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Magic, illusion, multiple people with unique and wondrous talents, and a love story as well all intertwine in the book The Night Circus written by Erin Morgenstern. The best way to describe this delectable read is to call it an adult fairy tale, or to classify it as fantasy. The people who populate this book for the most part have an extraordinary talent of one kind or another, and yet they remain believable, likable people. Morgenstern explores the fine line between reality and illusion; what i...
Summer brings with it all sorts of exciting activities, including rodeo. One of the largest and most popular rodeos in our area, the Wolf Point Stampede, will celebrate its 89th year this year and will include the traditional mix of rodeo, carnival, art in the park, and a variety of other activities designed to entertain the entire family. The celebration begins on Wednesday, July 11 with the carnival opening at 5 p.m. and the KVCK Texaco Country Showdown beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the Wolf...
Every summer, area extension offices along with the Williston Research Extension Center and the Eastern Agricultural Research Center host field days so agricultural interests can learn what researchers and others have learned about crop varieties and crop management techniques. Growers can observe for themselves which crop varieties perform best under local environmental conditions and how well these same varieties perform under experimental conditions. The tours also provide disease management...
This year the Williston Research and Extension Center (WREC) has chosen to hold its dryland field day and its irrigated field day in conjunction with the West Energy event. Calling the combined field days the MonDak Ag Showcase, Dr. Jerry Bergman, Director of the WREC, hopes to highlight the importance of agriculture to those in the energy industry. “The MonDak Ag Showcase is designed to acquaint energy interests with the potential in agriculture,” Bergman comments. “Following the WREC dryla...
For those who missed the pesticide container recycling truck present at the USDA/ARS field tours at Froid and at Sidney last month but who have #2 high density polyethylene plastic pesticide containers for recycling, the Eastern Agricultural Field Day (EARC), scheduled for July 19 in Sidney, will offer participants the opportunity to recycle these containers. Ron Ahlgren, Pesticide Container Recycling Technician with the Montana Department of Agriculture, will have his truck and grinder on...
Hot summer days generally bring with them dwindling appetites, no desire to cook a large meal, and the constant struggle to find something nutritious to eat without overburdening the digestive system. Delectable chilled fruit salads and cold drinks go a long way to satisfying the need for food on a hot day, but protein requirements force us to look for adequate main dishes that don’t require a lot of effort to cook, but that fill us up. The following main dish salads fulfill that requirement. I...
Dr. Joyce Eckhoff, local agronomist and interim superintendent of the Eastern Agricultural Research Center (EARC) in Sidney, has released a new durum variety, which she has named Silver. The new variety, released in January, features day length insensitivity, a trait that will enable growers all over the country to use this variety. “Other durum varieties are day length sensitive, which means they need a longer day to mature,” Eckhoff explains. “The further south you go, the longer it takes...
In spite of yo-yo weather that keeps us guessing at tomorrow’s temperatures, sugarbeets have grown well in the past month, and Russ Fullmer, Sidney Sugars agriculture manager, expects this year’s crop will do better than last year’s. “Beets are growing pretty well,” he remarks. “They took off in the warm weather, but they are a little dry. It’s been tough to keep up with the watering with all crops, but the shifts in temperatures haven’t hurt us.” He adds, “A few fields last week got over an in...
Summer brings with it all sorts of exciting activities, including rodeo. One of the largest and most popular rodeos in our area, the Wolf Point Stampede, will celebrate its 89th year this year and will include the traditional mix of rodeo, carnival, art in the park, and a variety of other activities designed to entertain the entire family. The celebration begins on Wednesday, July 11 with the carnival opening at 5 p.m. and the KVCK Texaco Country Showdown beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the Wolf...
For those of us who like to bike, summertime brings ample opportunity to enjoy sunshine, warm breezes, and get our exercise all atop a two-wheeled conveyance pedaled by manpower (or womanpower, as the case may be). People use bikes not only for recreation and exercise, but also as a means of transportation to get from one place to another quickly and cheaply. Bicycles, like every other piece of equipment, evolved through the years from unwieldy, uncomfortable rides to today's sleek, efficient...
After serving Richland County for twenty two years, MSU's Family and Consumer Service Extension Agent Judy Johnson will retire from her position effective the end of June. Johnson's duties as consumer service extension agent included family financial management, food and nutrition issues, food safety, human development, and housing and environmental quality. Johnson's responsibilities have changed somewhat through the years, as Extension always seeks to educate and provide services where little...
Rhubarb grows well in most farm gardens and has a special spot in town gardens as well. This tart, tasty vegetable (yes, botanists consider rhubarb, as a member of the garden sorrel species, a vegetable) makes excellent muffins, cakes, tortes, jellies, and juice, and when surrounded by delectable flaky pastry, rivals any fruit pie in flavor and taste. Rhubarb, grown in the ancient world as a medicinal plant, arrived in Maine in the early 1800s, when one enterprising farmer imported seed and plan...
