By Carrie Classon I’ve always known I was lucky when it came to family.  I saw classmates who had impossible siblings, and I knew my curly-headed younger sister was a catch. I knew people who really hated spending time with their parents, and I always had fun with mine—and I still do. I grew up with 36 cousins, 34 of whom were on my mother’s side. It was a lot easier to keep track of my father’s side of the family, but I always felt somehow rich, having so many cousins spread

By Kelsey Wuff, Otter Tail County Master Gardener Ruth Stout was famous for her “No-Work” gardening method, a topic on which she wrote a few books in addition to several other gardening books. Rather than follow traditional methods of gardening, the basic idea of Ruth’s method is to cover your garden area with eight solid inches of mulch. Pull the mulch back to plant, then tuck the mulch back around the plants once they have established. As the mulch breaks down she would sim

By Stanley Musielewicz of Little Falls It was a beautiful, late spring day in early June. A few clouds drifted across sunny skies, and the temperature was comfortable. School was out, and my family was visiting my grandmother’s farm, which was farmed by my bachelor Uncle Joe. My Cousin Danny was about three years older than myself, going into his senior year of high school. He was a city boy, but spent a few weeks every summer helping our uncle with the farming. Danny and I w

By Carrie Classon I have become the treat lady again. Depending on where I’m walking, I either carry dog treats or I don’t. I used to carry them all the time, but when we moved to the city, I stopped carrying dog treats because I feared that the downtown dogs (or their owners) might not welcome my treats. Maybe they were on a diet (the dogs, I mean). Maybe they had allergies. Maybe they would be suspicious of a strange woman doling out treats. So I stopped carrying treats. My

By Nancy Leasman Neytiri has gone home to St. Paul (see February’s Work Out column). She was a quiet house guest for a month, required trail camera monitoring for her people to find her (behind the furnace), and caused a bit of a scuffle to be caught. Since then, she has settled in and seems to appreciate her surrounding, including her people. So, our house is petless. No cats, no dogs, no fish, or birds. The closest thing to a pet is the robotic vacuum cleaner. I named it Da

By Carrie Classon Last summer, Judy approached me one day when I was walking by an old church. “I see you walking by here every day!” she said. “Oh, yes. I need to walk!” I told her. Judy is an associate pastor at this Episcopal church. She did not appear intent on getting me to church, but she was excited because they were having silent meditation in the chapel. She wondered if I might like to join. “It’s open to anyone?” I asked. “Every Tuesday night from 6 to 7. Stay as lo

By Carl Gadow of Eagan The passage of days and nights is loud and clear, but decades slip by quietly—until something smacks you in the face like a frozen northern pike. That’s when you realize you still fish like it’s 1979—and that what once felt proudly “old school,” now edges closer to simply “old fool.” My own tail-fin-to-the-cheek moment arrived just before Christmas. I was sitting on my pail, patiently jigging for sunfish, when I glanced around at the handful of anglers

By Jim Palmer It started with a simple text from my youngest son, Easton, a sophomore in high school. “Can you answer some questions for me to get extra credit in math?” My first thought was... why would my son be asking me to answer questions for him for extra credit? He has always done well in math... and has always been a rule follower. After questioning his motives (in a joking way) he let me know that the assignment was for him to ask an adult to answer some math questio

By Joel Johnson of Fargo In 1995, I started a new job at the Villa Maria Nursing Home in Fargo. I would go to work at 6 a.m. as part of the early morning floor care shift. My duty was to provide a healthy, sanitary environment in the building for the residents’ home. Elizabeth was one of the elderly residents of the home. One morning during my first week of employment, she was sitting in her wheelchair in the doorway of her room with a kind spirit about her. Elizabeth gave me

Today’s Wisdom: Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. – Abraham Lincoln By Bill D. Ward Way back when I was about eight years old, I outgrew the little bicycle I had started out on. One would anticipate that my parents would have taken me to the hardware store and bought me a larger one. But in 1958, that wasn’t necessarily how things worked. Instead, we drove out to my grandparents’ farm and retrieved the rusted and dusty bike my mother had ridden

