workshop that will guide us on a journey to “Landscapes of the Soul”. We will also hear from the front lines of Michigan’s Water Protectors and the Resistance Movement to Michigan Data Centers. Everyone is welcome!

SATURDAY, JUNE 20 BISF EVENTS

10am, WHISKEY POINT (NEAR THE BEAVER ISLAND HARBOR LIGHTHOUSE) –
“New Innovations in Wave Generated Electricity”: The University of Michigan will once again demonstrate the most recent innovative models demonstrating electricity generated by Lake Michigan’s Waves.

SATURDAY, JUNE 20, CMU BIOLOGICAL STATION (on East Side Drive): Afternoon events

12pm, LUNCHEON (OPTIONAL): Start off the afternoon of Sustainability Fair programs with an informal luncheon by the CMU chefs. Lunch is “Open to the Public”. A donation is requested, and you must PRE-REGISTER for this meal by emailing: [email protected]. Please send in your request BY FRIDAY, JUNE 13.

(Edited Version of the above)

1pm, PLANTING FOR OUR FUTURE : Plant your own “3 Sisters Garden” to take back home with Beaver Island’s new resident and ‘Woman Farmer-Activist-Educator’ Marcia Coleman. Marcia will discuss the importance of cultural foods while guiding you through a make it & take it “3 Sisters” Garden of corn, beans and squash. Marcia will also highlight the role of women in farming & local food production, and will share topics such as farm labor issues, regenerative agriculture and ‘carbon farming for climate mitigation’.

2:30pm - SOIL BUILDING, COMPOSTING, AND PFAS REMEDIATION IN YOUR HOME GARDEN: Ecology Center Director Jeff Gearhart will provide an informative session on soil building and potential PFAS contamination in composts, fertilizers, and soils — and what gardeners, growers, and community members can do!

3:30pm - MULTILEVEL SELECTION THEORY with Dr. Mitch Distin: Multilevel selection is an exciting new theory that mirrors what ecologists have been teaching us all along: systems and overall communities rock! Looking just at the individual is looking at that single tree so closely that we miss the Forest. In evolutionary biology, Multilevel Selection suggests that natural selection can occur at multiple levels of biological organization, including genes, individuals, groups, and communities. This systems-oriented approach challenges the traditional view that selection primarily acts on individuals, suggesting instead that evolutionary processes are multi-faceted, more complex, and involve the cooperation of biological communities.

SATURDAY, JUNE 20, CMU BIOLOGICAL STATION - Evening Events

7:00pm - CMU FISHERIES RESEARCH with Dr Kevin Pangle: We’ll learn what’s happening with whitefish and other species in our Great Lakes, and hear fascinating updates from recent Beaver Island local Lake Michigan research.

7:30pm - BEAVER ISLAND ASSOCIATION REPORTS with Craig Peirano: Hear the latest on Broadband, Blight, and Community Composting during these updates from the Beaver Island Association’s Sustainability Initiatives. The BIA is a local Island nonprofit with years of good service for Beaver Islanders.

IMPORTANT REMINDERS!

To reserve your place at the Saturday 12noon lunch at CMU Bio Station, email [email protected].
Register BY FRIDAY, JUNE 13. Donations for the meal will be taken at the luncheon.

The CMU Biological Station is located at 33850 East Side Drive.

SEE THE CALENDAR OF EVENTS for this year’s Beaver Island Sustainability Fair in this edition of the Northern Islander! Keep up to date on Sustainability News @ page: https://www.facebook.com/BISustain.
To get updates by email, sign up for Tara’s Meadow E-News - https://bit.ly/TarasEnewsSignUp.

What an Amazing 10th Anniversary for the Beaver Island Sustainability Fair this will be. Please join us!
For inquires, contact [email protected].

05/31/2026

IN 2003 A GROUP OF MOSTLY HETER0 MEN & WOMEN GATHERED at Tara's Meadow, on Beaver Isle, for "Essential Peace Making Between Men & Women." 23 years later "The Wheel Barrel Coyotes" Council of Men born from that retreat gathers 2 times a year, with monthly zooms in between. I'M PROUD OF WHO WE ARE. I'M PROUD OF WHAT WE DO.

05/17/2026

BEAVER ISLE'S 10th ANNIVERSARY SUSTAINABILITY FAIR is honoring "ALL OUR RELATIONS" with a Braiding Cultures celebration of the Island's Irish & Odawa Peoples

05/11/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/17oUPdmqna/

This is AWESOME BIT OF WISDOM comes from my friend Patrick Naganashe, Odawa Pipe Carrier and “The Restless Bard” on Face Book. The magic Patrick speaks of I refer to as our part of our evolutionary imperative, what springs from the stardust we are. We are preexisting in this universe and nothing is new in that dust, just as the water that we drink fills the blood in our veins and was the blood of the dinosaurs that came before. That water all came from the ice of comets. That is magic.

