Happy Dancing Blog

Getting Your Pollinator Friendly Yard Ready for Winter

HDT Team

Oct 12
3 min

Getting Your Pollinator Friendly Yard Ready for Winter

The population of pollinators is declining worldwide. Habitat loss and lack of food for pollinators are the primary reasons for the...

Long Game of Soil Health Reduces Drought Impact

Jim Chamberlin

Sep 26
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...

Garden Tips: Recipes with Nettles and Chive Blossoms

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...

Jenny Hill

May 18
2 min

Garden Updates

Gardeners Dave and Anna brought in the first harvest from the hoop house this week! It was made up of lots of greens: spinach, arugula,...

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...

Garden Tips: Soil Blocks, Watering, Succession Planting

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...

Bringing It All Together for Soil Health

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

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...

When the Weather Gets Cold, Local Eaters Get Creative

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...

Jenny Hill

Oct 21, 2022
3 min

Getting Your Pollinator Friendly Yard Ready for Winter

The population of pollinators is declining worldwide. Habitat loss and lack of food for pollinators are the primary reasons for the...

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 9, 2022
5 min

Soil Health, Part One

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

Jenny Hill

Sep 2, 2022
4 min

Intro to Seed Saving

If you’re a beginning gardener, like me, the amount to learn may seem overwhelming. I had to figure out when to plant, where to plant,...

The Garden Files: Recipes for the Abundance of the Season

Jenny Hill

Aug 19, 2022
3 min

The Garden Files: Recipes for the Abundance of the Season

To me, this is the time of year Minnesota really shines–I call it High Produce Season. Whether you are in our Northern Lakes region (Pine...

The Garden Files: Cover Crops, Who’s Bugging the Potatoes, Garlic Success, Berries, and Herbs

Jenny Hill

Aug 5, 2022
3 min

The Garden Files: Cover Crops, Who’s Bugging the Potatoes, Garlic Success, Berries, and Herbs

It’s August! This time of year, many gardens are a feast for the eyes with the many, many shades of green and colored pops of fruit and...

How to Handle an Abundance of Late Spring Produce

Jenny Hill

Jun 24, 2022
2 min

How to Handle an Abundance of Late Spring Produce

When you are awash in asparagus or face a wide span of spinach, you may wonder: are there creative ways to preserve them for later use?...

The Garden Files: Nettle Tea, Skinks, Strawberries and Asparagus Harvest

Jenny Hill

Jun 17, 2022
2 min

The Garden Files: Nettle Tea, Skinks, Strawberries and Asparagus Harvest

Gardening is a complex process. So many variables–plant type, soil health, timing, spacing, companion planting–can contribute to...