Pine Knot News - A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news

With so many folks missing their regular holiday gatherings this year, James Sheetz wanted to share one of his favorite traditions from his time at Wrenshall School. In the 1960s, home economics...

With so many holiday traditions upended this year it's fun to be able to hold dearly to the ones we can enjoy safely together. Our family has always loved the lighting displays put out by Wrenshall...

Like for plenty of other folks around the country, our Thanksgiving looked quite a bit different this year, but we still celebrated our immense blessings around a dinner of poultry and savory spices....

The cult horror film "Plan 9 from Outer Space" was Bela Lugosi's last film, and was shot without a script because director Ed Wood didn't really know what it was going to be about. This is the kind...

In 1914 Emily Dickenson wrote about the feelings that follow suffering. Whatever your political party, this year's election has been painful. This Sunday marks the new moon and it's a wonderful time...

Halloween is arguably one of the most creative holidays, and this year that spirit (pun intended) will have to go toward figuring out new ways to celebrate. Luckily, Wrenshallites are figuring out...

On a computer screen in Wrenshall last Saturday, the fate of the first champion of the USA Jigsaw Puzzle Association was being decided. The president of the association and Wrenshall resident,...

This was a surprisingly difficult growing season for a lot of our crops on the Food Farm. It was dry early in the growing season, then the first real rain we got was full of hail. This fall has...

By the time this paper hits your mailbox, we will have had one partial week of school under our belts. We will have either had a hard frost or we will have been given another week of needed growth for...

I have a small plot on the farm that I use to experiment and play - growing things such as artichoke, eggplant, or tomatillo. That last plant is irrepressible. I started growing tomatillos five years...

Of all of the sectors to be affected by the Covid pandemic, performing arts and special event centers have been some of the hardest hit. That is certainly true of our community treasure - The...

For many families, summer is looking a little different this year. Many camps are canceled along with many of the usual structured activities. For me and my 3- and 5-year-olds, this means that news...

I remember when I first learned that my smartphone kept track of the number of steps I took every day. I was sort of creeped out that this piece of technology I carry everywhere was keeping such...

The Friday morning “Backyard Almanac” segment on Duluth’s public radio station KUMD last week included a recipe for one of my favorite fruits — the strawberry. Wild strawberries, while quite a bit s...

This week Don Johnson wrote in with a reminder of a very important Wrenshall anniversary. Here is the story: "It turns out that the 12th of June is the 30-year anniversary of the Brickyard...

The first week of June we brought the last of the rutabagas from our root cellar to the Whole Foods Co-op in Duluth. The following week we started the first summer deliveries to our Food Share members...

My maternal grandmother, Mildred Schulenburg, was born in Hull in northeastern England in 1910. During World War I, her hometown was a common target for Zeppelin airships, and she recounted stories...

Wrenshall graduation begins at 4 p.m. May 29. To provide for social distancing, the ceremony will be outside in front of school, similar to a drive-in movie theater experience. Since a limited...

The scientific name for a weed I am seeing a lot around the farm this spring is urtica dioica, which sounds like something a doctor might tell you if your urinary tract infection has taken a turn for...

I recently ran across a quote from the writer and thinker Bell Hooks talking about the possibilities a classroom environment offers students: "The academy is not paradise. But learning is a place wher...

Last week, Gov. Tim Walz announced that schools will continue distance learning through the end of the school year. I wouldn’t normally use this column to air petty annoyances but I’ve noticed som...

The arts have been an important refuge for folks during this global pandemic. For some it might be binge-watching a TV series or catching up on the bedstand stack of books, but in Wrenshall the...

I took the news of John Prine passing away last week a little hard. His music holds a special place in the mythology of the Food Farm. When telling the story of Jane and John founding the farm, we...

Some of the funniest memes I’ve seen lately have revolved around parents having to share in their children’s day-to-day education and learning. Nobody seems to be questioning the summer break tha...

Thanks to all for playing Wrenshall trivia this week. I had a videoconference with Dale Wolf and he told me all the answers. I wrote them down while dehydrating apples and now they are either in the...