Minnesota River Interviews -Richard Handeen & Audrey Arner, Moonstone Farms

Minnesota River Interviews  
Richard Handeen & Audrey Arner
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"Our property is all in perennial crops and grassland. What comes through this culvert is what has melted off the surface and is a pleasant light herbal tea color, but transparent."


 

Art and Barb Straub
 
Drainage pond for
conventional
cropland and grassland

 
 
Water samples
 
Drainage pond water samples from conventional cropland (left) and grassland (right) after a storm event.
 

Video Text: "So, this in the water down here is the outlet for the tile that draws from about two miles away from conventional corn and soybean production and then comes under our grassland.  So, during times like this when there hasn’t been a big rain event, the water that flows through is all subterranean groundwater. If we get a big rain event, then the water flows into those open inlets in the neighboring conventional row crop ground and silt will come flowing through here turning that nice and chocolaty.  In the spring during the snow melt, we always give a daily monitoring down here to see the water that melts off the grassland. Our property is all in perennial crops and grassland.  What comes through this culvert is what has melted off the surface and is a pleasant light herbal tea color, but transparent.  Then it mixes with the chocolate color here."


 

   
 
Interview Transcript
 
     
         

 

This page was last updated 8/08