- Coming up on Extra Credit, we've visited some of Michigan's most important spots.

Learn about the hognose snake and so much more.

Stay tuned.

(upbeat music) Hi.

I'm Mrs. Pizzo.

Welcome to Extra Credit where we meet interesting people, explore new ideas and discover fun places together.

We have a fun show lined up for you today.

First, let's meet our co-hosts.

- Hi friends.

Thanks for having me.

My name is Emily and today's theme is the Great Lakes, which means we get to discover some cool places in Michigan.

Let's join Bryan to explore some of Michigan's recognizable landmarks.

(playful music) - [Announcer] ArchiTreks is brought to you by the Michigan Architectural Foundation, increasing public appreciation of how architecture enriches life.

(upbeat music) - I finally found it, the ancient tower of hydro.

Oh, Hey guys.

My name's Bryan, and I'm on another ArchiTrek adventure.

I've been using this map here to go on an exciting quest for fortune and glory.

And guess what?

I've located The ancient Tower of Hydro.

Well, not really.

It's just the local water tower, but it's still a pretty cool landmark.

What's a landmark, you ask?

Well, when you're an architect like me, a landmark is a building or prominent object that you and your community can relate to, like when you tell your friends, I live by the school, I live by the park, or I live by the water tower.

You're using it as a landmark.

They're designed to stand out so that we can recognize them as what makes our neighborhood, well, our neighborhood.

And they also make us feel a certain way, like safe, secure, or even proud.

Gosh, I wonder how many different kinds of landmarks we can find in our neighborhoods.

Well, you know what we have to do.

That's right architects.

It's time to go on a treasure hunt for landmarks in your own community.

But first let's check in with Jess, who's an architect like me, and has worked on a lot of different landmarks in a lot of different communities.

- Hey Bryan.

Today I'm in downtown Grand Rapids.

And the cool thing about looking for landmarks in a place like this is the bigger the city, the bigger the landmarks.

Since your architect's adventure is to hunt for all of the landmarks you can find in your neighborhood, I figured a city center like this would be a great way to show off all of the different treasures you can find in a place where the buildings and structures are designed to stand out.

The challenge is to look at some of the landmarks we can find here, and see if we can crack the code of their design.

Probably the most recognizable landmark in this space is a sculpture known as the La Grande Vitesse, which means the great swiftness.

You could also look at it as another way to say Grand Rapids.

So, what are some other landmarks we can find while we're downtown?

Let's find out.

Do you have a playground or performance space near your neighborhood?

Grand rapids certainly does, and it's a really cool building.

Van Andel Arena opened in 1996 and is a work of art itself.

Look how many windows it has.

Architects design buildings to have as much natural light as possible so that the space inside feels open and inviting.

And the lobby of the arena is also a good example of what we architects like to call a node.

A node is the landmark, except it's an area that is used as a center of activity.

Speaking of centers of activity, another good neighborhood landmark is a grocery store or market.

Here in Grand Rapids, one of the coolest places to find fresh food is the city's historic Fulton Street Farmer's market.

Since markets are supposed to be a nice open space that you can stroll through to shop, can you see how the architects who designed the structure created a building that still had a sense of open space?

Many of the people here have been selling and shopping for generations.

And speaking of cool landmarks that have been here for years, libraries are another important landmark in any neighborhood or community, but do they all look as cool and impressive as this one?

The main branch of the Grand Rapids library is housed in the Ryerson building, a structure that dates all the way back to 1904.

That's over 100 years old.

See those windows toward the back?

Those don't look a hundred years old, do they?

That's because the building was added onto after about 50 years, and then completely renovated for its 100th birthday.

Isn't it great that instead of building something new, they decided to revitalize this long-standing landmark for another 100 years.

So, you've seen some awesome examples of landmarks here in Grand Rapids, but now it's time to get your treasure maps out, and find landmarks in your own community on an ArchiTrek with Bryan.

Have fun.

- Hey guys, now that you know how to find a few examples of landmarks in every neighborhood, it's time to get out there and find your own treasures.

So, you up for another adventure?

Well, let's go.

- [First Kid] Here's our house right here.

- [Second Kid] Here's the park.

- [Third Kid] Here's the school.

- The hospital's right here.

- Here's our library.

- And here's our fire station.

(bright music) - Wow, we might not think about it, but there's a lot of different structures that go into making our neighborhood feel like home.

Thank you so much for going on an ArchiTrek with me.

If you wanna be an architect, all you need to do is go on our ArchiTreks' website @DPTVKIDS.ORG, and also visit michiganarchitecturalfoundation.org.

