Autumn Ag • 2017

Visiting a small town’s oasis.

A look into a local ag repair shop.

State offers help for buffer compliance.

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COUNTRY LIVING

Dexter’s own little Oasis

By Michael Stoll

mike.stoll@austindailyherald.com

To paraphrase singer and songwriter Billy Joel, “It’s 11:30 on a Wednesday and the regular crowd shuffles in. They’ve come to The Oasis, one of the few places to get food in Dexter, Minn.”

Although lunch and dinner are the peak hours at The Oasis, regularscome and go throughout the day in this small town establishment in the heart of Dexter’s downtown.

Outside the building, a Bud Light sign and a Minnesota Vikings 2017 season

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schedule greet visitors. Inside, the atmosphere is subdued, a subtle tribute to the days when it was only a bar.

A sign off to the side lists the bar rules: “1. Bartender is always right.

“2. If bartender is wrong, see rule #1.”

At the bar was regular Ernie Kirkpatrick, a carpenter whose father owned the building before it became The Oasis in 1984.

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The Oasis in downtown Dexter, Minnesota. Michael Stoll/mike.stoll@austindailyherald.com.

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‘This has always been a spot for me’ ERNIE KIRKPATRICK, CARPENTER

“I grew up in this area and this has always been a spot for me,” Kirkpatrick said.

As a kid, he used to come by the building to get a Pepsi and peanuts.

“There was a guy named Bertie Wicks who was a farmer and he’d buy me my Pepsi and my peanuts,” he recalled. “When dad owned it, it was more of a drinking establishment. Now it’s more of a family restaurant.”

Oasis co-owner Nikki Breitbarth talks to customers at the bar. Michael Stoll/mike.stoll@austindailyherald.com.

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At The Oasis in Dexter, the rules are very simple.

Joining Kirkpatrick at The Oasis was co-worker Matthew Mcmahan. “[The Oasis] has really good homemade food that is really cheap and reasonable,” he said.

“You don’t get a lot of places like this anymore. Little hole-in-thewall places like this are really hard to find.”

The Oasis has been owned nearly three years by husband and wife Randy and Nikki Breitbarth, and Randy’s father, Dan Breitbarth. .

“My husband always wanted to run a bar and grill,” Nikki said. “He’s always worked in one. His dad was always interested in it. I grew up in Dexter and my grandpa used to own it for 30 years before we bought it.”

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‘A bunch of us come and play 500.’

JOLEEN MEADE, RETIRED BEAUTICIAN

As Nikki talked, regular Bob Meade entered The Oasis with his daughter, Rose Meade, and his aunt Joleen Meade. Nikki took their orders, asking if Bob would have “the usual.”

Bob and Rose live in Elkton, while Joleen lives in Dexter, where she worked as the local beautician for 55 years.

“I come here every now and then,” Joleen said of The Oasis.

“I play cards here on Tuesday afternoons. A bunch of us come and play 500.”

Bob Meade, on the other hand, comes more frequently.

“I’ve been coming as long as I can remember, once or twice a week,” he said. “I enjoy the small town camaraderie. This place brings in a lot of locals.”

“I come whenever [Bob] lets me,” Rose said with a laugh. “I remember playing pool here when I was a little girl.”

Nikki brought out their breakfast orders; Bob’s usual order of biscuits and gravy (although Bob, among others, will tell you these biscuits and gravy are anything but “usual”) and pancakes the size of your head for Rose and Joleen.

In the kitchen, Cathy Braaten prepared more orders.

“We make things homemade

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from scratch,” she said. “We don’t like to use the can.”

Braaten worked in kitchens at other establishments before starting at The Oasis in September, the same time they began serving breakfast. For her, the difference between a small local place versus a national chain is night and day.

“I’d much rather work at a place like this,” she said. “It’s more personal with your bosses and the other employees. Randy and Nikki are good people to work for.”

For Braaten, The Oasis is an integral part of Dexter.

“I think it means a lot to have a local restaurant that’s this good that brings people in from all over the area,” she said. “I think it helps the town a lot.”

Back in the bar, another regular came through the door, 88-year-old Korean War veteran Norman Mathews, whom Nikki affectionately calls “Speedy.”

Mathews said he comes to The Oasis every day.

“People to talk to keep me coming back,” he said. “It’s a good eating place and its well-established. There are a lot of people to talk to.”

