Tips and tales about keeping water clean
Washington Conservation District recognizes Pam Arnold & Laurie Schneider for their conservation efforts The bee is a curious ambassador for the Earth. They are little. They sting. They tiptoe across flowers on insect legs, waving insect antenna, and peering out at the world through kaleidoscoped insect eyes. The females do all of the work, and…
Read More
‘Tis the season for gratitude, and this Thanksgiving I’m counting flushing toilets among my many blessings in life. What did people do before toilets were invented? Well, depending on where they lived, they either walked outside to use the outhouse in the freezing cold or did their business in a chamber pot and then dumped…
Read More
If you sit very quietly in the middle of a tamarack fen and close your eyes, you can hear a goose honking in the distance, a red-winged blackbird trilling from the cattails, and 24 little kids, desperately trying to be still. Woodbury’s Tamarack Nature Preserve is the southern-most tamarack swamp in Minnesota and a jewel…
Read More
Comfort Lake – Forest Lake Watershed District rounds out multi-year project with fall alum treatment In 1871, Elof and Eva Modig migrated to the United States from Sweden, purchased land near a small lake in southern Chisago County (at $1.25 an acre) and settled down to build a house and begin farming wheat. Over the…
Read More
In the swiftly flowing waters of the St. Croix River, a federally endangered species of mussel called the spectaclecase shelters among boulders on patches of gravel and sand. It’s not easy to make babies when you’re spectaclecase. First, the male must release sperm into the river current, hopefully upstream of a lady mussel. If a…
Read More
For each Scrabble game, there must be at least two players and no more than four. Tiles can only be placed from left to right or from top to bottom. Words placed diagonally or backwards are not allowed. The person with the most points at the end of the game wins. To make pickles, stir…
Read More
Clouds and mountains all tangled together up to the blue sky a rough road and deep woods without any travelers far away the lone moon a bright glistening white nearby a flock of birds sobbing like children one old man sitting alone perched in these green mountains a small shack the retired life letting my…
Read More
By now, you’ve probably picked the last of the tomatoes, peppers and eggplants growing in your vegetable gardens. The predicted frost never quite made it to my house last weekend, but I know it’s only a matter of time before the winter temps will settle in for good. As you begin to prepare your lawn…
Read More
Volunteer event scheduled for Oct. 11 in Woodbury Three years ago, volunteers gathered in a wind-swept field on a rainy spring day to plant 3000 young oak trees for a future oak savanna. The site – located on the border between Woodbury and Cottage Grove – is part of a conservation corridor created by South…
Read More
He’s standing in an open field, late November, and the sun is glowing through the goldenrod and bluestem. Sun kissing son. There are times like this when the natural world is so beautiful, I want to open my eyes just a little bit wider and etch the memory into my heart. When the Brown’s Creek…
Read More
East Metro Water 