It’s going to be a WILD ride… Right about now, the Minnesota WILD are probably touching down in the Twin Cities from Chicago, returning from their 10-day, 5-game road trip. In a little bit, they will be walking into their own home space ready for some rest.
Duluth, Minnesota — The Sea Grant Great Lakes Aquaculture Collaborative was awarded $425,000 by the National Sea Grant Office to advance land-based aquaculture in the Great Lakes region. The Great Lakes Aquaculture Collaborative, led by Minnesota Sea Grant, supports an environmentally responsible, competitive and sustainable aquaculture industry in the Great Lakes region.
Late fall is often an ideal time to remove invasive buckthorn species, which have spread widely across Minnesota. Buckthorn outcompetes native plants, suppresses the growth of canopy tree seedlings and reduces habitat quality for wildlife.
A trip to the polls to cast a ballot is an autumn rite of passage for many of us. Absentee and early voting provide convenience but going to the polls is a chance to take part in Election Day and see friends and neighbors. Minnesota voters with disabilities need to be mindful of regulations that can affect how they vote and what types of assistance are available. Rev Up MN in September hosted a forum on voting, with Justin Page from the Minnesota Disability Law Center covering a wide range of elections-related topics. The center provides information on voting for disabled Minnesotans and can step in to help if someone has troubled voting . It also relies on a cadre of volunteers to check polling places statewide during elections, to make sure that locations are accessible. “Voting is a right, not a privilege,” said Page. He wants voters to be aware of what is and isn’t legal in terms of assistance. Voters should not hesitate to ask for help when voting. One tip is for voters to prepare to go to the polling place. Voters typically won’t find themselves in the long waiting lines that are characteristic of presidential years so the reminders to bring water and any needed medications aren’t germane this fall. But voters who need to register at their polling placed do need to have specific documentation in hand if they do not have a neighbor or family member in the same precinct to vouch for them.
The Arrowhead Area Agency on Aging is pleased to announce that Lake County Human Services is one of five Aging Impact Award winners for 2022. They represent businesses and other community organizations withinthe 7-county Arrowhead Region (Aitkin, Carlton, Cook, Itasca, Koochiching, Lake, and St. Louis) who have gone above and beyond in meeting the needs of older adults in their communities. Lake County Human Services-Two Harbors, MN. In 2021, Lake County received AARP's Age Friendly designation. Lake County Human Services Director Lisa Hanson embraced this designation by providing funding to existing senior community-based service providers and dedicating specific county personnel to coordinate ongoing meetings and strategic planning support.
Growing garlic is one of the easiest vegetables to grow here in our northern region. It’s fairly low maintenance and often free of pest and disease pressures. The best time to plant is in the later fall, and there is still time. Garlic is a slow growing plant and needs plenty of time to develop good roots necessary in forming healthy, full bulbs. Finding good seed garlic is key to a bountiful harvest. Many garlic growers will save their biggest bulbs for planting the following year. This is a great way to ensure healthy seed garlic for continued harvests in future years. Avoid using garlic purchased in grocery stores for planting. These are often coming from other growing regions and will not perform well, causing a “hot” flavor. Knowing your garlic source will help avoid bringing in the few pests that can affect garlic growth. Tiny bulb mites if infesting your crop will leave small brown specks among the cloves though they are still often edible. Aster yellows is a bacteria spread by infected aster leaf hoppers which causes yellow and dying leaves, while your bulbs become severely stunted. If you find aster yellows in any of your plants, the entire plant should be removed and put in the trash. Being sure to remove the crown and roots of infected plants is important as the bacteria can continue to live there after the rest of the plant is removed. By practicing a 4 year planting rotation so as to not grow garlic in the same bed or row for four years, will help prevent these issues.
