Issue 5 Submissions + 1-Year Subscriptions!

ISSUE 5 SUBMISSIONS
open until 1.10.16

Interested in submitting content to Driftless? Know of an incredible small business that would make a great feature? Have a seasonal recipe you just can’t get enough of, or just got back from an unbelievable adventure? Let us know – we would love to hear more!

Our content is based on contributions from our readers, and we highly value the interest and expertise that local stories bring to the table. When accepting submissions for print, we are looking for content based around Midwest America. Our definition of the Midwest includes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. 

We are open to new creative content, but always looking for the following

INTERVIEWS
PHOTOGRAPHY
ILLUSTRATIONS
SEASONAL RECIPES
SMALL BUSINESS FEATURES
ADVENTURE STORIES
ARTIST PROFILES
SHORT STORIES
CITY GUIDES
DIY GUIDES

We are accepting final submissions for Issue 5 through Sunday, January 10th, 2016. Completed material should be sent to info@readdriftless.com with a subject line of Issue 5 Submission. Please keep in mind that submissions must be Midwest-related and seasonally relevant. We couldn't be more excited for this 2016 Spring + Summer issue and look forward to seeing your work!

ONE-YEAR SUBSCRIPTIONS

You've been asking for it, and we've been listening! We very excited to announce that we are now offering one-year subscriptions beginning in 2016. Subscriptions begin with two 2016 issues, in both print and digital formats. You'll receive Spring + Summer 2016 in early April, and Fall + Winter 2016 in early September. Exact release dates to be determined, based on print timeline. 

Visit our online shop to order a year-long subscription for you, or a gift subscription for a friend. 

Photographs by the ever talented, Sadie Dempsey.

Journeyman Distillery Autumn Artisan Market

This past weekend we attended the Autumn Artisan Market at the Journeyman Distillery up in Three Oaks, Michigan. Greeted with the most beautiful first snowfall of the year, we were delighted with the holiday spirit it brought along. The fair took place in the Distillery's newly and beautifully renovated Warren Hall, flooded with natural light from the event space's huge windows. We enjoyed meeting new people, readers, contributors and other vendors as well as seeing a few familiar faces (hi Katie Levinson and Arsenal Handicraft!). 

Journeyman had a team of the best hosts for their 75+ vendors -- not to mention the most delicious hot spiked cider and homemade soft pretzels from their restaurant that opened back in September. Staymaker, named so for their location in the historic Featherbone Factory, is a full-service restaurant that makes use of local, seasonal ingredients whenever possible. We hope to be back very soon!

Issue 4

We are very excited to announce that Issue 4 is now available for pre-order.  This issue contains profiles of inspiring Midwest businesses, collaborative storytelling projects, recipes for seasonal cookies, photographs of Chicago buildings in their deconstruction and so much more! We have a special pre-order sale of $12 through the end of November.  And in case you've missed out on our previous issues we've bundled Issue 3 + 4 together for a sale price of $20 and Issues 2 + 3 + 4 for $30. Visit our shop for more details!  

Dinner Call + Billion Dinners Challenge Recap

We have completed the Billion Dinners challenge and reached our goal of tracking 10 meals in 2 weeks. At first it felt a little unintuitive for us to use a mobile app to track "unplugged" meals, but in the end, we enjoyed the habitual act of hitting start on a timer and being very intentional with our dedicated meal time. Tracking our meals allowed us to share our experiences with our followers and we hope it encouraged others to eat more meals together. Thank you to everyone who participated in our #driftlessdinnercall giveaway! We want to congratulate Kelsey Smith on winning a $50 gift card to the restaurant of her choosing. Take a look at some of her photos below!

If you still want to participate in the Billion Dinners challenge, there is still time! The campaign is running through November 15th. Visit our last blog post to read all of the details on how to get involved.

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This post was sponsored by Dinner Call and the Billions Dinners Challenge campaign, but all words and experiences are our own. 

Dinner Call + Billion Family Dinners

Growing up, the three of us did not know each other. But we all had something in common: you had to be home in time for family dinner. After-school sports and activities were highly encouraged, but at the end of the day you were to be around the dinner table in time to "eat hot food hot," according to my mother (Anna here). It was rarely an issue making it home in time because there was always a home-cooked, Midwest meal waiting in the kitchen (think spaghetti, butternut squash soup, persimmon pudding and even freshly made still-warm-from-the-oven pie).

It was during this time that our families bonded and talked about our days. We went through the highlights and lowlights, and if you exercised poor manners at the table - you were stuck with dish duty. Now that our siblings and us are grown and moved out of the house, we still cherish the times when we are all together again around the dinner table. 

Because we grew up around the dinner table every night, it instilled in us the mindset that eating dinner is something that you do on a daily basis with the people you love. Having homes of our own, we love the opportunity to bring good people together around good food.

