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Adapting to disaster

You can hardly watch the news or read a newspaper without learning about yet another disaster. It almost seems normal that something terrible is happening to someone somewhere. People losing their lives, far-ranging damage, and consequent hardship are the fruit of disaster. The prolonged psychological impact of these experiences cannot be overstated. One of the things that gets us through a disastrous experience is called Resilience. Simply put, resilience is a person’s ability to adjust to, adapt to, and recover from, exposure to a difficult or even terrible situation. Another way ...

Making a board

I recently decided to expand my woodworking skill set by making a board. It turns out that this is much more difficult than it sounds. Yes, I could have simply gone to a lumberyard and purchased some wood. Or I could have wandered into a home improvement megastore where I likely would have gotten lost and forced live off the land by swilling sports drinks and chewing on leather tool belts. But buying a board would have been the easy, wimpy way of doing things. This might be due to my Norwegian heritage, but I believe that anything worth doing is worth doing the hard way. That’s why ...

Taking care of some creaky parts

“You gotta take care of stuff.” Long ago, my father Sylvester told me that. That admonition still sits in the back of my mind. Dad was referring to taking care of the myriad machines involved with working the farm. Routine maintenance of everything from the gutter cleaner to the tillage tractor is required. It also means being ever vigilant, on guard for loose chains and squeaky bearings. Recently I’ve been taking care of stuff. Every few years, my 70-year-old Farmall 400 and 60-year-old IH 560 get a once over from the tractor doctors at Miller Sellner Implement. Both those ...

Funding cuts hit sustainable Agriculture Partnership with University of Minnesota

A significant setback to Minnesota’s growing sustainable agriculture sector is in the works as part of budget cuts being enacted at the University of Minnesota’s College of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resource Sciences. Sustainable agriculture community partners recently received a letter from the college’s dean, Brian Buhr, announcing that he is discontinuing funding for the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture (MISA) and distributing its projects and endowed chair funds elsewhere. The dean cited budget cuts as the reason, with federal and state funding reductions ...

Are you emergency prepared?

What is emergency preparedness? Simply put, it means being ready for an emergency, and it’s a responsibility everyone shares. While first responders, emergency management, and public health staff have important roles, individuals and families can also take steps to be prepared. There have been widespread disasters and emergencies across the state and country, including flooding, severe storms, and wildfires. Brown County is not immune — snow and ice storms, tornadoes, and even disease outbreaks are possible. Being prepared can help keep you and your family stay safe and even ...

Boundaries before the wedding

Dear Annie: My fiance, “Mark,” and I are getting married in six months, and there’s one issue I can’t shake. His best friend, “Tyler,” makes me uncomfortable. Tyler has a history of cheating, drinking too much, and making offhand comments that cross the line -- especially toward women. At Mark’s bachelor party planning dinner, Tyler joked that he was in charge of “making sure Mark has one last wild night,” and when I said I didn’t like the sound of that, he laughed and told me to “relax.” I’ve told Mark I don’t trust Tyler’s influence. He brushed it off, ...