(uplifting music) - Have you ever gone to the store to buy a bag of potting dirt?

And have you ever heard of a dirt scientist?

All of us gardeners have gone to buy a bag of potting soil, and Tom and I have several friends who are soil scientists, but what's the difference?

I'm Mary Holm, host of "Prairie Yard and Garden," and today we will visit a place called the Menoken Farm.

Come along as we are going to try to find out, just what is the difference between dirt and soil and what that difference means to our plants.

(lighthearted music) - [Announcer] Funding for "Prairie Yard and Garden" is provided by Heartland Motor Company, providing service to Minnesota and the Dakotas for over 30 years in the heart of Truck Country.

Heartland Motor Company, we have your best interest at heart.

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(lighthearted music) Mark and Margaret Yackel-Juleen in honor of Shalom Hill Farm, a non-profit rural education retreat center in a beautiful prairie setting near Windom, Minnesota.

And by friends of "Prairie Yard and Garden," a community of supporters like you who engage in the long-term growth of the series.

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(bright music) - Several years ago, the North Dakota State Horticultural Society sponsored an educational tour here in the Bismarck area.

Well, as luck would have it, we were filming and I couldn't attend the tour.

One of the places they visited was called the Menoken Farm, and then I found out that one of my high school classmates was very involved with the farm.

Well, I called my friend, Jay Fuhrer, and he said we could come for a visit.

And the research they are doing here is going to be great to find out.

Thanks for letting us come.

- Well, you're welcome, Mary.

- Tell me, what is the Menoken Farm?

- So the Menoken Farm is a conservation demonstration farm.

And to me, conservation is very foundational.

And so it's based on the five soil health principles.

And the name is unique also because in the Indigenous language, it basically translates to you reap what your sow.

And so it's a very appropriate name, and I think it's a great place to demonstrate soil health principles in terms of cropping systems, grazing systems, gardens, compost, arboretums, et cetera.

- Jay, what is your role here at the Menoken Farm?

- So my role here at the Menoken Farm is one of monitoring, so I'll monitor the carbon in the soils.

I'll monitor plant tissue, nutritional balancer for fecal samples with the livestock.

So there's a combination of things, but I'll monitor those, and eventually plot those on a graph and then that gives us an opportunity to look at it.

But I think for more of the inside information on the Menoken Farm, I think we should talk to our Menoken Farm Manager, Seth Boechler.

- Hey Mary, my name is Seth Boechler, and I'm the Menoken Farm manager out here.

A lot of what I do is the day to day.

I do a lot of stuff in the crop, in the crop fields, as well as with the livestock.

And then I kind of see, oversee what happens at the Menoken Farm as a whole.

- What is the Menoken Farm and when was it started?

- So the Menoken Farm is a conservation demonstration farm.

It was started in 2009 by the Burleigh County Soil Conservation Board of Supervisors.

So in 2009, they actually purchased this 150 acres here and they started off with the mission of doing soil health and trying to show farmers and ranchers how to do things with soil health.

- [Mary] How is the farm funded each year?

- So the Menoken Farm where we're involved with Burleigh County Soil Conservation, so we are a political subdivision, so we do get a little bit of income off of taxpayer dollars.

We are also funded through various grants.

We have the 319 EPA Water Quality Grant, as well as NRCS Contribution Agreement.

And then we do also get a little bit of income off of the farm here as well with our tree program, and then as well as our grain sales in the field and our livestock too, but primarily through grants and the mill levy taxpayer dollars.

- [Mary] What is the research that is done here at the farm?

- All of our demonstrations are based on soil health, are board determined when this started, that everything would be based on the five soil health principles, which are soil armor, having good cover on your soil.

Having minimal disturbance, so no tillage or very little tillage.

You want a continual green growing plant so that you're able to sequester carbon and build soil aggregates throughout the entire possible growing season.

You want a good diversity of plants, so you're able to feed different types of biology, and some plants kind of work together in synergy, so you want good diversity.

And then also livestock, bringing the livestock back onto the land.

Our soils in North Dakota actually evolved with continual growing plant, high diverse prairies, and large, large amounts of wildlife and animals on the land.

