The Farmington Feed

Announcer: 00:00

This is the Farmington Feed, bringing you information from the city of Farmington.

Caryn: 00:05

Hi, and welcome back to the Farmington Feed. I'm Caryn Hojnicki, the city's communications specialist, and I'm hungry for another episode of the feed. We have a returning guest with us today to give us an update on EAB in Farmington and more about the city's natural resources. His name is Ben Humlie, and he is the city's natural resource specialist. Welcome back, Ben.

Ben: 00:21

Thank you.

Caryn: 00:22

Glad you could come back and wanted to. So I think it's time for an update, what the city's been doing with EAB. Obviously, it's been a lot and it's not all of your job, so we'll talk a little bit more about that as well. But let's start off and get right into it. So how many trees in the city's public spaces have been affected by EAB slash potentially?

Ben: 00:45

So emerald ash borer is widespread throughout the city. Even if you are treating a tree, safely say that all trees are being affected by the emerald ash borer in some capacity. The treatments will delay and keep those populations down.

Caryn: 01:03

Mhmm.

Ben: 01:03

But it is in general, all trees are being affected right now.

Caryn: 01:07

Yeah. There's like no way around it. No. It's so unfortunate. You know, people are very upset about this.

Caryn: 01:13

Lots of trees are coming down. So I know the city has been working on it, you have contracted some companies to help with this because the removal is a huge project.

Ben: 01:21

Mhmm.

Caryn: 01:21

Up to this point, how many trees have been removed in the public spaces?

Ben: 01:26

So in the city boulevards, so right off the the streets Mhmm. The city started with approximately 3,300 ash trees within the boulevards. We, I'm happy to say, are now under a thousand.

Caryn: 01:41

Like, left to take care of?

Ben: 01:42

Left to take care of.

Caryn: 01:43

Okay. That's a lot of trees still.

Ben: 01:45

And that's when we started our aggressive removal approach with my predecessor, Ed, in 2023.

Caryn: 01:52

Mhmm.

Ben: 01:53

That removal approach has seriously knocked down that number. It's a great thing. The light is we can see the end of the project.

Caryn: 02:02

Yeah, for sure.

Ben: 02:03

And in parks, they had roughly 700 trees in high use areas of the parks. Mhmm. They are under 300. They're in the two fifty range right now. Okay.

Ben: 02:16

So we progress is being made.

Caryn: 02:18

And park staff is helping with this project too as well. I forgot to mention that, not just public works.

Ben: 02:23

Yep. Middle Creek is right now getting the attention for ash trees, and that looks a lot different now.

Caryn: 02:31

Mhmm.

Ben: 02:31

The city is is public works and the things were in the northern part of the city right now. Okay. Working on that.

Caryn: 02:39

I mean, this is really is a proactive strategy and it's being utilized all over the state. It's not just Farmington. Like everybody's doing this because this is what's going to happen. These trees are going to die.

Ben: 02:48

Yep. It's similar to Dutch elm disease of the seventies and eighties.

Caryn: 02:54

Okay.

Ben: 02:54

It's just the the best route to go.

Caryn: 02:59

Because there's no way to stop them.

Ben: 03:01

No.

Caryn: 03:02

Yeah. So the city was previously treating trees, to delay the removal actually. Right?

Caryn: 03:09

Mhmm. Is this still happening or are we done with that?

Ben: 03:11

The city is no longer treating ash trees for EAB. The treatments that happened were to stage and delay removals. We are now at a point where we are staged, so we aren't treating any trees anymore. There are some boulevard trees that residents have notified the city that they are going to continually privately treating.

Caryn: 03:36

Oh, okay.

Ben: 03:36

If we know where they are, we're not gonna touch them.

Caryn: 03:41

Right.

Ben: 03:41

We're we're still gonna go with the assumption that they are being privately treated and we'll deal with the tree when when it does eventually expire.

Caryn: 03:51

Yeah. And then if they change their mind and they don't want to treat it anymore, they just need to notify you.

Ben: 03:55

Correct.

Caryn: 03:56

Okay. That's good to know.

