Mankato mag 5 15

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FEATURE S May 2015 Volume 10, Issue 5

20

How does your garden grow?

We’re here to help it along.

19

Color Splash!

Take a quick tour through some of the area’s most beautiful home gardens.

24

In his own words

Jonathan Zierdt’s life in the last few years has been a roller coaster. He’ll tell us what he’s learned from it all.

About the Cover Our cover model this month, striking a very American Gothic-esque pose, is Paul Loomis of Winnebago.

His garden stand right on Highway 169 has become an iconic part of the Winnebago landscape.

MANKATO MAGAZINE • may 2015 • 3

DEPARTMENTS 6 From the Editor 8 This Day in History 9 The Gallery

9

Lori Wolf

14 Day Trip Destinations ComiCon X 2 24 Beyond the Margin Gardening’s unmistakable appeal 33 Food, Drink & Dine 34 Food

36 Wine

14

Meet a future dietitian California varietals, part 2

37 Beer Farm Girl 38 Happy Hour A hidden NYC gem 40 What’s Cookin’?

The unheralded green onion

44 That’s Life It sucks to be us 46 Garden Chat The joy and pain of gardening 48 Your Style Dear Men: Please stop wearing this 50 Coming Attractions 53 Faces & Places

34

37

56 From This Valley People’s Fair, revisited

Coming in June

48 4 • may 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

50

Playtime! We bring you stories about bringing out the kid in us, including a feature on some ultra-busy families.

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From The Associate EDITOR

By Robb Murray May 2015 • VOLUME 10, ISSUE 5 PUBLISHER James P. Santori EDITOR Joe Spear ASSOCIATE Robb Murray EDITOR CONTRIBUTORS Nell Musolf Pete Steiner Jean Lundquist Sarah Johnson Heidi Sampson Leticia Gonzales Leigh Pomeroy Bert Mattson Ann Rosenquist Fee PHOTOGRAPHERS John Cross Pat Christman PAGE DESIGNER Christina Sankey ADVERTISING Ginny Bergerson MANAGER ADVERTISING Jen Wanderscheid Sales Theresa Haefner ADVERTISING Barb Wass ASSISTANT ADVERTISING Sue Hammar DESIGNERS Christina Sankey

CIRCULATION Denise Zernechel DIRECTOR

Mankato Magazine is published by The Free Press Media monthly at 418 South Second St., Mankato MN 56001.

To subscribe, call 1-800-657-4662 or 507-625-4451. $35.40 for 12 issues.

For editorial inquiries, call Robb Murray at 344-6386, or e-mail rmurray@mankatofreepress.com.

For advertising, call 344-6336, or e-mail mankatomag@mankatofreepress.com.

6 • may 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

Go ahead, get dirty!

It’s the season of growing and renewal

I

t was, quite frankly, a disaster.

The garden for which I’d had high hopes — half dozen tomato plants, half dozen pepper plants, a dozen strawberry bushes, cucumbers, watermelon — was in complete disarray. By July 1 it was impossible to tell weed from plant.

The rows I thought were straight were only straight in a ... non-linear sort of way. Many of my plants died, and the ones that survived bore little fruit. A garden that has produced more tomatoes than any family can cut up into salsa or toss into salads was barely keeping up.

Cucumbers hidden by weed growth grew too large to be enjoyed. Peppers simply never grew, or those that did were all runts. And those strawberry bushes? My son thought they were weeds. Pulled ‘em all up one day. Thought he was doing a good job. (Which he was — a good job at crushing my dreams of fresh strawberry smoothies!)

This horticultural debacle was nicely juxtaposed, of course, by the stunning work of neighborhood newcomer Lee, an elderly Chinese gentleman whose garden is so close to mine that I could chuck an overgrown zucchini into it. Lee’s garden was, in a word, perfect.

Rows straight as military marching lines. Cabbage as big as basketballs. Tomato plants tall, stately and full of perfect, baseball-sized fruit.

Onions with long, emerald green stems. And garlic. Who even grows garlic? I’ll tell you who: Lee. And he grows it like a pro.

His English is limited, so a detailed discussion between the two of us on the finer points of backyard gardening is out of the question. But I can learn from Lee the old-fashioned way. I can be nosy. I can sit on my deck with a beer in my hand and study the man. I can take meticulous notes on his every move. I can copy every single thing he does in his garden and replicate it in mine.

Or ...

I can read the advice in this month’s issue of Mankato

Magazine.

Nice segue, huh?

Seriously, this month’s issue is all about getting you excited about getting your hands dirty, getting you back outside, helping you become one with the earth again.

Or at least try to.

We’ve spoken with gardening experts from around the region and came up with a good launching point for you to get started this year with confidence. It’s all part of our efforts to help you not screw up your garden this year like I did mine last year.

And to give you some inspiration, we’ve got a great story that features some local gardeners. There are no doubt hundreds of people in the area who could compete for top gardener or best garden.

We’ve assembled just a few and picked their brains a little bit for your reading pleasure and gardenimprovement needs.

When you’re done reading about all that gardening stuff, I suggest you pour a cup of coffee and sit down for a thoughtful reading of a very special essay this month.

You’ve no doubt heard of Jonathan Zierdt, the always-enthusiastic CEO of Greater Mankato Growth.

You may have even read in the Mankato Free Press about his battle with cancer. Well, this month, Jonathan tells you his story in his own words, and it’s a perfect tale of triumph and of the fighting spirit southern Minnesota is known for.

Don’t miss it.

Finally, a note about this very magazine you’re reading. You might notice it looks a little different. That’s because we’ve tweaked the design a little — we think for the better. Type faces, sizes and fonts have changed, and we’ve jazzed things up a little graphically.

We hoping you’re OK with it. M Robb Murray is a s s o c i a t e e d i t o r of Ma n k a t o Magazine. Contact him at rmurray@mankatofreepress.com or 344-6386

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This Day in history:

By Jean Lundquist

Friday, May 5, 1911 Rollins Could Not See The Joke; Hence Warrant Charges William Jessup With Having Stolen Hens; Grand Larceny In Second Degree William Jessup was arrested today on a warrant gotten out by B. F. Rollins charging him with grand larceny in the second degree, with the theft of a hen from the chicken coop in the night time. He will be arraigned this afternoon. Jessup is the man whom Rollins overtook the other day and took a hen from. A neighbor had informed Mr. Rollins that she had seen Jessup a moment before enter Mr. Rollins’ hen yard and take the fowl and go down the street with it.

Mr. Rollins followed the noise of the squawking, and came upon Mr. Jessup as he was putting the fowl into a bag. When he took the fowl away from Mr. Jessup, the latter said nothing. Mr. Rollins has missed several fowls of late. Jessup remarked to Mr. Rollins that he took the hen as a joke, but the joke now seems to be upon Jessup.

Tuesday, May 18, 1886 Local Brevities n W. H. Morley, esq., an English expert in clays, recently spent some time in an examination of the clay deposits of this vicinity. He has made some valuable discoveries and if the necessary capital can be interested, will utilize them. n Business was quite dull last week, owing in part to the muddy roads and also to the busy times among the farmers. n J. A. Presley, Jr., received last Wednesday the largest shipment of bananas ever brought to this city at one time, 150 large bunches.

COLOR We see it.

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Saturday, May 10, 1958 99 Year Old Woman To Note Mothers Day Here Mrs. John Peterman, who is 99 years old last Feb. 1, will spend Mothers Day tomorrow with her daughter, Mrs. Walter O. Zell, at the residence hall of Mankato State College. Mrs. Peterman was born at Red Wing in 1859 where her parents had moved from Buffalo, New York by covered wagon. She remembers and can tell you about the Indians who lived near her home in those pioneer days. Although she has been confined to a chair for 11 years she makes good use of her time by crocheting, reading the newspapers every day and watching TV, where she has several favorite programs.

Friday, May 6, 1955 The newest addition to the Sibley park zoo is this week-old burro with his mother, “Sally,” one of four burros brought to the zoo four years ago from Mexico. Born during the noon hour last Friday, the young burro is being kept in a stall in a garage. Oliver Moyer, zoo superintendent, said he plans to turn Sally and her young out next week if warm weather continues. The young burro, a male according to Moyer, is a frisky young animal. “I let them out briefly the other day. I had all I could do to hold him,” the superintendent remarked. He also said the zoo is now officially open for the summer.

Wednesday, May 15, 1940 Wintery Blasts Discourage Anglers As Season Opens There may have been a few hardy souls who braved the wintery blast of a cold north wind and rough gray water this morning to open the pike and pickerel season in the waters around the city, but if there were, they have not been heard from as yet which would seem to indicate that they either caught no fish (anyone who caught any fish would certainly be heard from) or they froze to death.

Most of the anglers planning to start the yearly foray on their tasty walleyes and the gamey northern pike (pickerel) today, took a quick look at the blustery weather this morning and decided that luck would probably be better this afternoon, anyway.

The Gallery: Lori Wolf

By Nell Musolf

Teaching her passion Lori Wolf loves teaching, making art

I

n addition to being the assistant head speech coach — and one act play director at Loyola as well as the local coordinator for International Experience, the organization that helps students from other countries find host families in America, the mother of three daughters, wife of radiologist Dr. Michael Wolf — Mankato resident Lori Wolf is also an artist.

Wolf and her family moved to Mankato from Montana 12 years ago when her husband signed on with the Mayo Clinic. Since her daughters were attending Loyola, Wolf volunteered her artistic talents to the academic institution and taught middle school art for several years. Her reason behind offering to teach art was not only altruistic but pragmatic as well.