Oct. 25, 2022 – Cook County MN Restorative Justice (CCMNRJ) is hosting a two-day North Shore Restorative Justice Training Conference on Friday, Nov. 11 and Saturday, Nov. 12, at the Schroeder Town Hall located at 24 Cramer Road. Thanks to a grant from the Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation (DSACF) to Grow Restorative Justice in Cook County and beyond, the training conference is free to anyone in Cook and Lake Counties interested in developing restorative practice skills, volunteering as a Restorative Justice facilitator or to use these important skills in professional or personal lives. The training will be led by expert Ted Lewis, Restorative Justice Consultant and Trainer with the Center for Restorative Justice & Peacemaking University of Minnesota-Duluth. The Conference includes dialogue and a 16-hr training course, lunch and snacks on both days. Participants will be qualified to serve as volunteer Restorative Justice Facilitators although a commitment to volunteer is not required. Restorative practices and peacemaking and healthy conflict resolution skills are valuable in organizational settings, working with youth, in families and community building. The training conference is from 8-5 pm, on both Friday and Saturday, Nov 11 and 12. “Restorative justice work brings the community together to craft a way for an individual who has harmed the community to acknowledge the harm, make amends, and do better in the future. The process, done well, rebuilds our social fabric and connection,” said Shaun Floerke, President and CEO of the Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation. “We are deeply honored to help support this essential community work.” CCMN Restorative Justice is a program of the North Shore Health Care Foundation. NSHCF adopted the fledgling program in January of 2020, to serve the community and ensure its sustainability until it can grow into its own independent non-profit. The Foundation has a successful track record of incubating solutions
'A Night at the Theater' is an intimate night of stories and monologues by local performers: Gary Kovall, Jennifer Merhar, Morgan Sauls, Sara Skelton, and Ian Lah. Support these local artists as they perform pieces they have written or have been written by Shakespeare, Thorton Wilder, Nick Payne, and many more. Tickets are on sale for our fall production of 'A Night at the Theater.' This event is Pay-What-You-Can and has a limited number of seats for each performance. It is being produced in the round and has only 40 Seats available per show. Tickets have already started to sell. You do not want to miss this intimate evening of monologues and stories. 'A Night at the Theater' will be playing on November 4th and 5th at 7 pm at the Vermilion Fine Arts Theater. Tickets are available online at northernlakesarts.org, or they are available at the door.
There’s a movie that I have a genuine love for - one of those heist movies. The Italian Job. The 2003 version. I just rewatched it. In the first minutes of the movie, the older and more experienced thief is checking in with a team member before the opening heist, saying: “How are you doing?” The younger thief answers “Me? I’m fine.” The older thief smirks. “You know what fine stands for, right? Freaked out. Insecure. Neurotic, and Emotional.” Fine... We say we’re fine a lot. But fine often doesn’t mean “fine” does it? But that’s to be expected. We’re not going to bare our soul to everyone. “How are you?” is a kindness - not the start of a therapy session (though those can be very helpful!) Often, saying we’re “fine” just moves the conversation along. This isn’t by accident. We’re taught to not trouble others with our troubles. We’re taught to hide them. Keep them to ourselves. This lesson goes so deep that it’s not uncommon for people to apologize for crying at the funeral of their loved one. (As a pastor, I know that everyone grieves in our own ways, and I’ll never tell you or anyone else what the “right way” should be for them.) But the pretense that we’re “fine” gets complicated.
The OmniBallot tablet is an assistive device available for people with disabilities and everyone else to use to cast their vote. Available for early voting at the Lake County courthouse, an OmniBallot will also be located at each polling place in the county. Tom Johnson, a resident of Lake County, used the OmniBallot tablet for the first time last week Johnson, who has significant vision impairment, said he likes to vote on Election Day but was reluctant to learn the new technology under pressure, so decided to cast an early ballot this year while he had time to become familiar with the system. For the last several years Johnson says he has been voting by an absentee ballot from home, but he missed feeling more involved in the election process. He said the OmniBallot process was fairly simple and he felt good about using the it in the future at his polling place. The OmniBallot is designed specifically for voters with print disabilities, or disabilities that interfere with effective reading, writing, or use of printed material. This includes people who are blind or visually impaired, those with learning disabilities, and anyone with a physical disability that interferes with holding and using a paper or pen.