📝 Why WI hates beavers

🎃 Got Leftover Pumpkins?

• City crews will collect pumpkins along with leaves and other yard waste materials including compostable decorations like corn stalks and hay. But before you toss that jack-o'-lantern, be sure to remove any tea candles or electric lights. [City of Madison]
• You can use the Streets Division’s yard waste website to learn when to set out your items for pickup. [City of Madison]

🥣 Soup’s On!

• Dane Buy Local’s Soup’s On! Program kicked off this week. The annual community event directly supports Madison restaurants by selling a selection of soups from local kitchens. Soups are fresh-frozen in quart containers and are available for purchase weekly, Wednesday through Saturday. [Dane Buy Local]
• Related: Like soup? I’m on the hunt for Madison’s best bowl. Tell me where to find it!

🎨 Madisonians Supporting the Middle East

• As fighting continues between Israel and Hamas, many Madison residents have expressed their feelings and frustrations through rallies, protests, and gatherings. Feeling overwhelmed and frustrated by the constant violence, one local organizer launched an online fundraiser to benefit the Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) and the Palestinian Medical Relief Society. [Tone Madison]
• You may know Fawzy Taylor as the thumbs behind A Room of One’s Own’s social media accounts. Recently, Taylor gathered more than 100 artists and authors to offer up their goods and services for a benefit raffle and raised more than $54,000 in the process.

💟 Your Lunchtime Read: Ali Treviño-Murphy Fights for Safe Spaces for All

• “Ali Treviño-Murphy, master instructor and co-owner of martial arts studio Underground Self-Defense, has helped countless people gain the confidence and freedom to move through the world without constantly fearing for their well-being.
  
  The threat of violence might be why someone signs up for a self-defense class, she says, but the impact is so much bigger than the ability to fight.” [Madison Magazine]
• Dig deeper: Treviño-Murphy had a great discussion with City Cast Madison on the importance of self defense. [City Cast Madison 🎧]

Thursday, Nov. 2

• An Evening With The Late John Cleese at Orpheum Madison
• Brews and Q's at Karben4
• Camp Createability Grand Opening & Gallery Night at Camp Createability
• Cheers, Madison! Community Choir Concert at Garver Feed Mill
• Dane County's Large Kids Consignment Sale at The Tributary
• Kat and the Hurricane at High Noon Saloon
• Music Bingo at Starkweather Brewing Company

How to Forage in Madison, Even in the Fall

Sam Thayer says you can eat local all year round in Wisconsin, despite our frosty weather. He’s best known for writing guide books on edible native plants in Wisconsin, like “The Forager’s Harvest.” He’s speaking about local nuts, roots, fruits and more at the Madison Herb Fair at Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison this Saturday, Nov. 4. Molly Stentz sits down with him to learn what’s cookin’.