“One of the best ways to spy on your children is to volunteer at their school,” she shared. “You’ll know everything that is going on.”

Her plan worked and Wolf was kept well informed as her daughters made their way through the Loyola school system. Although Samantha, Miranda and Stephanie have all graduated from high school and moved on to college, Wolf is still firmly attached to Loyola and her commitment shows in such things as the colorful mural painted on the walls of Fitzgerald Middle School as well as batik banners she created that are hanging in the school’s recently renovated gymnasium. Her art has also graced the sets of the school’s theater.

“The art that I create is usually fairly large,” Wolf said. “I just finished doing

one that is four feet four inches by eight feet and one eight foot by eight foot batik paintings for the latest one act play.”

Wolf also works with the children at Camp Oz of the Mayo Clinic’s Hospice to create murals in memory of lost loves ones. Under Wolf’s guidance the children, who range in age from 6 to 16, are encouraged to use art to express whatever emotions they are experiencing. Wolf said that while the children at Camp Oz are each dealing with a wide variety of losses, the art that she helps them create hopefully gives them a concrete way of expressing some of what they are feeling. One project that she did with the children at Camp Oz was called the Tree of Remembrance.

“We made a big tree and each child got an empty person to decorate for one of the branches,” Wolf explained. “We decorated each person they decorated with a red heart that had the loved one’s initials and the child’s initials in it, just like a tree with initials in a heart carved into the bark.”

Helping the children at Camp Oz has been “devastatingly wonderful,” Wolf said.

“Another project we did had the children writing the name of the person who was gone on a piece of paper.

The kids then turned the paper into a bead-like object that they could then wear around their necks or keep close to them in another way so that it was always near them,” Wolf said. But Wolf doesn’t believe art helps only with sad feelings.

“Art can help people express all kinds of emotions,” Wolf observed.

“Sometimes people are feeling happy but they don’t know how to express it.

Art can get it out there.”

Working with children, be it through art, coaching the speech team or directing a one act play is clearly Wolf’s joy. She especially likes working with an age group that many adults often avoid: seventh and eighth graders.

“They aren’t little kids anymore but they aren’t really teenagers either. And yes, they can be awful one day and wonderful the next but I’m the same way. I can be mad at them one day when I’m directing a play and thrilled with them the next. It all works out.”

Wolf especially likes it when a child she’s working with realizes that he or she has a previously undiscovered talent, be it in speech or art or acting.

“There are so many kids who truly think that they can’t do anything. When they realize that they can draw or give a speech it is so rewarding to see the confidence that they develop and to see them bloom. I remember one boy I had in my art class who came in and told me that he couldn’t draw. I taught him how to draw a feather and from that point on he drew a feather on absolutely everything!”

Wolf plans to continue with her art and teaching at Loyola.

“The kids love me and I truly love them. Even the naughty ones because every day is a clean slate for all of us.”

MANKATO MAGAZINE • may 2015 • 9

10 • may 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

Beyond the margin

By Joe Spear

Gardening offers bonds that F

lowers and beautiful gardens are easy to take for granted.

Renowned host of “A Prairie Home Companion” and native Minnesotan Garrison Keillor says gardens are a gift. The people who are good gardeners are certainly gifted, but anyone who gardens and produces beautiful things in their yard is giving a gift to all their neighbors and even strangers who just happen to pass by.

I’ve come to appreciate this sentiment, living in a neighborhood and a city with outstanding gardens.

Vincent van Gogh was a great impressionist painter, and one can appreciate his painting “Three Wonderful Irises,” (pictured at left) if only because it casts a new light on the real deal and is a great attempt at recreating what nature perfected.

But when I sit and look at the irises in my wife’s garden (also pictured at left), there’s no comparison. And the great part about that is an original van Gogh would cost millions of dollars. The planted irises are free. And anyone who can rustle up a few bulbs from the garden center, or better yet, from a generous neighbor, has at least tripled their return on investment for beauty.

The Mankato region has hundreds of dedicated people who tend to beautiful gardens. These gardens offer a civic good but also a kind of inspiration that is subtle, yet powerful.

Lyle Jacobson for years ran the manufacturing company known as Katolight.

A few years ago he began donating thousands of dollars to beautify downtown with the hanging flower baskets that grace the CityArt sculpture walk.

Malda Farnham also has been a longtime volunteer in efforts to beautify the city with gardens. A retired Minnesota State University professor and member of the Mankato Planning Commission

grow

for years, she’s has long maintained the city’s “sunken” garden at Broad and Warren streets. Her home a block away is known to many as place to appreciate beautiful flowers.

She has also helped coordinate the Adopt-A-Planter program for the city, where the city provides planters and flowers and businesses agree to maintain them through the summer.

The Mankato Zonta group maintains the green space at Riverfront Drive and Madison Avenue, and the Twilight Garden Club, around since the 1960s, maintains the gardens at Mankato’s Historic Hubbard House.

And many of us do not have to go far in our own neighborhoods to find an awe-inspiring garden. My neighbors, Phil and Elaine Meyer, have for decades offered the neighborhood a tremendous garden that includes various unique structures of sculpted steel and stained glass. Their efforts have been the inspiration for our own gardens.

Gardens also offer community connections.

We may be underestimating the power of gardens as a way to find some common ground. We can all agree that most of what nature offers is beautiful beyond comprehension, and endures beyond our lifetimes. Gardens can soften one’s outlook on life. The most cynical reporter I ever knew loved gardening.

We also underestimate how flowers can help keep alive for years — decades even — the memories of people we loved.

My grandmother was born in 1900 and died in 2008. She lost her World War I veteran husband early in life but continued on with all the things that make life worth living. She took buses from her home in North Minneapolis to help take care of her grandchildren

in St. Paul.

She loved yellow roses. When she died, she left each of her 16 grandchildren a small sum of money to use as they please. It was enough to splurge on a small vacation, but we put some of it toward buying the yellow roses she loved.

They’re hard to grow in Minnesota, according to the garden catalogues.

We bought one and the first few years seemed iffy. About the third year, it bloomed and has been going strong ever since.

The irises my wife Gretchen has tended in our yard for years were from her grandfather’s garden on Rose Street in Owatonna. These iris bulbs are decades old and my wife has since given bulbs to other relatives. Her grandfather’s garden is finding new life all over Minnesota.

When I first understood that iris bulbs can be planted and replanted for decades I was really stunned. There’s a certain immortality in that.

My wife’s grandfather was the famous Lawrence “Lefty” Ringhofer, longtime storied editor of the Owatonna People’s Press. He was a newspaperman of course, with a love for gardening.

It may be something those of us who watch the world go by every day, with its war and strife, find comforting.

So for the gift of gardening, we thank Lyle, Malda, Zonta, the Twilight club, Lefty, Phil and Elaine, Gretchen, Grandma Julia and gardeners everywhere.

Joe Spear is editor of Mankato Magazine. Contact him at 344-6382 or jspear@mankatofreepress.com

MANKATO MAGAZINE • may 2015 • 11

Day Trip Destinations: comic Con

By Leticia Gonzales

If you love comic books, science fiction novels or science fiction television, you’ll fit right in at a comicon.

A place where

WEIRD is good!

Comic books are seeing a resurgence — coventions offer the ultimate fan experience

F

rom zombies to super heroes, comic books are all the rage as pop culture continues to put out countless movies and television shows for current or would-be fans. This emergence of fandom has helped grow the comic convention industry.

Jerry Milani, public relations manager for Wizard World, which hosts Comic Con conventions throughout the U.S., said the recent growth has impacted his events.

“Wizard World has been doing shows since 1998,” said Milani. “Our first show back in the day was the Chicago event. That show has grown to a large fourday show in August. It’s the biggest show in the Midwest.”

In the past few years, Wizard World has doubled its 12 • may 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

conventions to keep up with the craze.

“The growth of the industry has helped us, and we are part of it,” said Milani.

Last year Wizard World hosted 16 shows, up from the eight they did in 2013.

“We have to go places that people love pop culture and people love this kind of event,” he said.

This year Wizard World has 25 events planned, including the second-year event at the Minneapolis Convention Center May 1-3. Milani said his organization recently announced plans to co-brand with China, which would mark their first convention held outside of North America.

“We are kind of expanding and bursting, and Minneapolis is part of that expansion and burst,” he said.

Go If you

What Wizard World Comic Con, Where Minneapolis Convention Center When 3-8 p.m. May 1, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

May 2, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 3

Admission $35 to $199.99, depending on package.

There are additional costs for autographs, photo ops and meet and greets.

Children 10 and under get in FREE when accompanied by a paying adult(Limit two per paid adult admissions) Visit wizardworld.com for more details.

Milani said last year’s “popculture event” drew thousands of fans, and he hopes this year will do the same.

“Our selection of celebrities that attend the event is wider and broader than ever,” he said.

Wizard World Comic Con Minneapolis will feature celebrities such as Morena Baccarin, star of “Firefly,” “Serenity” and “Homeland;” Kevin Conroy of “Batman: The Animated Series;” Alanna Masterson, from “The Walking Dead;” and Kevin Sorbo of “Hercules,” to name a few.

“We run our shows a little more differently – a little more interactive,” said Milani. You get to meet the celebrities, you get photo ops.”

In addition to Q&A and autograph sessions with celebrities such as Luke Perry and Kristy Swanson, fans can participate in meet and greets with Karl Urban, from “The Lord of the Rings,” and Jason David Frank, from the popular “Power Rangers” TV show.