The Billion Family Dinners Challenge initiative aims to motivate people to reach the common goal of one billion shared meals. Busy schedules are hard to work around, but spending time together around a meal can help create healthier and happier relationships. By tracking your meals, you can share your experiences with those within your social network and inspire others to accept the challenge. We are all guilty of using dinner time to catch up on our favorite shows and blogs, but we'd like to challenge you to unplug and track 10 meals in 2 weeks. 

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Here's hot to get involved:

1. Download the Dinner Call app via the iOS App Store or Google Play Store.

2. Begin tracking your family dinners on the app. We like to think of a "family" as the people you love and spend time with. This could be dinner out with your two best friends, an afternoon coffee and muffin with your significant other, a quick lunch break with your coworker or a big morning brunch with all of your favorite people. 

3. Share your meals from the app to Instagram / Twitter / Facebook and tag @dinnercall and use #billiondinners. And, don't forget to tag @readdriftless so we can follow along! We will also be utilizing the hashtag #driftlessdinnercall if you'd like to join us in using that. 

4. Make it a goal to track 10 "dinners" in 2 weeks by November 15th. The Driftless team has accepted this challenge and we hope you will too! In two weeks, we'll be posting a recap of our challenge with photos and thoughts from the experience.

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Also, there are prizes involved!

From Driftless: a $50 gift card to your favorite restaurant will go to the person who tracks the most meals. Don't forget to tag @readdriftless @dinnercall #billiondinners and #10in2 in your posts! 

From the Billion Dinners Challenge: a $100 gift card to your favorite grocery store. Make sure you officially register for the challenge. 

From the Billion Dinners Challenge: free groceries for a year if you track 10 dinners in 2 weeks by November 15th.

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This post was sponsored by Dinner Call and the Billions Dinners Challenge campaign, but all words and experiences are our own. 

Evan Perigo

Evan Perigo is a Chicago-based photographer who enjoys traveling, long-distance running, college football, tacos and returning home to the great state of Indiana. 

Evan photographed the Heritage General Store feature for Issue Three, as well as the delicious blueberries featured on the cover. 

This past weekend he took over the  Driftless Instagram and shared beautiful images with us from his weekend in Chicago. His series includes mouthwatering treats, skatepark views, and hammock-ing at the harbor. 

Check out our Instagram for Evan's full takeover series!

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We had the opportunity to ask Evan a few questions about his work.

When did you first get into photography?
I got into photography about 6 years ago. 

What does your creative process entail? 
A quiet walk with some coffee will always get my ideas flowing. No cell phone, music or any distractions. Then whatever stays with me, I write down in a journal once I get home. 

What inspires you?
Travel is really important to me. I always come home wanting to live a better life and be a better person. My wife is a huge inspiration. She works so hard and I’m always trying to maintain my level of productivity with hers. She’s also a hardass when it comes to critiquing my photos, so I try to impress her and keep up the quality in my work. And also, I’m constantly blown away by my friends. I think having a strong creative community here definitely keeps my drive going. 

Where’s your favorite place to unwind? 
Running along Lake Michigan. 

What made you choose Chicago as a place to start your business? 
My wife stole my heart here, haha. I packed my bags from Nashville and moved to Chicago two and a half years ago. 

How does the midwest impact your work? 
It’s challenging for sure. I don’t do well with the cold ... winter really starts getting to me after the first month. I’m an outdoorsy person and I think a lot of my work reflects that. The seasons can definitely impact the type of work you get. 

Any advice for aspiring photographers? 
Do as many test shoots as possible. You have all the room for failure with no pressure attached. My best work has almost always come from trying out new ideas. Also, sorry for the cheesiness, but avoid the voice of resistance that is always in the back of our heads. Just go out and shoot what you love. 

View more of Evan's work here:
Website   /   Blog   /   Instagram   /   Twitter

FAUX WEAVING DIY

with words and photographs by Claire and Lauren of Foxtail + Moss

The resurgence of yarn and macrame art is a welcomed trend in our book. We love the look of walls adorned with tapestries, textiles, organic fibers, and tons of texture. With weaving workshops popping up left and right, the craft is super accessible. Weaving is a centuries old tradition that can be as practical (in certain forms) as it is beautiful, but learning the ins and outs of loom weaving is an acquired skill – one that takes time to learn and patience to hone.

Call it the cheaters way if you will, but this faux weaving DIY is designed for those short on time and patience. Using cross stitch basics and a plastic mesh canvas, this wall hanging combines the art of weaving with a well loved children’s craft. And it’s simple enough that even the most loom-operating-challenged can master it in an afternoon.

