When I interviewed author Susannah Shmurak for this week’s episode of Grow it, Minnesota, about her book on growing and using elderberries, she mentioned that elderberries are one of the so-called superfoods. These are foods that offers extra nutrition and health benefits. (In the case of elderberries that extra benefit is its antioxidant and antiviral effects.) It got me thinking…
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I have visited the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum many times and in all seasons of the year, but this week was the first time my husband came along with me. And, as is often the case when he is along, we discovered some new areas that I would not have seen on my own. Like a lot of people during the…
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The most recent episode of Grow it, Minnesota is an interview with Alan Branhagen, author of the Midwest Native Plant Primer, a great new book on how to design a home garden with native plants. The book offers a way to approach designing the landscape as well as profiles of 225 native plants that work in Midwestern gardens. Why Native…
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I’ve been a home canner for a long time, making jams, pickles and sauces using the water-bath canning method. But I’ve always had a fear of fermentation — something about the prospect of leaving foods on the counter until they started to bubble with live bacteria brought out my inner germ phobe. But after interviewing Minnesota author Stephanie Thurow on…
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As part of my summer pledge to visit more public gardens around the Twin Cities and beyond, I drove over to the western suburb of Plymouth last weekend to visit Millennium Garden. This beautiful public space was built to mark the turn of the 21st century. Funded by city and private money, it opened in 2003. The garden is located…
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