Columns
By George Bonnema, Luverne HorticulturalistDecember 07, 2021Blooming plants are wonderful gifts to brighten our homes for the holiday season. Knowing what makes them happy keeps the color show going. Poinsettias are the traditional favorite. Red is the natural color and all other colors and variations are mutations that have been “hybridized” to give us choices. The red color is actually a bract of red leaves that attract pollinators to the little yellow…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistDecember 07, 2021There is no greater supporter of public lands and public lands hunting than me. You have certainly heard me say this before. With the great gift of public lands comes the responsibility to care for them and manage them to their highest potential. Most citizen-owned lands in my part of the state are managed by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and they do a fine job with the limited…
By Mavis Fodness, reporterNovember 30, 2021After nearly a month of roaming Rock County, a wayward moose may be gone. I write “may be” because I don’t want the last social media post about a young male moose lying in a ditch near Tea, South Dakota, to be the same young male moose that’s been roaming Rock County. Sightings of the Rock County moose began around Halloween when the first pictures of the young moose surfaced. The most startling…
By Rick Peterson, general managerNovember 30, 2021White lights or colored lights? Blinking lights or non-blinking lights? Real tree or artificial? Open gifts on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning? These are the questions that are causing more than a few discussions or debates in our household, and yours as well, I suspect. I’ll cut right to the chase. The Petersons prefer white lights, the non-blinking kind. The real tree/artificial tree debate…
By Betty Mann, president, Rock County Historical SocietyNovember 30, 2021The following appeared in The Rock County Herald on February 3, 1905. In Social Circles Record of a Typical Mid-Winter Week Serial Life In Luverne Characterized by One Continuous Round of Pleasure—Dancing, Card, Dinner, Birthday Parties, Etc.—Wedding next Wednesday This is continued from last week’s publication Miss Elsie Johnston proved herself a charming hostess Monday evening when…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistNovember 30, 2021My newest Labrador, Ghost, is all grown up now at 1 1/2 years old. He makes No. 4 at my house with his superiors being 10, 7 and 5 years old. At full size he is the smallest dog I have ever had at a whopping 40 pounds. I did all of the obedience and collar training on this dog starting at about 7 to 8 months of age. The puppy needs to grow up a little before you can expect their brains to be…
By Brenda Winter, columnistNovember 23, 2021It was with great delight and joy that we welcomed our long-lost daughter, Kate, home from Vietnam a few weeks ago. I was more than thrilled to have her return home from a two-year Covid exile in a foreign country. But also, because Kate had used her lockdown to become a fitness buff, I was thrilled to now have access to my very own personal trainer. I hired her on the spot. I gave Kate a brief…
By Sgt. Troy Christianson, Minnesota Highway PatrolNovember 23, 2021Question: How do you determine if your tires are unsafe for winter driving? Answer: Over the years, I have investigated numerous crashes where worn tires were a contributing factor. Tires with inadequate tread depth may cause your vehicle to skid or slide out of control on a slippery or wet road surface. It is important to remember that unsafe tires can hydroplane on both wet and snow-covered…
By Betty Mann, president, Rock County Historical SocietyNovember 23, 2021The following appeared in The Rock County Herald on February 3, 1905. In Social Circles Record of a Typical Mid-Winter Week Serial Life In Luverne Characterized by One Continuous Round of Pleasure—Dancing, Card, Dinner, Birthday Parties, Etc.—Wedding next Wednesday The social record of the past week, which has maintained about the usual average in such matters, includes eleven parties of…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistNovember 23, 2021Last year about 65,000 pheasant stamps were sold in Minnesota. This is a stamp hunters must purchase that supports pheasant habitat work in the state. It is also a valuable way to accurately count the number of hunters that chase pheasants every year. I have been of the opinion that this count is important because it gauges hunting activity and helps managers understand hunter number trends. Of…
By Lori SorensonNovember 16, 2021I clearly can’t be trusted alone in the office with leftover Halloween candy. This was evidenced last week during general office cleaning when contents of our wastebaskets were emptied. And apparently examined. And judged. As it turns out, my trash speaks volumes about my willpower — or lack thereof. Following the Nov. 1 Trunk ‘N Treat event, the Star Herald ended up with leftover Halloween candy…
By Rick Peterson, Tollefson Publishing general managerNovember 16, 2021This weekend marks the halfway point of the 2021 pheasant hunting season, so that means the really good hunting is about to begin. So far, however, pheasant hunting in Rock County is about as good as this year as it has been in many years, if not better. My 5-year-old English setter, Otis, and Hazel, my 12-year-old German Wirehair, have hunted three of the four new Rock County walk-in parcels and…
By Betty Mann, president, Rock County Historical SocietyNovember 16, 2021The following appeared in The Rock County Herald on Feb. 3, 1905. Day for Farmers Important Meeting at Luverne Feb. 11 Three Sessions to be Held Four Speakers from State Institutions Will Discuss Questions of Interest to Farmers and Stock Breeders—Interesting Program Prepared for the Occasion All arrangements for the “Farmers’ Day” which, as announced in these columns last week, is to be held in…
By George Bonnema, Luverne HorticulturalistNovember 16, 2021Last week’s weather convinced me that I am finished with my garden for the 2021 season. I managed to get 225 new tulip bulbs planted in areas where I wanted more early spring color. I used my cell phone camera to make a video of my flower beds early last spring so when I was ready to plant this fall, I knew exactly where the open spaces were. It will be fun to see that effort rewarded next spring…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistNovember 16, 2021We are still chasing roosters when time allows, but I got committed to a large seeding project that has taken up most of my free time for the past few weeks, and it looks to last a few weeks more, doing it after my day job is finished. Seeding conservation lands this time of year is challenging, but doing so after the ground temperatures are cold enough that none of the seed will germinate until…
By Mavis Fodness, reporterNovember 09, 2021I’ve come to be something of a numbers watcher. Each weekday the State Department of Health releases coronavirus data, and I’ve been watching those numbers for more than a year. My daily watch mostly keeps tabs on the number of deaths in Rock County associated with COVID-19. As of Monday, we have had up to 24 deaths. Statewide, 8,862 Covid deaths have been recorded since March 2020. One number…
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