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   Fall is in the air and the garden harvest and abundance is worth pausing to celebrate in community!  Join Balsam Moon Preserve (BMP) on Saturday, September 6, 2-7 pm for fun and celebration in their second annual Harvest Celebration!

   Activities will run from 2-5 pm, 4:00-5:30 pm will feature music of Devils Dodger, Matthew Weiss of Minneapolis, and the evening meal at 5:30 pm will feature pulled pork by Fox Farm Pork (Browerville), roasted veggies, fresh pressed cider, acorn buttermilk biscuits, wild rice buns, and potluck family style meal. Bring a dish from your garden harvest to share and join in the celebration.

   Activities include: yarn spinning demo by Esther Endicott and members of the local fiber arts club; wooden spoon carving demo by Mike Austad; tour at 2:30 pm featuring a variety of building styles (timber frame, cordwood, earthship recycled tires), solar applications, deep winter greenhouse, labyrinth in the woods;  kids’ activities starting at 2:30 pm including croquet and corn hole bean toss, nature art project, story walk, scavenger hunt, flower arranging for dinner table; corn shelling on a 1930’s corn sheller; hand milling of acorns into flour & making biscuits in the wood-fired barrel oven; making wild rice dinner rolls baked in the outdoor oven; cider pressing for the meal; and a seed sharing station where you can bring your saved seeds to share with others and take some home from the abundance shared by others.  The gardens are in full bloom with dahlias, cosmos, rudbeckia, zinnias, morning glories and more, and the labyrinth in the woods and hiking trails are great for walking.  Participants may come for any portion of the afternoon and/or meal. 

   Live music begins at 4:00 pm with Devils Dodger, Matthew Weiss of Minneapolis, who specializes in American roots music, which draws on a range of themes from lost love, heartache, jail and going to his grandfather’s farm as a child. Sit around the campfire, help set the tables and hang out while he performs 4:00-5:30 pm leading up to the potluck meal celebration as a culmination of the harvest with gratitude. Dress for the weather. If raining we’ll dine inside.

   BMP operates on reciprocity, meaning no fees are charged for classes and activities. BMP welcomes giving in accordance to what you receive based on your resources available. “Giving” could be money, labor, goods needed, expertise in offering a class, etc.  This form of economy values many forms of exchange and allows for equitable access to classes and activities offered at BMP.

   They are located 10 miles west and south from Pine River at 3148 Bungo Creek Ln SW, Pine River. BMP is a non-profit organization sharing an alternative, sustainable, spiritual place of peace, honoring the earth and all living things. They offer trails, workshops, demonstrations of solar uses and alternative building methods, gardens, a labyrinth, a children’s story walk along one trail, overnight stays, pizza nights in the summer and opportunities to gather in community sharing our common humanity.

   For more information about Balsam Moon Preserve visit the website at: https://balsammoonpreserve.wixsite.com/balsam or FB, email [email protected] or call 218-587-3808.

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