Take care of your leaves - Changing leaves look lovely when they’re still on their trees. However, accumulating fallen leaves can damage your lawn. Collect them with a rake, cut them into small pieces with a leaf vacuum or lawn mower, and then use them in your compost pile or as a mulch.

Of all the gardens he has tended in 75 years, Mike Johnson had never seen anything quite like the three-in-one ear of corn he harvested this summer in Sacred Heart.

“It’s definitely the most unique thing to come out of the garden,” Johnson said, holding an anomalous cluster of three ears joined on a single shank. “Everyone I know says they haven’t seen anything like it either.”

Beet farmers are hoping for a comeback year with sugarbeets. With last year’s crops being decimated by mildew, farmers are holding their breath as they wait out the rain to get into the field and see the fruit of their labor.

Local SMBSC Grower, Keith McNamara says, “The 2026 sugar beet crop has had many production challenges. We have confidence in SMBSC’s ability to realize a bountiful harvest this year.”

The Renville County Historical Society & Museum hosted Mike Penrod, PhD, last week. He presented on the protection of settlers in 1863, including the establishment of various camps and forts across the state. Camp Burns, known as Fort Burns in 1863, was located in the summer of 2024 by Steve Morasch of Sleepy Eye, with assistance from the Kiecker family from Fairfax.

St. Paul, Minn: The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) is now accepting applications for the Agricultural Growth, Research, and Innovation (AGRI) Livestock Investment Grant and the AGRI Protecting Livestock from Avian Influenza (Protect) Grant. The AGRI Livestock Investment Grant helps Minnesota livestock farmers and ranchers improve, update, and modernize their infrastructure and equipment.

Naturally.

The morning was eerily quiet. A cold rain had cast a cloak of silence over my world. Then the hush was punctured by the outraged calls of blue jays. They had likely found the perch of a Cooper’s hawk.

I put out some sunflower seeds because every feeder looks better covered in birds. A chickadee arrived at the feeders shortly thereafter. The tiny bird is an emblem of optimism. My happy kicked in.

Vegetables grown in the Renville County West FFA community garden recently made their way from the garden to the classroom as RCW students learned how to process and preserve their own food. Students enrolled in agriculture teacher Meghan Treml’s food processing classes harvested tomatoes, peppers and jalapeños from the garden before using the produce to prepare and can homemade salsa.