Caryn: 03:57

So obviously, some homeowners are taking some matters into their own hands because they want to treat their trees and keep them. But what if somebody just hasn't had to deal with this yet, now they notice like, oh, these trees don't look good. Like, what's the first step? What do they do?

Ben: 04:11

The the route to go would be to look up local tree companies. I would highly recommend if you haven't treated them now, the tree is probably too far gone.

Caryn: 04:23

Mhmm.

Ben: 04:24

So looking up a a reputable local tree company to do the removals is the route I that that should be gone.

Caryn: 04:33

Okay. And that's for their own property. If there's something that's on public spaces, they should report it to us.

Ben: 04:38

Yep. If it's in a park, you go through the Farmington fix and there's the options. If you think it's in a park, it'll go to park staff.

Caryn: 04:47

Mhmm.

Ben: 04:47

If it's a boulevard tree situation, the Farmington Fix normally will route to me.

Caryn: 04:52

Okay. And that's just tree is the the name of it that they would choose. Okay. And they have to answer a bunch of questions on there and they can provide photos as well. Correct?

Ben: 04:59

Photos are a great help. If it's not an ash tree, if it's a different tree, it's nice to know which tree we're looking for, especially if there's a row of five or six trees in a certain area. Pictures are worth worth a thousand words.

Caryn: 05:15

Yeah, for sure. Now, you know, that one tree. Oh, yeah. Which one? I don't know.

Caryn: 05:21

And then they can also there's a map, right? They can pin them on the map where this is located as well to help staff know and understand the problem in the area. And then those get routed and then you guys handle them. If there's additional questions, then you guys can reach back out to the person that submitted the request if they provided their information.

Ben: 05:38

That is correct.

Caryn: 05:39

All right. Well, that's good to know. And that's FarmingtonMN.gov/Fix. And that'll take you to the Farmington Fix hub page on our website, and that gives you all the information there and the link directly to the hub. Let's move on to a happier note of planting trees.

Caryn: 05:54

Right? Because we've been so focused on removals because there's been such a big number. There are actually trees being planted. Right? And that is with the shade tree grant.

Caryn: 06:04

Correct?

Ben: 06:05

Correct.

Caryn: 06:06

And then can you tell us a little bit about that project?

Ben: 06:09

The shade tree bonding grant is a $500,000 grant that the city of Farmington got from the DNR that covered the removal of 331 ash trees in the Downtown Farmington area

Caryn: 06:24

Mhmm.

Ben: 06:25

And the the residential areas. The stipulation of that shade tree grant is it is a minimum one for one match for trees taken down to be replanted. The city has planted through that grant 215 trees of the 331 required.

Caryn: 06:45

Oh, wow. That's a lot.

Ben: 06:46

And we we planted those trees last fall.

Caryn: 06:50

Okay.

Ben: 06:51

The spring, we are looking at our third and hopefully final one where we can find room for all these trees in the in the grant area. And I gotta

Caryn: 07:03

Because they have to be in that area.

Ben: 07:04

They they have to be in this geographic area that was identified by the DNR and approved by the DNR.

Caryn: 07:11

Yep.

Ben: 07:11

So all these trees are going into this geographical area where the work happened. And we have a 116 trees that we still need to plant, and my goal is to have the city have that whole grant wrapped up by by June.

Caryn: 07:29

Oh, okay. That's coming up quick. Mhmm. Yeah. That's a lot of work.

Caryn: 07:32

And then there's a process that you have to do after. Right? You have to check on these trees afterward. And how does that look?

Ben: 07:38

So all the trees that have been planted have a one year warranty on them. This spring will go

Caryn: 07:45

Trees have a warranty?

Ben: 07:46

Yeah, yeah, just like a car warranty.

Caryn: 07:48

I didn't know that.

Ben: 07:49

Yeah. Winter weather can really affect a sapling tree. We've had moisture this year unlike last winter and last winter nursery stocks had some difficulties with the dryness. The hope is that we had a wet enough fall going in that the trees that were planted will do will will will make it over winter.

Caryn: 08:15

Over the winter. Yeah.