Retirement often offers the opportunity to participate in leisure activities that people never find time to do while they remain in the work force, a fact that Ardean and Donna Skogen, Cartwright, discovered to their joy. After retiring, the couple purchased a thirty foot RV and have enjoyed camping, fishing, and related activities on a regular basis ever since. The Skogens did purchase a small Corsair camper in 1978, but they used it as living quarters for a period of time rather than as a recr...
Timely, adequate rainfall may have changed a looming high dollar loss into a positive gain, not just for beet growers but for farmers throughout the area. "This rain will really help," says Sidney Sugars Agriculture Manager Russ Fullmer. "The first rain cost us a million; this one gives us a million. Every crop needed water, especially in the south, so this rain gives us a breather." He continues, "The first rain gave us enough moisture to sprout the beets but not enough to keep them going. Hot...
A talented, vivacious local young lady has won this year’s Miss Southeastern Montana Teen Rodeo Queen title. Jade Brunsvold, Crane, won top honors during this year’s Bucking Horse Sale, held at Miles City in May. In order to win the title of Miss Southeastern Montana Teen Rodeo Queen, Brunsvold had to study and know the Professional Rodeo Circuit rules, various winners of rodeo events, deliver a short speech, and ride a horsemanship pattern that included loping, trotting and backing. She also ha...
It’s time to plant summer gardens, and for those with extra garden space, consider planting a few extra rows of beans, corn, or other vegetables to donate to the Richland County Food Bank. This essential organization has seen an increase in people requiring emergency food, and farmers’ gardens provide an ideal way to help fill the food shortages. Remember the Food Bank when faced with abundant garden surpluses. “We will take garden produce,” says Food Bank volunteer Gloria Yockim. “We truly do...
Growing up on a farm can help define a person and shape her perspective of life. For those who have a passion for art, the farm lifestyle can also add depth and feeling to the artwork. North Dakota native and artist Naomi Pannell, who recently moved to the Sidney area with her husband, believes that her farm background fueled her love of animals and the land, both of which are recurring themes in her artwork. “I grew up on a farm and I developed my love of nature in the process,” Pannell say...
We all know farmers and ranchers continue to implement new technology and that they have the desire to try new methods and ideas which enables them to become more and more efficient in what they do. New technology helps farmers grow better crops with less inputs, and new equipment makes the farming process faster and more efficient. Stop and consider the enormous strides agriculture has taken in just the last one hundred years. We’ve gone from horse and oxen power to tractors and equipment t...
A love of animals combined with the ability to train those animals leads to a winning combination every time. Peggy Ann Strupp, Crane, trains her Dalmatians for field trials, and in May, her two dogs won first and second places in their class at the Dalmatian Club of America’s National Show and Field Trials, held this year in Tulsa, OK from May 3-9. Strupp’s two Dalmatians competed in a class of five judged obedience exercises and in a twelve and a half mile endurance test. Judges rated the dogs...
I am writing in response to the nauseating negative campaign tactics one of our candidates for legislature has decided to mount against his opponent. Any candidate who has to resort to organizing and encouraging an underhanded derogatory letter campaign against his opposition ought not to receive even one single vote from Richland County residents. The sanctimonious rhetoric spewing from the pens of these individuals who have chosen to go along with these questionable ethics is enough to gag a...
Long ago and far away I was a fresh-faced youngster, chomping at the bit to join the work force, earn my own money, and really make my mark on the world. I babysat and mowed lawns until I was sixteen and could work at a ‘real’ job, which in that day and age meant waiting on tables and working at the Doubleday book factory in the next town until I graduated from high school. I worked part time while attending university and I’ve been working full time, part time, or a combination of both ever...
Some people work hard their entire adult lives to make their community a better place. Sometimes this hard work gets noticed and acknowledged; other times it may not. However, the Richland County library staff and Library Director Renee Goss have done wonders for the community through their efforts at the library and this dedicated service to the residents of Richland County has been noticed and acknowledged by outside sources. Both Goss and the library itself received awards this year during th...
The US Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation celebrated the completion of Phase I of the Lower Yellowstone Headworks Project by hosting a ribbon cutting ceremony at Intake Dam on Monday April 30. The $17.8 million Phase I project saw the completion of a single diversion headworks structure that includes twelve double fish screens, sluice gates, and a new canal. The project allows irrigators within the Lower Yellowstone Irrigation Project (LYIP) to continue to receive irrigation...
I attended the candidates' forum on Thursday evening, April 26. I fully expected to come away knowing which person for Montana's legislature I intended to endorse and who I intended to vote for. I planned to choose the candidate with the strongest passion for agriculture; the candidate who laid out his or her action plan for agriculture complete with details as to how he or she intended to implement the plan and what top agricultural priorities he or she intended to tackle first. Imagine my...
I saw not one but two great blue herons the other day. The sight of these birds always inspires me and fills me with a sense of awe as they fly with slow strong wing beats across the sky. These magnificent creatures truly are a treat for the eyes. These graceful birds are not always easy to spot, but I generally see a great blue heron twice or maybe three times a season, so to spot two of them together provided me with an unexpected gift. I assume they are a nesting pair, ready to lay and incuba...
