Happy Dancing Blog

Indoor plants brighten our lives by providing much-needed color in the winter months. Research suggests they may also reduce stress and...

If you’ve heard an undercurrent of whining every time you step outdoors, that may have been my muttering carried on a brisk north wind to...

Jim Chamberlin, Happy Dancing Turtle’s Conservation Technician, also operates a 109-acre diversified farm and forestry operation near...

Jim Chamberlin, Happy Dancing Turtle’s Conservation Technician, with his wife, Audra, operates a 109-acre diversified farm and forestry...

The numbers are sobering: According to the Environmental Defense Fund , 160 billion pounds of food goes uneaten every year in the United...

Sustainable agriculture gives me hope. What gives me hope is the knowledge that much of what ails us and the planet we are part of can be...

The holiday season is here! For some, it can feel like the season of overwhelm. After Thanksgiving, does time actually accelerate towards...

Tips from garden experts on how to divide perennials in the fall.

I was a school-loving nerd, so all the late August back-to-school rituals were memorable and fun for me. Until college, when I started to pay more of my own way, I never considered the expense. Dollars spent on back to school continue to grow. Stores always ramp up the fabulous offers this time of year, and the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics have announced back-to-school spending is expected to reach $41.5 billion this year. But there are opportu

Are you a naturally curious person? Do you pay close attention to detail? Do you WISH you paid better attention or hope to develop your...

It is not news that we consume a horrific amount of plastic. As author Susan Freinkel (Plastic: A Toxic Love Story) famously shows on her...

Summer in Minnesota is what I live for! I love it - from the warm temps, abundant wildlife, fresh vegetables and living flowers to the...

In today's fast-paced, technology-driven world, children are spending less time outdoors and more time indoors glued to screens, making outdoor play for young children's development more important than ever, enter Tiny Turtles.

"Now" is always a great time to take stock of your well-being and how you care for yourself. One aspect of mental health that is often overlooked is the role that clutter plays. Decluttering will not only make the spaces you live in more comfortable but may have a profound impact on your mental health.

Use of food shelves in the Northern Lakes area increased dramatically during the pandemic and has continued to grow post-pandemic. For the Lakes Area Food Shelf and the Pine River Area Food Shelf, that has meant challenges in keeping up with customer demand. But Farms 2 Food Shelf, a new program, is meeting the need for produce on a whole new level.

For eight weeks, from late April to mid-June 2023, Happy Dancing Turtle was fortunate to host the We Are Water MN exhibit on the Hunt Utilities Group Resilient Living Campus. The experience of having a museum-quality exhibit on campus plus the events, collaborations, and conversations that arose during that time continues to inform Happy Dancing Turtle’s work to grow good stewards of the planet.

Understanding your watershed, and how water moves through it, can connect us to the landscape. Knowing what is upstream from you makes you realize the vulnerability and dependence you have on those upstream who care for the land. And knowing that your actions affect others downstream can create a shared responsibility to protect water resources on your property.

As I began researching best laundry practices, I found things were more complicated than I thought. It turns out, the “best” tips change, depending on what kind of fabric you are washing, your washing method, and your definitions of “sustainable.” Is it better to use less energy? Is it better to make the fabric last as long as possible?

Jim Chamberlin, Happy Dancing Turtle’s Conservation Technician, also operates a 109-acre diversified farm and forestry operation near...

There are certain patterns to mammal fecundity (the ability to produce offspring) and these patterns have a very vital role in ecosystem functions.