David Lewis
Tribune reporter

  OSORNO, Chile -- Local potato growers Dick and Marlys Bedlington recently returned from the nation of Chile, as part of a group expedition to share knowledge about spuds throughout the international agricultural community.
  The couple traveled to Osorno and Puerto Montt, Chile, in a joint learning-teaching venture with plant pathologists from North Dakota State University and the hosts in the Chilean Department of Agriculture.

Timothy Newcomb
Tribune assistant editor

  LYNDEN -- From photosynthesis to hydroponics, Lynden High School students are learning the ins and outs of horticulture.
  Roughly 60 students are enrolled in two horticulture classes each second semester at LHS. Teacher Ladd Shumway said that a greenhouse was built with the high school in 1980, so horticulture classes have been a staple at LHS since at least that time.

Calvin Bratt
Tribune editor

  WHATCOM -- Even a good horse and rider out on a Northwest trail could get spooked by some unfamiliar situation. That's the reason behind the Confidence Builder Ride.
  The annual event of the Back Country Horsemen's Whatcom County chapter takes place this Saturday on Virgil Stremler's property, 9480 Van Buren Rd.
  Stremler said he and other members of the horsemen's club created the major pieces for the obstacle ride about five years ago: logs in the way, a bridge over a stream, and cedar puncheon across a wet area.

Travis Sherer
Tribune sports reporter

  LYNDEN -- All early indictions of this year’s Whatcom Holstein Classic are that it will be one for the books -- and not just because it’s the sale’s 40th anniversary.
  “There are some of the highest quality cows we’ve ever had,” said sale director Darryl Vander Haak. “People really stepped up to the plate and put in their best animals.”

Mark Reimers
Tribune reporter

Tom Roorda lets the GPS-based control system on his tractor determine straight rows during a test of the technology west of Lynden last Friday.

LYNDEN -- Global positioning just got as small as one inch for some local berry growers who are in the process of testing equipment guidance systems.

Calvin Bratt
Tribune editor

Jim Tigan, right, and Martin Benatar, from California, hold trained falcons at a March 3 meeting at the Lynden
Library on ways to combat starlings in local blueberry fields.

WHATCOM -- A few summers ago, Jeff Littlejohn and his family north of Lynden were incensed by the constant boom of air cannons scaring off starlings from a nearby blueberry field.

Timothy Newcomb
Tribune assistant editor

The finch is an easy bird to attract to a Pacific Northwest garden with just a few simple steps that provide for a birds' basic needs.

WHATCOM -- There are simple steps available for making a garden inviting for local birds.

Mark Reimers
Tribune reporter

  EVERSON -- The crickets sing extra loud in Everson, but you might not notice unless you visit Reeves Cricket Ranch on Hughes Road. There, just off the highway, Clyde Reeves continues the business begun in 1980 by his father in Visalia, Calif.
  After moving to La Grande in eastern Oregan in 1993, the farm developed on six acres for four years before Reeves decided another move was in order.