Milani said the experience is similar to that of a carnival.

“Maybe you are a big fan of Spiderman or Superman, and you get to actually talk to the artist about drawing,” he said. “It’s that interaction with celebrities, with artists, with other fans. Lots of fans get dressed up and celebrate their fandom.”

Cosplay has become a huge part of the experience, which describes fans that come dressed up in their own comic creation, or their favorite character or celebrity.

“It’s a broad audience,” said Milani.

From families, to guys with their girlfriends and

w i v e s , or kids, they are all together for a common cause.

“They are with like-minded folks,” Milani said.

“It’s expanded to pop-culture. It’s television, it’s movies, it’s art, it’s video games. It’s everything you can experience.”

The recent wave of comic-based and Marvel-based movies such as “Guardians of the Galaxy,” have contributed to the growth of fans. The continual release of entertainment has prompted Wizard World to produce a new digital network called CONtv, which launched in March.

“It’s a pretty exciting thing, because it’s the first network that is dedicated to the comic con,” Milani said.

Offered as both a free ad-supported platform and a $6.99/month subscription, CONtv is offered on a variety of platforms such as Roku, Apple iOS, Android, Xbox, Samsung, Smart TV, mobile, and tablet devices. In addition to covering events the network will offer original programming.

Some of that programming includes a game show featuring Bruce Campbell, called “Last Fan Standing,” and Jason David Frank’s show, “My Morphing Life.”

“It’s about his life now,” said Milani about Frank’s show. “He owns martial arts studios; he has been traveling around the world. He goes to every one of our shows, so it’s a lot of interaction.”

Not only can fans watch content from the Wizard World Comic Con events, but they will able to access many of the cult classics not found elsewhere, as well as anime, super hero action movies, sci-fi, horror and fantasy films.

MANKATO MAGAZINE • may 2015 • 13

Meanwhile, across town …

MSP ComiCon says it’s more about the books

M

innesota is no stranger to comic book who has worked with Image Comics in the U.S.; and conventions. The Midwest Comic Comic Book Artists, Chris Herndon and Aaron Kuder.

Book Association hosts several events “We certainly have more coming,” Frigon said. each year dedicated to the culture and Overall, the event is “very comic and graphic-arts love of the industry. focused,” he added. “They will see independent artists “We actually started off as the Minnesota Comic that will kind of do this as they are trying to break in, Book Association,” said Mike Frigon, President of and they are doing it kind of after hours, kind of after Midwest Comic Book Association. “We had our first their day job.” show in 1989. It started very much as an association of Despite the upswing in the industry, Frigon said his comic book fans, who just wanted to have a organization has tried to remain “true to their roots.” convention.”

“We have stayed the course; we have grown, just Their larger annual event, May 16 and 17 at the tried to make it bigger and better,” he said. “I think we Minnesota State Fair Grounds this year, is not your can safety say there were a few hundred to a thousand typical convention. for the first few shows, and we have grown to roughly “We are not about making a lot of money; we are 5,500 to 6,000 for the two-day show.” about doing it for the love of comic books and the The increase in fans, Frigon said, is driven by the graphic arts, and supporting the community,” said media and pop culture.

Frigon. “We do have some charities that we support.”

“The comic book industry has changed dramatically, From the Minneapolis College of Art and Design with a much more corporate approach to things,” he and the Lupus Foundation of Minnesota, to the said. “As far as the crowd goes, with the advent of the Greyhounds of America, and the Comic Book Legal comic book movies and the television shows like “Big Defense Fund, the Midwest Comic Book Association Bang theory,” that has kind of brought new fans.” supports and donates to a variety of organizations, as Frigon said his organization has seen a change in well as to their local food shelf. the demographics of fans as well.

The event, which is completely run by about 70 “We are seeing a lot more women, girls,” he said. volunteers, is also about “giving independent artists “We are seeing people that may have grown up with and the professionals a stage to show their talents,” comic books and have come back wondering what Frigon said. has changed. We are seeing kind of an exponential Guests can not only participate in Q&A panels with growth not only in gender, but in age brackets as various artists and writers from Marvel, DC and Dark well.”

Horse Comics, but they can interact with fortune tellers and take drawing classes.

“We like to have our guests be very, very accessible,” he said. “A lot of the local talent, who have really hit it big with Marvel and DC, are really good about showing up.”

Names such as Doug Mahnke, who works for What DC Comics as an artist on MSP ComiCon books such as “Green Lantern”; Grand Stand at the Pat Gleason, also from DC Comics Minnesota State Fair Grounds, and who is currently drawing “Batman St. Paul, Minn. and Robin”; Dan Jergens, an American comic book writer and artist for When Marvel and DC Comics; May 16 and 17, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Peter Gross, who works for DC comics and Admission just finished an acclaimed series $12 admission for adults, good for both days (pay at the door only) called “The Unwritten.” $1 off admission with donation of a non-perishable food item Other guests include Children 9 and under get in FREE when accompanied by a Aaron Lopresti, an paid adult. Parking is FREE onsite American comic Visit midwestcomicbook.com or email book artist who mcbanews@gmail.com for more details. has worked for Marvel Comics, DC Comics, and Image Comics; Ben Templesmith, an Australian comic book artist

Go If you

14 • may 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

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“Marcia Richards says perennials are a favorite of hers because of the color they bring.”

16 • may 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

Color Splash We take a quick tour through a few yards that make our community more beautiful

By Jean Lundquist | Submitted Photos

D

riving through Mankato neighborhoods in the spring and summer immediately indicates the houses where people with green thumbs live. Their yards, patios and decks are adorned with the color and texture of living plants. There is an obvious plan in place for their landscapes.

Marcia Richards lives in a townhouse on Apple Nook in the Mankato hilltop. Her cul de sac is most likely named for the apple orchard that grew there years before the townhouses were built.

Richards has adapted to a number of challenges her property offers. One challenge is staying within the rules of the association’s covenants, and finding colors of flowers for her front yard that complement the color of her home, which she describes as “taupey rose.”

Another is a shady back yard that abuts a ravine, and a block wall in back.

Most of Richards’ creativity is in her back yard, though she likes to plant alyssum in the front, along her walk, to soften it a bit. She also took out the pre-planted shrubbery in her front yard. “It was not a very interesting view from my kitchen table.”

MANKATO MAGAZINE • may 2015 • 17

“Harriet Plotz says she loves to plant zinnias because, in her deer-heavy neighborhood, they’re one of the few that deer won’t eat.”

Perennials are a favorite, Richards says, because they provide an early splash of color every year.

Richards also likes to plant tulips and other perennial bulbs for that springtime delight, but says she always runs out of time in the fall when they need to be planted, so she has fewer perennials than annual flowers.

She plants red salvia every year, because they attract hummingbirds. But other insect- and birdfriendly plants are also important to her. Aware of the declining bee population, Richards tries to plant things that are both showy, and pollinator-friendly.

“It’s very important to me that I attract good bugs,” she says. Last summer Richards planted dill and other herbs with limited success. “There were so few butterflies last year.”

Richards likes to find inspiration in what others plant and grow. There is a corner lot in Bloomington just off U. S. Highway 169 on Old Shakopee Road that has given her ideas for her own garden. “It’s a boulevard garden and it’s very eye18 • may 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

catching,” she says.

That boulevard is planted with annuals that require little watering, and are attractive even as they dry, she says.

Richards has tried to grow tomatoes and some other vegetables in her gardens, but the woodchucks living in the ravine seemed to get to them before she does. She’s still trying, using container boxes.

“Using container boxes, including hanging baskets, are a challenge to keep watered,” she says. “Even a week away means you almost have to hire someone to come in and water at least twice a day.”

Richards is a life-long gardener, crediting an aunt for introducing her to the hobby. Richards is retired from a family-owned business.

The Kennedys

Pat and Joyce Kennedy live and garden on Bennett Street in North Mankato near Monroe School. Pat Kennedy, a Fed-Ex driver by day, began gardening seriously about 10 years ago. “I dug out a lilac bush

that had been bothering me. After that, there was a hole in the ground, so I put in a pond. It all took off from there.”

Kennedy doesn’t know exactly where his passion for gardening came from. He says, “You don’t know how much you like it until you actually do it.”

He maintains a small vegetable garden at his mom’s home in Eagle Lake, but his yard in North Mankato is dedicated to flowers, ferns and hostas.

Kennedy uses annual plants to add to his perennial gardens to bring in some color. “Perennials flower a short period of time, but annuals are constant color.”

As he plans his yard/garden, Kennedy says he likes it to look as “natural as possible.” Kennedy gardens with birds in mind. “Bird watching and gardening go hand in hand as far as I’m concerned. I garden for the birds.”

Last year, the Kennedy yard/garden was a stop on the Zonta Garden tour. “We went on the tour the year before, and my wife was talking to the Zonta women about our garden, and last year, we were on the Zonta tour. Gardening is my passion, but she enjoys it. She says I kind of go overboard sometimes.”

Other, more informal tours also take place in the Kennedy yard. “Neighbors give their guests tours of our garden. I don’t want to hide it, I love it,” he says.

Kennedy doesn’t worry about his garden when he vacations. “I take my vacation so I can garden. I take a vacation in May so I can get my garden going.

I take a vacation in October so I can close my garden down.”

Should he take some time away in the summer, a neighbor is recruited to water his container plants.

“Otherwise, my garden is self-sufficient.”

Kennedy says there are no set rules about gardening. His favorite plants last year were Asiatic lilies. The year before this favorites were ferns, and the year before that, hostas. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” he says. “As long as you’re happy with it, it’s beautiful.”

