EHES Nature Play Park

We’ll be gardening tonight from 6:30-7:30 pm, but you should bike over with the kids early or stay late to enjoy this fun, free, community event at Ellen Hopkins. See you tonight!

Join us tomorrow night, Wednesday July 17th, from 5:30 to 7:30 at Ellen Hopkins Elementary for our second of three Safe City Nights! Bounce house, free food, emergency vehicle displays and much, much more! All free. Door prizes and coloring contest for all kids in attendance, including a brand-new bike! Moorhead Business Association KFGO 790 AM WDAY 970 AM Boys & Girls Clubs of the Red River Valley Valley News Live WDAY TV News Oertli State Farm Gate City Bank Moorhead Fire Department City of Moorhead, Minnesota Clay County Sheriff's Office The Noon Hour Morning Show

Here’s a great opportunity to learn!

Even though we didn’t have a formal get together, we still had some friends stop by to w**d & water the gardens!!! Our community is the BEST!!! See you next week on July 3rd at 6:30 pm for some more gardening fun. 🤩

We had such a great time planting last week at our Community Garden Party!!! This week we won’t be meeting up on Wednesday night as a group, but we’ll see you next week Wednesday, July 3rd at 6:30 pm. If you’d like to help w**d, water, and have lots of fun, message us or comment below.

We hope everyone had a great last week! If you’d like some awesome resources for supporting , check out this post. 👇

Happy Pollinator Week! 🐝🦋 Pollinator Week is an international celebration of all that pollinators do for our ecosystems and an opportunity to spread the word about what we can do to protect them. We can help starting from actions we can take in our own yards:

🌸 Early blooms like willows and fruit trees offer nectar and nesting habitat in early spring

🍃 Planting for continuous blooms in the summer gives pollinators consistent pollen and nectar resources

🍁 Leaving plant material like leaves, stems, and woody debris creates habitat for overwintering pollinators

Learn about action opportunities and resources from some amazing pollinator-supporting organizations in our latest blog post: https://bluethumb.org/take-action-this-pollinator-week/

The Pollinator Partnership Monarch Joint Venture The Xerces Society Homegrown National Park

It’s a big day! We had an opportunity to share some bee balm from our pollinator garden and received Maximus Sunflowers, Anise Hyssop, Showy Goldenrod, and Smooth blue asters in return. Our will be so happy!!! If you’re interested in helping keep these beauties alive (I.e. watering once a week), please comment below or DM us!

is a great program! You can apply now for a grant.

Five years after launched the popular Lawns to Legumes program, BWSR Senior Ecologist and Vegetation Specialist Dan Shaw, who leads the program on behalf of the agency, reflected on program accomplishments and lessons.
Details via blog post:
https://mnbwsr.medium.com/lawns-to-legumes-at-5-what-weve-learned-about-protecting-pollinators-53d67be7f9ff

Check out this great newsletter! It’s got community events, workshops, planting tips, and more!

June Newsletter Greetings Clay County, Extension Staff are hosting many great events throughout the coming months. Make sure to visit our featured...

Thank you to all of our beautiful volunteers who came out tonight! We were able to w**d, plant, & water all but 1 of our gardens tonight. This donated time, plants, & seeds made our garden even more fantastic tonight!!!

& with funding from MN when you apply for a grant! 🐝🦋🐛

Applications for Spring 2025 Lawns to Legumes pollinator habitat grants are open! 🌱

Lawns to Legumes is a planting for pollinators grant program that Blue Thumb facilitates with the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources. Any Minnesotan can apply to receive reimbursement for native planting projects and support at-risk pollinators like the monarch butterfly and rusty patched bumble bee. 🦋🐝

Each spring and fall, a new cohort of participants gets selected to take part in the Lawns to Legumes program. (If you applied for a Fall 2024 grant, check your email! Award notifications were sent out by the MN Board of Water and Soil Resources today).

Lawns to Legumes Spring 2025 applications will be accepted through November 30, 2024. If you previously applied for the program, you will need to reapply to be considered for Spring 2025 funding.

Apply online at https://bluethumb.org/lawns-to-legumes/apply/

We had a wonderful night together at the gardens. A team of 3 volunteers w**ded and planted 3 gardens. We also watered the plants kiddos planted two weeks ago because they’re growing so well!!! Join us next week at the community garden party on Wednesday from 6:30-7:30 pm and bring the whole family.

It’s almost planting time! In just a couple of weeks, we’ll start planting our gardens. If you have questions about your yard or garden, you can ask a Master Gardener volunteer from the University of Minnesota Extension and they'll respond in 48 hours! It’s a fabulous, free community resource! There's also a ton of helpful information on their site.
Happy gardening!

https://extension.umn.edu/master-gardener/ask-master-gardener

There a tons of resources available if you’re interested in planting some native plants in your yard or boulevard. Tools to help you pick out plants (plant finder linked 👇), webinars & workshops (there’s one at the Fargo Public Library next week), and grants (check out the grant application on Blue Thumb - Planting for Clean Water’s website or Fb page) just to name a few!

One of the best things to do for pollinators is to plant native plants that bloom throughout the growing season. 🌸 🌼 🌻

Native plants have relatively short blooming windows, but you can plant some flowers that bloom in spring, some that bloom in summer, and some that bloom in fall. That gives pollinators a trusted source of food all year long, and gives you a constant source of interest in your garden!

Use our newly updated Plant Finder tool to search for plants by bloom time, benefits to wildlife, and types of pollinator visitors: bluethumb.org/plants

We had such a great day today with all of our Ellen Hopkins first graders!!! We brought our friends, Farmers Ray & JoLyn, in to visit with the classes about their farm and growing crops. We then took time to do three activity stations. Each spring we visit with 1st graders about the food system & local agriculture. This ties in with seed starting in their classrooms & planting in the school’s community gardens in kindergarten and 2nd grade, as well as a field trip to a farm during 2nd grade. Thank you Ray & JoLyn Johnson for making today possible!

Consider registering for this great class at the Barnesville Public Library!

The Clay County Master Gardeners help us with our gardens. If you’re interested, consider checking out their plant sale and helping them with their community projects!

Check out this great session! Get registered for this April class at the Moorhead Public Library where you can learn more about what you can do about Emerald Ash Borers (EAB).

Join Clay County Extension Educator, Jillian Patrie and Moorhead City Forester, Trent Wise as they host a workshop on Emerald Ash Borer Solutions and Smart Tree Choices in Moorhead, MN.

This free in-person workshop will be held in the large basement meeting room at the Moorhead Public Library on Monday, April 22 from 6 to 7:30 p.m.

➡️➡️Register here: https://z.umn.edu/EABworkshop.

Have questions? Contact the Clay County Extension office at 218-299-5020.

As we’re thinking about getting our gardens started, consider applying for a grant and get reimbursed for up to $400 to in your own yard.

Applications for Fall 2024 Lawns to Legumes pollinator habitat projects are now open! 🐝

The Lawns to Legumes program aims to increase habitat for at-risk pollinators in residential settings across the state by providing people with cost-share funding, workshops, coaching and gardening resources.

Anyone who lives in Minnesota and has a yard, deck, or other outdoor space for planting can apply to be reimbursed for up to $400 in costs associated with establishing new pollinator habitat in their yards.

Applications will be accepted through May 15, 2024. If you previously applied for the program, you will need to reapply to be considered for Fall 2024 funding.

Apply on Blue Thumb's website: https://bluethumb.org/lawns-to-legumes/apply/

Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources