January 2025

Garrison Keillor & Friends: One more day, one more airport…

For the first time in living memory, I was the only passenger in a TSA security line at a major airport — Tucson, noon on a Friday, a time you’d expect Arizonans to be heading for Nome or Juneau for a weekend of darkness, but no. I wended back and forth in the maze of barriers and the guy at the conveyor seemed happy to see me. I zipped on through and counted 15 uniformed men and women defending the country against one octogenarian liberal who’s never owned a gun, hasn’t fired an explosive in fifty years and then only a few bottle rockets, and arrived at my gate two hours early, and celebrated by buying a latte at a coffee stand that offers tables and chairs.

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“If one member suffers, all suffer together with it.” 1 Corinthians 12:26a

“One bad apple spoils the whole barrel.” I’ve heard that saying since I was a kid. Of course, when I was a kid, I thought it only applied to apples in a bushel basket. But I’ve learned since that it certainly applies to pears, potatoes, raspberries, strawberries, and more! Oh, and lettuce in the fridge! You really can’t leave things that are rotting next to the good stuff. In the case of apples, a spoiled apple releases ethylene gas, which speeds up the ripening process. This process is called a chain reaction that can spread to other apples.

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Notes from the Granite Area Arts Council: (Many of) the Best Things in Life are Free…

Shameless plug: if you’ve admired my mother-in-law Mary Taylor’s pressed-flower cards and ornaments in our gift shop, you too can soon learn to make them. We went over for pizza the other night, and she was excited to share that GAAC asked her to do a workshop at the gallery this spring. “The cards? They’re easy!” she said. The process involves a glue stick and gravity. The ornaments: apparently less so, but yet she persists, as must we all. (Details on when: coming soon.)

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Farmer Climate Action Funding:Supported by UMN Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships

Funding is available in West Central MN counties to support “brick and mortar” climate mitigation, adaptation and regenerative on-farm initiatives and projects. Small grants will be awarded through a competitive process for projects that provide farmer support, sustainability and show impact.

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West Central farmers encouraged to apply for funding for on-farm climate change projects

University of Minnesota Extension Southwest and Central Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships (RSDP) invite small farms in the regions to apply for new funding available through The Margaret A. Cargill Foundation Fund at the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation. The funding will support on-farm projects that address climate change and build resilience.

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Hog barn incident

Friendship Township, Yellow Medicine County – On 01/18/2025, at approximately 1715 hours, Yellow Medicine County Dispatch received a 911 call of a report of two individuals down and unresponsive in a hog barn. Clarkfield Fire Department, Clarkfield Ambulance, and Granite Falls Avera Ambulance were paged to the scene. Deputies arrived on scene and found that the caller had assisted in extricating the victims from the barn. Life saving measures were performed by deputies until EMS arrived.

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