This spring has afforded us blissful moments of calm weather, sunny skies, and ideal conditions. Unfortunately, it’s usually been only for about four hours on perhaps one or two days out of the week, and usually not on the weekend. With that brief and beautiful window magically opening on ...
Since moving to the bluff area, I've not had too many opportunities to plant flowers. Coming from an agrarian background, planting season was a welcome time of the year. It made no difference if I planted various grains in the farm fields or if I got to plant the vegetable garden or the flowers, I enjoyed that time to become reacquainted with nature's soil. The various seeds we planted always gave us a sense of hope. Hope for a good growing season with adequate rain and no crazy storms. Hope for an abundant harvest to feed our livestock, and of course, ourselves. One year, while ...
If our worth is to be measured by our lawns, I am in trouble. You’ve seen those perfectly manicured lawns in the nice parts of town. Then there are farmyards that look like the cover of Country Living magazine. Our lawn is there because something needs to grow between the buildings and the fields. Some of it was seeded to lawn grasses in a distant past. Some of it’s just what grew there. All that said, in my simple-minded way, the yard looked spectacular this spring. Everything greened up as winter withdrew. A two-inch rain lushed it up. Amid the vivid green were bright ...
For too long, a common-sense solution to lower gas prices and support American energy independence has been tied up in red tape. Families and farmers in Western Minnesota and across the country have been subjected to frustrating, outdated, and unnecessary regulations. The House of Representatives has taken a major step toward cutting that tape by passing H.R. 1346, the Nationwide Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act, which included my language for permanent, nationwide, year-round E15. I was proud to lead the efforts through my seat on the Rules Committee for this bipartisan bill, ...
Thirty years ago some of the most important topics I covered for the Independent involved renewable energy and rural development. The 1990s were an exciting time for it in the Marshall area and throughout the Upper Midwest. One reason was Minnesota Corn Processors, which became the world’s second largest producer of ethanol fuel. MCP branched out from Marshall to establish a second plant in Columbus, Nebraska, in the early 1990s. It then undertook a major expansion in the area of corn based sweeteners. MCP fell on hard times in 1996 due to high corn prices, which led to a 30 ...
Not every great coach had great playing careers. In fact, some were better players in a different sport that the sport they ended up coaching in. Take former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick. He was a better lacrosse player than a football player. He did become a sub-par ...