So we try to mimic mother nature by bringing these soil health principles here to the Menoken Farm.

We do not use any commercial fertilizers.

We also do not use any fungicides or insecticides.

We do use a little bit of herbicides, although we are trying to limit the amount of herbicide use we have as much as possible.

And we actually do have a few fields at Menoken Farm this year where we have completely eliminated our herbicide use.

So we're kind of moving in the right direction.

It's a process, it takes time, so.

- So what is the difference between soil and dirt?

- It's kind of a hard question because anytime I think of dirt, I always think of soil, but kind of a good way to think about it is that soil is alive.

If you have like this pile of dirt over here, when I think of dirt, I think of dead.

Something used to build a road, decoration, but soil is alive, it's filled with biology, and plants, and insects, kind of all these communities meshing together.

So when I think of soil, I think alive.

When I think of dirt, I think dead.

- [Mary] So how many people work here at the farm?

- [Seth] I am the only full-time Menoken Farm employee, but as the Burleigh County District, we have five full-time employees, two part-time employees, and then we actually have a summer intern this year, and it's all hands on deck.

We're all helping each other all over.

So there's more than just me out here during the busy season.

We're all together in each other's stuff, which is good, so.

- So who determines what research is gonna be done each year?

- So again, it's a team effort.

Primarily, the final decision is made by our Board of Supervisors.

They're the one that's that give us some ideas and give us the go ahead and okay, but we kind of all form ideas together.

We brainstorm, we have different planning team committees and things like that.

So we get to brainstorm ideas and bring them to the board and get to discuss, and then kind of final decision is made by the board.

So here at the Menoken Farm, we have 10, 12-acre cropping fields where we do most of our agriculture production.

We also do multi-species rotational grazing.

We build compost, whether it's our turn compost or static compost, and then we also have our outdoor and indoor garden.

And Ginny and Jaden would be the perfect people to talk about the garden.

- Well, Mary, I'm Jaden Deckert.

I'm the Urban Conservationist here with Burleigh County Soil.

So what I do is I assist with a lot of education outreach in many different ways.

We do a variety of different things, whether it is plantings in the garden or even pollinator plantings using pollinator plugs, and just a lot of technical assistance helping different producers with things like that.

When they have questions, they go ahead and give us a call.

And then with the garden, the same two different mulches, no-till.

Seth had talked to you about using the five soil health principles.

So that is something that is very scalable and we utilize that in every shape here at Menoken Farm and the garden's high tunnel, all of it.

- [Mary] Well, what research goes on here in this high tunnel?

- [Jaden] Well, a lot of demonstration.

We do do some research, though.

One of the specific tests that we've been doing is some nutrient density testing.

So different things like that.

Obviously, if you've ever went to the store and eaten carrots, for example, are a good one.

Some will be really woody and others will be sweet.

Well, the reasons for that is the nutrient density.

So we're kind of doing the testing and seeing what makes a difference.

Is regenerative better than conventionally grown vegetables?

So we're just kind of starting that process and doing a lot of that testing.

- What do you mean by regenerative?

- So regenerative is utilizing the five soil health principles in the garden.

So instead of going ahead and tailing and using lots of fertilizers and fungicides, insecticides, things like that, we're trying to work with nature.

So that's what regenerative means.

- [Mary] What kind of fertilizer do you use here on these plants?

- [Jaden] So we don't use any commercial fertilizer, but we use different organic fertilizers.

Some good examples of that would be compost is one that we utilize.

We'll use alfalfa pellets.

And then one new this year we're trying is actually sheep's wool.

So it's got 9% nitrogen from all the studies that I've found on it.

But it not only acts as a fertilizer, it acts as food for the microbes.

- When the microbes are breaking that down, does that tie up the nutrients and hurt the plants?

- So you definitely can have those issues, especially if you use a mulch like straw, where that's very high in carbon, that you can see some issues like that.

If you have a high-carbon mulch, that will tie up some of your nitrogen content.

But other applications won't, like the wool will not because it's a little...

It has some of its own nitrogen in it so it doesn't need access that it needs to draw from the ground.

- How do you prepare the soil here in the high tunnel?

- So one of the things that makes us different from other gardeners is we use the five soil health principles, so minimize disturbance so we don't till it all.

