Best products from r/Michigan

If you are struggling with depression or anxiety, doctors will often just diagnose you to give you a prescription. There are many things you can do outside of medication to help that don't require insurance and are practically free!

If you believe it goes beyond mood issues, then find a non-profit in your community that can connect you to resources.

​

Build connections--like you are doing on Reddit but also in your community. Look on https://www.meetup.com/ for meet ups in your community. If you're religious, find a good church and get involved.

​

Get sunshine & Vitamin D: especially important during the winter up here, that alone can lead to really bad focus issues, depression, and sleep disturbances. If you can, get a "Happy Light" on Amazon that will help with seasonal depression. https://www.amazon.com/Verilux-HappyLight-Lucent-Bright-Therapy/dp/B079YBGPM5/ref=sr_1_5_s_it?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1550609760&sr=1-5&keywords=happy+light

​

Find physical activities that you enjoy: Bonus if it connects you with other people. Exercise alone can improve mental health leaps and bounds https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/exercise-is-an-all-natural-treatment-to-fight-depression

​

Find an outlet: if you're a creative person, create. If you don't think you are, give something a try and don't judge yourself! Write a short story or doodle. http://writingexercises.co.uk/index.php

​

Find online resources: there are countless meditation and yoga videos on youtube that are free and extremely helpful. Find one that resonates with you and practice, practice, practice. Strengthening the mind is just the same and strengthening a muscle. You must be proactive or it will atrophy.

​

Hoping you find answers and help. <3

​

Out of curiosity, where are you from? I consider them some of the best fish I personally eat. Not quite as good as perch, rainbow/brook trout, or some saltwater fish like snapper or pompano (also, I consider salmon and tuna a different category of flavors) but much tastier than whitefish, halibut, tilapia, cod, and other flavorless farm fish, or 'gamey' fish like some catfish, carp, dogfish, and the like.

I suppose part of this is cultural - a pan full of bluegill fillets brings back many fond memories of fishing with my dad. But there's nothing objectionable about the flavor: if anything it's a sweet, clean, but complex taste.

If you want to try some PUUUURE Michigan(c):

1. Catch a half dozen sunnies, bluegills, and maybe a few crappie or perch. Bobbers and worms work fine, they're not hard or fussy fish to catch (as the linked article demonstrates). Aim for fish the size of your hand or larger, toss back the little ones - not enough meat to be worthwhile. You may have better luck catching larger specimens with a weighted crawler harness near the bottom.
   
2. Get plenty of newspaper, cleaning the fish is a bit messy. Lay the fish flat on a cutting board.
   
3. Slice halfway through the fish from the pectoral fin, just behind the gill, up to the top of the fish.
   
4. Slide a flexible fillet knife horizontally along the fish's spinal column, starting at this incision just behind the skull. Use a gentle sawing motion to find but not puncture the rib cage - it ends just behind the anal fin, go through there - and stop just before cutting the tail. Peel the meat back from the rib cage and separate what you can.
   
5. Flip the fillet over the tail, and slide your knife along the table to separate the skin from the meat. Here's a video of the above three steps (He splits it from the tail and holds with his fingernail, I find it easier to leave it attached and use the rest of the fish to hold it).
   
6. Rinse in cold water, then dry the fillets with paper towel. Dip in an egg wash, then lightly coat with Drake's Crispy Frymix for that authentic Michigan experience (or a homemade combination of cornmeal, flour, and salt/pepper, and any spices you'd like). It's not native Michigan, so this might be heresy, but you can also use other fry mixes like Zatarain's or some Cajun spices. The fillets aren't going to be very thick, so use sparingly - or skip the coating entirely and just fry in a bit of butter.
   
7. Pour a shallow layer of corn, canola, or olive oil, or butter/lard, into the bottom of a large fry-pan and heat until it shimmers. Add fillets and fry until golden brown.
   
8. Serve with a bit of lemon juice. Eat 'em while they're hot!
   
   

You should be fine. There are two things I tell people who are moving to our snowy wonderland is: LAYER and You can always take it off, but you can't put something on if you don't bring it.