Just log on, and you can learn about all the different ways that you can create a neighborhood treasure map.

Then grab a friend, and you guys can go your own treasure hunt.

Then come back and tell us about all the landmarks you found, and maybe you can be our featured architect on our social media sites.

Until next time, don't forget to get out there, and have an ArchiTect adventure.

You never know what cool things you might find hidden in the buildings, the parks, in the streets, all around you.

Do some visual thinking and realize that it's all by design.

Well, see you later.

- What?

Is it that time already?

I just received word that Dr. Blotch is going to check in to see how we're doing with our creative writing challenge, which involves creating unusual, wacky and entertaining weather reports.

Let's see what's up.

(playful music) - [Dr. Blotch] Catapult.

When are my wacky weather reports coming along?

- It's Cate.

It's just Cate, Dr.Blotch.

- [Dr. Blotch] Oh, Cate friend, my apologies.

Now, about the wacky weather reports.

- Oh, right.

Okay.

So, here's mine, working on it now.

Here we go.

It's sunny outside, not a cloud in the sky.

It's about 70 degrees.

So, not too hot, not too cold.

Later on tonight, the temperature's gonna drop to about 55.

And then if you went outside, you would probably need like a light jacket.

(Dr. Blotch yawns) - [Dr. Blotch] That's boring.

Boring, boring, boring.

- Well, I thought you wanted me to write about a nice day, Dr.Blotch.

- [Dr. Blotch] It's so kind of you Catherine Cavin, but I don't want nice, I want wacky.

Doesn't have to be weather you've seen before, I want something that's going to entertain me, give me a bit of shock and awe, a gasp, a giggle.

- So, you don't want just like any old day?

- [Dr. Blotch] No, I have had over a million nice days in my lifetime, just so far.

Give me something wild, something goofy.

- Okay.

What about, okay, what about this?

Tonight, we're gonna have a cold front, and the temperatures are gonna drop to 100 below zero.

Everything's gonna be frozen solid, but then it'll warm up to about 20 degrees above zero.

And just when that happens, it's gonna begin to snow chocolate chip ice cream, and under no circumstances, should you go outside.

But if you happen to have some kind of thermal, heat-tech coat and some kind of hat, like a bowl shaped hat that you could attach, you could go outside to collect the ice cream, and then bring it back in the house to eat.

- [Dr. Blotch] I do have that kind of hat.

I brought six of them with me to my mansion.

That's delightful.

What a wonderful story.

- Um-mm.

Well, great.

- [Dr. Blotch] Now, if you don't mind, I've got to get back to doing absolutely nothing.

Adios.

- Bye.

Bye Dr.Blotch.

(bright music) (playful music) - My name is Brionne Davis.

I'm a senior at Detroit School of Arts, and I'm an intern for Great Lakes Now and Belle Isle Conservancy.

I don't remember my first time coming to Belle Isle, but I do remember coming with my mom and dad, and we would play around with the kite, or just go to the playground.

Hi, Amy.

How are you doing?

- Hi, Brionne.

It's nice to finally meet you.

I'm doing great.

Welcome.

- I'm producing a video that will be documenting my internship on Belle Isle, and it will be available on PBS learning media.

I hope that it will inspire others to make a change within their community.

I'm so excited.

Let's go.

One of the things I've done in my internship is work with miss Amy.

We explored the Vernal pools.

I see a lot of mud and leaves, but with miss Amy, I was able to see some insects.

I didn't even know that there were salamander eggs.

- Look, oh, look.

Wonderful.

See these little jelly things?

- Or do salamanders in the Vernal pools.

And so I'm really excited to find more.

I would definitely love to find some snails.

When I come to Belle Isle and I see litter, it makes me very upset because Belle Isle is one of the mini treasures within our city.

And to see people taking advantage of it by having huge parties and then leaving their trash is very disappointing.

I saw that you picked up a can.

Do you see a lot of litter in here?

- Yes, unfortunately so, especially after a windy day, or a day where a lot of people have been picnicking.

- Could you tell me about the history of Belle Isle?

When I talked to the park manager, I learned about his position here on Belle Isle, and also about what he does to stop the litter, and what they're actively doing.

- Our janitorial staff will go through it during the day, and they will pass out trash bags to just about all of our customers.

- Seeing all the trash and litter on the island, is that frustrating?

- It is.

That's why we're into our litter campaign for 2021.

- [Davis] The important thing that I learned was the law that they have, where they're actually gonna fine people if they do leave trash.

- The program is basically the same at the other state parks.