So typically, we'll utilize cover crops to our advantage.

So what that is, is we'll typically plant cover crops the year before, let them grow, and then depending on what species they are, they'll either frost kill, or if it's a biennial, they'll go into the next year.

But that root system basically tills the soil for us and creates the channels for the water.

So then in the spring of the year, we'll go ahead and clip that cover crop residue down.

We will create our rows like you typically would, depending on if the residue is really thin, we'll take a scissors too and cut it as well, and we'll plant right into it and it's a very good mulch right away.

And it's actually known as what's called green manure.

- So then, do you use other mulch, too?

- Yep, absolutely, we do.

Especially in the outdoor garden, we utilize several different types of mulches.

We'll use weed barrier fabric.

I really like that one to a point.

It's great for multiple-year uses, but the problem is, is it's a little extra work to clean it up, things like that.

Another type of mulch that we utilize, we'll use cardboard and contractors paper.

It comes in the nice four-foot rolls and we'll roll that out.

We really like that because it's a carbon source.

So carbon feeds our system.

So it'll actually break down as the year progresses, and then by the time it breaks down, we'll go ahead and seed our cover crops into the fall.

That works great.

Another mulch that we utilize is actually alfalfa.

So we use this a lot in our potatoes.

We actually use no-dig potatoes.

So it's a very simple process that doesn't include any tillage whatsoever.

We'll place the potato right on top of the soil, we'll cover it in six to eight inches of alfalfa, and the potatoes will sprout right through that.

And the best part is, is you don't have to hurt your back in the fall when it goes to harvest, you just grab the plant and a lot of the tubers come right with the root system.

So it's really a great way to grow potatoes.

- So do you have to change out the soil every so many years that's in your beds in order to keep disease from building up?

- So actually, we've haven't changed out the soil.

The only time it's ever been changed out is we brought in some compost that was contaminated with some herbicide.

But typically for disease purposes, no.

We have such a good rotation, and it's diverse enough to where we really don't have any disease issues whatsoever that harbors into the soil.

But the key is, is keeping a diverse mix of different plants.

A frame of flowers is good, and utilizing cover crops just to break up those cycles enough before you go back into it with your next rotation.

- [Mary] And what do you use for compost?

- [Jaden] So we actually make our own compost here at Menoken Farm.

We have several different ingredients, some of which include, we'll use alfalfa, old hay, manure.

We actually would get some dairy manure from a local dairy.

We try to utilize all locally-sourced products, maybe some of the garden residue if we're utilizing that.

But we try to leave as much we can where it sits over winter.

But that's essentially what's in our mix of our compost.

- [Mary] What kind of plants do you grow?

- [Jaden] So for that, I'll actually turn that over to my associate, Ginny.

She is a brain when it comes to everything we grow in the greenhouse.

- Hi, I am Ginny Mehlhoff, a gardener here out at the farm.

I do the planting inside the high tunnel and the outdoor garden, and I help with whatever projects they need help with.

- [Mary] What all do you grow here?

- [Ginny] In the high tunnel, we have beets, we have onions, we have leeks, lettuces, spinach, tomatoes, peppers, parsnips, a little bit of everything.

- Well, it looks like you have a lot of plants planted together.

Is that intentional?

- Yes, we do companion planting here at the farm.

I have this book, it's called "Carrots Love Tomatoes," and it tells you all about how to plant or what to plant together.

Plants that like each other, plants that don't like each other, but plants that you can grow together that benefit both plants.

- [Mary] So do you do the companion planting both in here and also outside too?

- Yes, we do them in both places.

We use a lot of herbs for companions because they do a lot for plants.

Like, we have a tomato bed in here that has basil, which will improve the growth and flavor of your tomatoes, as well as lemon balm does the same thing for tomatoes.

And then in our peppers, we have basil planted there as well, and they also improve the growth and flavor of the peppers.

We've planted radishes with our lettuce, and the lettuce makes the radishes more succulent and tender.

We have planted in the past, not this year, but chamomile with onions, and chamomile again improves the growth and flavor of onions.

So like in this bed where I'm standing here, I had planted radish with the parsnips, and I used the radish for the row marker because the parsnips come up so slowly.