What You'll Need

Plastic Mesh Canvas
Yarn
Large Plastic Yarn Needles

Cut a section of yarn about three feet in length and thread your needle. As you make your starting stitch, pulling your needle through the hole from the back of the canvas to the front, leave a “tail” of three to four inches of yarn hanging on the back side (or the “wrong side”). The first few stitches should be made over that tail to lock the yarn in place.

Use the following basic stitches to weave a pattern with plenty of texture. But don’t be afraid to get creative and go rouge with your stitches. There’s no wrong way to fill your canvas and the more creative you get, the more interesting your final product will be.

The Straight Stitch is the most basic stitch. Working in a horizontal row, bring your needle up from the wrong side through the first hole and down from the front through the second hole. Repeat this over/under motion working right to left in the first row and left to right in the second, and so on and so forth.

The Continental Stitch is essentially a diagonal version of the straight stitch. Bring your needle up from the wrong side through the second hole in the first row and down from the front through the first hole in the second row, creating a diagonal line.

The Larks Head Knot is used for fringe or for attaching a hanging loop. Fold a length of yarn in half. Bring the folded end up from the wrong side through the first hole. This creates a hanging loop. To create fringe, feed the ends of the yarn and through the loop and tighten. Trim the ends to desired fringe length.

When ending a row, before moving on to a different yarn, or when you’re down to the last few inches of a strand, turn over your canvas and run your needle under 4 or 5 stitches on the wrong side. Do the same when picking back up in the middle of a row or starting with a new strand of yarn.

Once your weaving is complete, use the Overcast Stitch to finish off the raw edges. Stitch around the outside edge of your canvas, putting one stitch in each hole along the straight edges and two or three stitches in each corner hole to hide any plastic canvas that might be peeking through.

Renegade Recap

We had the absolute best time at Renegade this past weekend! It was such a beautiful two days spent in Wicker Park along Division Street between Damen and Paulina. We met so many amazing folks who are just as passionate about the Midwest as we are. We also got to see (and finally meet in person!) a few of our favorite vendors like Paul from 419 Trading Co., Melissa from Douglas & Co. Detroit, and Araya from Wind & Willow Home. If you haven't already had the pleasure of meeting these incredibly talented individuals and familiarizing yourself with their inspiring companies, please please do so now! We promise that you will not regret it.

We could not have asked for better weather (it was gorgeous and sunny the entire time!), better company (we shared a booth with the incredibly talented Katie Levinson), or a better time. With over 350 vendors, this outdoor and free-to-attend fair will always remain on our list of must-dos.  And, for anyone who might have missed us at the fair, we are offering FREE SHIPPING until September 30th, on any online magazine orders. It's a great chance to get your missing Issue 2 or 3. Check out our online shop to order!

Our booth partner, Katie Levinson's work.

Meet the Driftless Team

Our unofficial mascot, Tuko. 

The team behind Driftless is comprised of three friends who met during and after their college days at Indiana University Bloomington. With backgrounds in photography, fine art, graphic design, journalism and art management, they knew they could create something beautiful that people would want to hold onto well after its time. In 2014, Shelly and Leah began the Driftless journey with Issue 1. Two issues later, they were lucky enough to find Anna - the perfect addition to the team.

From left to right:  Shelly Westerhausen, Leah Fithian and Anna Powell Teeter

By day, Shelly works for independent record label, Secretly Canadian, in Bloomington, Indiana. By night she runs the acclaimed Vegetarian 'Ventures food blog, posting delicious vegetarian recipes and delectable photos. After a bittersweet departure from buying and managing an independent boutique in Bloomington, Leah is now a freelance photo and production assistant in Chicago's commercial photography world. Anna is a photographer, videographer and storyteller based out of Bloomington. Someday we hope to focus entirely on our little magazine, although you could say we may always have a desire for too many projects going on at once ...

With a love for all things food, art and adventure related, the three continue to showcase what the Midwest has to offer throughout the pages of each issue. Please continue following along with us on this crazy journey. We would not be where we are today without the incredible support of our readers. 

Switchyard + Renegade

Last weekend the Driftless team was in Bloomington, Indiana for the Switchyard Art Market. We enjoyed telling people about the Driftless community, selling magazines and prints, and soaking up the summer sun. Our next stop is the Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago, Illinois on September 19-20. You will find us on Division Street in Wicker Park and we hope to see you there!

Issue 3

Welcome to our new blog!  We are very excited to announce that Issue 3 is now available for pre-order.  This issue is filled with must-try recipes, an inspiring Midwest Road Trip feature, gorgeous photographs from an Indiana flower farm and so much more!  We have a special pre-order sale of $12 through the end of June.  And incase you missed Issue 2 we've bundled them together for a sale price of $22.  Visit our shop for more details!