Kennedy gets to his vegetable garden in Eagle Lake two or three times a week. He says it’s not hard for him to not visit every day, but “If I only saw my perennial garden that often, I would miss it.”

made accessions to that fact, trying to plant varieties that deer won’t eat.

Rather than tulips, she plants daffodils.

Zinnias don’t seem to attract deer, she says, so she plants many zinnias. But her favorite plants are old fashioned roses.

English roses in shades of pink, white and yellows will grace her garden this year. “I’m going to dig out the roses that are not doing so well, and replace them,” she says. “My husband doesn’t know this yet.”

For his part, Merlyn Plotz is accepting of Harriet’s endeavors in the garden. “She does the flowers, and I do the veggies,” he says.

Harriet is open to new plants, but she’s learned to avoid deep red colors, as they fade in the sunlight.

She leans toward zinnias and fancy marigold varieties for annuals.

Last year, after the ground had warmed enough, she planted something known as elephant ears for the first time in her garden. She intends to plant the annual bulb again this year.

Unlike many gardeners with bulbs that need to be dug up and over-wintered in a root cellar to survive, Plotz does not dig bulbs or corms. “I have no place to keep them, so I just buy new each year,” she says.

It’s true that serenity is found in the garden, and gardening is truly a way of showing that you believe in tomorrow. MM

Harriet Plotz

Often gardening is a solitary endeavor. Just the gardener, the soil, some seeds, some weeds and some plants are involved. For Harriet Plotz of upper North Mankato, it’s much more social than that.

Plotz is a University of Minnesota Extension Service Master Gardener and the President of the local Twilight Garden Club.

In addition to her home yard and garden, Plotz and the members of the Twilight Garden Club are responsible for the gardens at the Blue Earth County Historical Society’s Hubbard House in Mankato.

Every Tuesday evening starting in May, Twilight Garden Club members meet at the Hubbard House to dead head plants, divide plants, weed beds, and enjoy the company of other gardeners. Plotz says in recent years, after the work is done, members break out lawn chairs and socialize a bit on the porch and on the lawns.

At home in upper North Mankato on Clair Court, Plotz says she lives along the “deer highway,” and has

“Pat and Joyce Kennedy’s Bennett Street home in lower North Mankato is full of flowers, ferns and hostas.”

MANKATO MAGAZINE • may 2015 • 19

How

does

your

garden

grow?

If your answer is ‘Not very well,’ then we’re here to help

By Leticia Gonzales | Photos by John Cross

A

fter months of below-zero temps and snow-covered grounds, most Minnesotans are anxious for spring to come.

Gardeners get especially antsy as they await the chance to get their hands in the soil and their plants in the ground.

Well, you’re in luck. As we come to the cusp of prime get-in-your-garden-andget-dirty time, we queried some experts in our area and gathered a series of tips and pieces of gardening advice you can use to make sure that this year, your garden gets done the right way.

20 • may 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

Karl Struck of the Traverse des Sioux Garden Center tends to his greenhouse plants.

Let’s grow!

Outdoor gardening in Minnesota shouldn’t start until after the first frost, which Karl Struck, manager at Traverse des Sioux Garden Center in St. Peter, said is usually around the first and 15th of May. “A lot of our local garden centers will have the smaller plants already started and going,” he said. “For a beginner, it’s easier for them to plant those directly than start it from seed. Sometimes the seed can be fickle; we don’t want them to be discouraged right away.”

Struck said it’s important to ensure the container you use for planting indoors has drainage holes, to allow the soil to breathe so it doesn’t become too soggy.

It’s also important to use a light soil, that isn’t “too clay based.” He described the soil in Minnesota as “dense and black,” which is “good for outdoor corn crop and soy beans, but not good for vegetables.”

He suggested using a peat moss to lighten up the soil and to “give it more drainage.”

For those just starting out in gardening, Struck suggested planting what he calls, “the salsa mix.”

His favorite plants to create the mix are the Roma and the big boy tomatoes, mixed with peppers such as jalapeño, cayenne, serrano, and bell peppers

“Between tomatoes and peppers, those are some of the easier things for a beginner to grow,” Struck said. “It’s always kind of better to start things that aren’t too complicated. Some of the vines like cucumbers and pumpkins are easy to grow, but they need to be out in a garden and need room to grow.”

Struck said the Minnesota River Valley features soil that is perfect for growing berry crops such as raspberries and strawberries.

“They kind of get overlooked, because they do take up space in the garden, but once you plant them, they always come back; they are a perennial,” he said. “Once they plant it that first year, they don’t have to worry about it. There’s not too much maintenance for those plants.”

He suggested choosing a spot further off in the yard that you can forget about, as each raspberry plant will take up about five square feet of space, while strawberries take up one square feet of space.

Plan ahead

According to Betty Koberoski, who has co-owned Edenvale Nursery in Mankato with her husband Jim for 38 years, timing is everything when it comes to deciding when to plant your garden.

“Some plants do not like to be planted early,” MANKATO MAGAZINE • may 2015 • 21

22 • may 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

she said.

While there are some early crops that will do fine when the temperature of the soil is less than 50 degrees, most crops will only thrive when the soil temperature is at least 60 degrees.

“I think people get excited about putting a tomato plant in early, because they can’t wait to eat that first tomato,” said Koberoski.

Some of the foods that can be in the ground when it is cool include what Kobersoksi described as the super foods; kale, peas, radishes, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage.

“The warm temperature plants really don’t do anything in cool ground; they have to have 60 degree temperatures if they want to do any growing at all,” she said.

Those plants include tomatoes, squash and carrots. Knowing where to plant your vegetables is also something to consider.

“I think one problem people have is that they plant things too close together, and each plant can’t produce to its potential, said Koberoski.”

She said tomato plants need to be planted three feet apart, whereas green beans can be planted closer together.

“They support one another when we get wicked winds too,” she said.

Squash should be planted in hills, in a cluster of three to four seeds or plants.

“Go about six feet apart before you put another hill or cluster, Koberoski said.” They will grow in all directions.”

Plants also need plenty of sunlight.

Koberoski said plants need five to six hours of direct sunlight or more per day. She also suggested that gardeners plant a garden on the south or the west side of their house in order to get the most sunlight.

“The north and the east won’t be quite enough, or just plant out in the open,” she added.

Start small

Sarah Malchow, Assistant Manager of Drummers Garden Center & Floral Products in Mankato, cautioned beginners to start off small.

“A garden does require work, and sometimes it’s hot, and sometimes its buggy, so you want to be sure you don’t take off more than you can chew,” she said. “Another thing to avoid is to be sure to not cultivate your soil when it’s wet, especially in this area; we have a lot of soil with heavy clay content.”

Not only can the soil become compacted, Malchow said it is difficult to undo the damage.

Deciding where to plant your garden outdoors is equally as important.

“Locate your garden in a convenient place, rather than hiding it behind a building or faraway,” she said. “It’s always fun to plant some potting flowers with it. It provides beauty with your yard and it attracts pollinators.”

Malchow suggested people place their herbs next to the kitchen door, so they can easily incorporate them into their meals.

Having the garden close to water is also crucial, so it isn’t hard to haul water.

Those who are short on space shouldn’t be deterred from gardening either.

“Even if you have some small space near your door, go ahead and plant some vegetables there next to flowers or shrubs,” Malchow added.

For those starting out, Malchow said gardeners should plant what they are going to eat.

“If you are a person who likes to be adventurous with food, then go ahead and plant things like purple carrots or a radish you’ve never eaten,” she said.

“But, if that isn’t your style, plant the things you will like to eat.”

If planned right, Malchow said the garden can help save gardeners on their food budget, especially if they are able to can or freeze leftover crops.

“I love gardening and encourage you to have fun with it, rather than look at it as a chore,” she said.

MM MANKATO MAGAZINE • may 2015 • 23

E

ay s s

In my own words

After his health sent him on a roller coaster ride, Jonathan Zierdt says he feels blessed for the journey.

By Jonathan Zierdt | Photos by John Cross 24 • may 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

I

t was mid-morning, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013, and for the first time since being rushed to the emergency room on a Monday afternoon with a 105.5-degree fever, I was moving confidently without assistance. The immediate threat, sepsis (a severe bacterial infection in my blood), while not eradicated, was under control. And if you’ve ever been hospitalized for a few days you know all too well the desire to clean yourself up, or simply take a shower!

It was in that very moment … standing, all alone, in my hospital bathroom, it occurred to me just how blessed I was. Sure, I had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, developed a urinary tract infection that crossed via the kidneys into my bloodstream and sent my body temperature soaring to dangerous levels, which was followed by the discovery of a racquetball-sized cancer mass on my left kidney -all in less than a week.

But … this was like my own personal “halftime.” In those past few days, I’d had the opportunity to experience the beginning of an outpouring of love and prayer, the likes of which I could have never imagined felt deserving of. I was getting a chance to hear from people how I’d “shown up” in the first part of my life … what they saw, and how they felt about me. It was as if I was getting a chance to hear and see the highlight reel of my life, not of any particular points I scored or titles I’d won per se, but instead how I participated as a player. Who gets that kind of gift? And why was God embracing me in this way? At this moment? It was overwhelming. Still is.

But it was invigorating!

Yes, no doubt Ginger and I had a long road of medical activity, challenges, uncertainty, pain, and healing ahead. And at this point we didn’t even know the stage or aggressiveness of either of my two cancers. But I was alive, and by the grace of God being given an exceptional opportunity to become a better human being, and to fulfill His very words to me, “There is more for you to do.”