We have carrots and chives, and chives improve the growth and flavor of carrots, and plus they keep away the carrot fly.

We have leeks and onions planted together because they're in the same family, and sometimes they don't grow well together, but in that particular family, they do.

And so they kinda keep away onion flies.

So some of the herbs sometime act as a trap crop where they keep the pests away from the other plants so that they can do better.

We also have a bed of flowers in here, different kinds of flowers like zinnias and balsam, alyssum, marigolds that they bring in beneficial insects, like bees and butterflies.

We also let the milkweed come in here too because it brings in more butterflies.

We have cover crops in here too as well.

We like to rotate within the high tunnel, it's a four-year rotation.

We start with like our leaf bearing crops, like lettuce, because they need a lot of nitrogen.

You would follow that with a fruit bearing crop, which would be like cucumbers, tomatoes, because they don't need as much nitrogen.

And then you follow that with like a root crop, which would be onions or beets because they use very little nitrogen.

And then the fourth year, then you bring your legumes in, and it's very hard to grow legumes in a high tunnel.

I think it's too warm.

And so that's why we have the cover crop.

It brings in, we can grow some peas, we can grow some soybeans, and some cowpea.

So that adds our legume to the rotation and then it starts all over again.

- So what are some of the natural insect control plants that you use?

- Well, chives is one that keeps the bugs away.

Radish is another one that keeps it trap crop.

This oregano, it's got some hairs on it that traps pests as well.

And sometimes, the smell will deter plants.

So like we have some lemongrass that's planted with our flowers, and they benefit flowers because they keep some of the pests away, like the aphids, and mealybugs, and that type of things away from the other plants.

So, what happens to the produce that is grown here?

All the produce is donated to the soup cafe in Bismarck.

They feed people who are down on their luck and homeless.

They serve meals every day.

And so everything gets donated from the high tunnel and the outdoor garden, and they're very appreciative.

It's really a good thing.

And that kind of determines what we grow in here too, is because they let me know like they like onions for all the stews and soup they make, and tomatoes and cucumbers, and we bring our sweet corn in there, all our potatoes.

And the nice thing about there is that they get a lot from other gardeners as well, and they also, they can, and they dehydrate, and they do whatever they can to use as much of the produce they're given so nothing goes to waste.

- Well, this has been so interesting, but there's some research done here on trees too, isn't there?

- Yes.

Darrell Oswald will take you through our arboretum, all the different varieties that we have out there.

(jaunty music) - I have a question.

I love native plants, but sometimes they get so tall and floppy.

What would you recommend?

- That's a great question.

A lot of native species can get kind of tall or leggy, and then they're prone to falling over.

I'm standing right here by a Joe-Pye weed that we planted one year ago, and it has spread quite aggressively by seed and starting to move pretty quickly by its rhizome.

We have been weeding this whole area out all summer already, even though this plant has only been in the landscape for one year.

There are some really great cultivars of Joe-Pye weed that spread a little less aggressively, such as Little Joe.

It's a pretty common one you can find.

There are other really great cultivars of native plants available that you can grow that have extended bloom times or even shorter in stature so they're less prone to falling over.

A great native plant is obedient plant, and as its name suggests, it's not actually obedient.

It's a pretty disobedient plant.

It spreads aggressively by rhizomes, but there is a cultivar called Miss Manners that does not spread by rhizome.

So if you are wanting a nice native plant, that is a great one to use instead.

Solidago or goldenrod is another common native plant that many people want to grow, but it can also spread quite prolifically in your garden.

So one really great cultivar to use is Little Miss Sunshine because it does not spread as quickly as the species do.

So if you're ever looking to put some natives into your landscape, always check out and see if there's a cultivar that's gonna behave the way you want it to behave in the landscape.

(jaunty music) - "Ask the Arboretum Experts" has been brought to you by the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chaska, dedicated to welcoming, informing, and inspiring all through outstanding displays, protected natural areas, horticultural research, and education.

(jaunty music) - Hello Mary, I'm Darrell Oswald.

I'm the District Manager for the Burleigh County Soil Conservation District, and we're standing near our arboretum here at the Menoken Farm.