By Rachel Barduson For many, winter in Minnesota is just too unbearable to accept without some kind of refuge in a southern state or beach destination outside of the country. Spring break means planning – even if it’s the same destination year after year. During the winter of 2025, I was the arm-chair quarterback of winter travels as my sister and her husband went on their annual Mazatlán get-away. They went on the trip. I stayed home, but kinda went along, getting reports fr

By Carol Wenner of Alexandria This story shares my husband Bruce Wenner’s journey in woodworking, shaped by his father’s influence and the challenges of a modest upbringing.  I’ve watched Bruce’s lifelong connection to nature, his achievements as a Minnesota Master Gardener, and his active participation in the Alexandria Garden Club have shaped his character and brought him joy. I’m proud to tell you how Bruce appreciates traditional woodworking techniques, treasures his uniq

By Marilyn Brinkman of Cold Spring Sometimes my brain thinks bigger than I can handle. Last week, I decided I needed shelving for my quilting fabrics so I could locate my fabrics in some type of order.  When I moved to Cold Spring, I put all my fabrics into two large bins. I could barely lift them. I pulled and tugged, then had to practically stand on my head trying to locate the red fabric I needed. It was at the bottom of bin one. My new shelves. Contributed photo So, I wen

By Marc Milbradt of Slayton My first memories are of darkness all around but warmth above, which I was growing toward. A short time later, I broke through the earth and felt the sun on my leaf. I didn’t think anything could feel so good. I was wrong. There was rain, cool and pure, washing my leaves. And so the seasons went. Every season I grow taller and stronger. Life as viewed through a tree. Contributed image Then one spring I heard human footsteps and a small voice asking

By Tim King Easter has always been a disappointing time for me. The problem is advertising. Just before Easter comes there are ads showing people dressed in clothes that convince you that the weather will be so soft and mild that you’ll want to roll in the green grass and sniff dandelions. Then, the holiday arrives. You’re decked out in lightweight spring clothing so you can go to grandma’s for baked ham after church. But outside there’s a blizzard howling. Bunnies, dandelion

By Marlys Hagstrom of Hutchinson Mom in front of our house on Dupont Avenue in Hector after the street was plowed out taking pictures of our home after the St. Patrick’s Day blizzard of 1965.  Contributed photo Winters in Minnesota can be unpredictable. Not a lot of snow had fallen in the early months of the winter of 1964-1965, but as winter turned the corner in 1965, a series of snowstorms blanketed our area leading to about 45-55 inches of snow on the ground. The forecast

By Jim Palmer In February, the country’s most popular groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, saw his shadow, meaning we are in for another six weeks of winter. Mark March 15 on your calendar. That is when spring will officially arrive this year. Of course, this old folklore, which dates back to settlers in the 1700s, has not ever been considered an accurate tool in our meteorologic toolbox. It’s been correct only about 40 percent of the time. The groundhog’s prediction also gears us u

Today’s Wisdom: “No day shall erase you from the memory of time.” –Virgil By Bill D. Ward Most of our readers are finding themselves in the late half of their lives. We have run the good race, done most of our great accomplishments, and made our most impact on those around us. We are now slowing down, cruising to the finish. We still have our roles, and we still are busy. But for many of us, the big stuff is back in that 70-year chunk of time we have already lived, not in the

By Jan Stadtherr Spring is the long-awaited season between snow shovels and mosquitoes. By the time spring arrives, most of us are emotionally prepared for it long before Mother Nature gets around to it. Spring is that hopeful time of year when we look out the window, see a patch of bare ground, and announce with confidence, “Winter is over.” This statement is usually followed within 48 hours by a blizzard, but optimism is part of the tradition. When we were young, spring mea

By Rhea Eblen of Belgrade My mom and dad were married in the 1930s. I don’t know how they met. After they were dead, I asked my mom’s sister how my mom and dad met. “Why didn’t you ask them when they were alive?” she said. My mom died when I was eight or nine – couldn’t ask her. My dad worked so hard, doing his best to raise a daughter all alone. Then I was growing up and not interested at the time. I knew my mom was raised on a farm. It was in Iowa. They moved two or three t