Mathews said dances used to be held at the building long before

Oasis regular Bob Meade prepares to eat biscuits and gravy while Rose Meade (top left) and Joleen Meade eat pancakes. Photos by Michael Stoll/mike.stoll@austindailyherald.com The Oasis opened. He said that part of the building was added on using lumber from the train depot that was torn down after the train left town.

Despite the years and changes, The Oasis is still going strong. Locals and regulars continue filling its seats to get a burger, a steak sandwich, the daily special, or attending one of their events, like the Friday fish fry where, during Lent, they sell 80 to 90 pounds of fish a night.

“I think it is a nice local place where people can go to get good food and good beer,” Nikki said.

“It’s nice seeing all of the locals come in and visiting with them.”

Oasis co-owner Nikki Breitbarth talks with regular customer Norman “Speedy” Mathews.

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REPAIRS AND MORE

Fabricating art one day, fixing a manure spreader the next Metal Services of Blooming Prairie, Inc. sprouted out of an agricultural repair shop

By Christopher Baldus chris.baldus@austindailyherald.com

A production welder works on a project at Metal Service of Blooming Prairie, Inc. The duct work above his project vacuums up fine particles so the welder doesn’t inhale them.

Christopher Baldus/chris.baldus@austindailyherald.com

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BLOOMING PRAIRIE — It’s Monday at the repair shop, a yellow metal building on the northeast end of town.

Outside are a pair of gravel trailers — one with a rebuilt rear base and the other with an end gate re-engineered to swing two ways. A grain cart that’s waiting for its rebuilt auger is nearby.

So is the steelwork for a bridge.

“I can’t visualize artwork, but I can visualize bridges,” says Dennis Heimerman, president of Metal Services of Blooming Prairie, Inc. “So, I occasionally build one.”

Artists will come to his business to have metal crafted for their visions.

That kind of work is done at the repair shop’s sister facility just up the road.

The metal fabrication plant built 11

years ago is the repair shop’s big sister in size, equipment and workload.

Metal Services has more than 300 other businesses as customers. On this day, the plant is producing canopies and lift arms for McNielus Companies garbage trucks. Precision laser and plasma cutting is involved, as is metal bending and welding. Technicians also use a tool the size of a double garage door to squeeze a punch that pops holes in steel that’s inches thick.

While the repair shop does a much smaller percentage of Metal Services business, it is the foundational piece.

It’s where Heimer man started the company back in 1984, during the farm crisis. He thought he would simply be in the ag repair business.

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‘Corn wears augers out. You can see how thin this is right here. You could shave with it.’

DENNIS HEIMERMAN, METAL SERVICES PRESIDENT

GETTING STARTED “The first winter, things got a little slim because people weren’t spending money,” Heimerman said in a conference room at the fabrication plant prior to the tour of the repair shop. “I mean, I had a little shop with some low overhead, but it was going to be tough.”

So, he launched plan B. “I just pounded on the doors and wrote letters to all the factories in the area,” he said.

He amassed a list of clients and eventually subcontract work began coming his way.

Metal Services of Blooming Prairie, Inc. President Dennis Heimerman, explains how corn wears down grain cart augers.

“Some of those factories relied on Christopher Baldus/chris.baldus@austindailyherald.com their maintenance people to do the building of carts and racks and all that stuff,” Heimerman said. “They were growing so fast that they couldn’t keep up with it either, and they needed their guys to stay on maintenance.”

His shop began to do a lot of fabrication work for for Owatonna factories, eventually linking up with McNielus Companies.

“That’s our major customer today,” he said.

COMMON REPAIRS “Let’s see what kinds of things they are working on today,” Heimerman adds as he enters the repair shop.

The outside grain cart’s auger is on one of the work tables. The blade that curls around the center shaft has been beaten thinner in places than a knife.

“Corn wears augers out,” he says. “You can see how thin this is right here. You could shave with it.”

He runs his hand over dents in the metal.

“All this you see is worn from the corn,” he says. “Corn is fairly abrasive and, of course, they are moving a lot of it fast.”

One of the three men who make up the repair shop’s crew will be removing the auger’s twisting blade, which Heimerman calls a “flight.”

“We do a lot of these,” he says. His farm customers don’t have to “replace that whole

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REPAIRS AND MORE | CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6 shaft, which is really expensive to replace the whole shaft from a dealer. We can just cut off that flighting and put new back on.”

He looks to a square water tub at the back of the shop.

“Hey, Seth, what are we doing here?”

