This is always a great activity for families to get out and enjoy together.

The Garden Center was filled with new arrivals of brightly-colored flowers, plants, and shrubs of all kinds. Petunia, begonia and fuchsia baskets hung throughout the greenhouse.

Lively background music played and everyone seemed to have an enjoyable time visiting and looking for things to purchase.

Several green-shirted Nelson employees answered questions and directed customers to the various sections of the center.

Chi-Essentials had a booth displaying their hand-mixed essential oil products. Samples and information were available on how these oils are used.

Brenda Wickenhauser from Bailey Nurseries spent the day in the Bare Root Barn. She discussed bare root trees and shrubs and the best ways to plant and care for them.

Master Gardener, Shirley Miller and Master Gardener Intern Laura Pipenhagen were available to answer questions.

They taught about growing potatoes, treating bug infestations, and what the best plants are for particular soils.

Hot dogs and soda pop were served in the back part of the greenhouse and were a welcome treat.

Children met in front of the Lil’ Roots playhouse to make and decorate May Baskets to take home and give out to friends and neighbors on May Day.

The Nelson Nursery Open House was very well-attended, despite the windy, overcast weather.

It can only mean one thing – people are anxious to get started on their gardens and landscaping!

Deb first demonstrated these gardens at the Zimmerman Business Expo in March. Another workshop was held due to popular demand.

A fairy garden is an easier version of a terrarium, without the concern for proper humidity as a constant worry. They are very simple to create.

A container, soil, rocks, plants, and decorations are used to create a little world that is fascinating to watch as the plants grow and fill the container.

This is an activity that parents and children can enjoy together. Deb taught the class that, “Fairy gardening brings out the child in you.”

For boys who may not want to create a fairy garden, some alternative names might be Troll Garden or Monster Garden. This is a project where more imagination is a good thing.

She used a broken birdbath top for the garden base. Because it had no holes in the bottom, she suggested placing small rocks and charcoal in the bottom to absorb excess water and keep the water from developing a foul odor.

Good plants to use in a fairy garden are both succulents and cactus plants. Tropical plants can also be used but require additional water.

One of the class attendants suggested placing tropical plants inside a mini-cage to separate them from the other plants to aid in watering schedules.

Stop by Nelson Nusery for a complimentary information sheet on Fairy Gardening and start your miniature garden today!

The event is sponsored by the Young Women’s program of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The church-wide program is designed to help girls from the ages of twelve through eighteen learn necessary skills and teach important values as they grow into adulthood and prepare for college, employment, marriage and raising families.

The proceeds from the day will go toward the cost of a regional youth conference that will take place in this summer in Duluth.

Registration for the event is $25 and participants can start registering at 7:30 am that morning. Pre-registered runners should arrive no later than 7:45 am.

The race will include a twenty-mile route, but individuals racers can choose to go for as many miles as they feel able to complete. This is a wonderful opportunity for people who are training to run in a full marathon.

The race will begin and end at the LDS Church on the corner of 100th Avenue and Highway 95, where bathrooms and parking will be available.

Water stations will be available throughout the route and refreshments will be provided at the finish line. Prizes have been donated by local businesses in the Zimmerman and Princeton areas.

Massages and massage chairs will be provided by Great River Spine and Sport of Big Lake, Monticello, and Becker.

Random names will be drawn to determine who the prize winners will be. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and these girls will have a great turn-out!

For more information or questions, visit the Young Women Facebook page.

Clean up your community!

The first Earth Day was held in 1970, and this year is the 42nd anniversary. While many people don’t care about the activist part of Earth Day environmentalism, they do recognize the importance of taking care of our planet and its resources.

The fourth graders at Liberty Elementary School in Big Lake celebrated Earth Day on Friday, April 20, 2012. They learned about ocean pollution from Oprah and NBC news specials and then each wrote a paragraph on what Earth Day means to them.

Probably the most-favorite activity of the day was designing paper t-shirts with their own slogans, such as “The earth needs our help” or “Save the earth and it will save you!” Those t-shirts are hanging in the halls for parents and students to remind them to take care of the planet.

Mothers should be honored year-round and not just in May. The same holds true for Earth Day. Everyone can help and even the small things add up over time.