The Journey

Over the course of the next 18 months, the paths we would traverse as cancer patient and caregiver were indeed arduous and circuitous. The first phase was to heal from the sepsis and initial hospitalization while enduring a battery of exams; we had to determine the extent of my two cancers and other identified suspicious and concerning health diagnoses being noted.

The second phase was surgery — approximately 20 days in the hospital over the next 50-plus days, with seven separate hospital stays, three surgeries (a partial nephrectomy, lymphocele, and prostatectomy) and an ambulance ride; along with the related rehab and recovery. The third phase was that of healing and beginning this new life that was unfolding as a cancer survivor.

And in that third phase — late spring and early summer of 2014, following “halftime” — I was beginning to learn and experience so much that I wouldn’t have if it had not been for being diagnosed with cancer: • We had been very open with my diagnosis and our journey and experiences. As a result I received cards regularly in our mailbox. I never

realized how much I enjoyed receiving a card in the mail. Especially those from people I didn’t even know, the men who shared that it was because of my story and our willingness to share that prompted them to visit their own doctor. It was then I realized for the first time that I was truly, and in a very direct way, serving my personal mission statement (I will make the lives of people and the communities in which they live better.) I was impacting the life of a person; which certainly nourished me.

• I began to understand that while God had brought me to Mankato to do the work I do every day via Greater Mankato Growth, I now understood that I had another concurrent purpose: to embrace cancer and live in a way that may provide others hope and inspiration.

• And then it happened. As I was well on my way to regaining my strength, energy, and returning to a full work and personal schedule, Ginger said to me one morning, “Jonathan you aren’t just merely surviving cancer, but THRIVING.” Can you imagine how that made me feel? Wow. The person closest to me, whom I love and cherish deeply, said I’m thriving! In these new conditions, and in my new environment, she sees me growing, exceeding expectations and triumphing.

Reality check …

The reprieve was short-lived, however, when the fourth phase kicked off quickly in September, 2014.

At my initial check-up we learned my kidney cancer was in remission, a third of my left kidney “died” following the partial nephrectomy, and I was a low risk for recurrence. That was all relatively good news. But the indicators for my prostate cancer (a very aggressive form, Gleason’s 9) had surged and I needed to immediately enter an aggressive treatment regiment involving six months of antihormone therapy with two months (38 rounds) of radiation to the prostate bed and pelvic lymph system.

It was clear at that time that this new period and path in my life wasn’t going to be just the 10-month bump in the road it first appeared to be. Things really were changing, and thriving was going to require more. Among my personal favorite scripture verses is Romans 12:11, the essence of which says to serve the Lord enthusiastically. Anyone who knows me may have observed I tend to have just a bit of enthusiasm for whatever I’m doing. It didn’t occur to me to approach my cancer treatment any differently.

It was perhaps during the six-month radiation and anti-hormone therapy I began to truly appreciate the smallest of victories. I’d spoken of living in the moment during the speech Ginger and I gave at the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, but somehow reducing one’s diet to ample portions of baby food and then slowly adding “real” food back in allowed my own words to resonate personally. It’s that type of experience cancer survivors know well that causes us to “ring a bell” when we complete various components of our treatment — to celebrate. It’s that raw appreciation that I expressed MANKATO MAGAZINE • may 2015 • 25

to my brother in a recent text when I wasn’t able to be with him for a momentous occasion: Be sure to take and soak up these victories, bathe yourself in them…even while you forge ahead with the next thing…it’s all, every small and large summit in our lives we should cherish and indulge in fully.

I’ve learned so much during these past 18 months, powerfully propelling me forward as a vastly better human being. I’m humbled and grateful for the care I have received. And as I’ve visited with others who have been diagnosed with cancer, or are simply facing other challenges, there are these two pieces of advice I’ve shared: 1) Let others help, even though you will want to be strong and independent. Others helping (meals, rides, etc.) is as much for them as it is you.

2) Be willing to open yourself up to the blessings this diagnosis (or challenge) can present. For me, the past 18 months have been the period in my life when I’ve experienced real joy and, without question, the most blessings.

Future phase

And now we enter a fifth phase: heal and patiently wait to learn if this latest round of treatment put the prostate cancer in remission.

Now it’s time to test and understand my physical body’s new baselines. How has the physiology and function of my body been permanently changed as a result of the damage and scarring that has occurred? How has my diet been altered? How might my physical abilities and strengths be impacted? Will I have the same uninhibited freedom to travel and even go about a typical day in the same fashion I enjoyed previously?

And what about the prostate cancer: Is it in remission?

There is no way one gets through this type of experience without some alterations to one’s body and life. But my list of “can” is much longer than my “can’t” when it comes to my diet.

My body’s physiology has been altered, but at this point not enough to limit me in a noticeable way. Lymphedema,

26 • may 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

“In January Zierdt rang the bell at Mayo Clinic Health System in Mankato, a symbolic gesture for cancer survivors.” however, remains a potential adverse side effect over the next three months. And physically, as I’ve written on my CaringBridge site, it’s “beast mode” for me! I’m back to working out as vigorously and at the same performance levels prior to cancer, and that’s when I was closer to 45 rather than 50.

Life, and all it has to offer, is to be embraced. New experiences, regardless of the form in which they come, and the emotions one experiences, is how one knows they are truly alive.

Peace … patience … perseverance. MM Jonathan Zierdt is the CEO of Greater Mankato Growth.

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MANKATO MAGAZINE • may 2015 • 27

Reflections

By John Cross

I

t is easy enough to find beauty in the splashes of color in a well-tended flower garden.

But some find beauty in a farm field, freshly worked and planted, as well.

A few inches beneath, hundreds of thousands of seeds â&#x20AC;&#x201D; corn or soybeans all planted at precise depths â&#x20AC;&#x201D; are out there, biding their time.

Soon enough, given the right combination of warmth and moisture, the seemingly featureless expanse of black dirt will be transformed with the glow of emerging green.

A field of corn, growing green and healthy, might not have the eye appeal of a multi-colored flower garden.

Then again, green is the color of money. M

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toast to

spring

Enjoy!

— Robb Murray, Associate Editor, Mankato Magazine

southern mn style

Spring officially began March 20. That’s the day known as the vernal equinox, or the day in March when the earth’s equator is pointed directly at the center of the sun.

That’s the official start of spring. But as we all know, on the official first day of spring, it’s not impossible — heck, not even unlikely — for a foot of snow to fall from the sky, a late-season sucker punch by Mother Nature who sits in some lofty perch snickering at all the fools who thought they’d put the crappy weather behind them.

So we develop other ways to mark the true arrival of spring.

Some look for robins. (I almost hate to tell these people that some robins actually never leave!) Some say when all the ice is off all the lakes, then it is truly spring. Still others won’t concede the season until they can comfortably wear Bermuda shorts and Hawaiian shirts to work on casual Friday.

I, however, have a much different way of marking the season’s arrival. I leave that to the Jake Leinenkugel Brewing Co., of Chippewa Falls, Wis. The day I see their Summer Shandy in its beautiful — and darn-near iconic — yellow, lemon-emblazoned packaging in the cooler at my favorite liquor-selling establishment, I know the time has come to start roll down the windows in the Durango and pick a Saturday to tackle that other seasonal rite: cleaning out the garage.

Our beer guy, Bert, has some different spring brew thoughts for you. Being a gourmet chef, he’s using his beer column to talk about goats. No, I won’t spoil it for you; you’ll just have to check it out. And Leigh the wine genius brings you part two of his treatise on California varietals. If you’re like me, you’ll go in skeptical, but find yourself reading to the end and glad you did. Every month I’m learning so much about beer and wine from these guys.

We’re also bringing you a slightly different take on food this month. Sarah Johnson sat down with a future dietitian to find out more about healthful eating and a little bit about a vocation that helps people think about more than just taste when it comes to eating. Sarah’s regular What’s Cooking column, meanwhile, introduces us to the surprisingly nuanced world of the green onion.

food, drink & dine

Let’s raise a

Food

Healthful living as a

southern mn style

career

T

Meet a future dietitian

By Sarah Johnson

reating the body’s health problems is not only the job of doctors. If it takes a village to raise a child, it also takes a village to lower her risk of dying of preventable diseases. One group of villagers working to keep us healthy are the dietetics professionals who teach people how to eat properly for whatever’s ailing them. And sometimes that’s all it takes to make a huge difference in the quality of someone’s life.

Whether the problem is diabetes, renal disease, cardiovascular disease, celiac disease, hypertension, obesity, stroke, cancer, lactose intolerance, food allergy or other ailment, modifying the daily diet can have major impacts on health. And many people need help doing this.

Mankato Magazine caught up with Melanie Semrau, a vivacious MNSU senior who’s determined to make a difference in people’s lives — one person, one lifestyle, one diet at a time.

What is the name of your major/minor at MSU?

Family and consumer science with dietetics option.

What are your career goals?

I would love to be a registered dietitian in a clinical setting. It would be a dream to be a pediatric nutritionist and work with children who may need feeding tubes or have nutrition problems. In the future, I would love to be able to incorporate my love of teaching and be a college professor for dietetic students.

What got you interested in this career area?

I honestly just love every aspect of nutrition and want to be able to help people live a better, healthy lifestyle. I have always been very conscious of what I ate ever since I can remember. My mom would tell me she always had to pick the breading off of my chicken nuggets when I was a little girl. I always spent my free time looking up nutrition and as soon as I found the career of dietetics I became fascinated with it and knew it was for me.