Seth Petranek, repair technician, answers: “That’s the front end off of a John Deere tractor.”

Part of it broke and parts of it that should slide were stuck.

“It’s all froze together and it didn’t matter how much we’d heat it or pulled on it it wouldn’t move,” Seth says.

Repair shop manager Harvey Farr told his crew to soak “it in a tub of water for a couple weeks ... to get all the dirt loosened up that may be dried up and caked in there,” Petranek said.

They’ve done it before.

BUSIER DAYS AHEAD

The repair shop expects to be busier as the harvest nears. Farmers will be done assessing their equipment needs soon and will order repairs so their field work goes uninterrupted by mechanical failure, Heimerman said.

Metal Services has two large trucks outfitted with welders and tools necessary to head out to the fields to make repairs, however.

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The variety of repairs seems boundless.

“They will bring in anything from a part of a planter to part of a digger to livestock equipment, trailers,” Heimerman said.

“Just about anything goes through down there ... if it needs a part fabricated we’ll fabricate (it at the plant). They will also build a lot of stuff new, whatever is needed for the job.

“These guys up here (in the plant) are working off blue prints from somebody’s factory or that somebody drew here... These guys are production welders, those guys (at the shop) are ,well, a little different mindset.”

A FABRICATOR

Metal Services is not a machine shop, although it can do some of those functions.

Most of the time, the business will contract that out.

“A machine shop has machines that turn and mill,” Heimerman said. “So you’re turning shaves and shapes and your spinning.

Where a fabricator, we’re cutting flat sheets and bar stocks and bending it and punching holes and making them into parts.”

The fabrication plant is a key service for companies practicing lean manufacturing.

Metal Service makes items they need in smaller amounts so they don’t need to store the extras. An advantage to that is avoiding how time and other factors can damage those

Canopies for the cabs of garbage trucks sit outside the Metal Services of Blooming Prairie, Inc. fabrication plant. Christopher Baldus/chris.baldus@austindailyherald.com

stored parts.

McNielus, for example, used to have to clean off the rust from replacement handrails before putting them on trucks, Heimerman said. By having Metal Service make them only when needed, that cuts down on cost for McNielus.

“We deliver parts as they want them rather than (them) ordering big stocks ,” he said.

Farmers and the repair shop also use the

fabrication services.

“We do a lot of work up here too for the ag market,” Heimerman said. “Some just gets cut and sent down to those guys (in the repair shop).”

The plant also has done work with artists.

“We are a little different than some shops in that we will do one piece for somebody,” Heimerman said.

“We’ve got a couple of pieces of art out there with an artist. One is sitting at the Gustavus Adolphus campus in St. Peter,” he said, adding that the other is in front of a Twin Cities metro area library.

“So we’ll get special stuff that’s kind of fun you don’t generally get. We might be doing a manure spreader one day or we might be doing something challenging... This guy will come with an artist’s conception and says, ‘This is what I’m trying to build,’ and we’ll help him try to determine what kind of materials he needs to create what he’s after.”

THE BRIDGE The afternoon sun reflects off the black gloss covering Hermerman’s latest metalwork behind the grain cart. It has an easy curve, presumably for the bridge deck.

Hiemerman, who doesn’t visualize art, but he visualizes scenery.

“That’s for going across a creek,” he says.

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CONSERVATION

CREP signups open in Mower County, state Mower SWCD seeks landowners to discuss permanent conservation

By Tim Ruzek

tim.ruzek@mowerswcd.org

Gathered just uphill from the meandering Cedar River, local and state officials in May celebrated the first signup day for the new round of a state-federal program that permanently enrolls farmland into conservation.

Mower Soil and Water Conservation District and agency partners joined together in northwest Mower County on Udolpho Township land owned by farmer Roger Peterson, who enrolled the parcel in a previous round of the Minnesota Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (MN CREP). Peterson, who has participated in numerous conservation programs, joined Mower SWCD district manager Justin Hanson in talking about the importance of CREP and encourag-

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ing landowners to consider it.

Peterson said CREP gave him the chance to take eroding cropland and get paid to put it permanently into prairie grass.

“I just jumped at that idea and never looked back, and I’ve been happy with it ever since,” Peterson said. “The wildlife here is phenomenal.”

MN CREP officially opened in May as a voluntary state-federal program for landowners seeking to protect their environmentally sensitive cropland. It is designed to improve water quality and habitat conservation.