Ben: 08:16

If they don't, the one year warranty, those trees will be plucked out and replanted

Caryn: 08:21

Oh, okay.

Ben: 08:22

With a a live tree.

Caryn: 08:23

Yeah. Yeah.

Ben: 08:24

And that'll be the same thing with the 116 trees that still need to be planted. Those also will have a one year warranty on them where we monitor the tree health And if need be at the end of the one year warranty, we replace if if, they don't make it through.

Caryn: 08:42

And that'll be, like, part of the summer Mhmm. Fall, you'll be checking on those trees and stuff like that.

Ben: 08:46

Yep. There will be a watering intermittently from public work staff. Last year, what we were doing is we'd go around with our water truck about once a week and just giving them a little drink just to help help the trees through.

Caryn: 09:00

Right. I mean, this summer this last summer wasn't as dry as previous summers.

Ben: 09:04

It wasn't as dry, but there were some dry times and some pretty warm warm times. So that little drink helps. One thing residents can always do is if they are fortunate to have one of those trees in front of their yards, A five gallon bucket can go a long way.

Caryn: 09:21

Oh, just a five gallon bucket of water? Okay. That's easy. Mhmm. Everybody has one of those in their garage. Right?

Ben: 09:25

Yeah.

Caryn: 09:27

Okay. So trees are being planted. Mhmm.

Caryn: 09:30

Trees are still being removed. This is not your only responsibility in your position, your natural resources, but that's not just trees. Correct?

Ben: 09:37

Correct.

Caryn: 09:37

There's some other projects that have been going on around the city and we've talked about them on social media a little bit. One of them I was I remember posting about was buckthorn removal and then there was another one.

Ben: 09:47

Oh, we've done multiple buckthorn removal.

Caryn: 09:50

Maybe it was just another buckthorn.

Ben: 09:51

We we've had a lot of buckthorn removal projects.

Caryn: 09:53

So tell us a little bit about buckthorn. Let's start there.

Ben: 09:56

Buckthorn is a scourge of the woods.

Caryn: 09:59

A scourge of the woods.

Ben: 10:00

It's a scourge of the woods. It outcompetes everything. It's one of the first things to leaf out in the spring, and then it's one of the last things to drop their leaves in the fall. That being said, that makes their conditions for growth a lot better, and they will turn their the entire understory into a monoculture of buckthorn because it will shade out everything that is good in the woods.

Caryn: 10:23

So you hate buckthorn.

Ben: 10:25

I hate it. Oh I hate it. There aren't many good redeeming qualities. The the there is one good redeeming quality is if you are a woodworker, it has a beautiful red hue to the wood. So you can make great walking sticks out of it.

Caryn: 10:41

Okay.

Ben: 10:41

But

Caryn: 10:42

But that's it?

Ben: 10:42

Yeah.

Caryn: 10:43

That's where it ends. Alright. So you're trying to remove this so you can help the forest for. Correct?

Ben: 10:49

So there have been some projects in stormwater areas and also if we've had to take down some hazardous trees where it was choked out by buckthorn.

Caryn: 11:00

Because that's killing the trees too. Yeah.

Ben: 11:03

Changes soil soil chemistry. It it produces berries that are toxic to animals, and the seeds then proliferate because the like birds, it

Ben: 11:15

it just goes right through them. By removing the buckthorn, we can then let sunlight into a forest floor in some of our areas and hopefully regenerate the oak savannah remnants that we still have in the city. Mhmm. We did this in a couple of spots, notably the end of Eastview Avenue.

Caryn: 11:36

Mhmm.

Ben: 11:36

There was a few big bur oaks in a stormwater area. We removed the willows from the stormwater area and then we pushed out into the buckthorn thicket that choked out all these bur oaks. Removing that, we seeded over and we're hoping to have a remnant population of bur oaks thriving again in this little area.

Caryn: 11:58

Okay.

Ben: 11:59

When we removed the buckthorn, it was even surprising we found burroak saplings in this area that somehow were hanging on. So our hope is with mature trees that are there, these young trees can flourish with the little additional management.

Caryn: 12:14

Yeah. And then I think you guys did a project in one of the parks too on that. Right? You removed some buckthorn from park parks.