They have staff that are on litter daily, because it's just something that you just have to do.

- Hopefully, my peers and those that I know, and just those that are Detroiters, or outside of the city, will come to clean up Belle Isle, because we have a lot of pollution, and it definitely needs to change.

(bright music) (playful music) - On this episode of 60 Second Snakes, we will be talking about the Eastern hognose snake, which is harmless to humans, despite its intimidating behavior.

Here's what to look for.

First check the markings.

Most individuals will have too long dark blotches or eyespots extending down from the head, and some may have dark blotches or spots on a brown or yellow background, or be one solid color.

Their coloration helps them blend into the sandy woodlands, where they hunt for toads, their favorite food.

Next, look at the snout.

The hognose snake gets its name from its flattened upturned nose.

Finally, examine the size.

Adult hognose snakes range from one and a half feet to three and a half feet in length.

Additionally, you will want to look for some of the characteristic hognose snake behaviors, such as the flattened head and body, hissing sounds, and even a wiggling tail.

It may even excrete a foul smelling musk, writhe around, and then play dead.

If you get the opportunity to see one of these essential Michigan residents, leave it in the wild and enjoy the experience.

This has been 60 Second Snakes.

Visit michigan.gov/wildlife to learn more.

(playful music) - All right.

There we go.

Which Great Lake are you?

Where do you prefer to head when you go on vacation?

We go up north?

What is your ideal vacation?

Somewhere you've never been before.

Which Great Lakes Now staff pet are you?

Well, the clear winner is my dog and to go.

Hey, that's a good picture, because that boat is actually that boat, put next to it.

What do you reach out for when you wanna snack?

How many do I get to pick?

Artisan chocolate.

I'm gonna go with chocolates.

During the pandemic, how often do you shower?

I don't know how I wanna answer this.

(laughs) All right.

I got my result.

I'm lake Michigan.

And I wanna take this again and see if I'll get a different lakes.

- [Announcer] Want to know which lake you are, or which Great Lakes invasive species?

Find all of Great Lakes Now's fun quizzes on our website, GreatlakesNow.org.

- Lake Orion, Michigan, is home to the recently completed dragon mural.

Designed by artist Nicole MacDonald, this mural reflects the community's love for its official mascot, and its role as the host of the annual Dragon of the Lake Festival.

Let's check it out.

(playful music) (soft music) (upbeat music) (playful music) (scribbling) (birds chirping) (child laughing) - Welcome to Inpact at Home where we practice interrupting prolonged sitting with activity.

I'm Lorenzo Reynolds joined by my son, Lorenzo Jr. And we're here to get you moving for the next few minutes.

You will be surprised what moments of movement can do for you and the rest of your family so that you can stay healthy and active at home.

So, go ahead, get up, and let's start moving.

Today's activity is just move.

All right.

First exercise, we're gonna do lateral taps.

Find a space in your house and we're just gonna tap from left to right, left to right.

Left tap, right tap.

I'm keeping the space in between my feet, never bringing the legs close together.

Left tap, right tap.

I'm feeling really great.

We're just moving, guys.

Up and moving, left tap, right tap, left tap, right tap.

Take those deep breaths.

And five, four, three, two, one.

Excellent work guys.

Just move.

For our next move, we're gonna do backwards taps.

I'll ask of you to turn backwards for us, Lorenzo Jr., and we're gonna find a space and we're just gonna tap backwards.

Ready, set, go.

Tap backwards, come forward.

Always bring the feet even with each other, breathe.

Keep that space in between your legs so that you don't fall.

That's a good space, Lorenzo Jr. That's a good space everybody at home.

We're just moving, we're taking our time, we're breathing.

Everybody's doing good and doing great.

You can do it guys.

Good.

And five, four, three, two, one.

Good job.

All right, Lorenzo Jr., let's turn forward.

Next, we're gonna do frontal taps.

We're gonna step forward and come back.

Move your hands with this to help with your balance.

As you step, almost like a run, tap, come back, tap, come back, tap, come back.

Keep alternating steps, keep breathing.

I'm feeling really awesome, guys.

We're feeling great.

Almost there, keep stepping.

Just move.

And five, four, three, two, one.

Excellent job, guys.

The next movement is gonna be knee raises.

So, we'll stand with our legs wide, and let's raise the knees at or above the waistline.

Get them as high as you can.

Pump those arms just a little bit.

Remember, don't step unless you have great balance.

We don't want no one to fall or injure themselves.

Keep breathing, keep smiling and keep feeling great.

Did you know that your smile is a muscle itself?

Keep smiling, guys.

You got it.

