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Ag and Extension

Ag and Extension Briefs

Online Beef Quality Assurance & Secure Beef Supply training scheduled University of Minnesota Extension, along with Minnesota Beef Council, will host several online Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) and Secure Beef Supply (SBS) training sessions starting in April through June. Producers only need to attend one of these free workshops to receive a three-year BQA certification, and they will also learn the steps needed to begin their own Secure Beef Supply plan. In an ongoing effort to show their commitment to providing the safest, highest-quality beef, cattlemen and women continue to show ...

Gardening tips

Gardening can be tricky as it is but we can help out our odds by raising plants that work well with our growing conditions. We first have to consider what growing zone we are in (Zone 4 or 4b for our area) and go from there. There are some folks who have microclimates in their backyards and can sometimes grow Zone 5 plants. These are the lucky gardening folks in our area. We sometimes can raise plants in a certain area until the growing conditions change, like the soil stays super saturated with water, then we end up losing those plants. It is also important to match plants to what ...

Gardening through a pandemic

The year has finally come to a close. While there have been many different kinds of losses this past year, there has been one positive this year that has been very near and dear to my own heart. There are so many more people getting back to the basics and starting to have their own gardens again. There have been many who have gone back to gardening in some small way and those who have decided to jump in with both feet and hands! As I celebrate the close of my 27th year being a Master Gardener, I am so happy to see so many more people gardening through the pandemic. This is such a ...

Ag and Extension Briefs

Olson re-elected to Minnesota Farm Bureau board of directors Carolyn Olson of Cottonwood in Lyon County was re-elected to a three-year term on the Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation (MFBF) board of directors to represent District III during the 102nd annual meeting on Dec. 11. District III includes the counties of Chippewa, Cottonwood, Jackson, Lac qui Parle, Lincoln, Lyon, Murray, Nobles, Pipestone, Redwood, Rock and Yellow Medicine. Re-elected to serve a two-year term as MFBF vice president was Dan Glessing of Wright County. Also re-elected to a three-year term was Nathan Collins ...

Deicing salts

While there are loads of crazy things happening in the world right now, one thing that we Minnesotans can be grateful for is our current weather situation. The early October snows had me and many others wondering if we were going to have one of “those” winters. The longer we go without snow and pretty tame temperatures, I think it helps to shorten up the winter considerably. Since we don’t have to deal with the snowy conditions, yet, Murphy’s law says eventually we will have some sort of precipitation, and with that comes the need to use deicing salts on our driveways and ...

Watch out for ‘hitchhikers’

As we start to decorate our homes and yard with greenery for the holidays, there are a few things to keep in the back of your mind as you are out purchasing wreaths, Christmas trees, and other plant material. There are quite a few of these plant materials coming into Minnesota from other states and they may include some hitchhikers. These hitchhikers are often pests and diseases that can infect our trees and shrubs in Minnesota. According to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, these diseases and pests are often the ones we don’t normally see here and we need to look for them ...