The Outdoors By Scott Rall, Outdoors Columnist Gals love to shop, and guys go to the store to buy stuff. There is no memory I have of going to a hunting/fishing store and just looking around for a few hours and then going home with nothing. That whole idea is foreign to me. Another pretty foreign… Read More

Growing Green By Robin Trott, Extension Educator Every year, I’m amazed by the hydrangeas blooming on our farm and fall in love with this incredible shrub all over again. While many flowers wilt in the summer heat, hydrangeas thrive with stunning blooms! Growing up on the East Coast, I was used to beautiful blue and pink… Read More

View From a Prairie Home by Hege Hernfindahl, Columnist It’s morning. Like always, I get up, relieved I no longer have to lie in bed staring at the clock and hoping it soon will be morning, troubling thoughts and worries competing for space in my mind. I brew some coffee and go to the porch to watch… Read More

From Where I Sit By Pat Spilseth, Columnist Practices from the past often become obsolete over time. I received the following ideas from a friend who reads my weekly column. She chuckled over the old fashioned ideas from our past and thought you might enjoy reading about them. Thanks for sending any ideas for me to write… Read More

Some insults should not be ignored… From Vicki Aaberg, Starbuck I have been called the following by GOP Vice-Presidential candidate J. D. Vance: Sociopathic, (characterized by asocial or antisocial behavior or exhibiting antisocial personality disorder), Deranged, Psychotic and Crazy cat lady. Told that I make the U.S. less mentally stable, that I don’t have a… Read More

Stoneage Ramblings By John R. Stone Recently I was thinking about how we handle money has changed over the years. The thoughts were provoked by Target announcing it would no longer accept personal checks at its stores. And also news stories about some people in foreign countries are experimenting with not accepting cash at stores either…. Read More

The Outdoors By Scott Rall, Outdoors Columnist The next dog for the dog pack at my house is getting closer to a decision. I have been bringing you into my decision-making criteria for the past two weeks or so. I have narrowed the choices from about 30 down to three. The dog breeds that are still… Read More

Growing Green By Robin Trott, Extension Educator It’s time for the Great Minnesota Get Together, and that means lots of great food on a stick and hordes of yellowjackets! Yes, that ubiquitous wasp will be appearing in great numbers at the state fair, especially around waste receptacles and tasty snacks. Here’s some basic information about these… Read More

View From The Cab By David Tollefson, Columnist Recently I was at the first day of Farmfest (a very nice, cool day, for a change).  At the forums led by Pope County’s own Kent Thiesse, the Farm Bill was mentioned quite often by the various candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives in Minnesota. It’s been awhile since… Read More

From Where I Sit By Pat Spilseth, Columnist Sitting on our deck overlooking Carman’s Bay, I’ve been watching summer lazily drift by. Content to relax looking out at the activity and peacefulness of the lake,  I’m  living the life of those characters from that favorite 1981 movie  On Golden Pond. Remember that movie of an aging couple starring… Read More