Keep feeling great.

We're almost there.

Keep lifting those knees.

And five, four, three, two, one.

Excellent work, you're looking good.

Everybody else, you're looking good.

Next, we're gonna go into some standing crunches for our next movement.

We're gonna take the arms over the head.

We're gonna bring the knee above the waistline, arms back up, crash down on those abdominal muscles.

Crash down and remember, always breathe.

Crash down and breathe.

Keep on taking those hands back up over the head, feeling good feeling great.

Good job, everybody.

Good job, Lorenzo Jr. Keep stepping, keep crashing down on those abs.

Almost there.

Keep pushing.

You can do it.

Five, four, come on, three, two, one.

Excellent work, guys.

We're moving along well.

Next, we're gonna go with some split jumps.

For our split jumps, we'll stand, we'll take one leg forward and we'll switch, switch, switch, switch.

Remember to modify as just a step.

Step if you have to, but jump if you can.

Good.

Good job.

We're almost there.

Remember, every move can be modified, breathe and always feel great.

We're just moving, guys.

We're feeling good.

Almost there.

Keep it up, keep it up, keep it up.

I like the space you're keeping in between your feet.

You're staying safe and you're moving.

And five, four, three, two, one.

Excellent job.

Take that deep breath.

Excellent job.

Our next movement will be a trunk twist.

We've got sharp elbows, elbows up, and we're gonna jump and twist, jump and twist, jump and twist, jump and twist, jump and twist.

If you have to modify it by stepping, modify it.

But if you could jump, jump and work, guys, keep going and breath.

Whoa and breathe, and twist, and twist, and turn those hips.

Twist, twist, twist, twist, twist.

Almost there, you can do it.

Keep digging.

Five, four, three, two, one.

Excellent job.

Take a deep breath.

Take a deep breath.

Whoa.

Tell yourself something positive.

Yes, you can.

One more exercise guys.

We've got fast feet.

For fast feet, I like to act like I'm stepping on something hot.

Now, you step on something hot, when something is hot, and you have to move, so we're gonna shuffle.

All right, get ready.

Fast feet, get set and go.

Open those legs and just step.

Good job.

Good job.

Now, we're moving fast on our toes.

We're acting like the ground is hot.

I can't step on that hot ground, Lorenzo Jr.

I got to keep moving.

I got to keep moving.

Keep moving guys.

We're almost there.

Don't step on that hot ground.

Almost there, almost there, almost there.

Work, work.

Five, four, three, two, one.

Good job.

That was a good one, but that was fast feet.

It raised my heart rate really high.

So what we're gonna do is bring our heart rate down with some deep breaths.

Take some deep breaths, guys.

Inhale, exhale.

(breathes loudly) Inhale, exhale.

That was a good one.

Inhale, exhale.

(breathes loudly) Good job guys.

I hope you enjoyed today's movement break.

Inpact at Home is a chance to apply skills you may have learned in your PE class to improve your health.

To learn more about health benefits associated with daily movement, visit inpactathome.umich.edu.

Now, don't forget to fill out your daily log.

We will see you again during the next workout.

(scribbling) (birds chirping) (child laughing) (playful music) - Hey mathematicians, are you ready for our daily math challenge?

I sure am.

Let's see what's in store for us today.

(playful music) - Hi, everybody.

Mr. Lineberger.

I don't know about you, but I love games.

Playing great games is one of my all time favorite things to do with my friends.

Sometimes I have people come over to play games, and I wanna make sure everyone has some dice to use, and I have this great bunch of dice.

Let's use some math to figure out how many dice to give each of my friends.

In my pile here, I have 34 dice.

I have three friends coming over, that's plus me, so that's four of us.

I want to divide the dice up so that everyone gets the same.

Okay, I'm done.

Each of us will get eight dice, and there are two leftover.

That took a little longer than I expected.

But what if I had started with 100 dice, or 1000?

I may need to learn some math so I don't have to count all these out by hand next time.

The operation we're learning about today is called division.

Division means separating a quantity in groups.

If you've ever shared candy, dealt cards, or separated things into piles, you've done division.

Let's take this example with the dice.

I had 34 dice, and I was dividing those dice into four groups.

So, that's 34 divided by four.

And that equals eight, with two remaining.

Here's some simpler examples.

6 ÷ 3 = 2, 10 ÷ 2 = 5, 20 ÷ 5 = 4.

You can also think about this in terms of multiplication.

20 = 5 x 4.

If you have a problem, 20 ÷ 5, you can ask yourself, "What would I need to multiply by five to get 20?"

