Growing up, I spent a lot of time with my grandmother. One of our favorite activities was watching the birds that would come to her feeder every morning. This year, I have been landscaping to attract more birds to my yard. Birds require three things to survive - food, water and shelter. Food ...

I think there is nothing better than a fresh tomato from the garden. This is one statement that I find most gardeners will not argue about. Generally, gardeners will go above and beyond to ensure they can harvest a plentiful tomato crop. So, how do we get the most out of our tomatoes? You can ...

“Have you been hearing about plastics, especially microplastics, lately?” I asked my husband. He spends a lot of time reading online, so he is often my gauge for column topics. I wondered what he had been seeing. “Yes. Plastics are everywhere,” he said when he briefly looked up from ...

It’s fun to grow new fruit crops. Common fruits like apples and strawberries are okay, but there’s nothing special about them. It’s more exciting to grow—and taste—an exotic, new fruit. I have seen lots of promising fruits over the past 15 years in North Dakota. These include ...

I was figuring out the food activity our 4-H club wanted to do at the next monthly meeting — this was back when I was a club leader. “Let’s make ice cream in a bag!” the children said. “We just made ice cream tonight, so maybe we should make something else,” I noted. “OK, ...

I’m writing this on Memorial Day, 2025. This holiday is intended to honor and mourn those who died in military service to our country. My Uncle Jim was one of those people, killed in the Korean War. Dad rarely talked about losing his older brother, but I know it affected him for the rest of ...