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We occasionally hear about beavers being compared to engineers. Well, pocket gophers have been recently compared to farmers! Based on recent research conducted by scientists at the University of Florida it appears that at least the southeastern pocket gopher is tending, or “farming,” the underground plant parts they harvest to eat.

The November 1888 Student, the University of North Dakota's monthly magazine from that era, reported: “[Professor Henry] Montgomery … during the past five years has devoted considerable time to the exploration of artificial mounds in Dakota. The greater portion of this work ... has been in the neighborhood of Devils' Lake, Fort Totten, and Inkster.”

The city of Robinson, in Kidder County, experienced a news-making surprise in 1925. A public water well had begun to produce gasoline! The water had apparently turned bad for drinking a year earlier, but was still being used off-and-on for other purposes. A motorist who stopped to add water to his radiator, realized it was gasoline when he got it to burn.

Tuesday, November 15, 2022 - A new book produced by Cankdeska Cikana Community College on the Spirit Lake Reservation serves to preserve and promote the Dakota language and oral history. Mni Wakan: Place Names and History of the Spirit Lake Dakota is co-authored by the college’s Dakota Studies instructor Louie Garcia of Spirit Lake, and author and illustrator Mark Diedrich. Alicia Hegland-Thorpe visits with honorary tribal historian Louie Garcia at the college and college president Dr Cynthia Lindquist. ~~~ Harvest Public Media report on rural water conservation. ~~~ The Energy and Environmental Research Center at UND has been studying the use of "salt caverns" to store natural gas, hydrogen, and other materials. The study area is western North Dakota, in the Bakken. What makes this different from carbon sequestration is the materials stored in the caverns will be used for bio-refining and petrochemicals. Prairie Public's Dave Thompson visits with Charles Gorecki, CEO of the EERC. ~~~ Chuck Lura shares an essay titled “Dining on the Prairie.” It’s a look at some of the early food sources before the farming era.

Wednesday, November 16, 2022 - Ashley stops in at the Job and Housing Fair organized by the F5 project. F5 is a non-profit seeking criminal justice reform by helping people currently and formerly incarcerated; and people suffering from addiction. She visits with Chief Programs Officer Scott College and Katy McCoy, who went from meth management after finding work at Panera.

According to the Bismarck Tribune on this date in 1987, Caspar Borggreve was adamant that he never wanted to be known as a dull man. He need not have worried. This Dutchman, who moved across Europe and the upper Midwest, eventually became a beloved restaurateur in Bismarck.

Thursday, November 17, 2022 - There are 55 National Heritage Areas in the United States, and one of the newest is the Northern Plains National Heritage Area. It strives to connect visitors to heritage stories and deepen the sense of place involving Federal, state, county, city and non-profit sites along the Missouri River in central North Dakota. Aaron Barth is the executive director, and he visits with John Harris in an excerpt from the Prairie Pulse television show. ~~~ Tom Isern shares a musical Plains Folk essay, “Bargains and Ballads.” ~~~ Sue Balcom is here for Main Street Eats. Her topic this week is clean eating.

It was a cool, clear, crisp autumn day on this date at the University of North Dakota. The high temperature reached 44 degrees. It was a normal autumn day, but there were warning signs of possible trouble head.

Sue Balcom joins Main Street to talk about "clean eating," which she defines as eating as close to the source as possible — including nutrient-dense foods and healthy proteins. Hear her conversation with Main Street's Ashley Thornberg.

Tuesday, January 11, 2022 - "Fort Lincoln Internment Camps" is the subject of a free presentation coming up on Thursday at the Former Governors’ Mansion in Bismarck. The presenter is Perry Hornbacher, professor of history at Bismarck State College, and he joins us for a discussion about the camp’s use as a detention center for Japanese-Americans. ~~~ Tom Isern shares a Plains Folk essay, “The Grizzly of the Plains.” ~~~ It can be hard to get back into the swing of things after the holidays. In some religious traditions, there's a rest after Christmas...it's called the 12 days of Christmas, but the return to work gets its own celebration. We learn about St. Distaff Day.