We have been tapping our maple trees for the last 6 years. It can be a lot of work, but it's worth it! You can tap almost any maple tree - in your urban yard, in the middle of a forest, or in your pasture. It doesn't matter. We started out tapping the 3 sugar … Continue reading Tapping Maple Trees for Syrup
This article is part of our "trees for bees" series where we feature trees/shrubs that are excellent pollinator forage We raise honey bees in the sand prairie of Minnesota. It's a harsh landscape and many of the traditional "bee plants" struggle, so we look to native trees and shrubs to provide a lot of our … Continue reading Gray Dogwood – A Native Shrub For Pollinators and Birds
This article is part of our "trees for bees" series where we feature trees/shrubs that are excellent pollinator forage Smooth Sumac and Staghorn Sumac are common "roadside" plants in North America. They are pioneer plants and quickly spread by rhizomes to colonize erosion prone areas. They are unique looking shrubs, grow without maintenance, tolerate drought … Continue reading Staghorn Sumac – A blessing to bees and humans
Black walnuts are native to the United States and grow in almost every climate/soil type. They produce edible nuts that drop in the fall. The exact time is a matter of weather. Last year, they fell in October. This year, the trees started turning yellow in late August, though it was unseasonably cool toward the … Continue reading Black Walnut trees – gathering, cracking and eating!
Aronia berries have the highest ORAC value of all known berries - so they must be good right? Read on and we will tell you what you need to know.... Aronia bushes are big, beautiful plants. They are cold hardy and drought tolerant. Their leaves are a round, glossy, deep green. We have never watered … Continue reading Eating Aronia Berries
Most acorns are edible - but some are more useful than others.... We are fortunate to have Northern Red Oak, Burr Oak, and Northern pin oak in our forests. Of these, Northern red oak is our favorite. The pin oak produces acorns that are too small to peel and our burr acorns are snatched up … Continue reading How to eat Acorns
Once upon a time, we actively tore out "invasive" plants. We participated as volunteers with our local soil water conservation district and with our parks department. We thought we were doing a good thing....and maybe we were....sometimes. But after a few years of helping to rid Minnesota of invasive plants, we started to realize that … Continue reading The Truth about Native and Invasive Plants