Layers because every item you layer on top of eachother is another airspace that will insulate you from the outside. Yes, it can be annoying to have a spare sweater in your backpack, but if you're cold, it's a fast way to warm up.

Good call on getting a coat with a hood. This will prevent wind from getting on your neck.

Last suggestion, consider a pair of mittens for the colder days. Gloves are great if you aren't going to be outside for a considerable amount of time, but mittens will keep your hands warmer. I like chopper mittens like these:

http://www.amazon.com/Alkii-Thinsulate-Thermal-Insulation-Fingerless/dp/B005L3H3XS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415285611&sr=8-1&keywords=mittens+with+flaps

Last last suggestion, consider getting some snow pants or a shell that is water proof. It's fun to play in the snow (and I'm in my 30s) but if you don't have a water proof shell, you'll be soaked through quickly and then getting REALLY cold REALLY fast!

If you like hiking, do the Presque Isle falls loop. It starts out crossing a really cool swinging bridge, you’ll hike down one side of the Presque Isle River then cross back over to the side you started on and hike back. You get great views of several falls on the way and you’ll see some amazingly huge white pines.
In Ontonagon: If you want to go somewhere to enjoy a beer and a truly “unique U.P. experience”, go to Stubb’s Museum Bar.” It will be the weirdest, creepiest (decor)and cheapest bar experience of your life. And you can get local beers for way to cheap. If you go , you have to check out the “grotesques” in the glass cases at each end of the bar. Another really neat U.P. bar is in Rockland (15 minutes from Ontonagon, 30 from the entrance to the state park). It’s called Henry’s Never Inn. Such a neat place, and if the owner is in they’ll have great food specials, if not it’s typical bar food but good. We love to get the local experience so we go to these places at least once while we’re there on those nights it’s raining or we don’t want to cook over the campfire cause we’ve been hiking all day. They only take cash at Henry’s, we had to drive quite far to get an ATM after we had drinks and food, when we walked back in the bartender yelled, “I knew ‘yous’ would come back.”
You really can’t go wrong with any of the hikes there. We utilize this book constantly when we’re there. It’s super comprehensive regarding the trails to choose from, it may be available at the park headquarters, though I’m not sure.

https://www.amazon.com/Porcupine-Mountains-Wilderness-State-Park/dp/1933272163

I would also pick up this one for the waterfalls:

https://www.amazon.com/Waterfalls-Michigan-Collection-Phil-Stagg/dp/099713464X

He gives great details about each waterfall, and the length/degree of difficulty to get to each one so you can prioritize and even map you’re route on the way there in order to check some of them out.

It comes in a kit and it's not expensive.

Along the same lines as this, get something to block the bottom of the doors leading outside, there can be a pretty decent draft underneath that can be eliminated. Ceiling fans too, if you've got them, make sure they are reversed.

Edit: Here's a guide to how they should rotate..

>During winter heating, to help move warm air that is trapped on the ceiling, blades should turn 'forward' in a clockwise motion. This movement will push up the air and pull the warm trapped air down the sides of the room improving heat distribution.

>During hot summer weather, to help produce a comfortable breeze or 'windchill' that cools the skin, blades should rotate in a 'reverse' counter-clockwise motion. The air movement has the same comfortable effect as when you fan yourself with a magazine to get relief from hot, stifling air.

Definitely a timely topic with Lake Superior preparing to get slammed with some pretty serious "Gales of November" this week.

I read "The Mity Fitz" recently and it was really interesting. Would recommend to those wanting to learn more about the Edmund Fitzgerald.

High Potency Vitamin D3 (5000iu/125mcg) enhanced with Coconut Oil for Better Absorption ~ Bone, Joint and Immune system support ~ Non-GMO & Gluten Free, 360 Mini Liquid Softgels https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JGCBGZQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_FrbCCb6B87GXT

I got these which happen to be on sale at Amazon now, very affordable for how many pills you get.