What are some of the health problems that can be cured/alleviated by proper diet?

If someone is at risk for cardiovascular disease, eating a heart-healthy diet can help prevent the risk. For patients that have celiac disease or lactose intolerance, their problem is completely resolved by teaching them to avoid certain foods. I will be working with all sorts of different patients including diabetes, renal, hypertension, heart disease, obesity, stroke, cancer, burn victims and allergies.

34 • may 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

Tell us a little about yourself.

I grew up in Green Bay, WI and lived there until I transferred to MNSU three years ago. I have six people in my family, mom, dad and three younger brothers, whom I am really close with. I met my high school sweetheart freshman year of high school and we have been together ever since (eight years in April). My fiancé Drake came to MNSU as a freshman and I went to University of Green Bay for two years.

After that time we decided we did not want to do the long-distance thing anymore and I came to Mankato to finish school. We got engaged almost two years ago and will be getting married this coming June. We could not be more excited! I can never forget all my loving little kitties. Drake and I have three cats, Kyrie, Mike and Ike.

What types of classes do you take?

We start out with a very strong science background to build our knowledge on how the body functions.

These classes include chemistry, biology, anatomy, physiology, microbiology and genetics. After building this foundation, we start with basic nutrition classes and move into more advanced nutrition classes.

I also have taken several classes that incorporate food service including food production management and food service systems. There is also a lot of science behind the cooking of food; we take two classes in this category, Food Science and Experimental. By far my favorite classes have been Medical Nutrition Therapy I and II, where we learn how to diagnose different nutrition problems and come up with solutions. I love learning about how different medical diagnoses relate to nutrition and how I can make lifelong changes in peoples’ lives through nutrition.

Do you practice what you preach and eat healthily?

How has your education affected how you eat on a daily basis?

I absolutely love to cook. I do try really hard to practice eating healthy. My education has definitely impacted this. I see what can happen from not eating a well-balanced diet, so it is really important to me to get foods from all the food groups. I also love learning about all the different foods like quinoa and kale and trying those. But I am not going to lie, I definitely have a sweet tooth and am always having sweets.

But I do try to make them healthy by having yogurt and fruit or homemade smoothies instead of the chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. Drake loves to eat healthy and listens to what I am learning, which makes it a lot easier. All of our meals always include some type of vegetables; brussel sprouts and kale are our favorites.

Describe a “typical” day for you.

What gives you energy?

A typical day for me is normally very busy! I get up about 6:30 and head to the gym which normally gives me my energy and makes me feel good for the day. Now that I am closer to graduating I go to school three days a week. On a school day I will start with my workout, leave Eagle Lake around 7:15 and arrive to school for my 8 am class (Food Production Management), at nine I have Medical Nutrition Therapy II until 10:15. From 10:15 until my next class at 12 I normally work on group projects or homework.

At noon I have my Experimental Food Science class until 2:50. This is a very fun class; we get to choose recipes and manipulate the fat or protein and then do a sensory evaluation to see what is better.

I am normally there until about 3:30 and then rush off to work at Oaklawn Healthcare Center where I am a dietary aide. This job is really important as experience when applying for postgraduate internships. The day does not end after work; I normally get home and have a good couple of hours of homework or studying to do.

These days always get to be pretty crazy.

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What other activities keep you busy?

At Bath and Body Works, I am part of the management team as a customer sales lead. This job has taught me great leadership skills as well as helped me grow as an individual in the professional world.

As part of the curriculum at MNSU, it is required to do 90 hours of an undergraduate internship. I am doing mine at Oaklawn. It has been a great experience. I have learned how to order groceries, which has been very eye-opening, helped with social events, followed around a registered dietitian, and planned an in-service on food safety for the kitchen staff.

I do volunteer work with the student dietetic and nutrition organization. We help out in the community at the food shelf, raking leaves for Mankato, etc. I am currently helping put together an event at MNSU for Nutrition Month. Volunteer experience is another important aspect of getting a postgraduate internship.

MANKATO MAGAZINE • may 2015 • 35

Wine & Beer

wines

By Leigh Pomeroy

A Brief History of California Varietal Wines, Part Deux or... Merlot Maybe?

southern mn style

T

oday, the two most popular varietal wines sold in the U.S. are Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, but it wasn’t always that way, as we discussed in the last issue of Mankato Magazine.

To these two add Merlot, Malbec, Pinot Noir, Syrah/ Shiraz (same grape: French/American vs. Australian name) and Zinfandel among the reds, and Pinot Grigio/Pinot Gris (Italian vs. French name), Muscat/ Moscato, Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling among the whites to round out the top ten or so.

Interestingly, fully half of these varietals weren’t even on the American wine scene as little as 30 years ago. The relative “newbies” to us, while being “oldies” to winegrowing regions elsewhere in the world, are Merlot, Pinot Grigio/Gris, Malbec and Syrah/Shiraz. How did these varietals gain so much popularity as to push aside old California standards like Chenin Blanc and Grenache Rosé?

Immediately following the devastation that Prohibition worked on the American wine industry, the commercial wines that people most often drank were either sweet still wines — “still” meaning without added alcohol — or fortified wines (alcohol added), most commonly both. Most wine consumed during prohibition was enjoyed at home or at illegal speakeasies, and the quality varied greatly.

After prohibition, entrepreneurs who were rarely winemakers saw the potential for a fast-growing, profitable market. Quantity was the word, not quality.

In order to market their products they took existing French regional wine names known to the American public and labeled their wines as such even though the names had only a passing relevance to the wines themselves. Thus, any California more or less dry white wine became “chablis”, any sweet white “sauterne,” any red “burgundy” and any sparkling wine “champagne.” All these wines were at least slightly sweet by our standards today, both to cover up winemaking flaws and to appeal the the notorious American sweet tooth.

Only a handful of California wineries were able to survive Prohibition, mainly by making altar wines, and thus could “reboot” after Prohibition and begin making varietals again. These included Beaulieu, Christian Brothers and Inglenook in Napa Valley, and Concannon and Wente in Livermore Valley.

It wasn’t until the late 1960s that varietal wines like Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc and Zinfandel really began to catch on with a nes breed of American wine drinker.

As the baby boomers discovered wine, eschewing their parents’ hard liquor proclivities, they gradually began educating themselves to wine’s posssibilites.

And it didn’t take them too long to begin asking:

36 • may 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

What’s beyond Chardonnay and Cabernet? That’s when the demand for the new varietals arose.

Perhaps the most famous among these “new” varietals, at least to California, is Merlot. Yet the merlot grape has a long history of being used both as a blending and primary grape in the great region of Bordeaux, where it is grown alongside cabernet sauvignon. Thus, it was only natural that the grape be planted in California as well.

For California growers and winemakers, merlot was a wonderful discovery. It yielded better than cabernet sauvignon, ripened earlier, was disease resistant, and as a wine was ready to drink sooner after bottling — a quadruple threat!

Consumers also liked it: Women were inclined toward its softness, and their Cabernet-lovin’ men could at least tolerate it. So Merlot took off like a shot.

Meanwhile, other members of the enologically curious began to ask: Why doesn’t California produce wines similar to those of the Rhône Valley of southcentral France, where the climate is quite similar to California’s hot and dry weather? Well, it could. In fact, the principal red grape of the great Rhône wine Châteauneuf-du-Pape is grenache, which, outside of zinfandel, was once the most popular red grape grown the California, though it was almost entirely used to make rosé.

The other principal red grape of the Rhône, syrah (not to be confused with petite sirah, a related but different grape), was barely in existence in California although it is the underpinning of all the great northern Rhône wines like Hermitage and Côte-Rôtie.

Thus, syrah began to be planted in California in the 1970s and in Washington state — where it has achieved great success in this dry, hot, northern climate — in the mid-1980s.

Interestingly enough, California and Washington were latecomers to the beyond-France syrah boom as the grape had been cultivated in Australia under the name shiraz since 1839!

Of course, it’s been the Australian version of this varietal that has largely captured U.S. wine drinkers.

I remember when I first tasted a bottle of Australian Shiraz I bought from Safeway for $3 many years ago. It was awful!

But since then the Aussies have learned to make and certainly market their wines better, and Australian Shiraz, in a dizzying variety of price ranges, is a mainstay on wine shelves today.

(Next month: On to the white Rhône varietals as well as to the reds sangiovese, malbec and pinot noir. To be continued ...)

Leigh Pomeroy is a Mankato-based writer and wine lover

Beer

By Bert Mattson

This May get your goat

“I

t’s spring fever,” wrote Mark Twain, “That is what the name of it is. And when you’ve got it, you want— oh, you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!”

Pangs of vitality and appetite are among the reported symptoms of spring fever -a reaction, maybe, to winter’s heavy mood. It is the season of fresh beginnings. Green pastures present themselves, literally.

The light of longer days lifts the collective spirit.

Some attribute spring fever simply to the sudden prospect of sundresses and shirtless highway workers. If nothing else, these cynical ol’ goats provide a suitable segue. Retaining a bit more seasonality in their romantic rituals than other modern dairy creatures, goats are often beginning to make milk, post pregnancy —or “freshen” after “kidding”— around late winter to early spring. From this milk, fortunately, a few industrious individuals have a mind to make cheese.

Twain continues, “It seems to you that mainly what you want is to get away; get away from the same old tedious things you’re so used to seeing and so tired of, and set something new.” If this is a familiar feeling, begin by shifting away from the hazy tastes of winter in favor of fresher, brighter flavors –and set the table with some slightly more exotic options.

