A rabbit has become a regular visitor at our front door where it nibbles on tender young shoots of Dwarf Korean Lilac. Upon following tracks across our front porch, it is evident that the rabbit's visitor status has transitioned to permanent resident. Underneath a weatherproof tarp, straw is mounded along a wall of our exterior…

In my childhood, we watched Leave It to Beaver, Father Knows Best, Casper the Friendly Ghost, and Bonanza on a black-and-white vacuum tube television…when it was working. On cold winter evenings, my family would cluster in our small living room to watch T.V. while shelling dry soup beans that we had grown and harvested from…

Although a light covering of snow blanketed the ground for Christmas Day, it wasn't until two days later that our first heavy snow of the season provided the beauty that we anxiously anticipate each winter. The kind that hangs heavy on trees and shrub branches and isn't whisked away by the wind for days. The…

Each autumn, there is winter prep to be done. That is just the way it is in the Minnesota climate. Some tasks are of the proactive type to prevent water pipes and septic systems from freezing and to maintain a source of warmth throughout the house. Other winter prep tasks make spring's arrival so much…

A farmer planted our field for many years. But he got old. He decided it was time to retire. Dick and I knew, that when that day came, we would plant trees where once buckwheat, triticale, clover, and winter wheat had grown. To give us a jump start, we started with three burr oak trees…

Throughout the year, I save newspaper pages so that I can make newspaper pots for spring planting. I discard pages with colored ink which leaves basically the crossword puzzle/cartoons, obits, and employment/want ads. Sometimes the rolling and tucking results in sweet, unexpected surprises like these two pots printed with "Lakes Area Growers Market" and Plant…

A fence surrounds our coop to keep the chickens safe at night. It provides extra security from invaders like raccoon, skunk, fox, and hawks. Fence door latched. Coop door locked. In the daytime, as our chickens roam freely about the yard, they are not bothered. But, at dusk and beyond, the stalkers prowl. The fence…

A tarp secured with bungees to outmatch the force of wintry winds covers our greenhouse, emptied rain barrels are turned upside down, late season veggies have been gathered, and dried vines removed. With the closure of this year's gardening season, it is time to celebrate the harvest measured by what our garden has provided to…

A commonly expressed comment in these parts is, "Only in Minnesota." It refers to how our climate pays little attention to the calendar. True to form, during the overnight and continuing through the morning hours, a blanket of snow covered the landscape on this first day of May. Although it brought our greenhouse construction and…

Last July, I decided that I'd entice some orioles to my feeders, however I was doomed to fail at the starting gate. "Start early. Your best chance of attracting orioles is when they first arrive in the spring (early May in Minnesota)." http://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/attracting-birds/bird-nesting/how-to-attract-orioles/ I can verify the May arrival because I took the photo of…