HDT Gardens Already a Sweet Success

With the use of black plastic mulch, and the very hard work of the HDT garden crew, the HDT gardens already have large and sweet strawberries ready to pick. With the aid of the mulch, warm weather crops are able to maintain the heat around the garden bed, even with the inclement weather we've enjoyed for the last month.

Dug and Ray of HUG help in the picking process.

We have plans to eat and cook with the berries as much as we can, but will freeze the remainder for use in the fall and winter.

For your information, they're delicious.

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony Commemorates Playground

On Friday, June 24th the Pine River Dam Park newly installed playground was christened with fanfare and dozens of children swarming the equipment. The playground was recently installed after Central Lakes Rotary (CLR) club reached its goal of raising $10,000 in matching funds. Balloons were given to the children at the ceremony.

The keys were transferred to the city from CLR.

The ribbon was cut by members of the city council.

Frost Free Friday a Chilly Success

Friday was the annual kick-off for the Pine River Market Square. On a day that barely held onto its name, the annual Frost Free Friday kickoff event brought determined vendors and chilly visitors. All throughout downtown Pine River, local businesses welcomed the unofficial first day of summer.

Happy Dancing Turtle and dozens of local businesses gave away seedling plants for free as a way to kick off the summer season. With over a dozen farms and agricultural organizations participating in the PRMS, visitors were able to get a variety of offerings.

You could buy fresh made focaccia bread from Cherie Wehausen at Rising Star.

Lorna's Kitchen offered fresh sourdough and perennial seedlings.

You could buy your dill pickles and home-made mustard from Armstrong Acres.

Friendly faces were free from all vendors. The Market Square has been doing well for three years, now.

After braving the chilly weather, what could be better than warming yourself up with some hot BBQ at the grand opening of JR's Number 19. The pulled pork was delicious and very reasonably priced.

What a way to start the summer!

Mushroom Innoculation Season

Inoculating shitake mushroom logs.

Logs should be cut from live, actively growing trees.  Preferred species include red and burr oak or ironwood.  Notice the thick cambium layer of the log below.  That is an indicator of fast growth and is the food for the mushrooms.  

 

Clean and drill the logs - an angle grinder adapted to a drill is much faster

Inoculate the logs by inserting sawdust spawn into drilled holes.

 

Wax the holes after filling with spawn.  The logs then have to "lay" for one growing season while the mushroom fungi colonizes the log.  Moisture within the log must not drop below 30% during this incubation phase.  Logs should start to produce mushrooms the second season and continue to produce for several years thereafter.

Dam Park Fish Fry Big Success

Last Saturday at the Pine River Legion, the Dam Park Revitalization Task Force hosted a "Take Me Back to the Park" Fish Fry Fundraiser.

Each of the 200 plus attendees were greeted with live minnow table decorations and were then asked to eat walleye fillet (or fish sticks for the kids). Everybody was encouraged to as many homemade desserts as they wished.

Here's closer look at the minnows in the jars. Nobody ate them, as far as I heard.

Raffle tickets were also sold. All 600 were sold and two lucky winners walked away with kayaks. All in all, the dinner successfully raised just over $3600 to be used for improving the Pine River Dam Park.

Composting Basics

When I went to the the Living Green Expo last week, I was able to talk to Ramsey County Master Gardener, Tom Hutsell. I shared information about the campus and we eventually came upon the subject of composting. If you're interested in starting your own backyard vegetable garden, he suggests that a compost pile be started. This not only helps return valuable nutrients to your garden's soil, but it also puts to use your yard waste.

Composting is very simple to do, and needs only a few things to get started.
1) First you need to be sure there are microorganisms in your pile. This is simple, because they are everywhere. Hutsell says that commercial compost starters are not necessary. All the microorganisms you need are already present in the natural ingredients you add an in the air.

2) Secondly, you need to be sure to add water to your pile. Once the mixture is damp like a wrung-out sponge, you know you've added enough.

3) Next, be sure to allow for plenty of oxygen. You can do this by both ensuring the pile is no bigger than 5ft. square and turning the pile when necessary. He also points out that some people use a hollow tube in the center of their pile to allow for aeration.

4) Lastly, keep feeding the pile the proper ingredients so it can maintain the necessary heat of 130-160F). These ingredients can be pretty much any organic material but should be limited to leaves, weeds, grass, and kitchen vegetable/fruit waste. You should never use meat, bones, grease, pet droppings, or diseased plants.

Maintaining a compost pile is extremely easy, Hutsell assures. Once the proper location is picked and the basic ingredients are combined, the toughest part is helping to maintain the high temperature. Keeping the proper amount of nitrogen in the pile is a trick he suggests. Fresh grass clippings are great with nitrogen. I commented that some people I know collect their urine to help increase nitrogen in their compost pile and referenced this clip. He laughed and affirmed that, yes, human urine is a great way help your compost pile, but either method would work.

3-4 months of an active compost pile should bring you a finished product. It will be dark, crumbly, and have an earthy smell and will last for years if stored properly.

If you want further information on composting, check out this link which will give you different acceptable methods on how to start your compost pile.

Living Green Expo 2011 Wrapup

We took several days this week to travel to the Living Green Expo at the state fairgrounds. There were over 300 exhibitors from varying aspects of sustainability. We met with designers of Passiv houses, local farmers, and even an organic dog food company. It showed that there are varying ways to promote sustainability and different ways to promote environmental stewardship.

Some made more sense than others. For every educational booth that promoted Complete Streets, there was a jewelry maker that reused street signs and made bracelets and rings. For every insulation peddler who was more interested in making a sale than using earth-friendly products, there were magnet schools that included sustainability in their curriculum.

There were demonstrations of electric-assisted bicycles, Segways and the electric Tesla Roadster. This was encouraging, simply because it showed the different ways that, at least locally, one was able to jump away from non-renewable-energy-dependent transportation.

There were musicians, dancers, food booths and art displays that promoted green living. Organic pizzas cooked in a cob oven were the order of the day. Authentic Mexican dancing brought people to their feet with the message of reverence towards the Earth as much as the driving drum and rhythm. Children were encouraged to make Mother's Day gifts with reusable scraps of fabric.

It was an educational vist, as well. We attended several seminars that ranged from backyard composting to sustaining a local farm to school program. We left with a better understanding that sustainability is something that can be achieved through many different avenues. Moreover, we walked away encouraged that we are not alone in the movement.