We have learned that quality produce on our eight-acre vegetable farm starts with the soil—soil that teems with life at both the macro- and micro-level. First, some background: I had grown up on a conventional hay, corn and soybean farm in western Iowa and moved to Rochester, Minn., for work after getting a mechanical engineering…  Read More →

The owner of a controversial Houston County silica sand mine was notified Monday by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) that he must stop mining and apply for a DNR Silica Sand Mining Trout Stream Setback Permit. The Erickson silica sand mine in Houston County’s Yucatan Township is within a mile of Ferndale Brook,…  Read More →

The Minnesota Environmental Quality Board (EQB) voted this week to remove the Erickson silica sand mine in Houston County from the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) required on the multi-site Minnesota Sands, LLC, frac sand mining project. At the same meeting, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Commissioner made it clear that the mine requires a…  Read More →

The threat of heavy rain did not keep a group of prospective farmers away from the Seward Neighborhood of Minneapolis this past Saturday. Stefan Meyer of Growing Lots Urban Farm hosted a Farm Beginning field day at one of Growing Lots’ urban locations, where he shared his experience with vegetable varieties, irrigation, compost, soil health…  Read More →

Events surrounding the Erickson silica sand mine in Houston County are moving very fast, and citizen action is making a difference at every turn. The Houston County Board of Commissioners was scheduled to vote at their Tuesday, June 3, meeting on approving the conditional use permit for the Erickson silica sand mine near Rushford, Minn.…  Read More →

Minnesota Sands Announces Intentions to Target Fillmore & Winona Counties for More Mining The Minnesota Environmental Quality Board (EQB) made the right decision May 21 by tabling the issue of taking a Houston County mine out of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) ordered on the multi-site Minnesota Sands, LLC, frac sand mining project. Thus, the…  Read More →

A few years ago, a travel writer penned an opinion piece in the Minneapolis Star Tribune lambasting the “local foods movement.” One thing that really galled him was seeing all those Volvos, Saabs and Hondas that consumers parked at the farmers’ market while they shopped for vegetables that had been transported into town by numerous,…  Read More →

The Minnesota Beef Research and Promotion Council (MBRPC) is proposing to increase the amount of the current state beef checkoff by an additional $1 per head on all bovine animals marketed within Minnesota by each producer or feeder. Currently the checkoff for cattle is $1 a head. Dairy cows purchased by a dairy producer specifically…  Read More →

As Midwestern farm fields take a long winter’s nap, evidence is piling up that even when the temperature’s above freezing, all that soil is basically in a bit of a stupor—so devoid of microbial life that it can’t even produce a decent crop without getting a hit of chemical inputs. The latest proof of this…  Read More →

Land Stewardship Project members sat down with Governor Mark Dayton for an hour last Wednesday to talk frac sand. Meeting in the River Room at Winona State University, the eight of us were surrounded by pictures of the Mississippi River from the turn-of-the- century featuring the bluffs of the region—a reminder of the uniqueness of…  Read More →