The Bookworm Sez

Your pooch is a first-class mess maker. Another lost dog, a But what are you gonna do? A clean house won’t love you, play ball, snuggle on the sofa, or take you for a walk. You can’t teach a clean house cool new tricks and it can’t teach you, either. So this summer, ignore the mess, and grab one of “A Dog’s Courage” by W. Bruce Cameron c.2021, Forge Books $26.99 / $36.50 Canada 288 pages “Dogwinks” by SQuire Rushnell and Louise DuArt c.2020, Howard Books / Atria $19.99 / $26.99 Canada 285 pages wee Westie, makes his way thirty blocks in downtown New York City, a miracle inside “a bilingual dogwink!” these great books about dogs... You know how you If you’ve ever loved a pup who had an unknown past, you know how much she appreciates her new home. When Bella becomes lost in the wilderness and is resTHE BOOKWORM SEZ By Terri Schlichenmeyer Before we get to the second book here, there’s something you need to know first. sometimes feel pressed for time during the summer, and a book seems like a big committment? “Dogwinks” is what you need. Each of the stories inside this cued and adopted by Lucas and Olivia, “Godwinks” are what book are short; most are a few pages she’s very relieved and happy. But in “A Dog’s author SQuire Rushnell and Louise long and quick to read. Best of all, Courage” by W. Bruce Cameron, a dog like Bella DuArt calls those positive nudges they’re uplifting, inspirational, and never forgets her past. and maybe-not-so-coincidental little appropriate for dog lovers ages 12-toEven so, she surely enjoyed her new people though she sometimes couldn’t understand the words they were using. Camping with them was different than being in the wild alone, but Bella was getting used to that, too. And then one weekend, while on such a trip, the brush near their campsite exploded in “messages” of encouragement that we humans sometimes get from beyond. With that in mind, Rushnell asks if it’s possible that God uses dogs to send those messages. In his new book, “Dogwinks,” he offers stories to convince you... adult. If these books don’t seem like a good fit for you, then ask your favorite librarian or bookseller. They’ll have suggestions for you because, when it comes to books about dogs, there’s a mess of good flames, there was so much confusion, and Bella was When Ruby, half of an awesome K-9 team, finds a ones out there. separated from her people, as she was once before. little boy, her save is a Godwink to her handler, the Look for the reviewed book at a bookstore or a Desperately wanting to return to Lucas and Olivia, Bella begins to search for them when she finds a friend from her past, who leaves Bella with a responsibility. This gives her two options: stay, and accept this new burden; or find the people she’s come to love. boy, and the child’s family. As Liz says goodbye to her beloved Ginger, the dog she’s had for much of her life, there’s a knock on the door and she’s handed a Godwink that comforts her. A dog lost becomes a dog found at the worst of times, a Godwink to the children in his family when they need it most. library near you. You may also find the book at online book retailers. The Bookworm is Terri Schlichenmeyer. Terri has been reading since she was 3 years old and never goes anywhere without a book. She lives in Wisconsin with three dogs and 10,000 books. v

Dicamba must not be applied to soybeans after June 30

ST. PAUL — The Minnesota Department of Agriculture urges pesticide applicators to take special care while applying dicamba products this growing season. To prevent off-target movement, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has made substantial changes to the 2021 dicamba labels specifically related to application cutoff date, buffer distances, and record keeping requirements. The MDA is reminding users the label is the law.

For the 2021 growing season, applicators may use the three dicamba products, XtendiMax, Engenia, and Tavium, on dicamba tolerant soybeans until June 30. The federal label prohibits applications of these three dicamba products after June 30 to dicamba-tolerant soybeans.

Regardless of cutoff date, applications are prohibited after V4 growth stage for Tavium and after R1 stage for XtendiMax. Additionally, the labels require a 240-foot downwind buffer and prohibits applications if the wind is blowing towards an adjacent sensitive crop. Sensitive crops include, but are not limited to, non-dicamba-tolerant soybeans, sugar beets, tomatoes, fruiting vegetables, fruit trees, cucurbits, grapes, beans, flowers, ornamentals, peas, potatoes, sunflower, and other broadleaf plant crops.