Or you could ask yourself, "If I were to count by fives, how many steps would it take for me to count to 20?"

One of the cool things about division is that there are a lot of ways to think about it.

And one thing you wanna do is figure out which way of thinking works best for you.

Going back to that example, 20 ÷ 5 = 4.

There are some special math words to use to describe the parts of that equation.

20 is the dividend, five is the divisor, and four is the quotient.

The number being divided is the dividend, the number we divide by is the divisor, and the answer is the quotient.

Let's talk about two easy strategies, ones I've already mentioned, that can help you with simple division problems.

Here's the situation.

You and three friends have started an afterschool business.

You're raking yards in your neighborhood.

At the end of the day, you wanna split the money evenly.

Since everyone worked all day, everyone should get an even share of the money you earned.

If the four of you made $24, this would be a pretty easy division problem.

You can write the problem like this, 24 ÷ 4 = ?

In this case, you're trying to find the quotient.

You could use multiplication to solve this problem.

Ask yourself, 4 x -_ = 24?

Do you have an answer?

Sure.

4 x 6 = 24.

If this is the fact you know, then it will be in your head already.

You each pocket $6 and you're done.

Let's model that visually with some base 10 blocks.

Here's one group of four, here's a second group of four.

Now, I have a total of eight blocks.

I'll keep adding groups of four.

(soft music) Until I have 24 blocks.

If I divide 24 into groups of four, how many groups do I have?

One, two, three, four, five, six.

Six.

You could also do what I call step counting.

I need to divide 24 by four.

So, I could figure this out by counting by fours.

Four, eight, 12, 16, 20, 24.

I counted six times.

So, 24 ÷ 4 = 6.

But what if our group of leaf rakers had an awesome day and made $72?

When I say 4 x -_ = 72, that doesn't help.

I don't know that off the top of my head.

I could count by fours, but that's gonna take a while.

A different approach would be to use what's called the area model.

We know that you can find the area of a rectangle by multiplying the length and the width.

So, we can imagine a division problem as a rectangle where we know the area and one side.

That might sound confusing, but once we practice a few times, I think it'll be easier.

In the case of our leaf raking team, the area of the rectangle is 72.

One side is four.

When we figure out the other side, we would know the number you multiply by four to get 72.

Huh.

That's division.

I don't know the answer right off.

So, I'm gonna think of a number that I know will be a safe one, a number I know you could multiply by four, that would be less than 72.

Let's just start with 10.

4 x 10 = 40.

I'll write that number in my rectangle.

If my total area is 72, this takes up a little more than half of my rectangle.

So, how much area do I have left to cover?

Well, 72 minus 40 would give me that.

I've got 32 left to cover.

Is there a number I can multiply by four to get 32?

Totally, eight.

8 x 4 = 32.

All right, eight on top here.

My first guess was 10, and that took up just over half the space.

My second guess was eight.

When I add this together, I get the full length of the side.

10 + 8 = 18.

At the end of the day, each person in team leaf makes 18 bucks.

It's not a bad chunk of change.

What if we wanted to make the work easier, and get two more friends in our leaf raking crew, how much would each person have made on that $72 day?

We'll set this one up the same way.

Draw the rectangle, put six on one side.

What's a number you could multiply by six, and get an answer less than 72.

Let's try for the easy one first and go with 10, 6 x 10 = 60.

That's most of the rectangle.

All right, 10 up here at the top, and just to be fun, I'll shade in most of my rectangle.

When I subtract 60 from 72, I get 12.

That's the area of that last little section.

What do I multiply with six to get 12?

Hmm.

Two, of course.

So, the length of that side of that section is two.

When I add two and 10, I get 12.

If I have six people in my leaf raking team, we will each bring home $12 at the end of the day.

It'll be less work, but we'll also make less money.

Let's try one more, and for this one, we'll try to make it more difficult.

In my classroom I had students working in teams.

There were six students in each team.

I had them working on their estimating skills, so I put a big bowl of gumballs in the middle of the room.

The team that came up with the closest estimation for how many gumballs were in the ball, got to keep all the gumballs.

Claire's team came closest to the correct answer, which was 702, so they got to split up that big bowl of gumballs.

How could Claire figure out how many gumballs to give each member of her team?

(playful music) Sure, you could count them out like this, one for you, and one for you, and one for you, and that's 702.

Wait, we missed recess.

You could try skip counting 6, 12, 18 24.

But after about 60, I start getting confused.

So, let's try the area model.

Here's my rectangle.

I know that one side is six and that the total area is 702.

What's a safe number to use that's pretty big.

