Jim Chamberlin
- 1 day ago
- 3 min
Long Game of Soil Health Reduces Drought Impact
Well into the drought this summer, I drove by a corn field east of Brainerd and was surprised how healthy the corn looked. Just a mile or...
Jim Chamberlin
- Aug 7
- 2 min
Digging Into the Lives of Dung Beetles
Dung beetles came late in my soil health journey. More than three decades after becoming an “organic” farming advocate, the dung beetle...
Jim Chamberlin
- Jul 26
- 3 min
Grassland 2.0 Update
Grassland 2.0 is a social project involving grass, water, cows, and people. On a recent Saturday, a group of around 30 people gathered at...
Jenny Hill
- Jul 3
- 3 min
Adventures in Sustainability: Food Waste and Some Great Alternatives
The numbers are sobering: According to the Environmental Defense Fund, 160 billion pounds of food goes uneaten every year in the United...
HDT Team
- Jun 15
- 3 min
Garden Tips: Recipes with Nettles and Chive Blossoms
“Use what you've got" is a phrase that is a building block for sustainable living. In this post we share two recent examples of seasonal...
HDT Team
- Jun 2
- 4 min
Watersheds 101
Minnesota sits atop a triple, continental-scale water divide. As one of the exhibit pieces in We Are Water MN describes it: “This means...
Jim Chamberlin
- May 5
- 3 min
Keyline Design Works with Water
Happy Dancing Turtle recently hosted journalist and National Geographic Explorer, Erica Gies, to discuss Water Always Wins, a book in...
Jenny Hill
- Apr 21
- 3 min
Garden Tips: Seeding, Thinning, Tamping
While hardy (and understandably grumpy) Minnesotans weather yet another rain/snow “event,” steadfast gardeners like Dave and Anna at...
Jim Chamberlin
- Apr 14
- 3 min
Grazing Update for the Pine River Watershed
Jim Chamberlin is a long-time member of the Pine River Watershed Alliance. Below is his most recent update on grazing initiatives. The...
Jenny Hill
- Mar 24
- 3 min
Garden Tips: Soil Blocks, Watering, Succession Planting
The HDT garden crew, Dave and Anna, recently took a video and some photos as they worked on soil blocks. The resulting blocks were moist...
Jenny Hill
- Mar 9
- 3 min
Food Security is Key to Sustainable Living
One of the basic human needs is food. Food insecurity can completely obliterate the opportunity for sustainable, healthy living....
Jim Chamberlin
- Mar 3
- 4 min
Bringing It All Together for Soil Health
The Change Exchange discussion group the last couple of months have focused on the life under our feet. This month we bring it all...
Jim Chamberlin
- Feb 3
- 4 min
Soil Health: The Challenge of Our Time
Soil health is defined as the ability of soil to function as a vital living ecosystem. The soil's ability to function, to cycle water and...
Jim Chamberlin
- Dec 28, 2022
- 3 min
The Forest Below Our Feet
I have a distinct memory from years ago of a portage we took on a canoe trip in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. I believe the...
Jim Chamberlin
- Dec 2, 2022
- 4 min
Celebrate World Soil Day
World Soil Day is December 5th and is dedicated to focus attention on the importance of healthy soil and to advocate for the sustainable...
Jenny Hill
- Oct 28, 2022
- 4 min
When the Weather Gets Cold, Local Eaters Get Creative
Do you have a summer and winter diet? Many of us do, at least to a certain extent because it seems more fun to eat melon in the summer...
Jim Chamberlin
- Oct 14, 2022
- 6 min
Food in a Changing Climate
On what appears to be the backside of the 2021 drought, it’s a good time to reflect on the impacts the drought had, and explore ways we...
Jim Chamberlin
- Sep 30, 2022
- 4 min
Soil Health, Part Four
Jim Chamberlin, Happy Dancing Turtle’s Conservation Technician, also operates a 109-acre diversified farm and forestry operation near...
Jim Chamberlin
- Sep 23, 2022
- 5 min
Soil Health, Part Three
Jim Chamberlin, Happy Dancing Turtle’s Conservation Technician, also operates a 109-acre diversified farm and forestry operation near...
Jim Chamberlin
- Sep 16, 2022
- 5 min
Soil Health, Part Two
Jim Chamberlin, Happy Dancing Turtle’s Conservation Technician, with his wife, Audra, operates a 109-acre diversified farm and forestry...