Ben: 12:21

Park staff for forestry mowed, a chunk of Buckthorn Forest

Caryn: 12:27

Mhmm.

Ben: 12:27

In Jim Bell Park

Caryn: 12:29

Okay. Yeah. That was it.

Ben: 12:30

Off Embers. That area was seeded as well. That's looking very good. Spruce and Denmark, we had a a massive Buckthorn Forest removed and we

Caryn: 12:39

Oh, yeah. Right over there.

Ben: 12:40

Last spring.

Caryn: 12:42

Yep. Yep. Yep. And because that cleared out, like Mhmm. Totally.

Caryn: 12:46

Like, it looks so different.

Ben: 12:47

Yes. And hopefully with the the seeding that we did last year, we already saw some natives, grasses and forbs coming up. This year, it should look better. It it's a process. Restoration is a is a messy process, and it's a multiyear process.

Caryn: 13:03

I mean, you can't just do one thing and clean it up and say it's good. Like

Ben: 13:06

No. No.

Caryn: 13:07

You gotta.

Ben: 13:08

And you may notice that we did the same thing on the South Side of Spruce Street by Fire Station One Prairie.

Caryn: 13:16

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Ben: 13:16

There's a bunch of buckthorn there. We came through. We mowed all that down.

Caryn: 13:20

And when you say you mowed it all down, it's not like you just went went through with the mower and that's all you do.

Ben: 13:25

No. We have a giant we have a giant drummel head. It's called a forestry mower

Caryn: 13:29

Mhmm.

Ben: 13:29

Or forestry mulcher. And what that is is it you just kind of go over the plants and it grinds them up. It's a wood chipper on a roller.

Caryn: 13:40

Oh, okay.

Ben: 13:42

Lack of a better term.

Caryn: 13:43

Yeah.

Ben: 13:43

But it it's it's a good tool to use. It's not a perfect tool by any means, but it can really handle large buckthorn. It can really clear out an area for restoration in a quick amount of time.

Caryn: 13:58

Yeah. Yeah. I bet it's fun. Did you did you get to drive it?

Ben: 14:02

I have driven them in the past. They are it is a a fun tool to use.

Caryn: 14:06

Yeah. Do have to have a special license for it?

Ben: 14:10

It's good to have training on it.

Caryn: 14:11

Good. Just training. I I wouldn't wanna do it. But so anyway, those are some of the projects you've been working on. What else?

Caryn: 14:19

I mean, I know this is a lot already. Like, what else keeps you busy in your office or outside, I guess, because that's really your office.

Ben: 14:26

I deal with a lot of trees. Right right now trees

Caryn: 14:29

But it's not just ash.

Ben: 14:31

Non ash trees. Residents will call asking questions about and I answer an awful lot of residential questions. They'll call and say

Caryn: 14:39

What's what's your number one question you get asked?

Ben: 14:42

What's wrong with my tree?

Caryn: 14:44

Just that.

Ben: 14:45

Yeah.

Caryn: 14:45

Just what's wrong with my tree. Okay.

Ben: 14:46

Then I gotta whittle it down. Yeah. Okay. What type of species? Mhmm.

Ben: 14:50

I have a a wonderful tree database that pretty much well, it has every ash tree in the city. Mhmm. And then after I find out one, if the resident has an ash tree that they're talking about, then I can move on from other

Caryn: 15:05

Right. Project. So whenever people call, like, you're you're logging all these trees and where they are. Right?

Ben: 15:10

Mhmm. Yep.

Caryn: 15:11

That's gotta be cool. Is this this is GIS thing. Right?

Ben: 15:14

Yeah. It's GIS.

Caryn: 15:14

Pretty cool.

Ben: 15:15

Yeah.

Caryn: 15:15

Yeah. And you can put all the details in there and like what the tree is and what's wrong with it and pictures if they send them over.

Ben: 15:21

A lot of times it's a tree species. I'll take a measurement of of the size of the tree and if it goes into removal category, if we have to do a clearance prune on it or something, I'll have that data

Caryn: 15:33

Okay.

