Season Watch

Zombie frogs and biological antifreeze: Getting through MN winter

By Heidi Holtan,

Charlie Mitchell

Published October 30, 2025 at 7:00 AM CDT

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A frozen frog lays splayed out on ice after being unearthed by a hungry duck on Feb. 2, 2023 in St. Cloud.

In this episode, co-hosts Heidi and Charlie discuss snacking, snoozing, and freezing solid. Plus: Andy Tri, the bear guy!

Winter is imminent, so it's time to choose: Are you a snacker, a sleeper, or a escape artist?

Co-hosts Heidi Holtan (KAXE director of content and public affairs, former roller derby skater) and Charlie Mitchell (KAXE phenology coordinator, former infant) wonder at biological antifreeze, ponder chipmunks' ability to laze around all winter, and debate if scaring black bears is a good idea.

In addition, we hear from John Latimer (staff phenologist, accidental statistician), Andy Tri "The bear guy" (Minnesota Department of Natural Resources bear expert), and enjoy a report from the student phenologists at Little Falls Middle School.

Love the podcast? Want to snooze all winter? Let us know! Email us at seasonwatch@kaxe.org.

You can also send us a recording through Speak Pipe!

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Heidi Holtan

For more than two decades, Heidi Holtan has helped shape the sound of KAXE. Since joining the station in 2002 as a volunteer music programmer, she has worn many hats including the weekly book program, Realgoodwords, hosting the Morning Show, creation and host of the weekly call-in program Between You and Me, serving as Outreach Producer. Program Director, News Director and currently Director of Content and Public Affairs.

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Charlie Mitchell

Charlie Mitchell (she/they) joined KAXE in February of 2022. Charlie creates the Season Watch Newsletter, produces the Phenology Talkbacks show, coordinates the Phenology in the Classroom program, and writes nature-related stories for KAXE's website. Essentailly, Charlie is John Latimer's faithful sidekick and makes sure all of KAXE's nature/phenology programs find a second life online and in podcast form.

With a background in ecology and evolutionary biology, Charlie enjoys learning a little bit about everything, whether it's plants, mushrooms, or the star-nosed mole. (Fun fact: Moles store fat in their tails, so they don't outgrow their tunnels every time conditions are good.)

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