We could try 10, that would give us 60.

Probably not the best considering we have 702 gumballs.

We could try 50.

6 x 50 = 300.

Let's do that.

We know the length of this part of the rectangle is 50, which gives us an area of that part of 300.

Hey, let's just do that again.

50 more on top for another area of 300, 300 + 300 = 600.

So, this last part here has an area of 102.

Let's try 10 now.

6 x 10 = 60.

That leaves us 102 - 60, okay, 42.

6 x -_ = 42?

Seven.

6 x 7 = 42.

When I add up the numbers across the top, I get 50 + 50, that's 100, plus 10, that's 110, plus seven, my total is 117.

Claire should give each member of her team 117 gumballs.

That's a lot of gum.

Today we learned some valuable lessons about dice, leaf raking money and gumballs.

It's all about the division.

There are some simple methods you can try, like turning your division problem into a multiplication problem, or step counting.

Another strategy to try is the area model.

All of those strategies will get you to the correct answer.

So, it's up to you to pick the right one that works for you and for your situation.

(upbeat music) (playful music) - Making Northern Michigan your home in the summertime seems like a no brainer for most of us, but it takes a special kind of person to wanna make a home up north during the winter months.

One person who was up for the task was Kalin Sheick, owner of Sweetwater Floral.

For her, it was just another adventure in embracing the beauty of that region, and being able to share it year round with everyone who crosses her path.

(bright music) - So, we moved to Petoskey in 2015 in the winter, of all times to move, to a new farm.

We had never seen it in the spring or the summer.

We just knew.

We knew it was the place.

I don't know, we just had a feeling about it, even though there was snow on the ground.

- [Announcer] Petoskey in the winter, a totally different kind of beauty.

But no matter the season, whether there's snow on the ground, or fields are in bloom, this is where Kalin began to grow her business, Sweetwater Floral.

From making flower arrangements to hosting workshops, there's a lot happening here on the farm.

- So, Sweetwater is a little crazy to understand.

I think the simplest way to get it is my goal in life is that flowers make people happy, they do.

Being outside makes people happy, being creative makes people happy, and so everything we encompass is about getting people to enjoy flowers, plants, being creative, and just sort of packing away the rat race for some time.

It's beautiful, it's relaxing.

When I get to teach classes to people in person, that gives them like a two hour window where they don't have to think about anything else other than learning a new skill and being creative.

And then we do wedding flowers.

We do a lot of weddings.

- [Announcer] Northern Michigan is a premier wedding destination.

Not much tops the lush green landscape and picturesque backdrop.

- Oh my gosh.

Look at it.

You have water, you have green, you have trees.

And we have a lot of amazing, amazing venues up here.

You can get married in the woods, you can get married in the field, you can get married at a farm.

We have a vibrant, incredible wedding industry in Northern Michigan with some insanely talented people.

- [Announcer] And for Kalin, she's found the perfect combination for creating literal works of art with her colorful creations.

- There is a secret.

There is.

It's this weird system that I came up with called focal, filler and flare.

So, focal are like your big flowers go first, the things that are gonna weigh down your arrangement a little bit.

Your filler is that medium sized blooms that fill in your holes, fill in your gaps.

They aren't the stars of the show.

And then your flare is what the difference maker is, I like to say.

So, flare is the dancey dancey above the top.

That's what we teach at our workshops.

You can take grocery store flowers, you can go to the farmer's market, grab flowers and make them, anyone can make them into something beautiful.

I say it's the most rewarding medium to work with, because it's living and it's breathing, and it's so fleeting.

It's like, if you are a painter and you make a painting, that is your painting forever.

Flowers, you only have it for a couple days.

So, it's pretty cool to sort of create something, and then it's gone.

- [Announcer] Kalin wasn't always in the flower business.

In fact, she quit a career she spent most of her life preparing for.

Now, she's also helping others find and follow their passion.

- Owning a business right now is super trendy, because anyone, this is the coolest part about the time that we're living in, if you have a computer, you can start a business, if you have a phone, you can start a business.

And so having that ability to just dream up something, and then make it something is so empowering.

And then I think there's this big gap between people who are gonna really make it something, and then people who are just dipping their toe in the water.

There's not any right place to be.

But I love supporting women who decide that this is what they wanna take a stab at.

And if it fails, it fails.

Failure is one of my big things.

I love it.

It happens.

I think if you're not failing 20% of the time, you're not trying enough new things.

So, I do coach and mentor and help a lot of people sort of develop businesses and grow their idea into something that hopefully blooms the right way for them.