Ben: 15:33

Written up in it.

Caryn: 15:34

Yeah.

Ben: 15:34

Cool. Like to play in the Vermillion River when I get a chance. Okay. We have it's nice learning more about the the trout fishery that's in there.

Caryn: 15:43

Oh, yeah. You know, I got pictures from last year. You had participated a little bit.

Ben: 15:48

Yep. I was fortunate enough. The DNR needed a little help throwing some trout in there, so I was I was able to dump some in there for them.

Caryn: 15:57

Yeah. That's pretty cool. I mean, that's it's insane to me how many fish they put in there. Mhmm. And then people catch all those?

Ben: 16:02

Yeah. That's a put and take portion. The rainbow trout are put and take.

Caryn: 16:06

I don't know what that means. What's put and take?

Ben: 16:09

The DNR brings in the trout that are there. The rainbow trout are put there for recreational purpose.

Caryn: 16:16

Okay.

Ben: 16:16

They don't reproduce. The brown trout do.

Caryn: 16:19

Okay.

Ben: 16:19

There are it's a there is a natural reproducing brown trout population

Caryn: 16:23

In the Vermillion?

Ben: 16:24

In the Vermillion River Okay. Which they don't stock anymore. There are special regulations. I don't know them offhand, but if you're gonna fish

Caryn: 16:32

you gotta know those.

Ben: 16:33

Know know the regulations. Mhmm.

Caryn: 16:34

I think we had a link out there about that. Yeah. It was like FarmingtonMN.gov/FishRegs.

Ben: 16:40

Yep.

Caryn: 16:41

So if you don't know them, you should go read them.

Caryn: 16:44

So you do you so you fish in the Vermillion yourself?

Ben: 16:46

Or I I have. I haven't had much success, but I don't don't get the opportunity to fish as often down there as as I would like.

Caryn: 16:55

Yeah. I mean, people do it all the time.

Ben: 16:56

They talk

Caryn: 16:57

about it. I mean, there were so many people, like, excited to see just the fish go in. Mhmm. So and I'm sure they're gonna do that again this year.

Ben: 17:04

Yep. It's a designated trout stream. So

Caryn: 17:06

Yep. And and so where else did they do that all over? Right? Like, anywhere that's it has to be designated is what you're saying?

Ben: 17:13

I don't know exactly where they all stock. I know in the Vermillion, they stock in multiple different spots of the Vermillion.

Caryn: 17:19

Just in Rambling River.

Ben: 17:20

Not just in Rambling River. Downstream and upstream, they do some stocking. That's all that information's on the DNR website.

Caryn: 17:28

Yeah. Because they're the ones that handle it, not us. But you just got to help a little.

Ben: 17:31

I get to help.

Caryn: 17:31

Okay. And so you mentioned some restoration projects. Let's go back to that for a little bit because you did a couple of things with our water resources specialist, McKenna. So your positions kind of collaborate a little bit.

Ben: 17:43

Absolutely. Where it makes sense if we have to do stormwater rehab of some of of an area, McKenna will reach out to me and we'll look at the vegetation and see if it's possible to quick do a vegetation restoration portion to that right away. The Eastview Avenue was one of those where we have to take out all these willows.

Caryn: 18:08

Mhmm.

Ben: 18:08

Let's just move it towards the road a little bit, take out the buckthorn while we're here. We can establish or restore well over two acres of of native landscape.

Caryn: 18:19

And that helps the stormwater pond.

Ben: 18:21

It helps the stormwater pond.

Caryn: 18:23

Which is her her realm.

Ben: 18:24

That's her realm. Native species do a much better job filtering than buckthorn.

Caryn: 18:29

I mean, yeah, we just talked about it on the last podcast. It was about landscaping for clean water class, which is basically a free class to learn how to landscape your yard if you wanna redo it and make it easier on you, number one, and cost less money. Right?

Ben: 18:43

Native plants take an awful lot less water than not non native.

Caryn: 18:47

It just makes sense. But if you don't know what native what plants are native, like, that's the first step. Right? Figure that out and figure out what's gonna work in your in your little space. Right?

