Fish and Guests - North House Volume I

Benjamin Franklin said, "Fish and guests stink after three days." Now every line has a context but in some ways I can relate to that one. After three days on the road I arrived a week ago Sunday in Grand Marais, Minnesota for this my next great adventure. While I was afforded showers by the folks who offered me accommodations, dinner outings, beefsgiving, and really great conversation. Big thank yous to those who made it possible. Admittedly, when I arrived from Dayton via Minneapolis via Chicago I did have a bit of the road on me. Fortunately there were not fish in the car.

So I made it. I am here. I live in the little yellow house (see the first picture below) which as you can see sits on the harbor on beautiful lake superior. When I got here things were in full swing with a pram class underway. I spent the first two days just unpacking my things and settling into my itty bitty apartment. The staff is really great too. "Minnesota nice" is a reality and makes it really comfortable despite the short amount of time I have been here. There is Greg the Executive Director. Scott the Program director from north of the border (that means he

is Canadian eh). Kay the office Manager. Mica the store manager. They are the four full time staff. Then there are two part timers Kelly and Bob. Kelly is the volunteer coordinator and Bob is the facilities manager. As with most operations of this nature everybody does a bit of everything and each is responsible for certain areas of interest. They are all "Minnesota nice". Well Bob is more of a Hagrid with a little bit of Filch (Harry Potter reference for those who just became completely

confused) so he is big, jovial, but straight to the point and is direct with you when he is annoyed. This may

however only indicate the Minnesota nice also includes extreme passive aggressiveness. I'll tell you more when I'm sure I've pissed a few of them off.

So the Pram class is taught by this nutter who was actually around for the start of things. His name is Mark, sharp as a tack, a bit of a class clown, and at times gets the Robin Williams "I'm really might be crazy....no really" gleam in his eye. Consequently he is a real rip.

The facility includes two big timber frame classrooms which basically amount to giant tool shops with really sweet equipment. (Matyas and Nichols...I now have the blueprint for the community work shops) It is like shop class on steroids. My flannel has come in handy in order to blend in a bit but I feel like my pony tail has me labeled as one of the hippies from up the gun flint. I'm not sure if that is helping or hurting but it should be long enough to donate soon so that will solve the problem all together. As expected, the beard is back and will be spending the summer with me.

To wrap up I'll just add that I did take my first course this past weekend. It was artisan baking so we worked in pre-ferments (sourdoughs of a sort) and cooked them in a wood fired oven. I now know how to make fougasse, focaccia, ciabatta, sourdough boules, an oatmeal and wild rice, and a rye. Pretty impressive to see it all listed. Definitely learned a ton and will enjoy using the oven all summer for pizzas and demos of bread making with folks passing through the North House. Also has me thinking that I am going to take the oven building class so that I
can help set them up in other appropriate places......DeRouan's....want a bread oven???!!! And who said thermodynamics couldn't get you anywhere.

Well that is all over the board looking back on it but a lot has happened. Figure this first one should just be a bit of an explanation of what is going on and then I can find something meaningful to write in the next few. So I've put down some pictures of the "classrooms" and buildings to kind of give an idea of the place.

Hope all are well,
Much love,
charlie

upcoming editions may include
Voyager Paddles (said with the voice of a french trapper)
Paddling to the sea with 3rd graders
Hot spots in down town Grand Marais

Here is a picture of the campus from the breakwall on the far side of the harbor --->