Find even more great blog posts about sustainability, resiliency, food & water security and great things happening at Happy Dancing Turtle by going to happydancingturtle.org/blog
Starting the School Year in a Positive Mindset
Teachers have always had a very challenging job – or jobs, really. Beyond teaching classes of 15-30+ kids and designing different ways to meet the needs of a variety of learners, teachers take on other jobs – making sure students’ have their basic needs met outside the classroom, lunch/recess supervision, coaching and club organizing, helping with school events and functions, and the list goes on and on. Teachers are “on” all day long, often without a break, working through lunch and prepping/grading in their “free” periods. I know elementary teachers who don’t drink water during the day because they’re afraid they won’t have an opportunity to use the restroom. They bring their work home with them. They spend their own money on classroom supplies. They continue their education, keeping up on the latest pedagogy and training in order to be able to renew their teaching license. They’re available when students need to talk or parents have a concern. They work their tails off because they care about our kids – all while under the careful scrutiny of their administration, parents, the general public, and social media. The high stress and low pay of teachers leads to the profession having a very high attrition rate, with roughly 8% of teachers leaving the industry each year (only ⅓ of those are retirement age).
Farming For the Future
Happy Dancing Turtle is taking on a new and exciting role in pursuit of a local, sustainable food system. We will be working directly with farmers and ranchers to accelerate adoption of adaptive grazing practices. Building on our past work of consumer education, promoting market driven conservation, and advocating for local meat processing and distribution, we are now a certified Technical Service Provider for the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. This will allow us to assist producers in developing adaptive grazing and other conservation plans for their farm or ranch.
Why this new facet of work for HDT? The development of individualized plans that meet and support the needs of producers in reaching their goals is a natural extension of the strong focus we’ve had on soil health and sustainable and regenerative agriculture. We also believe our region is well suited for this type of place-based agriculture.
Our local ecoregion or (ECS), defined by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) as the Pine Moraines and Outwash Plains subsection, is dominated by coarse sandy soils. Many of the soils are excessively drained and, prior to European settlement, much of the subsection was susceptible to fire, burning on an average of every 10 to 40 years. This kept the landscape in an early pioneer successional growth stage of Jack pine barrens and aspen- birch forest. Some areas were protected from wildfire by topography, wetlands and large lakes. These areas were dominated by mixed hardwoods and pine forests, mainly in the eastern and northern regions of the subsection.
Pine Moraines and Outwash Plains
Image: MN DNR
Continue readingStump the Chef Challenge – Nightshade Free Dinner
We’re introducing a new blog category that could be fun (at least for the reader!) Up here at the HUG Resilient Living Campus, we are so fortunate to have a campus chef that creates and plans our lunches made directly from the bounty of our garden. Campus Chef Chris G. is a wizard when it comes to making something delicious out of thin air. So, we wanted to put this to the test. Can Chris make delicious food under strict restrictions? Think “Iron Chef” without the drama and all the yummy food. Without further ado, here’s the main man, himself!
Ok. So, I have been asked to create a meal using no nightshades. Nightshades are a common family of fruit and vegetables that includes tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, and all sorts of peppers. It isn’t a common food allergy, but you do run into it. Yet, there are a lot of nightshades in some of our favorite foods that we eat on a regular basis.
So what do we do? It is not fair just to never eat spaghetti just because of a silly allergy, right? So, I looked into making a few things that you would find nightshades in, but I found that it’s pretty easy to replace those little guys with something just as filling and delicious.
Here’s what I found:
Tater Tots & Ketchup
Tater tots, minus the taters can be just as tasty as the real deal…or even better!
This one is a little tricky and a harder to do because you’re not using tomatoes. However, if you take the time to do it, you won’t really miss it that much!
Nature Notes: Benefits of Bats
Bats are one of the most fascinating, yet misunderstood creatures in our culture. Perceptions of bats have largely been forged from European lore, associating bast with witches and vampires. They’ve been portrayed as evil creatures of the night, representing symbols of death, trickery, and the underworld in many stories, books, TV shows, and more. Due to their nocturnal behavior and rare encounters with people, bats remain shrouded in mystery. Let’s take a look at misconceptions before diving deeper into bats.