Locally, Mower SWCD serves as the lead agency for MN CREP in Mower County, one of 54 counties in southern and western Minnesota selected for this round of the program. Overall, this round of MN CREP will protect and restore up to 60,000 acres of marginal cropland in the state through buffer strips, wetland restoration and drinking water wellhead protection.

Many opportunities are provided through MN CREP for landowners to restore their land into a private wildlife area for their own enjoyment or enroll farm land that often is frequently flooded or in the 100-year floodplain, said James Fett, Mower SWCD’s watershed technician leading the CREP effort in Mower County. Compensation through MN CREP is offered at a fair market value.

“MN CREP is a way to make a positive change on the landscape that lasts forever,” Fett said. “We’re also really excited to have CREP back because, unlike other conservation programs, it’s not always available to us.”

David Copeland, a board conservationist with the Minnesota Board of Water and Resources (BWSR) – the state lead for MN CREP – also attended May’s kickoff with Michelle Janssen of Farm Service Agency for Mower County, and Brian DeVetter of the Natural Resources Conservation Services.

BWSR’s Executive Director John

Jaschke, has called the new round of MN CREP “a milestone in conservation for Minnesota.”

MN CREP is funded with about $350 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and $150 million from the state of Minnesota.

Landowners accepted into MN CREP will enroll in the USDA’s Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) for 14 to 15 years.

At the same time, the land will be put into a permanent conservation easement through the state’s Reinvest In Minnesota (RIM) easement program. Private ownership continues and the land is permanently restored and enhanced for water quality and habitat benefits.

Mower County landowners interested in MN CREP should contact James Fett, Mower SWCD, at 507-434-2603 or by email at james.fett@mowerswcd.org More information, visit the websites for Mower SWCD at www.mowerswcd.org or the Minnesota Board of Water & Soil Resources www.bwsr.state.mn.us/crep.

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WATER QUALITY

State offers new options for buffer compliance Mower SWCD received $60K to aid landowners

By Tim Ruzek

tim.ruzek@mowerswcd.org

Mower County’s agricultural landowners now have an additional cost-assistance option to help bring fields into compliance with the state buffer law.

The Legislature allocated the Soil and Water Conservation District offices $5 million to use as costshare assistance when working with ag landowners to comply with the state buffer law. It is from the state’s Clean Water Fund.

Mower SWCD will get $60,000 to offer cost-assistance contracts with landowners to implement buffers or alternative practices along public waters and public ditches.

Buffer legislation this year also allows for an eight-month extension for landowners to implement buffers along public waterways, extending the Nov. 1, 2017, deadline to July 1, 2018. Legislators passed the extension in recognition of some landowners possibly having hardships, such as weather, in meeting the deadline.

Getting an extension, however, will require landowners or authorized agents to file a riparian protection compliance plan by Nov. 1, 2017, with their local SWCD office.

Buffers on public drainage ditches must be implemented by Nov. 1, 2018.

Buffers are areas or strips of land kept in permanent vegetation – not farmed – to slow water runoff and help filter out pollutants, such as phosphorus and nitrogen, as well as sediment. They also provide wildlife habi-

NEW STATE BUFFER COST ASSISTANCE Who: Mower County ag landowners needing buffer.

What: An additional state cost-assistance option to help them comply with the state buffer law.

Where: Mower County and the rest of Minnesota.

When: Landowners need to comply by Nov. 1, 2017, for public waterway buffers or apply for 8-month extension.

Online: bwsr.state.mn.us/buffers | dnr.state.mn.us/buffers mowerswcd.org tat and stabilize land along water.

Under the 2015 law, landowners need to establish on public waterways a buffer averaging 50 feet wide with no less than 30 feet in any spot, unless approved for alternative practices. Public ditches must have at least 16.5 feet of buffer on each side.

Prior to the law, Mower County had 95 percent compliance for acreage along public waterways.

In January 2017, Aaron Gamm, Mower SWCD’s buffer coordinator, sent more than 300 letters to Mower County ag landowners who appeared to have land without adequate buffer. Addressing needs on about 400 parcels, the letters included maps and an overview of the buffer law.

About 50 percent of those tagged parcels, however, involve landowners who have yet to communicate with Mower SWCD about their buffer needs, Gamm said.

He planned to send additional letters in August to all landowners who still need to add buffers, including those who have spoken with him about their plans but won’t plant seeds until after harvest.