Only certified applicators can legally purchase and use these formulations of dicamba because they are classified as “Restricted Use Pesticides.” The label has extensive and detailed requirements for recordkeeping, and the applicator must create these records within 72 hours of the application. The MDA expects all users of these dicamba products to have fully completed records in accordance with the federal label requirements. Enforcement will be taken for any violations of the product label.

The following guidelines and resources can help applicators prevent off-target movement while applying dicamba:

Do not apply XtendiMax, Engenia, or Tavium on soybeans if you have not attended the auxin/dicamba mandatory training offered by dicamba registrants Bayer, BASF or Syngenta.

To help applicators, the MDA has developed a video presentation as part of the mandatory dicamba training. This video is not a substitute for the required training.

Applicators must consult applicable sensitive crop registries, such as DriftWatch, to identify any commercial specialty or certified organic crops which may be located near the application site. Applicators are also required to survey the site for neighboring non-target sensitive crops before spraying. Be sure to consult with your neighbors before spraying dicamba products.

If the wind is blowing in the direction of a sensitive crop, do not spray until the wind has changed direction. Spraying is forbidden in these circumstances — even with a buffer.

Do not spray during a temperature inversion. Only spray between one hour after sunrise and two hours before sunset.

Finally, remember that avoiding spray drift at the application site is the responsibility of the applicator. The spray system and weather-related factors determine the potential for spray drift. The applicator is responsible for considering these factors when making application decisions to avoid spray drift onto non-target areas.

Frequently asked questions about dicamba can be found on the MDA website, https://www.mda.state. mn.us. This article was submitted by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. v

By DICK HAGEN

The Land Staff Writer Emeritus

Seeing is believing. Those words never truer until you attend the annual Porter, Minn. Street Sale (which my wife and I did on April 17). Yes indeed, this small Minnesota community (population about 240) swells to overflowing as hundreds flock to Porter for the event. (Porter is located in Yellow Medicine County, about 26 miles northwest of Marshall.)

“We call it our National Holiday,” says Charley Anderson, innocuous Porter Street Sale Manager. His ‘real life’ job is administrative assistant at Sanford Home Health in nearby Canby. I asked Charley if he knew how this ‘national holiday’ came into being? “I don’t really know,” he admitted. “I remember my Dad talking about this when I was just a kid … and that was some 30 years ago.”

What’s the big attraction? Two words explain its continued success: Street Sale. And apparently, there are no restrictions on items for sale. Streets filled with everything imagin-

Photos by Dick Hagen In addition to yard and garage sales galore, a large auction dominates the festivities at the Porter Street Sale — dubbed the town’s “National Holiday.” able. At a quick glance it seems quite obvious area farmers use the Porter Street Sale as their opportunity to clean out machine sheds of anything/ everything no longer needed. Much the same for area residents. The sale features an incredible amount of household furniture, kitchen equipment, kids toys — even lawn and garden stuff … your choice of lawnmowers too.

So what to do? Just start meandering, looking, chatting, even catching a coffee and burger if hungry. I noted three enterprising food and beverage counters with gas-fired grills in action. Plus, Porter has a great coffee/ pastry shop too. For me, this Porter Street Sale is a bonanza. So with cell phone camera and Sony recorder I set forth. The temperature was in mid 40’s; weather was cool, cloudy; about perfect for my safari.

My first stop was a young guy with two feather-filled containers on the ground beside him. His name is Kory Tebben and in those two cages at his

See STREET SALE, pg. 10

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STREET SALE, from pg. 9

too. He started the Tyler newspafeet were six guinea hens. He raises about 100 each season for sale, much like broilers for tasty per. “I’ve worked in newspapers in Le Sueur and St. Peter, Minn.; and Sibley, Iowa, so I’ve been around.” food servings. His asking price Street sales might be his hobby was $15 each for a six-pound bird. too. “I was at a street auction in We didn’t see anyone else offering Ceylon, Minn. last week and it guineas for sale. was much bigger than this Porter With two auctioneering rigs made up of pickups with PA systems, the auction chanting began sale … lots more machinery. They started at sunrise and they were still selling at dusk I’m told.” at 9 a.m. Eugene Lorenzen Still moseying down the street, Auctioneering Services of Gary, an Arctic Cat 800 snowmobile was S.D. was conducting the sale. being called. The auctioneer startWhen we left at about 3 p.m. ed with a $500 call, but no takers, there was still scads left to be so he quickly back-peddled down sold. The final shutdown was 7 p.m. and I haven’t any idea of how many items were sold. Anderson Diane and Harold Kruckman are veterans of the Porter sale. Diane’s big score this year was this rooster which will keep the Kruckmans’ chickens company. to $200. The winning bid was $250. I had a brief visit with auctioneer Kory Bork. This was his didn’t know either; but did say it would be three or first call. He learned the trade through online studies four days until buyers had picked up all their newly- at Missouri Auctioneering School. “We started at acquired possessions. Five auctioneers called this about 9:30 over at the equipment area,” Bork said. 10-hour event. Yes, like any street auction of this “We’ve got five auctioneers here today — three in this magnitude, there were some unsold items. These ‘left ring and two at the other ring. Don’t know what time overs’ are donated to a local charity. we’ll wrap up, but we’ll keep calling as long as we

