Let's Grow KI

07/20/2026

This Friday, July 24th 4-8PM we will be continuing to design where the survey varieties will be planted at the School Orchard Space.

This food forest will be here forever - take this opportunity to help decide what it will look like and contribute to its design as a community!

Anyone is welcome to come out and get involved, watch and learn or just stop by to ask questions.

Community Design activities will include:
- Helping to make decisions about fence and design locations by discussing how each space will be and could be used, and what design choices need to be considered (future seating, walkways, mowing, watering, salt zones, sun and more!).

-Prepping wood stakes for tree varieties (splitting, cutting, measuring, stapling- mostly at a station).

- Measuring and flagging fences and walkways (walking and bending, using a measuring tape in a team, and placing flags per directions)

- Designing where the trees will be located based on tree size & needs and blocking on map (thinking, walking, hammering stakes)

- Penciling fence and tree location details onto the floor plan map (measuring & penciling as a team).

07/17/2026

We can plan for rain- but wildfires were a wild card that we were not prepared for! For the safety of everyone's lungs, the Food Forest Design event 7/18 11-3PM is postponed.

Until then - click here to weigh in on the selection of fruit varieties that you would like to harvest in KI in the future! https://forms.gle/ajPom88u6vw5T2SY6

Stay tuned for a new date to dial in the layout and quantity of trees onsite at the KI Sawyer Sustainable Food forest on the Silver Lead Creek Greenway🍎🍐🍊🍒🌳

07/17/2026

Click here to weigh in on the selection of fruit varieties that you would like to harvest in KI in the future by Sunday 7/19 at Midnight!

Which varieties of Fruits would you like to harvest in our community - please select one from each list. Please check out the charts below for images of fruit, trees and blooms of each variety and to make an informed decision based on: DURABILITY: that varieties ability to resist disease and fungal....

07/16/2026

Chop and drop method! Think about what happens in the forest. The leaves fall, a tree dies- those things decompose where they land! This is an example of forest mimicry.

Lambsquarter is full of nutrients and very abundant at the Little Trout Lake Food Forest right now.

By letting it grow then chopping it into little pieces (so they break down faster) we can add it back to the earth, so that it can decompose and add those nutrients and way more organic matter back into the soil. This feeds the soil life and helps build the soil over time.

07/12/2026

Community members are invited to contribute to the Design of the KI Sawyer Sustainable Food Forest! 🍎🍐🍓🫐🍒🍑🌳
- Tuesday 7/14 5-7PM and or
- Saturday 7/18 11AM-3PM

Join us, for any amount of time, for a quick walkthrough the site to find out what's happening and or add input to the design (including what varieties of fruit, potential tree locations and more!).

Let's Grow KI will be in a tent at the future School Orchard site of on the Silver Lead Creek Greenway (between the school and the ballfields) to converse with the community and move a couple steps closer to the orchard design! JOIN US!!!

07/12/2026

There are a few strawberries down at the Little Trout Lake Food Forest! Forage at will. But our first real crop turned out to be a volunteer- Lambsquarter!!!

Yes, lambsquarters (Chenopodium album) is completely edible and highly nutritious. Often called "wild spinach," it is one of the most nutrient-dense wild greens available, offering generous amounts of vitamins A, C, and K, as well as calcium, iron, and protein.

Just like spinach - You can eat leaves in salad or sauté them. Stems are also edible and the seeds once ready are a grain similar to quinoa!

Anything you can make with spinach you can do with Lambsquarter. It’s the most abundant free food we have easily available in our community! There is probably some growing in your yard;).

Also worth a mention- service berries and blue berries are ripe for the picking in some areas 😋🥗🍓🫐🥬

07/03/2026

Wondering who those caterpillars are on our Pearly Everlasting at Little Trout Lake? American and Painted Lady Butterflies! Happy 4th of July 🦋🇺🇸!
See a details in the comments:

06/30/2026

We had a wonderful crew come out to help us pull weeds at the future School Orchard site. Thank you to the amazing members of our community, Silver Lead Creek Greenway, Marquette County Conservation District , and Marquette County Planning Division. It was a beautiful day and made even better with the help of weeding with wonderful people. Your next chance to join us will be July 11th, 10-2pm. We are so excited to add to our crew and thankful for the friends who are with us already!

06/27/2026

Wondering what that group was doing on the side of the road by the elementary school the other day?

We were pulling Spotted Knapweed with the Marquette County Conservation District, from the future site of the School Orchard space where we will be planting fruit trees and berries in May 2027!

Spotted Knapweed is running a muck in our community, see the infographic below for more information on how (and why) to remove it from your yard.

Join us in the next big pull and contribute to the KI Sawyer Sustainable Food Forest site prep- will be at again on Saturday July 11th, 10-2PM!