Farmhouse ale, generally fizzy and dry, is a good fit for goat’s milk cheese. While fresh goat cheese is fine and good, some maturity tends to make things more interesting. When goat cheeses are young, grassy, citric and mineral flavors are common but, as they age, proteins break down and develop rich and earthy flavor components as well as farmyard aromas. Ripened cheeses also evolve creamy,

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even fudgy, textures. Young leaves of arugula, dressed simply with a squeeze of lemon, olive oil, coarse grained salt and cracked pepper, play well with the lactic tang of California’s Cypress Grove Humbolt Fog and resonate with the citrus and spice of Lift Bridge Brewery’s Farm Girl Saison —whose hops hook up with floral qualities in Humbolt Fog, which is streaked with a vein of vegetable ash in homage to the venerable Morbier.

In spring, the hearts of foragers ache for tender, green shoots of wild asparagus. Blanched and snug in a blanket of sauce bearnaise, asparagus begs for a wheat beer like Boom Island Brewing Company’s Witness.

Carbonation helps cut the fatty sauce while its lemon echoes acidity in the beer. Asparagus and tarragon flirt with light floral notes on the beer’s finish.

Maibock — which translates to “May goat”— is a category of beer traditionally brewed for spring festivals. These strong lagers fall on the paler, more hoppy, spectrum of Bockstyle beers, and include Helles, though whether the terms are interchangeable is subject to some debate. A few local breweries produce excellent examples, though the best tends to be the one found at a festival –during which the weather is suitable for the season’s first sundresses.

Bert Mattson is a chef and writer based in St. Paul. He is the manager of the iconic Mickey’s Diner.

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MANKATO MAGAZINE • may 2015 • 37

Drinks

Happy Hour:

By M. Carrie Allan | Special to the Free Press

southern mn style

New York bar reminds me: Great cocktails include thought There’s probably a mathematical equation that expresses the formula for the perfect bar.

Mine would be something like: Great drinks times warm-butnot-intrusive staff minus drunk frat bros trying to score minus loads of TV screens plus walkable proximity to home times jukebox with Tom Waits on it equals ideal.

The equation varies by person. A drunk frat bro’s list, for example, p ro b a b l y wo u l d l o o k q u i t e different.

One critical but often overlooked factor in developing an affection for a particular bar, though, is the ability to get into the place to begin with.

Based on that measure, Death & Co., the much-lauded, oft-imitated cocktail bar in New York’s East Village, had been unable to climb anywhere on my list of favorites.

Several times when I’d been in the city, I’d stepped up to the mysterious facade — no windows, and an ornate door handle upon which great feathered wings give way to curling snakes, forming a gothic caduceus — to find there was a two-hour wait.

If I lived around the corner, I might’ve waited for the call, but for a visitor with limited drinking time, the East Village offers an embarrassment of riches; there are at least 10 other good cocktail bars (including PDT, Booker and Dax, Angel’s Share, Mayahuel and Pouring Ribbons) an easy walk away. A talented long-distance spitter could hit Amor y Amargo from the line outside Death & Co. Thus, when the bar founders’ book “Death & Co: Modern Classic Cocktails” came out this past winter, I found myself in the odd circumstance of drinking multiple Death & Co. cocktails without ever having set foot inside Death & Co. I’d still recommend that a newbie start with classics by Dale DeGroff, David Wondrich and Gary Regan, and both Jim Meehan of PDT and Jeffrey Morgenthaler

38 • may 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

of Clyde Common in Portland, Ore., have recently made strong contributions with books conveying a ton about composition and technique. But the Death & Co. book has deep charms. There’s in-depth exploration of tools and technique, how to pair flavors, the balance between booze and other drink elements. Any layperson seeking to increase her geekery will find value in the discussion of “lifting” vs. “binding” bitters, in the “Mr. Potato Head” principle of creating drinks (swapping one set of “features” for another) and in the useful tips on cocktailing when all you’ve got is small, halfmelted, drippy ice cubes from a soda machine.

It took the Death & Co. crew a while to do a book, and when they did, “we really looked at the scope of cocktail books that were out there and felt that cocktail culture wasn’t just underrepresented, it wasn’t there at all,” says David Kaplan, founder and co-owner of the bar and one of the book’s three authors. “That’s really what we set out to do: a love letter to this industry.”

The book provides deeper insight — the how and the why — into many of the drinks that made Death & Co. famous, such as the Oaxaca Old Fashioned and the Flor de Jerez. “Hopefully they’ll be a springboard for you to create your own drinks: Like, ‘oh, I don’t have Amer Picon, but I see what they’re doing here; I’ll use a comparable vermouth or create my own infusion,’” says Kaplan.

Threaded with notes from “the regulars,” folks who’ve been drinking at the bar for years, the book also offers a real sense of what it’s like to be a part of the bar’s circle, as a drinker or an employee.

A minute-by-minute breakdown of a day at the bar, detailing everything that happens to make it work, and a scene that captures the staff ’s drink auditioning process (the bartender’s equivalent

of a writer’s workshop) provide a glimpse of how much thought goes into a drink that makes the bar’s menu.

They also remind home cocktailers that our cute little experiments with bitters and clear ice do not a bartender make. I came away from the book and my conversation with Kaplan reminded that this is exhausting work. I caught Kaplan coming off a plane; Proprietors LLC — the hospitality company he co-owns with co-author Alex Day — now operates six bars. It just launched the Normandie Club in L.A. and will soon open the Walker Inn nearby, which Kaplan describes as “probably the most ambitious, elevated cocktail service we’ve ever done,” with menus inspired by a single theme, “similar to what Grant Achatz does with Next” in Chicago.

S a d ly, I wo n’t b e i n L . A . anytime soon, but in New York in early March, I wagered that the enormous Slurpee that had fallen on the city the night before might cut down on bar traffic. Still, I had the cab drop us off a block away, and my husband and I braved the snowbanks to look less like tourists.

To paraphrase Mick Jagger, to drink in this town you must be tough tough tough, etc.

For once, Death and Co. was half empty, and the guy tending the door was a charming University of Maryland graduate who, we discovered, had once been a regular at the Takoma Park (Md.) Co-op (two blocks from our house; typically no wait list.)

The bar was pleasingly dark and quiet that night, lit by candles and dim chandeliers. We tried to cover as much of the menu as two people sensibly could in an hour, downing several beautiful, thoughtfully composed drinks.

My favorite was the Slow Focus, a mix of gin, sweet vermouth, dry sherry, Aperol and Cointreau; a sip evolved on my palate, first

bittersweet and botanical and then a bloom of sherry across the tongue. I was happy. My shoes were full of slush, my toes cold as a good highball, but Death & Co. was no longer my favorite bar I’ve never been to.

---

Oaxaca Old Fashioned

This now classic-in-its-own right agave riff on one of the oldest classic cocktails is famous among mixology geeks.

The recipe as printed in David Kaplan’s “Death & Co.: Modern Classic Cocktails” proposes serving the drink in a cocktail (martini) glass; we have presented it here like a classic old-fashioned, poured over ice in a rocks glass. Whatever your druthers on that front, don’t skip the flamed orange: It’s critical to both the flavor and the theater.

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Food

What’s Cooking

By Sarah Johnson

southern mn style

Green Onions:

An unheralded culinary gem

P

ity the humble onion. Cheap, plentiful and ubiquitous, consumers of today don’t appreciate the onion’s long and esteemed career. Cultivated more than 5,000 years ago, onions were once an important dietary staple, and even considered food fit for the gods. My how far the mighty have fallen.

Some people today think onions are a mere condiment, an afterthought, an optional ingredient. But they can be so much more. Used as vegetable, seasoning, garnish, religious icon and folk medicine, onions are multitalented in the extreme.

The Israelites of the Bible, as they plodded through the charbroiled desert during the wanderings of the Exodus, carped incessantly about their meager diet of cactus needles and scorpion legs. They dreamt of the food they left behind in Egypt, “the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic”. Moses probably wanted to club them with his staff — he was hungry, too.

Ancient Egyptians put so much stock into the holy power of onions that they buried their pharaohs with onions stuck in strategic locations around the corpse: against the ears, within the chest or lying on the pelvis. Ramses IV was dug up with onions in his eye sockets. Onions were eaten at funerals and used as offerings to the gods. The Egyptians, associating onions with eternity due to their circle-within-a-circle structure, believed the strong odor and flavor would wake the dead in the afterlife, a strange yet somehow understandable logic.

The early Greeks, Chinese and Indians adored their onions as well. The ancient Romans attributed all sorts of healing powers to onions beyond their obvious ability to cure hunger, including dysentery, dog bites and insomnia. Excavators of the doomed city of Pompeii found the telltale marks of onion gardens when they dug through the volcanic ash.

By the middle ages, the three main ingredients in the peoples’ diets were onions, cabbages and beans.

(Notice that meat wasn’t in that group, and wasn’t even in the top 10 for most of the populace. Life was nasty, brutish and short, and mostly vegetarian.)

All sorts of delicious things are related to onions and belong to the same biological genus, Allium: garlic, leeks, ramps, chives and shallots. They are closely related to lilies and those huge purple balls of tiny flowers on tall stems you see in the spring, Allium giganteum, so if you’ve ever had an urge to eat one

40 • may 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

of those, you are not alone. The term “green onion” is identical to “scallion,” according to most sources, except for the ones who say they are different, so there you have it, my final answer: If they’re not the same, they’re damn close.

Green onions are actually immature yellow or white onions harvested before the bulb begins to form.