Continue readingNature Notes: Dragonfly Daze
The hot days at the end of July and early August are often referred to as the “dog days” of summer. While I always thought they were named after pups too hot and lazy to move during this time of year, the name actually comes from the Greeks and Romans who noticed the star Sirius, in the canis major (dog) constellation, rises just before the sun during this time of year. These “dog days” are also the “dragonfly daze” of summer – although dragonfly populations explode in late June and July, many species are still on wing through early August and beyond. But where do they come from, where do they go, and how come these friendly bug eaters are only around for a couple of months!?
Actually, they’re around all year long, but if you’re looking to the skies to find ‘em in cold months, you’re looking in the wrong place. Of course we don’t see dragonflies zooming around all winter in subzero temperatures. They have adapted a rather interesting survival strategy to make it through our long harsh winters – all of the adults die off except for a few species, like the Green Darner, that actually migrate! Green Darner adults fly all the way to Texas in the fall and their offspring will return in the spring (usually one of the first species we see). Dragonflies go through incomplete metamorphosis, which means their life cycle as three stages instead of the four stages you would see in complete metamorphosis. They begin as eggs in the water, hatch into aquatic larvae or nymphs and then skip the pupating stage, instead opting to go straight to adulthood.
Most dragonflies spend their winters underwater as nymphs, in diapause (a resting state) in the “warm” mucky-muck at the bottom of rivers, ponds and lakes. A few species overwinter in eggs on the shoreline, which will be washed into the water in the spring and hatch into nymphs. Depending on the species, dragonflies may be in the nymph stage for only a few weeks or up to 8 years in some Asian species! Here, most of our dragonflies spend about 1-3 years as nymphs.
These nymphs survive underwater by breathing through larval gills and using their keen sense of sight and super sensitive antennae to be ferocious predators of the lake bottom. They devour other insect larvae (like mosquitoes!), other dragonfly larvae, tadpoles, and even small fish with a voracious appetite. In turn, they serve their part in the food web as prey to larger frogs or fish. As they eat, they grow, molting old tight-fitting exoskeletons for new, roomier ones.
When the nymph is ready to turn into an adult it has a day or two of diapause while the final changes are made inside of the larval exoskeleton. During this time the nymph often has its head above water as it becomes acquainted to breathing oxygen, like it will in the adult form. When it is ready, it will climb up onto a plant or rock, the thorax splits open, the adult form emerges small and deflated and spends several hours “pumping” up its body with hemolymph (insect blood) until it reaches its full adult size. You can often find these deserted exuviae, or the exoskeleton they left behind, cling to vegetation or other structures around the water’s edge.
When the exoskeleton has dried and hardened, the dragonfly will take its first flight and become a predator of the sky. With impressive compound eyes of 30,000 lenses, dragonflies have incredible sight. Pair that with the capability of sustained, highly maneuverable flight, antennae that work as anemometers to measure wind speed and direction, powerful jaws, and spines on their front legs that act as a grocery cart for prey, and you get a pretty formidable predator. Dragonflies will eat pretty much anything they can catch, including other dragonflies, butterflies, and have even been observed taking down a hummingbird! They may eat their prey on wing or take it back to a perch. A keen observer may find discarded butterfly wings or beetle wings under a dragonfly perch. If you’re lucky enough to get close to one eating, you can even hear the “crunch!”
You can thank the dragonflies for eating an insane amount of insects and pests (nicknamed the mosquito hunter as some can consume hundreds of mosquitos in just one day). You think a lion or a wolf is a good hunter? Hate to break it to ya, but they ain’t got nothin’ on the dragonfly! Recent studies show dragonflies catch their target prey 95% of the time – a number that decimates the stats of all large mammalian predators. In fact, their precision flight and accuracy is so impressive, they have been used for military and private sector research regarding drone development and design!