Patrick when you come over to Beaver Island as part of Tara's Meadow and our 10th Anniversary Sustainability Fair I want “the restless bard” in you to speak and story tell with us! You will be sharing the stage on June 19th wlth Jane McDaniel, another restless bard or "shanachie" in the Irish tongue whom we are flying over from Eagle Island (Achille Isle in Irish) from Ireland. Jane will be trading stories and fresh wisdom tales with Dr Nichole Barber of the Turtle Clan of Odawa Peoples, sacred water protector, jingle dancer and activist. This is June 19 Friday afternoon and evening performance is about "Braiding Cultures" - about honoring the wisdom of our almost lost and now remembered ancestors as the people of Planet Earth.
We all come from the Clan of the Cave Bear, and that's why in the language on every mother on earth, on Mother's Day, we honor the Great Bear by referring to this most sacred act as "bearing children.” So on June 19 at the Beaver Island Community Center we will be honoring and celebrating 2 powerful braids of wisdom and culture that arrived on Beaver Island at different times -- Irish Celtic Tribal exiles from across the Atlantic and first nation Odawa Peoples here, who learned to fish together and live together on beautiful Amikwag-endaad.

On June 19 during Beaver Island’s 10th Anniversary Fair we will honor and respect each other again – 2 braids of distinct color & originality, the Irish and Anishinaabe – with dance and drumming, song and storytelling on stage with Spirit Lake, sharing in that common wisdom and magic of the stardust we all come from. And we desperately need that common wisdom and solidarity now. Call it the “Minneapolis Strong” good neighbor model – resisting the oppression that seeks to keep us divided in these cruel times of mass deportations, with some attempting to keep us divided by tribe, race, and color from each other here on Planet Earth. We will not be divided. We will celebrate and share in that common wisdom and magic of the stardust we all come, all our relations together, here on planet earth. You can sign up and learn more about this Braiding Cultural event via
Tara's Meadow Enews

Our mission is: “to educate, uplift and interconnect our students, guests and community members for their greater self-growth & empowerment; and to encourage them to apply their creativity & ecological awareness to the service of all life on this planet.”

03/15/2026

HOLDING FAITH for our species. Tara's Meadow explores Ahimsa ~ the strength thru nonviolence ~ as the bombs drop.

On 27 Feb-1 Mar 2026, Tara's Meadow held this weekend retreat in northern Michigan.

02/26/2026

WHAT'S IN AN OLD FOREST? What does it mean to love, protect, and preserve our Indigeneity?

The peculiar shape of the coco de mer has inspired legends involving walking trees and aphrodisiac properties.

02/06/2026

THERE ARE A FEW SPACES LEFT, for you to explore with us the deep principles of Love on beautiful Thumb Lake for our “Love in Action” Retreat. We’ll blend expert gentle yoga with celtic body prayers movement meditations and play, for our explorations of self-love for singles and couples on this 2 day unique retreat Feb 27 – March 1.

YOU WILL GET TO EXPLORE the shoreline trails and enjoy the lovely indoor quarters at the “Lake Louise” Retreat Center - with its 4,000 acres of pristine lakeside woodlands. With good simple meals, a warm fireside hearth, and good company you’ll rest and rejuvenate in the lovely spacious quarters. Remaining spots will fill fast, so register now if interested. Your facilitator team is Seamus Norgaard and Caitlin Concannon, who will take good loving care of you during this unique heart-centered retreat.
To register:

LOVE IN ACTION is a 2 day weekend retreat featuring Yoga, Play, Meditation, Trail Walks and Story Sharing; with deeper explorations of self care, solitude, and unconditional love in life when within and outside of partnerships.We’ll include Meditations of the Yoga and Hindu traditions of Ahimsa (n...

02/06/2026

THERE IS STILL TIME with just a few spaces left, to explore the deep principles of Love with us on beautiful Thumb Lake for our “Love in Action” Retreat. We’ll blend expert gentle yoga with celtic body prayers movement meditations and play, for our explorations of self-love for singles and couples on this 2 day unique retreat Feb 27 – March 1.

YOU WILL GET TO EXPLORE the shoreline trails and enjoy the lovely indoor quarters at the “Lake Louise” Retreat Center - with its 4,000 acres of pristine lakeside woodlands. With good simple meals, a warm fireside hearth, and good company you’ll rest and rejuvenate in the lovely spacious quarters. Remaining spots will fill fast, so register now if interested. Your facilitator team is Seamus Norgaard and Caitlin Concannon, who will take good loving care of you during this unique heart-centered retreat.
To register:
https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/love-in-action-heart-centered-retreat

01/25/2026

NEED A LITTLE LIGHT? COME HAVE FUN WITH US ON FEB 1!
"Love In Action" Friend-Raiser is a Free Local Event to celebrate and share the victories of our service organizations in Emmett and Charlevoix Counties. Live music, warm beverages, and healthy snacks will be served, along with a diverse group of over 10 local nonprofits attending, sharing about local Childcare services, the Expressive Arts, Affordable Housing, Watershed Protection, and a host of other visionary projects that will make our lives better in 2026!

01/18/2026

LOOKING FOR A LITTLE LIGHT? We'll be gathering on Feb 1 in Petoskey to spread some hope & cheer. A FREE EVENT featuring inspiring live music, snacks by the Grain Train, and reports on the best local news of the New Year by several of our area nonprofits.