Tools

Calculators, references, and infrastructure built from direct operational and gardening work.

These tools started as things built to solve specific problems, planting timing questions that kept coming up at Freighter View Farms, the need for a reliable daily summary of Great Lakes vessel activity, a reusable repository for the AI agent instruction work that came out of the Saginaw County 911 deployment. They are practical tools, not marketing assets. Each one is linked to the context that produced it.

Gardening Tools, Zone 6a Michigan

Zone 6a Planting Calculator, Bay City and Saginaw Bay

Month-by-month seed starting and transplant guide calibrated to the Bay City frost window. Covers tomatoes, peppers, brassicas, cucurbits, and direct-sow crops. Built from years of season tracking at Freighter View Farms. The most precise Zone 6a timing resource for the Great Lakes Bay Region.

Heirloom Seed Saving Guide

Fermentation method for tomatoes, dry processing for beans and squash, isolation distances, harvest timing, and storage conditions for Zone 6a Michigan. Written from the Freighter View Farms seed library. Specific enough to use directly.

Michigan Frost Dates, Great Lakes Bay Region

Last spring frost and first fall frost data for Michigan growing regions, with specific context for the lake-effect zone around Bay City and Saginaw Bay. Covers how proximity to the lake moderates frost timing compared to inland locations at the same latitude.

Seed Starting Guide

Equipment, medium, lighting, and timing for indoor seed starts in Zone 6a Michigan. Covers the setup that actually works for a home gardener without a greenhouse, not the ideal setup, the practical one.

Great Lakes and Maritime Tools

Great Lakes Gazette, Daily Maritime Brief

A daily newsletter updated automatically each morning with vessel movements, port reports, water levels across all five Great Lakes, and National Weather Service marine forecasts. Built on live AIS vessel tracking data and NOAA feeds. Free and updated every day during the navigation season.

Great Lakes Freighter Tracking Guide

How to watch vessel traffic on the Great Lakes using live AIS data, which tools to use, how to read vessel information, and what the seasonal patterns look like from Bay City and the Soo Locks.

Lake Superior Circle Tour, Stop-by-Stop Guide and Trip Planner

Complete guide to the 1,300-mile circumnavigation of Lake Superior. 31 major stops across Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Ontario; freighter-watching notes at every port; three concrete itineraries (7, 10, and 14 days); live water-level data; and an interactive trip planner. Built from years of Great Lakes work, wilderness canoe trips on the Canadian north shore, and the freighter routes that pass Bay City on the way to the Soo Locks.

SS Edmund Fitzgerald, November 10 1975, The Wreck on Lake Superior

The complete history of the Edmund Fitzgerald, the largest freighter ever lost on the Great Lakes. The ship, the final voyage, the 29-man crew with hometowns and roles, the wreck site 17 miles from Whitefish Point, the July 4 1995 bell recovery, the Gordon Lightfoot song, the annual memorial ceremonies, and how to visit Whitefish Point today.

Soo Locks Live Vessel Activity and Visitor Guide

Live AIS map of vessels at the Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Real-time navigation season status, lock dimensions and history, the Poe replacement lock under construction, vessel category identification, and the visitor guide for watching transits at the busiest commercial lock complex in the world.

Northern Lights Michigan, Tonight's Aurora Forecast and Viewing Guide

Live NOAA SWPC three-day Kp index forecast for Michigan, tonight's viewing odds calculated from peak Kp, the dark-sky locations on Lake Superior and the Upper Peninsula that can actually see the aurora when it shows up, dark-sky park ratings, photography settings, and the geomagnetic storm science.

Great Lakes Buoy Dashboard, Live Wave, Wind, and Water Conditions

Live data from 115 NOAA buoys and coastal stations across all five Great Lakes. Wave height, wind speed and gusts, water temperature, and air pressure on an interactive dark-themed map with activity filters for fishing, kayaking, swimming, sailing, and diving. Geolocation-based distance ranking, 5-day sparkline history per station, and conditional cross-promotion to the rest of the Great Lakes tool network.

AI and Agent Infrastructure

AgentBase, Open Agent Instruction Registry

An open registry of agent instruction files, system prompts, skills, workflows, domain packs, and safety filters for AI agents. CC0-licensed and MCP-compatible. Built from the implementation work that produced the Saginaw County 911 AI deployment and the Prepared deployment tooling. Free to use, fork, or extend.