“We need to hear from all landowners contacted by our office to ensure they’re complying with the state law and that any inaction won’t affect their eligibility for future conservation and

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federal farm programs,” Gamm said.

Mower County staff is considering how to enforce the state buffer law locally.

This year, Mower SWCD adjusted its programs to make staff more available to assist with buffer compliance. Mower County also committed resources in 2017 to Mower SWCD to ensure landowners can get buffer assistance before the Nov. 1 deadline.

Staff at Mower SWCD have been providing technical assistance to landowners for measuring, staking, seeding and layout designing for buffers as well as offering programs that help landowners offset the loss of productive cropland.

One of those options came out in May with the new round of the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) in Minnesota –a voluntary program offering landowners higher payments to permanently protect cropland from being farmed again.

Since the buffer issue emerged, Mower County landowners also have enrolled more than 4,000 acres into the federal Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) that typically involves conservation easements of 10 to 15 years.

For more information contact Aaron Gamm at Mower SWCD at 507-4342603 or by email at aaron. gamm@mowerswcd.org.

Aaron Gamm, a Mower County Soil and Water Conservation District technician and the local buffer coordinator, checks a newly established vegetative buffer next to a corn field in July along Roberts Creek in northern Mower County. Photo provided by SWCD

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SOIL HEALTH

Fall Field Day to follow-up on cover crops Mower SWCD offering free tours of three farms on Oct. 31

By Tim Ruzek

health, and our office is planning more work on this in the coming years.”

Local producers will reopen their Cover cropping involves planting a Mower County farms this fall to show second, unharvested crop in coordinatheir cover crops after harvest as well tion with regular cash crops, such as as discuss other soilc o r n a n d s oy b e a n s. health practices.

Interest is growing in “We are excited to Mower Soil and Water cover crops throughout offer another field day Minnesota, and Mower Conservation District is planning a free Fall is helping to for people of all back- County Field Day for Oct. 31 as highlight their benea follow-up to a similar grounds – farmers, ag fits when incorporated tour offered in late May into agricultural pracon cover crops and soil professionals, students tices. health that drew about and the general public.”

Lawler helped form 90 people.

Mower SWCD’s new In the spring, the soil health initiative STEVE LAWLER, event showcased cover and has worked closeMower SWCD’s resource specialist crop fields at three area ly with local producand soil scientist farms – Tom Cotter, Tom ers the past two years Finnegan and Terry and through a Mower Soil Cindy Hamilton – by busing participants Health Team. Members of the team have to the sites. working knowledge of cover cropping Cotter and Finnegan have been doing and reduced tillage systems and are comextensive outreach work on cover crops mitted to providing one-on-one outreach and soil health under a Cover Crop to other area producers seeking to learn Champion grant this year awarded by more about those and other management the National Wildlife Federation to the practices.

Mower SWCD office. The spring field day was part of that grant and covered topCONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE ics that included harvesting and grazing cover crops; no-till and strip-till planting into terminated cover crops; and herbicide options for conventional corn and soybeans.

This fall, Mower SWCD will offer a similar event that once again will start and end at Riverland Community College’s east campus parking lot in northwest Austin, with free busing provided once again to the host sites.

Details on the Fall Field Day’s schedule still need to be finalized but the Cotter, Finnegan and Hamilton farms all have agreed to be host sites during the day.

“We are excited to offer another field day for people of all backgrounds – farmers, ag professionals, students and the general public,” said Steve Lawler, Mower SWCD’s resource specialist and soil scientist. “There continues to be a growing interest in cover crops and soil tim.ruzek@mowerswcd.org

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Steve Lawler of the Mower Soil and Water Conservation District talks May 26 about the soil in a cover crop field in Austin Township as part of a Cover Crop/Soil Health Field Day. Photo provided by Mower SWCD

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2017 MINNESOTA HARVEST FORECAST

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 | SOIL HEALTH

Corn production likely lower than last year; 8M acres planted By the USDA

Minnesota cor n production is forecast at 1.38 billion bushels, down 11 percent from last year, according to the latest USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service - Crop Production report.

Based on conditions as of Aug. 1, yields are expected to average 183 bushels per acre, a decrease of 10 bushels per acre from last year.

Corn planted acreage is estimated at 8 million acres.

An estimated 7.55 million of the acres planted will be harvested for grain.

from the previous record set by last year’s production of 394 million bushels.

The yield is forecast at 49.bushels per acre, 3.5 bushels below 2016. Soybean planted acreage is estimated at 8.2 million acres with 8.15 million acres to be harvested.