Caryn: 18:55

Yeah. I mean, I'm even thinking about taking the class and I am I have a black thumb because I cannot grow anything. Oh. Yeah. But my husband can, so maybe he'll have to step in and take over.

Caryn: 19:08

Yeah. It's just a it's just a cool thing to to find out more about, like, what not just native plants, but, like, even the rain garden. Mhmm. Like, the difference that that can make in your yard.

Ben: 19:19

Oh, absolutely. And then it's pollinator habitat. And And

Caryn: 19:22

it's just this it keeps building. Right?

Ben: 19:24

Yeah. The the more micro islands you can have can just help the overall quality of the landscape. We have rusty patched bumblebees that are in the area. We have monarch butterflies that everyone sees. Mhmm.

Ben: 19:37

Both insects are in trouble. Yeah. So if you're able to plant native, plant native.

Caryn: 19:43

Yeah. Wouldn't it be cheaper too to buy?

Ben: 19:47

Yes and no. I mean, seeds seeds are expensive, especially flower seeds. When we do a seeding in the stormwater area, it's more expensive than buying turf grass seed from

Caryn: 20:00

Okay.

Ben: 20:00

Menard's or Right. ACE.

Caryn: 20:02

Yeah. Yeah. But but you don't wanna just plant grass.

Ben: 20:05

No. No.

Caryn: 20:06

Because it makes it better. Yeah. Alright. Anything we missed? Anything people can do on their own at home, you know, just to take care of their space.

Ben: 20:17

Be conscientious of your your grass clippings goes into the storm water drains, which goes in

Caryn: 20:23

Shout out to McKenna. Don't get those. Yeah. It's grass clippings in the street.

Ben: 20:26

Yep. If you, I go back to ash trees. If you have an ash tree in your yard that you think is a boulevard ash tree or the city was treating at one time and you haven't seen the pink x or a pink dot.

Caryn: 20:39

It's coming.

Ben: 20:39

It's coming. If you see it, if you have questions, reach out to me.

Caryn: 20:44

Yep.

Ben: 20:45

Reach out to public work staff. We'll answer the best we'll answer them the best we can.

Caryn: 20:51

Yeah. You can't give everybody an exact date and time of when they're gonna come because there's just so many.

Ben: 20:55

Yeah.

Caryn: 20:56

And especially if it's a contracted Mhmm. Removal as well because that's another company that's actually doing it.

Ben: 21:02

Correct. And the contractors, if if your area is going to be removed by a public works project, internal project, you'll get a Farmington door hanger.

Caryn: 21:13

Oh, okay. That's good to know.

Ben: 21:14

If you are in a area that's gonna be covered under a tree contractor, the tree contractor will be providing a flyer or direct

Caryn: 21:23

more information on it, basically, and who they can reach out to if they have questions. Yep. Because you they would be contacting the contractor if it was that was the case for theirs. Yeah. Alright.

Caryn: 21:32

So, yeah, look out for that pink x and the door hanger, unfortunately, but we will be planting trees.

Ben: 21:36

We will be planting trees. We have we have the shade tree grant, and we got Arbor Day coming up.

Caryn: 21:42

Oh, yeah. When is that?

Ben: 21:43

It is April 24, and Evergreen Knoll Park is the park selected this year for the tree planting.

Caryn: 21:53

And this is the event you do annually, and it's usually with some fifth graders. Right? Local fifth graders, they help.

Ben: 21:58

Yep.

Caryn: 21:59

And you kinda do a lesson for them. Right? Like

Ben: 22:01

We do a quick tree planting lesson. We'll show them the process of planting a tree properly, and we will have some sort of activity to help with tree plantings similar to what happened at Distad where I know at

Ben: 22:17

That

Caryn: 22:17

That was last year's Arbor Day.

Ben: 22:18

That was last year's Arbor Day where 25 trees were put in at Distad for Arbor Day last year which was awesome.

Caryn: 22:25

That's a lot, right?

Ben: 22:26

Yep.

Caryn: 22:26

It's not usually that many.

Ben: 22:27

Not usually. That was actually funding remainder of our funding from preparing for EAB grant that we got

Caryn: 22:35

Okay.