- What is the purpose of the tree arboretum?

- Well, the purpose of the arboretum here at the Menoken Farm is very similar to the Menoken Farm itself.

It's all about information and education.

That is a top priority of the soil district.

And of course the arboretum is evolving and has evolved over the last, oh, six, seven, eight years with inclusion of the signage and all that.

And it's a place for people to walk through at their own pace and look at the different characteristics, and types of trees, and shrubs, and conifers and that, that are growing here in the Dakotas.

- How many species of trees and shrubs do you grow here?

- Well, Mary, I don't know the exact number, but it continues again to evolve, but I think now we're somewhere between that 75 and 90 different species.

We're interested in the conservation-type trees.

Of course, those are the windbreaks that we'll use for agricultural producers.

Those are the trees and shrubs that'll withstand our North Dakota climate.

And Chad Thorson, our Windbreak Conservationist, has done a great job of bringing out species and kind of pushing the gamut on what will actually work and what won't, and that's of great interest to people.

When we talk about our Conservation Windbreak Program run through the soil district, that's generally what we're looking at as farmstead and livestock shelter belts.

And then of course, we do do a touch of urban on some of our friends that have 40 acres.

We sell a lot of individual trees and hand plant trees to our urban friends in town as well.

- So do you start the trees yourself?

- No, all of our trees come from the areas, different conservation nurseries, if you will.

Lincoln Oaks Nursery here, right here south of Bismarck is owned by the Association of Soil Conservation Districts.

And so we get a lot of our trees from there.

North Dakota State nursery up in Towner is where the conifers are.

And then Chad has really expanded his reach out as well, and so we're dwelling into Minnesota and South Dakota, and even some in Montana a little bit.

We're bringing these trees in as conservation grade, if you will, and then they're planted here in the arboretum.

- So how are the trees evaluated or what are their characteristics that you look at?

- Well, obviously, vigor and size, and growing ability is probably the top three.

And then of course, depending on your purpose for the windbreak, its aesthetics, form, how are they going to fit in a landscape setting, how are they going to fit in a windbreak setting?

- [Mary] What do you do with the information that is collected here?

- [Darrell] Well, of course, again, it's all evaluated, and this arboretum has become a real draw.

We'll have tours that come through on a regular basis, and they'll wanna see the arboretum.

And it's especially helpful because now everything is named and that in genus and species and the common name, and so it makes it easy for individuals that pass through to see what they're looking at.

It's not uncommon either to have folks come out and just maybe walk through the arboretum, and those that have an interest in trees are more than welcome, obviously, to come out, and that's what it's for, is for the public and for the information and education.

- [Mary] Do you have special tours or special events that people can come out and see everything?

- [Darrell] Well, obviously, yes, we do.

We have our larger field days, Mary.

We have conservation events, too.

And then of course, we'll get calls that they're in the area and would like to come out.

We're actually hosting a group this afternoon from South Dakota, and if time allows and if they'd like to, they'll come and take a look at the arboretum.

- [Mary] This has been so interesting.

Thank you so much to you and to all the crew here for letting us come and learn about this.

- [Darrell] Well, thank you so much, Mary, again, for coming to the Menoken Farm.

We certainly appreciate what you do, and we're very, very humbled and grateful for the opportunity to be a part of your show.

And again, get the message out, and the information, and education, and all that that comes with it, and come back and see us.

(lighthearted music) - [Announcer] Funding for "Prairie Yard and Garden" is provided by Heartland Motor Company, providing service to Minnesota and the Dakotas for over 30 years in the heart of Truck Country.

Heartland Motor Company, we have your best interest at heart.

(lighthearted music) Farmers Mutual Telephone Company and Federated Telephone Cooperative, proud to be powering ACIRA, pioneers in bringing state-of-the-art technology to our rural communities.

(lighthearted music) Mark and Margaret Yackel-Juleen in honor of Shalom Hill Farm, a nonprofit rural education retreat center in a beautiful prairie setting near Windom, Minnesota.

And by friends of "Prairie Yard and Garden," a community of supporters like you who engage in the long-term growth of the series.

To become a friend of "Prairie Yard and Garden," visit pioneer.org/pyg.

(bright music)