- [Announcer] Pursuing your dreams can take you down many roads, or up to Northern Michigan in the winter.

- I don't think there's anywhere else in Michigan where you can come to a really a cute farm, in a beautiful part of the state, Petoskey is incredible, and learn a creative skill like floral design, and disconnect from the rest of the world and have fun.

Our workshops are entertaining, they're not sleeper.

This isn't a serious... We're not serious people, we have fun, and really leave feeling like fulfilled , hopefully you've found a new passion in florals, but if anything, you just forgot about all your problems for a couple of hours.

And that's whether you come here for a workshop, or whether we're downstate and you go to our workshop, or Grand Rapids, wherever we are, we will bring joy.

That is what we do.

(playful music) - And for our next story, we're gonna be trading in one bridge for another as we head further north to the tip of the Mac.

The Mackinac bridge was built in the mid '50s, and during its construction, West Michigan based photographer, Henry Zeman, snapped spectacular and rare color photos.

Henry Zeman passed in 2015, but now his family is sharing his incredible images with the world.

(soft music) - [Narrator] Most photos of the building of the Mackinac bridge that you're likely to come across will look like this, an impressive sight, for sure.

But even more impressive is a site like this.

(soft music) Color photography was still relatively uncommon during the mid 1950s, so most photos of the bridge's construction are in black and white.

But between 1954 and 1957, West Michigan-based photographer, Henry Zeman, would snap these incredible color photos.

(soft music) Henry was a photographer for the Grand Rapids Press from 1952 to 1987.

During his career that spanned decades, Henry would photograph presidents, athletes, and what was perhaps most close to his heart, the beauty of the outdoors.

He had numerous photos make their way into publications like Field & Stream, Outdoor Life, and Sports Illustrated.

(soft music) However, these stunning photos of Michigan's most famous landmark weren't an assignment for Henry.

No.

These pictures were a part of his personal collection.

And after Henry's passing in 2015, his family decided to share them with the world.

(soft music) - We had all seen them when we were kids and things, but they were just kind of sitting in the basement collecting dust while we, and there's really no way to really view them.

So, what we did is we sent them off and had them digitized.

That smattering over my son out at the bridge photos, because I knew, I think the historical significance of them.

(soft music) And in looking what was out there, there really wasn't that greater photographs out there, and there was virtually no color.

So, when he was shooting, most of the time for the press, during those years, it was all black and white.

I don't think they really used much color at all until much, much later than that.

So, these would have been things that he shot on his personal camera when he was also up there doing other things.

- [Narrator] Throughout the series of photographs, you can witness the construction of the bridge in multiple stages of completion.

In some shots, huge sections of the bridge's massive 3,800 foot span are completely gone.

One of the most striking differences though, between the bridge we see today, and the one in Henry's photographs, is the coloring of the bridge.

The bearing steel superstructure without its trademark paint job makes the Mighty Mac almost unrecognized.

(bright music) We also see lots of shots of the crews working on the bridge, the brave workers who toiled for years to make the seemingly impossible feat a reality.

(bright music) - [Zeman] I think this was something that was a little special to him.

He spent a lot of time in the UP.

He went over there quite a bit.

He talked about it before the bridge and always riding the ferry, and that type of thing.

So, I mean, I think he was always pretty proud to be able to say that he was able to photograph that during its construction.

And as you can see by some of the photographs, he was able to get on the bridge, and up the towers.

And he had rein to go in certain places during that construction because of his press credentials.

He was married in '54, and I know they went to the UP during their honeymoon.

And some of the photographs in there were at the start of the building of the bridge.

And that one were taken on this honeymoon, for example.

- [Narrator] Thanks to Henry's passion for photography, a monumental moment in Michigan's history will live on for years and years to come.

But with a career that spanned nearly 40 years, these photos are just the tip of the iceberg of Henry's photographic collection.

- And you can imagine, here's a person that's got a life's work of photography.

I mean, it all ended up in my basement, by the way.

So down there, I would have to guess and say, there's probably a million photographs between slides and negatives.

(soft music) - When I started farming 20 years ago, and my friends would say, "So, what are you doing?"

And I'd say, "Oh, I'm farming."

They would laugh and say, "No, what are you really doing?"

And I was like, "No, really, I'm farming."

I knew nothing about it, we'd never farmed.

I planted a whole bunch of seeds, watched the whole field turn green and thought, "I didn't plant all that."

It was kind of two options at that point, try harder or quit, and I was too stubborn to quit.

22 years later, we're still doing it.

(soft music) - I grew up in Arizona, always dreamed of seasons, and I wanted to experience that for my kids.

