[Music]
Major funding for InWisconsin is provided by the people of
Alliance Energy who bring safe, reliable and
environmentally friendly energy to keep homes, neighborhoods
and life in Wisconsin running smoothly.
Alliance Energy, offering energy saving ideas on the web.
[Music]
Hello and welcome to a special summer edition of InWisconsin.
I'm Patty Low.
Each week throughout the summer we'll
bring you some of the most beautiful places in
Wisconsin. Tonight it's Parfrees Glen in Sauc County.
We'll also bring you some of our favorite stories
from throughout the year.
We begin tonight with an Algoma artist who finds inspiration
in forests like this one to create beautiful natural art.
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A walk in Wisconsin woodlands or some it's an invigorating
hike for others a relaxing stroll.
But for Algoma artist Dona Look, a walk
through a stand of Wisconsin birch is more of an expedition.
I don't like to purchase materials other than thread
I'd just like to collect my own materials.
I'm taking bark off of trees
that will be logged.
These areas have all been marked by logging companies.
They will be either clear cut or selectively logged
and they will be logged and down within the year.
So I'm not going out wherever I see a great tree
and just ripping the bark off of it.
I assess the trees as to whether they're good
trees, good useful trees, meaning useful for me.
These good useful trees, destined for logging,
provide the raw materials for looks art, birch baskets that
are found in the collections of museums across the
country. But it all begins in the woods of northern Wisconsin.
It begins there because that's where I collect
materials and the materials often dictate what
I should do with it.
Every tree is different.
I think it's, it sounds silly, but I think it's
somewhat like people.
We all have different skin
tones and I have a lot more freckles and someone else
is dark.
Every tree has a different kind of complexion
to it.
For some pieces might have these tiny
little lines and others have really large big gross
lines. You can tell I've looked at a lot of bark.
So it's, I see it in different ways and I try to look at
it carefully in the woods so that I can make notes
about what I might, I might use it for.
One, one year we were collecting and I remember it was freezing
rain and then it started snowing and it was painful.
It was so cold and the next day I think it was 90
in the same spot and the no-seam, the bugs and just
start swarming and biting.
It's very precious to me because it's taking a lot of
work to go out and collect it.
Back in her studio, these precious supplies are
transformed into vessels that combine the natural
world and fine design.
I think that originally the idea in my head is a
vision of some certain form.
And some of those ideas or those visions, I think probably
come from my environment obviously.
I'm a gardener.
I grow a lot of things like pumpkins and vegetable
forms. I live in a place where I have a lot of
flower gardens and natural, a really naturally beautiful
environment and I see a lot of different pod forms
and leaf forms that are always inspirational.
And I think that's entering into my imagination and that's where
the original ideas come from.
Looks talent for seeing in different ways has led to
numerous honors, including two national endowment
for the arts fellowships.
But it all begins with a few simple tools and
her woodland harvest.
I learned to sew as a child.
My grandmother and my mother both sewed a lot and I was
taught how to sew by hand before I was able to sew on a
machine. And I've always really liked that process of sewing
and I've always enjoyed working with my hands.
So it seemed like a normal thing to weave.
I've seen myself as coming from a basket tradition
because I use materials that I collect myself.
And I see that as a part of the ancient tradition
of basket weaving that is really prehistoric.
There were baskets before, there was any written word
and I see that tradition and I'm proud to be part of that.
I don't pay attention from start to finish an hour by hour.
How much time is in anyone or none.
One piece can take very little time and
one piece can take years and never be resolved.
And then some of them end up in that cupboard to be for years
to be someday maybe resolved.
It's just a couple of questions.
To me it's an evolution of from one thing to another
and what I learned there, I hope I can use beyond.
So I keep, I see it as one long learning process.
It's something I will do as long as
I can see the needle and thread.
I can work with my hands.
It's something that I really like to do.
I would hope the people see my work as art and see
that there is a quality of craftsmanship there.
The raw materials of a Wisconsin forest crafted
into art through the hands and vision of Donaluk.
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Donaluk is just one example of how people find
inspiration in nature.
The Milwaukee man in our next story also works with
the earth but he doesn't create art.
His motivation is to inspire young people.
From the outside this North Milwaukee business looks like
just a roadside produce stand.
But dig a little deeper and you'll see there's a lot more
going on beneath the surface.
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Depending on the time of day you might find the
owner will Allen in one of the greenhouses out back.
He gets up early to tend his field crops.
Then comes into the greenhouse to
tend his almost invisible livestock.
They're worms.
That's kind of my thing, the worms.
Allen is passionate about raising worms because
they turn food scraps into high quality organic
fertilizer for his plants.
Every month, Allen's worms produce 14,000
pounds of fertilizer.
But those are real healthy.
Look at the size of some of those.
The greenhouses behind the produce stand hold another
one of Allen's passions, an aquaponics demonstration
system that Allen designed.
