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RED CROSS: Hosts blood drive Aug. 18 at Vadnais Heights Commons PAGE 11
Food forest invites community to explore edible native plants BY JACKIE BUSSJAEGER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
VADNAIS HEIGHTS — At Vadnais Heights Community Park, just northwest of the softball fields, something new is growing. This is the location of the new Vadnais Heights Community Food Forest, which will have its grand opening on Aug. 15 during the Vadnais Heights Days festivities. “It’s a garden of edible plants that mimics the natural landscape of how plants grow in nature with trees, bushes, herbaceous plants, and root vegetables or root plants,” said Sarah Grimm, one of the Vadnais Heights Green Team members who are closely involved with the development of the food forest. “They share the space really well together and work together to be more resilient. Food forests are really efficient in their use of space, too, so you can end up with things really close together so you have layers of a variety of plants.” The intentional practice of cultivating many native edible foods together has been found in Indigenous cultures for thousands of years, Grimm said. A guest speaker will be on-site during the food forest’s grand opening at 10:30 a.m. Aug. 15, where members of the community can learn more about the history and importance of food forests, take a tour and even bring home a native plant seedling. “Our vision is a community-built garden where neighbors can learn from each other, connect
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Vadnais Heights Days returns Vadnais Heights Days will be Saturday, Aug. 15. The event will feature a car show, food trucks, children’s activities, maker’s market, parade, live music, fireworks and more. Most events take place at Community Park and Vadnais Heights Commons. After the one-day event, you won’t want to miss the Vadnais Heights Fire Relief Association Booya sale beginning at 8 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 16 at Community Park.
SEE FOOD FOREST, PAGE 11
White Bear Schools to launch only student-run credit union branch BY SHANNON GRANHOLM MANAGING EDITOR
SEE CREDIT UNION, PAGE 20
SHANNON GRANHOLM | PRESS PUBLICATIONS
White Bear Lake Area High School students Amiya Scott-Waddington and Louie Blomgren are two of four interns selected to be student tellers for a new partnership between the school district and Royal Credit Union.
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White Bear Lake Area High School will be the only school in the state this school year to offer a student-run Royal Credit Union branch to students. Royal has operated its School $ense program for over 30 years in Wisconsin, but is looking to get the program up and running in Minnesota. Royal previously had a school site at Eden Prairie High School, but it is no longer operating. White Bear Lake Area High School marks the 31st school site. “We have a huge commitment to financial education and working with schools,” said Deb Paulsen,
Royal financial education supervisor. “White Bear Lake has been a really great partner for us … so it was a natural evolution to partner more with them on some of the things that we have expertise in.” The partnership between the credit union and school district took off a couple years ago through the launch of the Test Drive Reality Fair, which gives high school students a real-life simulation of money and finances and lets them “test drive” their future to see what it takes to make it on their own. Four students from the district were selected for
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