SPRING WHEAT UP

Spring wheat production is estimated at 77.5 million bushels, an increase of 4 percent from 2016. Yield is forecast at 61 bushels per acre, unchanged from the July forecast but up two bushels per acre from the 2016 yield.

SOYBEANS AIM FOR If realized, this will be a RECORD record yield for Minnesota, Soybean production is surpassing the current reforecast at a record high cord of 60 bushels per acre 399 million bushels. If real- set in 2015. ized this will be up 1 percent

OATS DOWN

Oat production for grain is forecast at 7.3 million bushels, down 11 percent from last year. The yield is forecast at 73 bushels per acre, up two bushels from July and up fivebushels from 2016.

ALFALFA DOWN

Minnesota hay yield for alfalfa and alfalfa mixtures is forecast at 3 tons per acre, with a total production of 2.7 million tons, a 21 percent decrease in production from 2016. The forecast yield for other hay is 2 tons per acre, with a BARLEY UP production of 1.40 million Barley production is fore- tons. cast at 5.95 million bushels, up 14 percent from 2016.

The forecasts in this Yield is forecast at 70 bush- report are based on Aug.1 els an acre, up three bushels conditions and do not refrom July and up four bush- flect weather effects since els from 2016. that time. The next crop production forecasts, SUGARBEETS DOWN based on conditions as of Sugarbeet production is Sept. 1, will be released on estimated at 12.3 million Sept. 12. tons, down 2 percent from last year. Yield is forecast at a record 30.4 tons per acre, up 0.4 ton from the previous record of 30 tons in 2016.

Program says cover crops offer economic and ecological benefits Mower SWCD’s Fall Field Day also will touch on the state’s Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program, also known as Ag Certainty. The voluntary program was created

by Gov. Mark Dayton as a partnership between federal and state governments and private industry that works with farmers and local SWCDs to identify and fix risks to water quality on a field-by-field, whole-farm basis. Producers who treat all risks to water quality on their operation are certified and deemed in compliance with new water-quality rules and laws for 10 years.

The Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program says cover

crops offer economic and ecological benefits: • Reducing fertilizer costs.

• Improving crop yields by enhancing soil health.

• Reducing the need for herbicides and pesticides.

• Preventing soil erosion.

• Conserving soil moisture.

• Protecting water quality.

• Helping to safeguard personal health.

Those interested in getting updates when the Fall Field Day’s details are finalized should contact Mower SWCD at 507-434-2603 or tim. ruzek@mowerswcd.org to get on an email list for the event or follow the Mower SWCD online via its Facebook page or website (www. mowerswcd.org).

An odd trend in wheat country: not much wheat DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An odd thing has happened in wheat country — a lot of farmers aren’t planting wheat.

Thanks to a global grain glut that has caused prices and profits to plunge, this year farmers planted the fewest acres of wheat since the U.S. Department of Agriculture began keeping records nearly a century ago.

Instead of planting the crop that gave the wheat belt its identity, many farmers are

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opting this year for crops that might be less iconic but are suddenly in demand, such as chickpeas and lentils, used in hummus and healthy snacks.

“People have gone crazy with chickpeas.

It’s unbelievable how many acres there are,” said Kirk Hansen, who farms 350 acres (142 hectares) south of Spokane in eastern Washington, where wheat’s reign as the king crop has been challenged.

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Mower County 4-H Calendar SEPTEMBER 8-10 — State Shoot, Fairmont, Martin County.

12 — Advisory board and leaders meeting, 4-H Building, 6:30 p.m.

15-18 — State Horse Show – Minnesota State Fairgrounds 24-25 — State Dog Show – Minnesota State Fairgrounds 30 — Last day of the 4-H Year 2016-2017 OCTOBER • Awards banquet applications can be found on Mower County 4-H website.

1 — New 4-H year begins 2-8 — National 4-H Week 4 — Advisory board meeting 7 p.m. 4-H Building 13 — Shooting Sports and Wildlife kickoff meeting 7 p.m. 4-H Building.

17 — Ambassador meeting 7 p.m. 4-H Building 18 — Records due to the Extension Office or leader 18 — Club Charters due 18 — Leaders meeting 6:30 p.m.

