The Lewis School

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The Lewis School

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A space to grow, gather, dream, and learn in community with one another.

10/15/2026

Note: we’ve been watching the weather like hawks and have made the executive decision to reschedule Friday’s potluck to Sunday from 4 PM onward. Come enjoy what may be one of the last beautiful day of the season with us!

If you have any costumes collecting dust in your home, bring them to our Costume Swap in the Lewis School woods this *Sunday* 10/18 from 4 PM-sundown. Even if you don’t have a costume to bring, bring yourself! There’ll be a haunted trail walk, live music with the Lewis School Jam Club from 4:30-7:30 PM, arts and crafts, shadow puppetry, printmaking, mask-making, archery, a potluck with Antrim Support Network and Kalkaska Support Network, apple c***r making (and drinking), mushroom-hunting, dancing, and more. The evening will wind down with an outdoor screening of a spooky family-friendly movie to really get us all into the Halloween spirit. See you there?

(Event link here: Antrim and Kalkaska Support Network: October’s Potluck )

10/07/2026

If you’d like to print this recently carved linoleum block onto a t-shirt, sweatshirt, or tote bag so that you can flaunt Antrim Support Network and Kalkaska Support Network in public, bring whichever you prefer with you to this month’s potluck in the Lewis School woods on Friday, October 16th from 4 PM ‘til dark. Come dressed in costume.

To find us, turn off of County Road 612 onto Lewis School Road and drive straight for 0.3 miles. Stop when you hear the neighing of the phantom horses who haunt the grounds here.

Whatever you do, don’t look directly into their eyes!

10/05/2026

During Sunday’s foray, we found several large clusters of an unfamiliar mushroom species. As you can see in the attached photos, it grows cespitosely on dead wood (dead beech, in particular), has a rounded reddish cap, light gray gills that darken in maturity, a partial veil when young, remnants of a ring in maturity, and a deep purplish spore print. Though we only had an inkling of its identity at the time, the spores have spoken to confirm that this new-to-us mushroom is Hypholoma lateritium.

Commonly known as “the brick-cap mushroom” and “the chestnut mushroom,” Hypholoma lateritium is a choice edible with a nutty, slightly sweet flavor when young. Thanks to the Beech Bark Disease and Beech Leaf Disease littering the forest floor with dead beech trees (

10/04/2026

One week later and we’re still floating on waves of gratitude. Sending out the biggest thanks today to Dave Witek and Deb Witek for their incredibly generous donation to The Lewis School during last Sunday’s event. As a grassroots organization, donations like theirs allow us to expand the scope of our programming and ensure it stays free for everyone forever. Thank you both for your gift to the community *and* for being a gift to the community!

Thanks, too, to Gary White and Tricia White
for donating firewood to keep us warm during future events, to everyone who donated apples to c***rize (Julie Peck, Kasha, Rachael Overmire, Seth, and Tricia), the angels who made Sunday possible (Amber Rowlett, Antrim Support Network, Connor Brown, Detroit, Heather Wysor, Johnathan, Kalkaska Support Network, Liza Brown, Rachael, Solomon, and Vee Smith), and to Bill and Albert Brown for sharing their land with us.

Single twig weak, many twigs strong.

10/02/2026

One thing we have in common with the townsfolk of 1949 is the shared belief that music connects communities and changes worlds. As written in The Leader and the Kalkaskian 77 years ago, “The qualities music bestows upon her makers are essential for creating a society that values connection and community support. Group music-making, such as singing together or playing in a band, can significantly increase empathy and cooperation, especially among school-children. In essence, music is not just a form of entertainment but rather a tool for promoting emotional intelligence, social bonds, and understanding.”

Come put this theory to action with us this evening during our 115th Lewis School Jam at the schoolhouse from 6-9 PM. Until then, enjoy 9+ hours of music in photographic form ft. Betsy, Big Chris, Bill, Connor, Little Chris, Judy, Liza, Mickey, Miranda, Paul, Sandy, Sheryl, and William during jams #112-114. Beauty as far as the eye can see.

09/30/2026

When we first began hosting events at the schoolhouse and on the tree farm in 2023, we knew not a single local soul. Our mission was to create connections, make friends, celebrate community, teach what we know, learn what we don’t, and to support the localization of music, art, and ecology. Glancing around the gathering on Sunday at a forest full of strangers turned friends, we’d say mission accomplished.

Thank you all for sharing your day with us and for helping to bring our dreams to fruition! Special thanks to Kalkaska Support Network and Antrim Support Network for the constant collaboration. Stay tuned for a full report on Sunday’s fungi findings and details on our next event (October 16th, 4 PM!) to come later this week. Wishing you lovely days ‘til then.

09/21/2026

Breaking: with some help from the recent rain, the honey mushrooms are officially popping in Kalkaska county!

Address

5473 Nash Road NE
Kalkaska, MI
49646

Website

http://www.thepickmeuppress.com/lewis-school/

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