Wannaskan Almanac

     I can claim to work regularly at the Roseau Food Shelf, but I do way less than Teresa who co-manages the place with Vickie Wilson. Every Tuesday afternoon Teresa, Vickie, and several faithful volunteers assist thirty to forty families to pick out needed food items from the grocery store-style shelves at the Food Shelf in the old Law Enforcement Center.     I help every third Thursday when a semi from the North Country Food Bank distribution center in East Grand Forks delivers several pallets loaded with frozen meat, canned goods and other non-perishables, and sometimes fresh fruits and vegetables, milk, butter, you name it. Again, another group of volunteers shows up on food truck day and puts everything away.    Teresa and Vickie can order from a list of  items available at the Food Bank but don't always get everything they ask for and sometimes get things they didn't ask for. Sometimes they get an abundance of unique things. But it all...

     A RAVEN subscriber named Tom M., lived in Beltrami Island State Forest many years ago. Tom had contributed story ideas to me that he thought would fit our human-interest story format, one or two of which we published. One day, he encouraged me to talk to Joe Stenzel, his neighbor, because Joe and his wife Catherine had moved there from Minneapolis and were quite the characters; the difficulty being the only way to Joe was by permission of 'Catherine' who vetted any interaction with, what Tom described as, severity. Then warned me, "You might not make the grade."     I immediately imagined a tall Nordic woman with piercing blue eyes, broad shoulders; no-nonsense white-blonde hair, and a winter-biathalon physique honed from Olympic cross-country skiing & shooting competitions carrying a seven-pound rifle plus ammunition. During their move to The Big Woods I figured, she alternated her rigorous skiing regimen with AM/Enduro Bicyle racing during t...

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for April 1, 2026, the thirteenth Wednesday of the year, the second Wednesday of spring, the first Wednesday of April, and the ninety-first day of the year, with two-hundred seventy-four days remaining. Wannaska Phenology Update for April 1, 2026 Eastern Meadowlark Sturnella magna is a medium-sized icterid bird, very similar in appearance to its sister species, the western meadowlark, inhabiting from eastern North America to northern South America, including Wannaska, to which they now return. Mayaagi bineshiinh, in Anishinaabe, translates to "strange bird" or "migrant bird". Adults have yellow underparts with a black "V" on the breast and white flanks with black streaks. The upperparts are mainly brown with black streaks. They have a long pointed bill; the head is striped with light brown and black.  The song of this bird is of pure, melancholy whistles, and thus simpler than the jumbled and flutey s...