By Ruth Koehler Special to the Dispatch I can vividly see it lifted off the stove, its contents carefully poured into Grandma Bieda’s small cup in Rantsila, Finland circa 1920.  She sips her coffee slowly as she savors her precious morning surroundings in her wood heated small kitchen.  How sad and excited she must have felt knowing… Read More

The Prairie Spy Alan “Lindy” Linda My background is HVAC. Doing, and teaching.  I get calls from folks puzzled about what they should do with their heating situations. I say puzzled because, while payback on money you invest in very expensive heating equipment can somewhat be calculated, what is not so readily predictable is the money that will… Read More

The Prairie Spy Alan “Lindy” Linda We, the USA, are rapidly turning into a service economy.  We’re all selling insurance, cooking hamburgers, and trying to keep the products running that we import from overseas. There’ll still be lawyers, because sometimes we don’t do those things well. There’ll still be teachers, because someone has to teach lawyers. There’ll still… Read More

By Bev Johnson Master Gardener Bunkey planted 30 tulip bulbs 3 falls ago. The next spring, 20 of them bloomed. This spring, only 10 popped up. He was complaining to his neighbor, George, that he must have gotten bad bulbs.   “How did you plant them?” George asked. “I followed the instructions, planted them 3 times their… Read More

Public school administrators and board of education members across the country face tough decisions when it comes to addressing how to pay for the repair or replacement of aging equipment, vehicles, and infrastructure. The direct pay provision in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) enables schools and other tax-exempt groups to receive certain clean energy and climate-related… Read More

Thank you to the people in our local communities for your wonderful support of our rummage and bake sale held recently in Deer Creek. Also, we would like to thank all who came to buy and to donate to our fund. We thank the Fergus Falls DAV for assisting us in distributing clothing that was… Read More

The Prairie Spy Alan “Lindy” Linda The presence of a screen door and the sound it makes when it slams shut reminds me of days long gone by. The invention of combination storm and screen doors meant that old simple screen doors just disappeared from use. New constructions methods, higher insulation R-values, tighter infiltration standards—all these have… Read More

By Bev Johnson Master Gardener Did you know that strawberry plants are developing next summer’s flowers now? The crowns of strawberry plants are like compressed branches. The buds at the base of each leaf on the crown can turn into either a runner or a flowering stalk. During the long days of early summer, the buds… Read More

To the Editor, What’s it with these humans? After a few nights of frost they take to the woods and try to kill us all off. My friend Rudy was killed with an arrow through his heart yesterday, why, I’ll never know. He was innocently walking across a field to look for a wife, and swish, down… Read More

To the Editor, I have a dream… I wish that all elected officials would follow two rules: 1. Remember that you are here to serve and represent everyone. 2. Spend your time finding solutions to problems instead of blaming others. “Can it be that simple?” You might ask. Yes… yes it can! Hank Weber New York Mills