Year: 2024

<span style="font-size: 14px; color: #6c6b6b; ">Maiden Hair Fern (Adiantum) flourishes in full shade or dappled sunlight. (Photo by Renee Bergstrom)</span>

June Arrives

Renee Bergstrom’s photographs capture recent spring arrivals.

<span style="font-size: 14px; color: #6c6b6b; ">A stave church in Renlie, Valdres, Norway, about 80 miles north of Oslo, where the author’s great grandfather attended church as a young man. (Photo by John Torgrimson)</span>

The Fabric that Binds | A Family’s History

Tracing family roots – from Ireland, Germany, and Norway to southeast Minnesota, John Torgrimson shares his personal story of how families are woven into our region’s past and present.

Poetry | Yggdrasil…Turning green…the voice

Poetry by John B. Nicol.

<span style="font-size: 14px; color: #6c6b6b; ">Trees along the lowest part of Mill Creek were cut down a few months ago, but part of the trunks were left so the roots and lower trunk could be buried in the creek’s bank for trout habitat and to protect the shoreline from erosion. (Photo by John Weiss)</span>

Mill Creek in Chatfield Gets Partial Makeover

John Weiss explores the Mill Creek Trout Stream improvement project near Chatfield.

<span style="font-size: 14px; color: #6c6b6b; ">Beth Holger, CEO of Minneapolis non-profit The Link, visited Rushford to raise awareness of youth homelessness and sex trafficking. (Photo by Ella Deutchman)</span>

Youth Sex Trafficking Focus of League of Women Voters’ Public Forum

Ella Deutchman reports on a recent youth sex trafficking forum hosted by the Fillmore County League of Women Voters

<span style="font-size: 14px; color: #6c6b6b; ">Giants of the Earth Heritage Center Staff in front of mural depicting Valdres, Norway, by late Norwegian artist Sigmund Aarseth. Left to right, Violet Hatfield, Bill Fried, Anastasia (Stacy) Wold. (Photo by Alison Leathers)</span>

Giants of the Earth Heritage Center | An Entry to Cultural Exploration

Alison Leathers visits the Giants of the Earth Heritage Center in Spring Grove, MN.

<span style="font-size: 14px; color: #6c6b6b; ">Karl Unnasch prepares a stained glass panel in his Pilot Mound studio. “Stained glass is a sneaky medium,” says artist Karl Unnasch, “a series of frozen brush strokes.” (Photo submitted by Karl Unnasch)</span>

Profile | In Conversation with Stained Glass Artist Karl Unnasch

Steve Harris visits with Karl Unnasch, nationally recognized stained glass and sculpture artist from Pilot Mound, Minnesota.

<span style="font-size: 14px; color: #6c6b6b; ">A wicker, biodegradable casket awaiting burial at the Prairie Creek Conservation Cemetery in Gainesville FL. (Photo courtesy of the Conservation Burial Alliance)</span>

The Final Decision: Choosing Natural Green Burial

Mary Bell discusses her decision to choose green burial and what the process entails.

This equipment top-dresses nitrogen on the Agricultural Fertilizer Research and Education Council plots; its technology adjusts application rates on the go, to make these trials possible. Improving yields and using nutrients efficiently is the goal for landowner Jon East working closely with <a href="https://nutrienagsolutions.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nutrien Ag Solutions</a> agronomist Scott Barnes, Harmony, Minn. Barnes has been a catalyst for bringing southeast Minnesota growers into on-farm plot research funded by the <a href="https://www.mda.state.mn.us/business-dev-loans-grants/agricultural-fertilizer-research-education-council-afrec/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Agricultural Fertilizer Research and Education Council</a> (AFREC). A 40 cent per ton fee paid by Minnesota farmers on all fertilizer sold in the state funds AFREC. The lion's share of the $1.2 million disbursed each year goes to the University of Minnesota, however a small portion is dedicated to on-farm plot research. "We use data from all these plots with growers," says Barnes. "They like these trials because the data is local."

Nitrate and Water Issue Proposals Addressed by 2024 Minnesota Legislature

Root River Current updates 2024 legislative issues regarding southeast Minnesota water issues, including a story by Minnesota Reformer reporter Madison McVan on a proposal that would levy a tax on fertilizer to offset farm pollution.