It's amazing.

So, they're having a dream childhood that I would have died to have as a kid, I know.

(soft music) - If we had to kind of define our mission, and who are we and what do we do, we're a multi-generational agricultural tourism destination where people kind of leave the pavement, put down the cell phone and seeing how things grow, and how we all connect to nature.

(soft music) People will make a comment like, "Oh, you own the farm."

And we're just like, "No, the farm owns us."

(soft music) - We're seeing that people who came here as kids are coming now with their kids and saying, "I used to come here and feed the fish when I was little.

- I find that so hard to believe that these people with kids say they came here when they were a kid, because I feel like I'm still a kid.

(soft music) (playful music) - Hi, I'm Katie from the Michigan DNR Outdoor Adventure Center, here with another segment of Nature in Our Neighborhood.

Right now, I'm at a wetland area that's just down the street from where I live.

One of the first things you'll notice when visiting a wetland is water.

(birds chirping) Wetlands like this one are essentially areas that have shallow water for all or most of the year.

They are often dominated by aquatic, grassy plants, like some of the ones you see in the background here.

Here, we have a native aquatic plant of Michigan wetlands, the cattail.

Cattails provide an abundant source of food and nesting habitat for native Michigan wildlife.

Unfortunately, a lot of times we see an abundance of this cattail enemy, the phragmite.

This is a non-native, invasive plant that takes over habitat from our cattails, and pushes them out.

Cattails and phragmites are both tall, grassy plants that grow in aquatic habitats.

But as you will likely see during our hike through this wetland, there are far more phragmites than there are cattails.

That is because this aggressive, non-native species can grow quickly and to heights of 15 feet, outcompeting cattails for space and sunlight.

While some wildlife has figured out how to make do with phragmites, native cattails are better able to provide food and habitat for a far larger range of native wildlife.

I've just stumbled upon something that you might recognize if you've kept up with Our Neighborhood Creature Quiz series.

Here, we have a compacted chimney of mud.

A creature who is aquatic and is a crustacean, so, related to crabs and lobsters, would have built this.

This is from a crayfish.

Michigan has eight species of native crayfish, and two invasive crayfish.

All of these are pictured here.

Crayfish live in a variety of aquatic habitats.

So, it makes sense to find crayfish chimneys in wetland areas.

(birds chirping) This common wetland bird that you might hear calling behind me, arrives in mid February and spends the summer in wetlands.

The males of the species are all black with reddish orange patches on their shoulders of their wings.

The females are a marble brown color.

These birds will nest at the base of cattails or phragmites, or even in low nearby trees.

Once their nest is established and it's time to raise eggs, the males can get pretty defensive, even swooping down to tap the heads of anyone who walks too close.

They don't mean to be rude, they're just being good dads.

Their call can be likened to someone saying, "Look at me.

Look at me."

Let's listen to this call recorded on the Autobarn app, and then we will view some iPhone footage of a male calling at the wetland.

You will see him lift his wings out a little as he calls.

(birds chirping) Do you know what the species is?

It is the red-winged blackbird.

I've come across two signs of an aquatic wetland mammal.

The first is this skull that was likely left behind by another animal who might've found this animal to be a good food source.

We can tell that the creature in question is a rodent, because the skull has molars and incisors, and a large gap here that is missing canine teeth.

There's also another sign of this aquatic mammal over this way.

It might be hard to see, but at the other side of the pond, there's a clump of phragmites, which is a lodge built by this mammal.

These two things were left here by a muskrat.

Muskrats are medium-sized rodents that spend a lot of time in the water.

They're a pretty common wetland mammal.

They build their lodges out of tall, grassy plants like cattails, or in this case, phragmites.

They will eat these plants along with sometimes eating crayfish, small frogs or snails.

The skull we found would have been left behind by a muskrat who fell victim to predation by a mink, coyote or even a large hawk, or other creatures you might see visiting a wetland area.

Thanks so much for joining me today with this segment of Nature in Our Neighborhood, exploring a wetland close to my home.

Take some time to explore the habitats that are close to where you live.

Let us know what you find.

See you guys next time.

(bright music) - Who knew Michigan has so many beautiful spots?

I sure enjoyed visiting the Fort Gratiot Light Station in Port Huron.

What was your favorite field trip today?

Until next time.

- On the next Extra Credit, we write a superhero story, make our own ancient cylinder seal, and so much more.

Get your Extra Credit on the Michigan Learning channel.

- [Announcer] This program is made possible in part by Michigan Department of Education, The State of Michigan, and by viewers like you.

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