Happy Dancing Blog

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...

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...

"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.

Resources for understanding air quality and air quality alerts.

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.

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

Groundwater supplies 75% of Minnesota’s drinking water and 90% of water used for agricultural irrigation. Among the key messages about groundwater are several that definitely apply to those who live in Minnesota:

I believe we as humans have an innate connection to fire. Anyone who’s warmed their hands by the campfire on a cold evening knows well the connection I speak of, the dance of the fire as if it is a living thing. Indigenous Americans understood this as well as any.

November 18 of this year was the 25th anniversary of Use Less Stuff Day, traditionally the Thursday before Thanksgiving. Use Less Stuff...

In the fall, once the gardens are put to bed, many of us feel the urge to “clean up” our yards. We tend to label fallen leaves, pine...

David Freeman, along with his wife Amy, did for over a year as they lived in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area for over a year!

This is an unprecedented time. If you need help with your mental health, here are a list of numbers from the Minnesota Department of Health that are searchable for your county. For more information on mental health preparedness, here’s a good article from PBS . We are individuals. We are separate. We’re being asked to stay away from friends, family members, worshipers, and colleagues. But, humans are social creatures. It’s in our nature to be in close contact with others. W

There are options for how to handle the overabundance that is likely pushing against your fridge door’s capability to seal (or is this just my fridge?). Eat right now, eat soon, or preserve/prepare for later consumption, or find a new home – these are the options we’ll be addressing.