Happy Dancing Blog

On June 19th, fifteen forestry, conservation, and agricultural professionals gathered at the U of M Southwest Research and Outreach Center in Lamberton, MN. This lucky gardener, from a plucky little non-profit in North Central MN with a mission in sustainability, was excited to be among them. We were all ready for a 3-day intensive workshop on agroforestry. Community food forest in Mountain Lake Agroforestry: Intensive land-use management that optimizes the benefits (physical

Well, we did it! We got through all four principles of Soil Health. We talked about maximizing biodiversity, we dug into minimizing soil disturbances, and we needed to let everyone know how important it is to keep roots in the ground. There’s so many reasons to keep your soil covered! We also begin with our Garden Update as Dave W. talks about a little mice problem he’s seen in the hoop house and what he’s done to help resolve pests. The garden crew has also spent time markin

Shiitake Mushrooms! Shitake mushrooms taste good in almost anything. Like the rest of the produce, make sure you rinse your mushrooms. The stems can be tough, but they add awesome flavor to your stock. You can add these mushrooms to most dishes, one comment was not to baked ham. You can even dry the mushrooms and store them in a glass container for later use. The Chinese were the first to cultivate these mushrooms. Japanese scientists developed a method of inserting pencil-sh