Hello, I am looking for volunteers from the University of Minnesota who might be looking for some landscaping jobs to build their portfolio. My husband and I recently bought a house, and we would like the landscaping re-done all around the house. We do not have any allergies to plants, but we do have a pug. I just wanted to see how I would go about looking for volunteers. I figured since we live in South Minneapolis, it wouldn't hurt to ask the University if they have students looking to complete projects for their portfolio. Thanks, Preston Teske

I have a new Nesco electric pressure canner.  I was only 1 minute into the 10 minutes preheat time (before the valve is moved to airtight) when I saw that steam was coming out of the front of the canner indicating that the seal was not properly installed.  I cancelled the cycle, opened the canner and fixed the seal.  I immediately restarted the process from the very beginning.  My question is ... while I was doing this I heard a couple of the jar lids pop.  Should I have opened the jars and and broken the seal before I reprocessed?

Thank you. 

Hello, the WSS usda soil survey site is impossible to use. Could somebody please tell me what soil type is along decker ridge road? 44.47331°, -123.41778° Thank you, Alan

Would you recommend fruit tree nurseries that sell to backyard growers and either ship or pick up? I am located in southeast Michigan but I will travel 100 miles.

Caller said that she discovered an Isabella moth (90% sure it's an Isabella moth) in a head of lettuce from market. She placed it in her terrarium, expecting it to live only a short time. When she checked on it, she discovered that it has laid eggs ... pearly white, probably 100 or so. She wonders what is best for the eggs given the time of year, the indoor terrarium (and there's also the possibility of an glassed-in porch, which would provide cooler temps).

Why

I'd like to use my organic light roast coffee grounds to mulch my acid loving landscape plants but I have read that bears love coffee grounds. We have deer, bears; and cougars where i live. Is this known to be true or am I safe to use the grounds without baiting bears or other critters?

A skunk moved to our neighbor's property when they fed the squirrels. It has focused its digging in our yard in a way I've never seen in the 20 years I've lived at this property. I gave the neighbors the ODFW website url to read about impacts of feeding wildlife, and they said they hadn't realized it was harmful to the animals, but they're still going to feed them. My biggest concern is how concentrated the digging is on the slope between our yards. I don't even know where to begin to mitigate the problem, but it looks like a serious concern in light of how much dirt is now missing. I trapped the first skunk because it wouldn't leave the house vents alone and partially detached one. The trapper (ODWF recommended) said more would just replace it and he was right. (Plus, I now have to clean 2 different skunk latrines on a regular basis - argh!!!) Still - erosion is the biggest concern and anything new I plant just gets dug back up. Any ideas? Resources? Type of person I should contact for help?

Looking for a guide on how to care for peach trees.