Here are some things your family can do for Earth Day, and every day:

1. Turn off lights and electronics when not in use.
2. Lower the thermostat in winter and raise it in summer – even one degree can make a difference!
3. Begin or continue to recycle – cans, milk jugs, bottles, boxes, old mail, newspapers and magazines.
4. Take advantage of the Sherburne area Hazardous Waste days for items that require special disposal such as: batteries, old electronics, used oil, paint, fluorescent light bulbs.
5. Use less water – shorter showers, full laundry and dishwasher loads, don’t water lawns and gardens on rainy days (seems obvious, but people do it all the time!)
6. Make or buy a compost bin and add yard clippings and appropriate kitchen and table scrap items – cuts down on trash and helps grow a healthier garden.
7. Visit the great outdoors with your family – there are lots of resources in the Sherburne area, including: parks, lakes, Sand Dunes National Forest, Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge.
8. Start a garden, grow some flowers, make an herb box, plant some trees, landscape your yard, put up birdhouses and feeders, get a rain barrel – and then enjoy your work!
9. Give away things you no longer want or need – Sherburne County Freecycle  is a great way to share, as well as Goodwill and the Salvation Army.
10. Gather with family, friends, or neighbors and volunteer in a local clean-up day.

Enjoy these activities instead of just thinking of them as chores. Teach your children to respect the earth and spend time with them in the process. That way everyone can benefit!

These guidelines are called prescriptions, much like a prescription a patient receives from a doctor. These fires benefit both the local community and the wildlife population.

One purpose of using prescribed burns to is burn underbrush and excess debris that might catch on fire from lightening storms or careless visitors. In this way wildfires can be avoided in favor of a more controlled situation.

Another reason burns are performed is to keep the wildlife habitats in proper balance. The Sherburne Wildlife Refuge is one of the few Oak Savannah areas in the country.

Man’s progress has allowed great changes in the habitat, in part because settlers from the old country brought plants and seeds with them to the new world. Part of the Refuge system mission is to keep and restore as many of the original ecosystems as possible.

Refuge staff who are trained in fire fighting are responsible in ensuring the safety of residents and property. At the beginning of the season, a plan is created that determines when and where to conduct the burns. Refuges rotate areas to be burned over several years.

Before a burn takes place on a given day, the weather and wind conditions are evaluated. The humidity must also be within the prescribed range. In the Sherburne area, burns take place during spring before the area turns green.

Nearby fire and police departments as well as the Department of Natural Resources staff are notified each morning that a burn is designated to take place. This allows the other agencies to be ready in case their help is needed.

They also have advance warning so they can field the phone calls from concerned citizens that inevitably come in when the huge plumes of smoke rise.

Bright orange warning signs are placed around the areas to warn passersby of the prescribed burn about to take place in the vicinity, but not everybody sees them.

Fire management teams often travel from refuge to refuge during the prime months to assist with the controlled burns. They use drip torches to ignite the fires and allow the wind to move the fire in the proper direction. This is one reason why wind speed and direction must be at the proper levels.

Local residents sometimes question why the burns must be done when it may mean that some of the wildlife may be injured or killed.

While some of the nests on the ground may be destroyed, food and shelter sources are actually improved for the creatures who inhabit those areas. The burns are completed before returning birds build their nests for the new season.

Many of the plants in the area require fire to open the seed pods that allow new plants to grow. Because plants have long taproots, there are able to survive fires and recover quickly.

With the excess underbrush gone, these new plants have much more room to grow and thrive. Fires also provide the means for better nutrients in the soil which helps the plants to grow.

Birds and animals are aware of the danger and are usually able to travel to places of safety. Usually the animals escape the fire by flying or running away, sheltering in their underground homes, or high up in trees.

Prescribed burns may seem ominous to those who have never encountered them before, but they do have an important place in the Sherburne area.

The Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge not only provides homes for wildlife, but it is a wonderful place for families to visit to learn about the environment and enjoy the quiet beauty of nature.

Kids learn about the environment and how to care for it, and they participate in hands-on activities that center around plants and gardening.

Eight new club members attended the class which was taught by Lora Jacobson, a kindergarten school teacher in Cambridge, Minnesota. Parents were asked to attend with their children.

Lora gathered the children in a circle and gave each a club pin. They introduced themselves and each told what their favorite color flower was. Some were shy at first, but seemed to quickly warm to the others.

Lora read a book entitled, “Bluebird Finds a Home” which was written by her husband, Ryan. She definitely demonstrated the skills of a kindergarten teacher in her capacity to keep the everyone engaged and entertained.

Next, the children were each given a bluebird bird house to paint and decorate. They all appeared eager and delighted to get started.

They enjoyed the freedom they had to choose as many paint colors, and as much glitter, and attachable sequins as they wanted to use. Everyone stayed relatively clean – not always the case when young ones cross with art supplies.

After a light snack of juice and cheese sticks, club members took their birdhouses home. Hopefully, they will come back with tales of the birds that moved in to their creations.

The Lil’ Roots Club is sponsored by Nelson Nursery at no charge. For more information or to sign up for upcoming classes, visit the Nelson Nursery website.

