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Chris Hardie For Agri-View
Jun 15, 2025
Jun 15, 2025

1 of 7

Bird’s-foot violets are a native species that favors open oak woodlands or former oak savannas as well as dry, sandy soils.

Chris Hardie/For Agri-View

Bird’s-foot violets bloom on Chris Hardie’s farm.

Chris Hardie/For Agri-View

The hints of blue on a hillside are bird’s-foot violets.

Chris Hardie/For Agri-View

Baby robins snuggle into a ground nest.

Chris Hardie/For Agri-View

Look closely to see a robin’s nest on the ground.

Chris Hardie/For Agri-View

A colony of tent caterpillars is removed from an apple tree.

Chris Hardie/For Agri-View

Lawn clippings are collected to use as garden mulch.

Chris Hardie/For Agri-View

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Chris Hardie For Agri-View

Storytelling is like weaving, with words serving as the fabric. Sometimes I take one thread and weave it into a full story. Sometimes my thread comes in small pieces and I create a coat of many colors. Each thread tells a little story.

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Chris Hardie and his wife, Sherry, live on his great-grandparents’ Jackson County farm. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 2001, he is a former member of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council and past president of the Wisconsin Newspaper Association. His book “Back Home: Country Tales by the Seasons” is available through Amazon.