My next stop was to visit with Harold Kruckman. have buyers.” Harold was sitting with his wife on a cozy-looking “At a deal like today, if you’re not calling the bidsofa. Much to my surprise, The Land was ‘old hat’ to ding, you’re working the ring so it’s very much a team Harold. “Back in about 2001 I was featured talking effort,” Bork went on to say. “Like about 30 minutes about a feeder-house dust convertor for a John doing the actual calling, then working the ring, pickDeere combine,” he said. I asked if he was buying ing up bids for the caller. It’s too much for just one the sofa they were perched upon. “No, we just auctioneer. Inside the rig is our clerk who really parked here for awhile,” Harold confessed. “I’ve been to maybe about 25 of these Porter Street Sales over Today’s lumber prices provided added value to these utility spools and other scrap lumber up for sale. works hard and fast — recording each final bid number and the dollar amount of that final bid. Yes the years. Don’t always buy something, but this year my wife Diane (still just a two-year rookie) came along also. And she spotted that rusty, four-foot tall metal rooster which she decided would make a great Harold explained. “We’re retired farmers, so this is just our miniature farmstead with a few chickens. And now this big rooster too.” indeed, a genuine team effort is what makes this work.” It was about time for me to close down ornament along- My next visit was with Stan Kruckman, Harold’s also; but hearing side our little 32-year-old son who designs, welds and fabricates lumber prices are chicken house. whatever his customers have in mind. Today he was skyrocketing, I had My wife is the just a buyer, but with his metal skills he could be a just walked up to an chicken lady in seller too. “We sell basically word of mouth. And assortment of barn our house.” this pandemic hasn’t slowed us down one bit,” said sidings and 2-inch

Diane added, Stan. thick wood cable “I’ve always like chickens. They are like pets. And this metal rooster will be a lawn ornament. We let our chickens out each day; gather them back into A bit further down the street I could hear the auctioneer calling for bids on a typewriter. I was intrigued because a typewriter was my working stock when a younger farm writer (that goes back a few years too). Bill Clark from Tyler, Minn. was the winning bidder. “I have a collection, 10 or 12 as I recall,” Clark said. “My oldest is probably 100 years old. I’ve had Remington’s, IBM’s, Electric 2’s — which was a swanky one.” wraps with 8-foot circumference — only $5 for the pile. But there were also some 20-foot 2 x 4’s and the new market price was evident: $90 a pile, 10 per pile. Kory Bork just finished auctioneer school and was practicing his new craft as one of five callers at the Porter sale. their house each night.” “We’ve a little 3-acre site just o u t s i d e Montevideo,” Ex-newspaper publisher Bill Clark of Tyler, Minn. found this typewriter to add to his collection at home. I asked Clark what brought him to the Porter Street Sale? “Just hanging out,” he nonchalantly replied. “I’ve been here a couple times before. It’s fun because you never have any idea; but you always know there just might be something that catches your eye.” And Clark knows about the newspaper business “Attendance varies from year to year,” Anderson admitted earlier. “Last year, because of Covid, we didn’t have a sale. We wondered if that threat might still be a factor. We were down somewhat from previous years, but lots of good reports I’m hearing this year again.” v

By TIM KROHN the farm as well as tools. They will also The Free Press Mankato use some of it to buy fruit trees to plant

MANKATO, Minn. — The Living at the farm. Earth Center on Good Counsel Hill has “One of our concepts was that people for 30 years welcomed area residents to could come in off the (Red Jacket) trail or use the two-acre community garden. wherever and enjoy an apple or rasp-

For 10 years, Blue Earth County’s one- berry or strawberry. The idea is it acre Community Farm near Mount Kato becomes an engaging space,” Peterson developed into a gardening plot but was said. moved twice in the past couple of years Already some raspberry and strawas County Road 1 was reconstructed. berry plants are growing just outside the

Recently Living Earth took over man- farm fence, their fruit to be available to agement of the Community Farm. passersby later this summer.