Aquaponics is basically a way to grow plants in water.
Plants grow faster in water because the nutrients
are available.
Whereas in soil, the roots have to
search for the nutrients.
So you cut growing time away down.
The way the aquaponics system works is surprisingly
simple. At the head end is a large tank of tilapia fish.
The fish excrete ammonia which flows through
a bed of water plants.
The water plants convert the ammonia into nitrogen
which flows through a bed of potted food plants.
The food plants use this nitrogen for nutrition.
The water is cleansed by the plants and cycles around back to
the fish tank at the head end.
These are great taste and strawberries.
These are really good.
Allen is excited about aquaponics because he
says it's a good way to grow food in urban areas.
The soil in city plots may be contaminated, so growing
plants in water may produce food that's safer to eat.
Another plus to Allen's design is the use of
vertical growing space.
An efficiency that pays off in the city where land values
are often through the roof.
We're using vertical growing space.
Whereas in most greenhouses everything
is grown on one plane.
Whereas we're using the vertical space so you can
take 3000 square feet and theoretically turn into
9000 square feet of growing.
And that's very important inside cities where
you have limited space.
So this is a demonstration.
This is actually the simplest system
that you could possibly have because you've got one pump.
You've got one tank and all these materials can be bought
at your local hardware store.
In addition to his own agricultural interest, Allen
is co-director of a national nonprofit called Growing Power.
Allen and the Growing Power staff design programs and
activities to help people grow and purchase fresh produce.
One of these programs at Growing Power is open to kids only.
It's a summer internship where urban youth can really dig in.
We learn a lot about animals.
We learn a lot about plants, especially plants.
We learn how to use worms to compost soil.
We learn how plant things even better.
I kind of look at the food system as this big puzzle with
all these different pieces.
Which involve working with youth and getting young people
to understand where the food comes from, how it's produced.
The kinds of food that is healthy for them to eat.
All the benefits around growing food, which a lot
of young people, even adults don't understand today.
Make sure it's standing straight up.
Pick that pepper off.
You guys can eat that pepper.
Allen's first career was in Pro Basketball.
Now he uses sports psychology on his kids.
You guys know I come from a sports background so
teamwork is really important.
I'm starting to see you guys start to gel and work
together and that's a really wonderful thing to see.
And today we're going to work as a team.
We're going to plant a lot of those
plants that we have out back for the aquaponic system.
So it's going to be kind of fun.
Make sure you put it in the center.
If you got some lower leaves, they're lower.
Shabby, take those off.
Kids are the voices of the community.
They're the ones that are going to make the
change in the community.
And if you can get kids to become stronger
leaders in the community, they're going to do it.
And a little bit more soil.
Bring it up.
A little bit more.
There you go.
Now you got it.
It's a great job.
Great job.
As you finish, put them in the greenhouse.
Good job.
You guys are doing a good job.
A lot of times we look at these kids and say, "Oh,
there are problems.
I don't want to deal with kids."
If you give them responsibility, and that's one of the
things that we do here is that our kids run our store.
If you come in here and they run our market, that's part
of their responsibility.
That's very important.
To give them that kind of responsibility
of taking care of the cash, or taking care of the
customers, giving them a good customer service, greeting
people properly, saying thank you to the customers.
And a lot of ways what we're doing here is we're kind
of turning back to clock the way things used to be.
Ellen's idea is about responsibility seemed
to be paying off.
He helped me a lot, and he'd take time out and help me
do stuff that I need to do.
John, why don't you take a couple people and start
bringing some plants up?
They want to come back.
That's the big thing.
Some of these kids, this is the third year.
They don't have to come back.
They could go out and get a...
they could go to McDonald's.
But this is about a long term piece.
We're giving you something that you can
use the rest of your life.
All these experiences, all these contacts, all the
variety of different people that come into this place.
The day Rob Elbow is with, develop relationships
in the last life time.
That is the value of what we're giving them.
I sent to the man I was trying to jump in.
Because I come from the land of liberty.
Ellen's energy seems endless.
His passions fuel a long list of activities, all designed
to grow fresh food and ultimately to benefit others.
But of all his projects, it's likely that his work
with kids will produce the most valuable crop of all.
I enjoy doing this.
This is my life.
We're finished.
Whether it's in the heart of the city or the middle
of the forest, nature can be an inspiration to us all.
We're ending our program a bit early tonight so that Wisconsin
Public Television can bring you a special short program.
It's a birthday celebration we're rather proud of.
But before that, let's take one last look at Parfrees Glen.
Beautiful. Not only in summer, but in wintertime too.
We're in Wisconsin.
I'm Patty Lo.
Good night.
[Music]
Major funding for In Wisconsin is provided by the people of
Alliant Energy who bring safe, reliable and environmentally
friendly energy to keep homes, neighborhoods and life in
Wisconsin running smoothly.
Alliant Energy, offering energy saving ideas on the web.
[Music]