
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...

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...

Jenny Hill
- Feb 17
- 5 min
Garden Tips
As we watch the snow melt, then rain come and go, and then the snow start all over again, many of us have fallen for the siren call of...

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,...


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...

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...


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?...


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...

Jenny Hill
- May 27, 2022
- 2 min
Controlling Cutworms, Cool Season Crops and Planting Lore
The Happy Dancing Turtle atrium/gardens/hoop houses are in full swing now and Gardener Dave has some tips to share about controlling...

Jenny Hill
- Mar 11, 2022
- 2 min
Veggie Pizza Even for People Who Don’t Think They Like Veggie Pizza
When is pizza more than just pizza? When it is jam-packed with vegetables! In my family, mushroom and spinach is a popular combination...

Jenny Hill
- Nov 12, 2021
- 3 min
The Joy of Squash
You know you are around a crowd of true vegetable lovers when you can create a stir just by asking about squash. That’s what happened on...

HDT Team
- Jun 25, 2021
- 4 min
Picking the Right Onion
You can do so much with an onion. Purée it, sauté it, or chop it raw. It just doesn't matter what you do to it. It's gonna taste great,...


Christopher Glassman
- Oct 29, 2020
- 3 min
Stump the Chef - Canned Dinner?!
Dinner from canned ingredients only? Too easy. You can go to your grocery store and have that for $5. Instead, let's make it interesting.


Colin Mclain
- Oct 15, 2020
- 4 min
Producer Spotlight - Rachel Cobb at Brambling Rows Farm
Farmers are ubiquitous to the Brainerd Lakes area and are doing great work that deserves to be recognized. It's simple, really. If we...