A 5ft ultralight setup would work well for you. Okuma makes nice budget friendly ultralight rods. Get a 2 piece and a reel to go with it. You can catch all kinds of trout and panfish with something like that. Get a small Plano box to keep your hooks, split shots, jigs, and spinners, and you'll be good. Outfit it with 4lb fluorocarbon line and you'll keep your belly full. You can get a bag for your rod that you can affix to your backpack.

EDIT: Apparently Okuma doesn't make a 2 piece 5ft ultralight, so you'd do well with this Shakespeare rod and this Shimano reel. A one piece would be a pain to carry around trekking through the woods for an extended period of time.

If you "stopped reading" at where I said "leftist," then you would have never made it to the part where I talked about the GOP. How are you going to let me catch you in a blatant lie within your first sentence, lol.

What I was referring to in that statement was the book called Who Really Cares which was written by a liberal who wanted to research which states, conservative or liberal, gave more to charitable organizations. Spoiler alert, to the liberal author's dismay, nearly all of the top 30 states that contributed to charity and the poor were conservative states. The author infers that, because liberal (leftist, really) states believe that the government should take care of everyone, they don't actually donate as much or contribute to charity. In other words, they are all talk but truly do not care about others. I thought it was worth mentioning because it's another phony aspect of leftists on how they pretend to be "compassionate to human life" yet give less to charity and want to murder unborn (and born) babies. You can read the book yourself here: https://www.amazon.com/Who-Really-Cares-Compassionate-Conservatism/dp/0465008232/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Who+Really+Cares&qid=1557952596&s=gateway&sr=8-1

https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Photography-Book-Part-2nd/dp/0321934946

This book series is great help.

You could visit the Miller Road Pedestrian Overpass where Henry Ford's hired security goons attacked striking workers. It was brutal and it shifted public opinion forcing Ford to sign a contract three years later:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Overpass

I phone map location URL:

https://maps.apple.com/maps?address=2916–2930%20Miller%20Rd%20Dearborn%20MI%2048120%20United%20States&ll=42.308708,-83.156323&q=42.308708,-83.156323&t=m

Also a great book on the history of Henry Ford which includes a great portrait, in words, of the city of Detroit and the innovative drive towards industrialization that embodies Michigan and changed the world we live in:

https://www.amazon.com/FORD-Men-Machine-Robert-Lacey/dp/0316511668/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1500620700&sr=8-1&keywords=The+man+and+the+machine+Henry+ford

Drive. There are so many things to see along the way. Get a few of those travel books (not the stuffy ones, the fun, interesting ones), and you'll have so much to do and see you may never make it back!

Michigan Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff

100 Things to Do in the Upper Peninsula Before You Die

Corn mash, not rye.

51% corn minimal and aged for at least 2 yrs in fresh charred oak barrels.

Aged less? its not bourbon.

less corn? its not bourbon.

reuse barrels? its not bourbon.

Bourbon Empire is a fun read: https://www.amazon.com/Bourbon-Empire-Future-Americas-Whiskey/dp/014310814X?SubscriptionId=AKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q&tag=duckduckgo-osx-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=014310814X

Also, hunt down the book Michillaneous it's out of print and hard to find, but it's filled with awesome Michigan stories and folklore (like the Ada Witch)

I wish more people were informed that you don't have to smoke it. (On both sides of the issue).

My wife can't even tell when I take it and she hates the smell of cannabis.

I make up a solution with soy lecithin and using a baby syringe (0.5mL/dose). It's under lock and key and in a glass medicine bottle: https://www.amazon.com/Amber-Glass-Bottle-Dropper/dp/B001FAT8A2?th=1

I just follow it with a cough drop because it tastes as good as it sounds.

Not quite what you're looking for but stripper decks can be fun (not what you might be thinking - SFW).

https://www.amazon.com/Stripper-Instructions-London-Magic-Works/dp/B002MI06KC

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B004Y6V5CI/


Just got a separate meter for my bedroom. Thanks for the reminder!