Ed Schafer, Secretary of Agriculture and former North Dakota Governor, spoke to University of North Dakota graduates at their commencement on Saturday.  According to a KX News article, his advice was to be willing to take risks and not let the fear of the unknown hold them back.

Schafer is a UND graduate himself. 

Agritourism is getting to be a big thing in North Dakota.  The North Dakota Tourism division actively promotes learning-based vacations and has had some success with that tactic.

Besides bringing extra dollars into the state, agritourism and learning-based vacations benefit traditional farmers by allowing them to make more money off their land.

Prairie Magazine recently published an article focusing on one farming family that has embraced agritourism.  Read about it here.

Two months ago my family and I took a trip to visit relatives in Texas.  After a full day’s travel, we noticed that the trees and grass were about a month further into Spring than where we lived.  Spring was another month ahead by the time we reached the Houston area.

We had a great time…no jackets, no snow, no pearly-gray skies.  One day we went to the beach in Galveston.  My children were entranced by the ferry, by the dolphins and by the ocean itself.  We gave them disposable cameras and let them click away.

When we came home, I started planning my garden.  Most people here don’t plant gardens until Memorial day because the threat of snow can last that long.  Last week I finally broke down and bought bedding plants.  I thought I would get them planted this morning, but when I woke, there was a layer of snow on the ground. 

I wasn’t even disappointed.  Half the fun of Spring in North Dakota is that it plays games with you, and you never know what to expect.  The snow is already melted, but we’re supposed to have rain showers next week.  Who knows?

Josh’s unconventional marketing blog published a post today focusing on Michael Marcil of Fargo, North Dakota.  Marcil is the founder and CEO of the Marcil Group.  This four year old company relocated to North Dakota from California and has had tremendous business success.

I especially appreciated these comments from the post:

A majority of my conversation with Michael was focused on the unbelievably bright economic future North Dakota has and how that will transform the state’s citizens. In a time of uncertainty for the U.S. economy with the sub-prime housing mess and skyrocketing commodities such as oil and wheat, the only downside for North Dakota is its chilly winters. Just about everything else in the state will benefit greatly due to the rise in oil and food prices. Michael shared his love for all the different types of energy our state has the potential to produce and pictures North Dakota becoming the “Dubai of North America.” In case you didn’t know, North Dakota is very rich in agriculture, coal, oil and wind. Michael Marcil spent roughly 10 years in the dot com industry with his hand in a few projects like food.com and many, many more. Through consulting, he built up his management and development company extremely fast. So fast, that The Marcil Group has grown over 800% in three years. Not only that, but the company has been in positive cash flow every quarter since inception. It takes a man with a grand vision to grow and expand a company that fast. I have no reason to believe there is any slowing down in his future. The sky is the limit.

With regards to the chilly winters, I just have to say people should come in August.  It seems like we get about two weeks of extremely hot temperature that compensate for the roughly two weeks of very icy temperature we get in January/February.  Our weather here is more of a pendulum situation than a static cold spell. 

Granted, that’s all a perception thing.  But back to the post:  with our wind potential, coal and oil production–including the Bakken formation–some people are beginning to look at North Dakota as the Dubai of North America.  That could be a very good thing for everyone.  Regardless of the winters.

Saralynn Davis, a student at St. John High School, will be taking her science fair project–growing beans in soil approximating soil from Mars–to the international science fair in Atlanta this coming week.

Davis got a small sample of the soil from NASA, which developed the soil.  She has been comparing the growth of beans between North Dakota soil and Martian soil.  Apparently, given the right conditions, the Martian soil type can grow plants.

Read the entire Minot Daily News article here.