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Friday: Outdoors

The secret to pest-free houseplants starts at the nursery

If you grow houseplants, you probably know that sinking feeling you get when you notice the almost imperceivable movement of a dot, fine webbing between a leaf and its stem, or a leaf that just looks off. You thought (hoped!) the moment would never come, but the pests have moved in, and here ...

Best way to appreciate nature is to get out in it

By JOHN PEPIN Michigan Department of Natural Resources “And the birds up on the wires and the telegraph poles; they can always fly away from this rain and this cold; you can hear them singing out their telegraph code; all the way down the Telegraph Road.” — Mark Knopfler The wind ...

New uses of maple sap include hydration beverage for cancer survivors

By Michigan State Forestry Innovation Center ESCANABA — A forester, psychologist and microbiologist meet with each other in the woods of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. No, this isn’t the start of a sappy joke. However, the story about to be told is sappy. Jesse Randall, director of the ...

Easy fixes to keep your heat in your house

It's that time of year again, when the fuzzy socks are working overtime, the heat is cranking and somehow lots of homes are still freezing. That's because a lot of that heat leaks out of the house — and the colder it is outside, the faster the warm, inside air leaks out. There are ways to ...

Herbs grown indoors require extra care; here are some tips

I've been growing herbs in the garden long enough to know they don't require much. Just water, sunlight and my best intentions. In the garden, herbs are forgiving plants. They aren't fussy about soil pH, almost never need fertilizer, and can power through if you occasionally forget to water ...