Extension Office 20 — Fall Regional Outing

24 — Banquet applications are due to the Extension Office 28 — 4-H Haunted House NOVEMBER 1 — Advisory board meeting, 7 p.m. 4-H building 3 — Auction committee meeting 6:30 p.m. 4-H Building 7 — Last day to order tickets for banquet 7 — Ag Society meeting 4-H Building 10 — Livestock committee meeting 7 p.m. 4-H Building 11 — Extension Office closed 15 — Banquet, 6:30 p.m. Sacred Heart Church, Adams 15 — No leaders meeting. Please attend banquet 21 — Ambassadors meeting 7 p.m. 4-H Building 24-25 — Extension Office closed, Happy Thanksgiving!

DECEMBER 6 — Advisory Board meeting-7 p.m. 4-H building 19 — Ambassadors meeting 7 p.m. 4-H Building 20 — Leaders meeting 6:30 p.m.

Extension Office

Deadline to nominate a 4-H volunteer for a Salute to Excellence Award is Sept. 15 U of M Extension

Consider nominating an outstanding volunteer for a 2018 4-H Salute to Excellence Award.

This National 4-H volunteer recognition award honors volunteers who demonstrate exemplary service to 4-H, while promoting service through volunteerism as both an opportunity and a privilege.

Nominations are accept-

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ed in two categories: • The Volunteer of the Year Award is for individuals who have served as 4-H volunteers for less than 10 years at the local, county, district or state level.

• The Outstanding Lifetime Volunteer Award is for individuals who have served 10 or more years at the local, county, district or state level.

Minnesota will select an individual in each category to advance to regional

competition.

A nomination will consist of an overview of the applicant’s 4-H and relevant community volunteer experiences and two letters of recommendation.

For application support and to submit your nomination, contact Extension Educator and Volunteer Systems Director Becky Harrington at willi107@ umn.edu or 218-236-2012.

All nomination materials are due by Sept. 15.

WASHINGTON DC & GETTYSBURG FALL MYSTERY TOUR - ALL NEW 7 DAY TOUR! AUTUMN IN THE SMOKY MOUNTAINS

OCTOBER 14 - 20, 2017 OCTOBER 15 - 21, 2017 OCTOBER 24 - 29, 2017

$1169 $1079 $929

CHRISTMAS BRANSON

NOVEMBER 2 - 5, 2017

$629

DANIEL O’DONNELL, THE MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET, THE BALDKNOBBERS JAMBOREE SHOW, MIRACLE OF CHRISTMAS

CHRISTMAS BRANSON

NOVEMBER 9 - 12, 2017

$629

DANIEL O’DONNELL, THE TEXAS TENORS, A TRIBUTE TO ALABAMA, DIXIE STAMPEDE DINNER SHOW

CHRISTMAS BRANSON

NOVEMBER 16 - 19, 2017

$629

DANIEL O’DONNELL, A TRIBUTE TO FRANKIE VALLI & THE FOUR SEASONS, LEGENDS IN CONCERT, PRESLEY’S COUNTRY JUBILEE

A COUNTRY CHRISTMAS IN NASHVILLE HAWAII - GREAT WINTER GET-A-WAY FLORIDA DEEP SOUTH TEXAS SPRING MYSTERY TOUR - ALL NEW 7 DAY TOUR! MYRTLE BEACH & CHARLESTON, SC NEW ORLEANS & LAFAYETTE, LA HOLLAND, MI TULIP FESTIVAL ARK ENCOUNTER & CREATION MUSEUM NIAGARA FALLS & TORONTO, ONT MACKINAC ISLAND, MI TRAINS IN THE COLORADO ROCKIES CALGARY STAMPEDE & CANADIAN ROCKIES ALASKA - LAND AND 7 DAY CRUISE NW CIRCLE & YELLOWSTONE

NOV. 28 - DEC. 3, 2017 $1229 JANUARY 6 - 14, 2018 $3999 FEBRUARY 4 - 17, 2018 $2369 MARCH 3 - 16, 2018 $2199 APRIL 10 - 16, 2018 $1099 APRIL 21 - 29, 2018 $1449 MAY 4 - 14, 2018 $1779 MAY 11 - 13, 2018 $479 MAY 16 - 20, 2018 $799 JUNE 12 - 17, 2018 $959 JUNE 15 - 17, 2018 $479 JUNE 21 - 30, 2018 $1609 JULY 7 - 15, 2018 $1559 JULY 24 - AUG 4, 2018 STARTING AT $4849 AUGUST 2 - 17, 2018 $2649

AUSTIN DAILY HERALD  AUTUMN AG