Trained storm spotters serve an important part in keeping the community safe. The National Weather Service can predict and even identify tornadoes based upon computer-generated information, but that is no substitute for people who actually see and hear the storm as it happens.

The spotters travel to locations where they may gain a better vantage point of potential problems. They act as the eyes and ears of the weather service as they report detailed information about life-threatening storm systems in hopes of saving lives.

These eyewitness reports are passed along immediately so that warnings may be issued as early as possible and to give residents valuable time to move to places of security from the approaching storms. A well-structured amateur radio net is used to communicate information quickly and effectively.

Licensed ham radio operators report hail size, wind speed, significant damage or flooding as well as any other unusual events associated with the weather. Spotters can also report via Facebook and Twitter if they do not have access to radios.

The latest class was sponsored by the Sherburne Skywarn group. They met on Saturday, April 14, 2012 at the Great River for annual Storm Spotter training which was created by Metro Skywarn and the National Weather Service.

Greg Shartle, Sherburne County Skywarn Coordinator, taught the three-hour class of thirty-seven participants from Sherburne and the surrounding counties and was assisted by his wife, Elaina Shartle, who verified records and completed new cards for everyone.

The class members learned about weather terminology and how storms are formed. Viewing videos and photos of past storms was an essential part of the program. They showed important features used in identifying severe weather such as wall clouds, funnel clouds, updrafts and downdrafts.

A special emphasis was placed upon personal safety at all times. By the end of class, attendees were expected to be able to tell a funnel cloud from an actual tornado, something that is not as obvious as one might think.

Each participant who passed the class received a Skywarn ID card that is good for two years. The card lists the identification number a spotter uses when calling in a report to net control.

Becoming a storm spotter is easy – simply register and attend a local class. This is not only beneficial for becoming a trained spotter, but citizens can benefit from the knowledge to help keep their own families safe.

Sherburne Skywarn plans to have another class sometime in late May or June. The class is open to the public. Visit the Sherburne Skywarn group on Facebook for more information and photos.

I’m always happy to see new construction in our neck of the woods. As inconvenient as it has been to fight construction traffic, I look at it as a sign that our local economy is thriving in these rough economic times.  I love the new Big Lake community sign on the corner of Hwy 10 and 25, complete with the new sidewalks and landscaping. It sure seems the Northstar Rail Station has helped keep Big Lake an active and vibrant community.

It appears the new station will be larger, according to the Big Lake Planning Commision, as it will involve the demolition of some adjacent property. It looks as if the new station will have a car wash. Perhaps it will be similar to the new Holiday station in Rogers? Let’s hope so! I like stopping there on the way to the Rogers Library, then hopping on 81 to take the back way to go to SAMS in Maple Grove. Dave like to take me there on “sample day” for a cheap date. Ha ha!

Dave called me outside tonight to see for myself. Sure enough, it was quite bright. After seeing my shadow against the house, the first thing that came to mind is that it would be a good night for shadow puppets! I took a few pictures, but the bugs were out so I cut it short. Not the greatest pic, but not too bad!

Dave also found a cool Neil Young video of the song of the same name. I chose this version because it shows footage from someones vacation to Norway, home to my ancestors. Enjoy!

Prairie Restorations provides homeowners and organizations with the resources to recreate their own prairies – very cool! We are attempting to do that on the back acre of our property. Growing anything in the sands of Orrock is difficult, so we figured why not let the things that grow do so naturally!

I’m anxious to see all the Prairie Day activities – it should be fun!

Here is the information from their site:

Prairie Day has been scheduled for August 20, 2011.

After a 3 year hiatus, we are very excited for the arrival of Prairie Day this August 20th from 9am to 3pm. Typically held in July, this year’s event is being held in late August so that visitors can experience the late summer beauty of the prairie. This is also the time of year when the farm is gearing up for the all-important fall harvest.

Scheduled Events:

10:00 & 11:00: University of Minnesota’s Raptor Center
10:30: Story telling with Doug Wood
12:00: “Minnesota Bounds” Bill Sherck
12:30: Monarch butterfly release
1:00: Live music by Douglas Wood & The Wild Spirit Band
2:00: “Important Life of Bees” by the University of Minnesota Bee Lab with Dr. Spivak and Elaine Evans

Kids Activities:
Scavenger hunt with prizes
Face painting
Crafts
Story telling

Other Attractions:
Farm Tours
Grass Maze
Guided Plant Walks

Representatives from other Organizations:
Bluebird Recovery Program of Minnesota
Sherburne County SWCD
University of Minnesota Bee Lab
Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge

Food and beverages will be available for purchase – provided by the Princeton Wrestling Booster Club.

For any questions please call 763-389-4342

Visit the Prairie Restorations website at:

http://www.prairieresto.com/