Ben: 22:36

In 2023 that finished that off. And the students provided all the or put mulch all around the the trees that were planted.

Caryn: 22:45

Oh, good. Yeah, we got Arbor Day. Oh, and pond and park cleanup. So that is a little different this year. I think all the parks are adopted currently and a lot.

Caryn: 22:56

There's a big handful of ponds that are already adopted. So Mhmm. If you're interested in adopting a pond, they can reach out Mhmm. To you. And then cleanup day is technically May 2, but that doesn't mean you have to clean up on that day.

Caryn: 23:07

Right?

Ben: 23:08

No. You can clean up whenever you adopt those ponds. Materials will be at City Hall to pick up. It won't be a designated day. There will be a pickup of supplies at City Hall for, I believe, the week going up to it.

Ben: 23:20

Yeah. But it's not a specific day.

Caryn: 23:22

Yeah. They can just come in when it's convenient for them that Yep. When city Hall is open. And they can always reach out to you or Emilee if they have a question about the Park or Pond that they adopted or if they're coming to pick up their stuff. And we'll have a website page ready for that, and it's gonna be FarmingtonMN.gov/Cleanup.

Ben: 23:39

Mhmm.

Caryn: 23:39

Then go there and get more information on the day. Also wanna mention that people can purchase trees. Right? Mhmm.

Caryn: 23:46

Through the Dakota County Soil and Water Conservation District. They have a tree sale going on.

Ben: 23:50

I think they yeah. I think it's wrapping up soon. They got bare rootstock trees, shrubs, good variety, mostly native trees for this zone Mhmm. For planting. That's another thing too.

Ben: 24:03

The zones have changed around here, so you

Ben: 24:05

might be able to get away with planting some trees that weren't normally found up here.

Caryn: 24:09

Oh, okay. And that's because stuff has changed

Ben: 24:12

over the change.

Caryn: 24:13

And they're at dakotaswcd.org, and you can find out all about their tree sale. And I think we have a link on our website for that as well. Mhmm. Those are great opportunities to participate even if you don't come to our our Arbor Day event. And finally, don't forget to schedule your yard waste pickups for the season with DSI.

Caryn: 24:30

You can call their number at (952) 469-2239 or go to dickssanitation.com, and that's important because we don't want those the yard waste in the street and going down the storm drain.

Ben: 24:40

Goes into the storm rain, goes into the storm pond, eventually goes into the Vermillion River.

Caryn: 24:44

Yeah. We don't want that.

Ben: 24:45

No.

Caryn: 24:46

So alright. Well, thank you so much, Ben, for coming on again.

Caryn: 24:49

I'm sure I'll have you on again as well. Maybe Earth Day. Who knows? Maybe we'll talk about fish next time a little more.

Ben: 24:54

I love fish.

Caryn: 24:56

I do not, but I'm interested in learning all about it. Just a couple more items coming up here. We have ready to refresh your gear or make some space in the garage. Join us for a fun eco friendly sports equipment spot. A great way to give your gently used gear a second life and maybe find something new to you in return.

Caryn: 25:11

The swap will be held on Tuesday, March 10 from 05:30 to seven at Hastings High School. This involves Farmington, Hastings, and Rosemount, residents. No donation is required to participate. Just come ready to browse and swap. This, event will rotate between the three cities each year.

Caryn: 25:26

Breakfast with the Bunnies will be Saturday, March 21 from nine to 10:30AM at the Rambling River Center. Get your tickets now. This event fills fast. Enjoy a continental breakfast and family time while visiting with the bunnies. We also make a craft and learn the bunny hop.

Caryn: 25:38

It's great time for spring photos, so invite grandma and grandpa. Each person attending needs a purchase ticket, and tickets are only $7. Well, that concludes this month's episode of the Farmington Feed. Thank you for listening. We look forward to connecting with residents with this podcast.

Caryn: 25:50

If you have any feedback, guest requests, ideas, email me at Communications@FarmingtonMN.gov. Don't forget to subscribe to the Farmington Feed wherever you like to get your podcasts.