Wisconsin Life

In Western Wisconsin, writer Michael Perry is getting ready for hunting season — in his own way.

It’s time again for Wisconsin Life. Today, a visit to a place some members of the Ojibwe nation call “the heart of the Lac Du Flambeau.” Strawberry Island has been sacred to the Ojibwe for several hundred years, but it’s also rumored to be haunted. Now, some tribal members are trying to bring life back to the island. Brian Bull went along with his tape recorder.

Lac du Flambeau tribal members Bill Poupart (left) and Gus Thiebold (right), with Strawberry Island in the background. Photo by: Brian Bull, WPR

It’s Friday and time again for Wisconsin Life. Today, producer Christ Bocast brings us the first in a series of Soundmarks — stories about the sounds that are characteristic of Wisconsin—like this one.

Church picnic season is in full swing with fun, fund-raising, and food. That last element takes unique form in Northeastern Wisconsin. As part of our Wisconsin Life series, Patty Murray has this introduction to…booyah.

This summer, the Milwaukee Art Museum opened a major exhibition honoring the career of the brilliant Wisconsin printmaker and satirist, Warrington Colescott. Colescott is retired from the UW-Madison, where he taught for nearly 40 years, but he continues to produce new prints at his studio in Hollandale.

Mosquitoes in Wisconsin may be as big as small birds, but that doesn’t stop a lot of us from stripping down to shorts and tank tops, once the weather gets warm. All that exposed skin has commentator Harriet Brown thinking about tattoos…

It’s time again for our latest “Wisconsin Life” segment. Father’s Day is coming up this weekend, and that’s got commentator Alex Gee thinking back to the very first days of his daughter’s life….

The fifth annual Steel Bridge Songfest takes place this weekend in Sturgoen Bay. It's a collection of performances to help benefit the rehabilitation if the Michigan Street Steel Bridge. WPR's Todd Witter traveled there…

It’s graduation time for students across Wisconsin. For some, it’s the end of a long road—for others, a door to a new life. Today, producer Cynthia Woodland brings us the voices of some of this year’s graduates of the UW Odyssey Project—students for whom graduation is the fulfillment of a dream…

It’s time again for Wisconsin Life. The springtime birth of baby goats has Wisconsin’s goat cheese makers working long hours on the farm. Locavore Erin Clune thought it was about time she learned how local seasonal goat cheese gets to market…

May is planting season in Wisconsin. Local garden centers are jammed with people buying spring and summer annuals and perennials. And for gardeners who want something a little more unusual – there are native plant sales. In Madison, The UW Arboretum’s Native Plant Sale is always a big event. Commentator Caryl Owen has been shopping it for eight years. This time, she brought her recorder as well as her checkbook…

A small town general store can be the lifeblood of a rural community – especially in some of the more isolated pockets of Northern Wisconsin. The recession has been hard on Main Street businesses, and a lot of them have closed in the past year. Producer Aubrey Ralph recently headed out to check on his favorite small Wisconsin town, and the general store that’s at the heart of it…

This Sunday is Mother’s Day. In Wisconsin, some Hmong families mark this time of year with a traditional mother honoring ceremony. Today, Brian Bull takes us to one…

Today, The story of “Wisconsin’s Woodstock.” 40 years ago this weekend, long-haired hippies and flower children from across the Midwest converged on a small Wisconsin farm for a weekend of peace, love and music –including a band people were just beginning to talk about at the time – The Grateful Dead. Historian Michael Edmonds tells the story…

Today, thanks to unseasonably warm spring weather, it’s weed season once again, time to renew the annual battle against invasive species. Like a lot of other Wisconsin gardeners commentator Caryl Owen has had her hands in the dirt this week. She says weeding is a good time for thinking…

Wisconsin author and musician Michael Perry loves his farm and its critters. As part of our, Wisconsin Life series, Todd Witter spent some time with Perry and his chickens in Fall Creek…

Winter weather is pretty much over, yet the hardy folks in northern Wisconsin celebrated the final days of the season with the 5th annual Polar Bear Plunge in Bayfield. Danielle Kaeding was there, and sent us this story…

With spring in the air and more hours of daylight those pitch black winter mornings are almost a memory. Wisconsin writer Jane Hamilton says this year, she found something magical in the dark…

Commentator Erin Clune moved back to Wisconsin recently and decided that in addition to eating locally, she should really learn to drink locally. Today, she takes us to a Wisconsin Craft Beer dinner held at Harvest Restaurant, in Madison, featuring beer from the Red Eye Brewing Company in Wausau…

The winter snow is a soggy, wet memory in Lake Geneva today, but a few weeks ago the city hosted teams from across the country for the US Snow Sculpting Championship. Kirk Carapezza attended this year’s competition, and has this report…

Today’s the anniversary of the birth of Wisconsin writer August Derleth. He was born February 24th, 1909, in Sauk City, where he spent most of his life. Like his hero, Henry David Thoreau, Derleth chose to travel deeply, rather than widely. He walked the streets of his village and explored the fields, woods, and marshes along the Wisconsin River, and wrote about what he saw. Here’s an excerpt from August Derleth’s essay on maple syrup season…

Today, while sports fans all over the world have their eyes on the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Laura Podgornik from our Superior bureau headed north to Bayfield for a different kind of sports event. She met a couple of competitors in the annual Apostle Islands Sled Dog Race and sent us this sound portrait.

Winter in Wisconsin means outdoor hockey. On Saturday, more than 55,000 people turned out for a UW hockey game played on a temporary outdoor ice rink at Camp Randall Stadium. But with ponds and lakes frozen solid all over Wisconsin, it's really the season for pond hockey. Producer Gianofer Fields found a pickup game going on near her home, and prepared this sound portrait of a favorite Wisconsin sport.…

On the ancient Celtic calendar, early February marks the festival of Imbolc. It marks the halfway point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. The snow is still deep on the ground near Caryl Owen's home near Verona, and she took to the woods to look for subtle signs that spring just might be on the way...

While people frantically prepare for the holidays above ground, hundreds recently headed underground for a holiday celebration. The Cave of the Mounds in southwestern Wisconsin holds an annual “Caroling in the Cave” concert. The cave is a national landmark, and the underground caroling concert is a popular holiday event. We have this audio postcard…