Right now is a great time to get outside and see some dragonflies before they disappear in the fall! Many are feeding, mating, or laying eggs. Dragonflies are fiercely competitive for food and mates, so you may even get to witness a dragonfly brawl. If you’re near water, look for a female dipping her abdomen into the water to lay eggs. Males guard females while laying eggs so they may stay attached to the female, or I more commonly find them “hover guarding” – where the male hovers near by and quickly chases off any other males, sometimes with a loud clash of wings! As dragonflies are hatched in, feed around, and lay eggs in water, they typically don’t travel too far from a water source, so check out any nearby ponds, streams, lake shores, or wetlands for a look-see! Here are just some you might find!
Black-shouldered Spinyleg 
Canada Darner 
Four-spotted Skimmer 
Dusky Clubtail 
Pronghorn Clubtail 
Widow Skimmer (female or juvenile, which often have different colors/patterns than males!) 
Widow Skimmer (Male, which often have different colors/patterns than females and juveniles!) 
Common Baskettail 
Autumn Meadowhawk 
Chalk-fronted Corporal
Enjoy the end of summer weather, getting outside for some fresh air, and watching these remarkable hunters gobble up mosquitoes!
4 Ways to Keep Your Garden Happy in the Heat
While you’re out and about during the summer, it’s important to remember that your garden is also likely under the effects of the heat. Let’s review what you can do to help keep your soil and little green buddies happy and thriving in the hot summer months.
- Water early in the day: If the sun is shining brightly while you water your garden, the moisture you provide will evaporate away. So, water early, by 10 am at the latest. If you’re watering solitary plants (as opposed to a grass bed), point your watering can to the base of the plant.
- Use a drip irrigation system. These babies can keep a continual, but minimal, supply of water to your plants, keeping them happy and perky. You use less water, and your plants thrive. Win-win.
- Apply mulch to keep the soil moist: Covering your soil is a must if you want it to retain any water during a heat wave. Add a mulch of organic material such as compost, leaves, or even dried grass clippings. The extra layer shades the soil and acts as a lid to keep the moisture near the roots. Also, be sure to water before adding the mulch.
- Consider using a shade tunnel. These handy things will do two things for your plants. They’ll act as a wind barrier, keeping moisture where it needs to be and not accelerated by blowing wind. Shade tunnels will also keep leafy greens perky and able to thrive.
- Finally, while it’s certainly too late in the MN summer to start planting new perennials, you might want to consider for the next growing season plants that do well in direct sun and heat. Veggies like sweet potatoes, okra, peppers of many varieties, tomatoes, and cucumbers all love direct sun and heat. That’s one way to turn a scorching summer into a positive.
Let us know if you have any ideas for dealing with summer heat. Leave a message in the comment section below. Happy gardening!
How to Beat the Heat (Advice for Humans AND Animals)
It’s been a scorcher this summer.
That’s the hard part about being a gardener. There is a non-stop list of work to do, so being able to take time off during the peak heat is pretty-much a non-starter. With little rain, extreme heat and the hottest month ahead of us, we thought it would be a good idea to revisit a post we did a few years back that shows what our gardeners do to stay cool during the hot months.
Cover Your Skin
Wearing shirts and long pants that cover your skin is one method they recommend. In the times with high heat, the clothes (if lighter, like white or sky blue) will repel the heat. Cotton is the best fabric to use as it allows perspiration to occur. If you can avoid jeans, you’ll be better off, as well.
Also, if you can cover your face with a sun hat or even a baseball cap, your skin will appreciate it. Since your head is the first thing to receive the suns rays, it will be taking the brunt of the heat. Simply using a hat will minimize your exposure to the heat, allowing you to stay cooler for longer.
Work Earlier in the Day
It’s not a particularly unique idea, but working when it’s cooler out is a no-brainer. In fact, I just read that trash collectors in Washington DC are expected to start working during the early morning in this summer to get most of their routes done before it gets too hot.