“At the community garden people are “I really believe in the power of these growing their own food and at the farm spaces,” Peterson said of the farm and volunteers are growing food that’s donat- community garden. “It provides food soved to the community,” said Laura ereignty, connections, relationships. We Peterson, Living Earth Center executive have people from all walks of life at a director. communal, peaceful gathering from The farm, off Indian Lake Road and near its original location, is becoming a more fertile area for growing produce pretty much every racial, spiritual, gender, age background group. Where else do you have that?” Peterson said. that is donated to a number of nonprofits She said they are working with diverse including the ECHO Food Shelf and BackPack program. Photo courtesy of Blue Earth County Volunteers plant at the community farm during an open house in mid-May. groups to attract more new immigrants to the two plots and they’re working on a “We hired Carol Harder as farm manager. She came from the Twin Cities and has a lot of experience in community farms and gardens,” Peterson said. “She understands things like how to transform clay soil that hasn’t been cultivated and has the expertise in working with people.” Blue Earth County Commissioner Vance Stuehrenberg, who helped start the community farm 10 years ago, said having Living Earth take over running the farm is the perfect solution. He noted that Harder recently brought chickens to the farm. “They eat bugs and the fertilizer is good. She puts them in a chicken coop every night.” A decade ago Stuehrenberg and former commissioner Will Purvis attended a national convention in Portland, Oregon, where they visited a community garden. “We got on the bus to go back to the hotel and we both said, ‘We can do that,’” Stuehrenberg said. Peterson said their biggest need now is volunteers to help at the farm and, of course, financial backing. While the county provides financial support for the Three Sisters Garden as a space for American Indian families to come to. Peterson said they are also building stronger relationships with a variety of groups, including 4-H and local food nonprofits. The future of the community garden at Good Counsel is unknown. The School Sisters of Notre Dame announced recently they will sell the sprawling property. While a buyer or future development of the site isn’t yet known, Peterson said that if the Living Earth Center is dislocated at some point, the group will continue doing what it does at some location. “I’m just ecstatic. We have some of the most amazing people working out there. The manager, Carol, is just top of the line and knows what she’s doing. It looks amazing and will only get better.” farm, the group is always looking for grants and donations. Living Earth recently received a $4,000 county SHIPS grant that helped it pay for a garden shed at Living Earth was created by the nuns of Good Counsel, but it is now a separate nonprofit group. The Free Press and The Land are sister publications owned by The Free Press Media. v USDA funds community compost, food waste reduction projects

ST. PAUL — The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently announced the availability of up to $2 million for local governments to host Community Compost and Food Waste Reduction (CCFWR) pilot projects for fiscal year 2021. The cooperative agreements support projects which develop and test strategies for planning and implementing municipal compost plans and food waste reduction plans.

USDA’s Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production (Office) will accept applications on Grants. gov until 11:59 p.m. on July 16. Projects should span two years with a start date of Sept. 25 and completion date of Sept. 25, 2023.

Cooperative agreements support projects led by local governments that generate compost; increase access to compost for agricultural producers; reduce reliance on and limit the use of fertilizer; and improve soil quality.

Other projects should encourage waste management and permaculture business development; increase rainwater absorption; reduce municipal food waste; and divert food waste from landfills.

USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service will provide assistance for conservation related activities.

Priority will be given to projects which anticipate or demonstrate economic benefits, incorporate plans to make compost easily accessible to farmers, including community gardeners, integrate other food waste strategies, including food recovery efforts and collaborate with multiple partners.

A pre-recorded webinar will provide an overview of the cooperative agreements’ purpose, project types, eligibility and basic requirements for submitting an application. The webinar will be posted at farmers. gov/urban.

Questions about this cooperative agreement opportunity can be sent to UrbanAgriculture@usda.gov.

This article was submitted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. v