Marilyn Lee is a woman of many talents.  She's a photographer, she's a quilter and embroidery artist who conducts online workshops, she's a collector of antique sewing machines and a lover of the outdoors.

Taking time to contemplate what is happening in nature is one of the many aspects of Northern Community Radio that sets us apart from any other radio station.  Each day we bring you a phenology note in which our resident phenologist John Latimer shares an observation from his journals of more than 35 years of climate and nature data collection.  Each Tuesday we dig even deeper with the weekly Phenology Report.  Today, John talked of signs of spring.  Yep... we're already seeing signs of spring! What are you seeing outside?

Tuesdays are special at Northern Community Radio because we focus on climate and nature.  When school is in session, we are even more jazzed than normal because in addition to hearing reports from our listeners as they sent in their observations of natural world, we also young phenologists across Minnesota when call in their classroom phenology reports.

Listener Reports:

Student Reports

On Friday in Grand Rapids there will be a free screening of the documentary film "Food for Change" created by Steve Alves, it's a history of food coops.  Screening is at 6pm at the Free Range Food Coop offices at Old Central School in Grand Rapids. 

In December we invited the community for a conversation about what makes our towns strong in northern Minnesota - Aaron and Chuck are leaders in their hometown communities who want to make these places better.  Tune in for a thought provoking night of conversation, and let us know what you think could be better about where YOU live!

Today we heard from local FFA members about Knock Out Hunger.  The could use your help to get the word out, volunteer your time and donate money....

The Greenway, Grand Rapids and Deer River FFA chapters are teaming up together to knock out hunger in Itasca County.  Their goals are:

-raise $18,000 to produce 60,000 meals which would feed the food insecure for 6 months

John and Emily Enger own and operate Enger Grove, a predominantly online artisanal shop where customers can find a variety of handcrafted wood items including footstools, cutting boards, butcher block islands, furniture and even outdoor structures.  John creates the goods while Emily handles promoting his functional works of art via the online aspects of their business.  They stopped by the morning show recently to

We talked with Melissa Rademacher from the Staples Economic Development Authority about the old Batcher department store in Staples.  The Batcher Opera House was built in 1907 and it was one of multiple opera houses built to entertain those stopping in Staples by train.  Thousands of people were walking the streets and looking for something to do.

Each week John and Heidi pull up a chair to one of our member’s kitchen tables and get to know them a little bit better. This week’s caller, Wayne from Alexandria, via Mexico, called in from the beach to serve up a cup of coffee while watching the sunrise.

Hear the whole conversation by clicking below.