In the same vein, they take the time to take breaks. Our garden crew takes a few minutes every hour to come inside, have a drink of water, and relax. Staying out of the heat seems like a simple solution, but it works!
Drink Something With Electrolytes
If you can’t get out of the heat, then it’s important to combat the effects of the heat. Working in the sun causes your body to sweat. (No kidding!) Sweating is important to stay cool, but the salt (electrolytes) lost in the process is necessary for proper function.
Drinking water is great, but you still need to replenish the lost salt in your system. That’s why “Gatorade” has such a following. But, you don’t need to go out and buy a sports drink. You can make your own. We’ve got a recipe for Hay Time Switchel that will get you back on your feet.
Hay Time Switchel
- 1 Cup light brown sugar
- 1 Cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 Cup light molasses
- 1 tbsp ground ginger
- 1 quart cold water
Combine all ingredients and stir well. Makes 6 seven ounce glasses. This can be refrigerated, but old timers made it with cold spring water and said nothing quenched a thirst or cooled a dusty throat in haying time as this drink.
Keeping Your Animals Cool
I had a chat with a coworker who fosters lost and injured wild animals, along with normal pets. She’s got a lot of experience involved with the caretaking of animals and she says that animals don’t really need much help from humans.
“They’re smarter than us,” she joked. She says they’ll find a way to cool off, whether that’s removing themselves from the sun, rolling in mud (if they’re pigs), and dunking under water. She even described how squirrels will lay on their belly with their arms and legs stretched out and “heat dump” on the ground.
But, the one thing she says we can do is just keep their coping mechanisms in mind. If they like shade and water, keep it around for them to decided when to use it. Keeping clean water sources such as shallow bird baths for your feathered friends and even deeper dishes for larger wildlife are accepted and used when needed.
Do you have any ways to keep your pets and animals cool during the hot stretches? Let us hear ’em in the comments below.
Meat CSA Program to Aid Both Local Farmers and Local Watersheds
Up the Creek Meats came from the simple idea that not all farming is the same, and to farm in a way that protects our soil and water resources takes skills, knowledge and physical abilities that have value beyond that of the cost of a double quarter pounder with cheese. The abundant water resources in our area provide us with many benefits; beautiful scenery, food in the way fish and irrigation for crops, and income as a popular tourist destination.
What happens upstream affects water quality downstream and if we care about the quality of the water in our lakes, we should support the farmer and rancher upstream. We should understand the challenges they face to produce our food and to protect our water.
And we should pay them well for their efforts.
Starting only a few years ago with the UMN Regional Sustainable Development Partnership “Cows for Clean Water” marketing study in 2017 is one way we have been working to build support for this concept. Work on the feasibility of a mobile slaughter unit followed soon after that and is where the name Up the Creek Meats originated.
This effort was recently given a big boost with the support of the MN Lakes and Rivers Advocates and the concept of “meat shares” in support of clean water. Working in conjunction with local lake associations, lake association members order shares from a producer in the watershed who is implementing adaptive grazing management on their farm or ranch and thereby protecting the health of the soil and our water resources.
As a pilot program, there are just a few producers on the list and marketing is being targeted to just a couple of local watersheds in the area, but MN Lakes and Rivers Advocates is a statewide organization and has started a campaign to educate its entire membership on the Up the Creeks Meats concept.
HDT’s work to grow good stewards and build capacity for local processing and distribution in support of area farmers and ranchers will continue, but in the meantime it’s encouraging to know that others are taking up the charge, and the understanding that agriculture done well heals.
Welcome Home Little Chickens
Happy Dancing Turtle will be the home for fifty chickens for the summer. We plan on keeping these beauties on campus for around through August, when they’ll be collected and butchered. (It was explained to me that they’ll live a really good life and then have one bad day.)
You may not know that baby chicks can be shipped right through the mail. We got a neat call from the Pine River Post Office last week. Just listen to the happy little ones!
Our chicken coop is something a little different. It used to be a car park where we stored our garden and maintenance equipment. With an upgraded storage space on campus, we reused the space for a coop.
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