Sometimes they’re called “spring onions” or “salad onions” because in bygone days they were only available in the spring, when farmers thinned their onion beds. They were an eagerly awaited treat, and freshvegetable-deprived folks used to put a container of them out every dinner for weeks each spring. Pass the salt shaker.

Green onions are milder and sweeter than their grownup selves. Look for dark green, straight leaves with no yellowing or curvature; that means the onions have begun to dry out. The thinner the green onion, the milder the taste. They’re delicious as a side dish on their own, whether sautéed in olive oil and a little garlic on the stovetop or grilled right alongside your steaks and burgers. While not high on the list of super-nutritious veggies, onions are rich in vitamin C and fiber, low in calories and add a boost of flavor that can take the place of nasty things like fat and salt.

Steamed Cod with Ginger and Green Onions 4 skinless cod fillets (6 to 8 ounces each) 3 tablespoons rice vinegar 2 tablespoons soy sauce 2 tablespoons finely grated, peeled fresh ginger Coarse salt and ground pepper 6 scallions, green parts only In a large skillet, combine rice vinegar, soy sauce and ginger. Season both sides of the cod fillets with coarse salt and pepper; place in skillet with vinegar mixture.

Bring to a boil; reduce heat to a gentle simmer. Cover; cook until fish is almost opaque throughout, six to eight minutes.

Meanwhile, cut green parts of scallions into 3-inch lengths; thinly slice lengthwise. Scatter over fish; cook (covered) until fish is opaque throughout and scallions are just wilted, about two minutes more. Serve immediately.

Sarah Johnson is a cook, freelance writer and chocolate addict from North Mankato with three grown kids and a couple of mutts.

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www.cimankato.com MANKATO MAGAZINE • may 2015 • 43

That’s Life

By Nell Musolf

It

s k c u S

W

hile watching the news with my teenage nephew not so long ago, a story came on about a flood in a southern state, an ice storm in another state and various acts of violence around the globe. We watched in silence scenes of gushing rivers, streets filled with ice and colliding cars, and people in pain-filled shock on the screen.

“What a nightmare,” I commented. “Can you imagine what that’s like to be any of those people? I feel so sorry for them.”

“Sucks to be them,” my nephew grunted in response.

I didn’t reply because, really, what can you say anything after that kind of a comment? Should I agree, ‘Yes, it sure does suck to be them!’ or should I express shock over his blatant lack of compassion while pointing out the necessity for the milk of human kindness? Or should I have whacked him over the head with a bolster pillow before sending him off to his own mother for her to deal with? I’m afraid I took the chicken’s way out: I changed the channel.

At moments such as that one, it’s hard to recall that this same child once rescued bugs from drowning in Lake Michigan. Or that this towering teenager used to hug an elderly neighbor on a regular basis ‘because she looked lonely.’ Or how he used to spend his birthday money on dog bones for the Humane Society so the dogs could have a birthday treat too. That little boy with the big heart has become a teenager with seemingly no heart at all. While I know that isn’t true— like all adolescents he simply prefers to talk a lot tougher than he really is—I can’t help cringing when-

Us

to Be

ever I hear the all too oft said sucks-to-be-them.

Of all the expressions I’ve heard over the course of my lifetime, I have to say that one is my ultra least favorite of all time and unfortunately I hear it all too often. Didn’t get the scholarship you hoped for? Sucks to be you. Your neighbor’s garage burnt down with their brand new car inside? Sucks to be them. You just found out that you have a terminal illness?

It REALLY sucks to be you!

It doesn’t help matters that we’re at such a particularly gloomy point in the world.

People are losing their houses because they can’t pay their mortgages. Workers are losing their jobs to lower paid workers in other countries. Patients are losing their battles with illnesses to a convoluted health care system that seems to benefit fewer and fewer actual human beings with each passing day. There’s no denying that it does suck to be an out of luck homeowner or a displaced factory worker or a dying leukemia patient. But must we dismiss everyone with a problem so completely?

I think the reason I hate that expression, beyond the obvious, is that the moment it is uttered, empathy evaporates and a sort of self-satisfied complacency takes its place. It’s as if by acknowledging what a lousy situation someone else is in, you’re both absolving yourself from any kind of moral obligation to do something that might help them out and also obliquely saying Thank God it happened to them and not me!

I can’t help but feel that when empathy is gone, there isn’t all that much left to us as human beings.

Of course, I’ve never said any of this to my nephew. As irritated as I am whenever he says it sucks to be someone else, I’ve seen two of my own kids through adolescence and have learned to tread lightly when dealing with anyone between the ages of 13 and 20.

However, there is such a thing as treading too lightly for too long. So the next time my nephew says it sucks to be anyone again, I’m going to speak up. I’m going to ask that he say instead something along the lines of I’m sorry to hear that or I hope everything works out okay or I wonder how I could help. Because if people continue to believe how it sucks to be everyone else in the world, if they keep on whittling away at their ability to have some kind of idea of what other people are going through, then one day that loathsome expression is going to stop being something people say because everybody else says it and become something they believe.

And that will really suck. For all of us.

Nell Musolf is a mom and a freelance writer from Mankato.

44 • may 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

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Garden Chat

By Jean Lundquist

Joy and pain

The bittersweet symphony that accompanies the beginning of gardening season

T

here’s nothing like the month of May to get me going! Yes, it’s the opening of fishing season, and that’s good. It’s Mothers’ Day, and that’s very good. But it’s also the usual last date of frost for this area, and that means it’s time to move outside and into the garden!

Before I can make that move, however, I have to devise a way to keep the chickens out of the garden. There is only one way to do that, if getting rid of the chickens is not an option. That means building a fence.

Thanks to all my years with People’s Fair, I’m pretty good at fence building.

Or at least I was pretty good at putting up fences. I’m a little older now, so I’ll find out if I’ve still got the chops.

So the day for gardening finally arrives. I know what to expect from how I have always approached planting my garden — there will be great exhilaration, and great disappointment.

All the seedlings I’ve been nurturing, whether I started the seeds myself or purchased them, will be loaded up in trays and shuttled out to my own little patch of dirt. Seeds are sorted according to type, and they also are shuttled out to the garden. Row markers are readied — for me, that means breaking up pieces of lathe. I always take a long strand of string or rope with me, too. Even using that between the row markers, I often have less than perfectly straight rows.

Hoes, rakes, trowels, Sharpies, watering cans, inoculants and pen and paper to create a map for the 2015 garden are what I take out with me in the morning.

About an hour after I head out, I’ll be ready to actually be in the garden.

But by that time, I’ll need a glass of iced tea and a lawn chair for a brief rest, so I’ll head back to the house and shed one more time.

Oops — don’t forget the hat! One more trip to the house, and I’ll literally 46 • may 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

be ready to dig in. I’m always thankful I have room for a big garden at my house, and don’t have to haul all this stuff to a community garden.

Gardening is a very peaceful and, for me, spiritual activity. But we all know it’s work.

And in the springtime, all the gardening muscles I worked on last year are gone.

They aren’t just out of shape; they are nowhere to be found. I know by the middle of this day I will have found those muscles once again, and they will hurt. And by the end of this day, I will want to walk up to the house and collapse into a comfy chair and drink something other than iced tea.

But first, I will need a shower. And before I can do any of that, I will need to haul up the hoes, rakes, trowel, watering can, lawn chair, string and leftover lathe and all the other stuff still down there. I will hope I remembered to write clearly not only where the tomatoes are (for the creation of next year’s map, so I can rotate crops), but also where I planted each variety so I know what we liked, and what I won’t want to grow again. By the time I’ve finished, I won’t be sure where I started to cut corners, and made quick abbreviations on my map, or what those abbreviations mean.

I will tell myself I’ll figure it out tomorrow. I know from past experience that I won’t remember any more clearly in the morning than I do at that moment, but I will be so tired …

And sore and sweaty and maybe a little sun burned.

I’ll finally get everything hauled up to the house and shed, but it won’t be put away. It will be dumped in a pile for “later.” Then I’ll ask Larry to make supper.

So with age comes wisdom, they say. My plan for this year is to NOT try to build Rome — or plant the whole garden — in one day.

Maybe not even in one weekend! I’ve been learning to pace myself, and this year, that extends to gardening as well.

My first order of business will be the fence. Then, I plan to set in a few of my seedlings. Another day, I’ll set in a few more seedlings and maybe a few seeds. Then, the sowing of more seeds, as that seems to be the most sensible use of those out-of-condition muscles I talked about.

I just love gardening. I like looking at it, eating from it, sharing it and working in it. It’s always exciting to get started by planting, but it is the least rewarding part of gardening for me. I always work so hard to plant it, but other than some row markers and the seedlings I’ve planted, there is nothing to see for all that work, until little green seed heads start popping out of the soil.

For me, planting day always starts out so exhilarating to be outside and in the garden, and such a disappointment for the achiness and so little to see at the end of the day. This year, I’ll spread out the joy. And pain.

Jean Lundquist is a master gardener who lives near Good Thunder.

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by The Goodman Group MANKATO MAGAZINE • may 2015 • 47 4.95”x4.95”

Mankato Magazine May 2015

Your style

By Ann Rosenquist Fee

An open letter to

men

upon the dawn of

spring/summer wardrobe season Stop wearing those slinky ribbed mock turtleneck shirts to work and I mean now.

Dear Men, Happy spring! I imagine you’re changing over your closet. Me too. And not a moment too soon. I mean if I have to look down and see my woolen leg warmers sticking out of dirty boots with YakTracks one more day, I just don’t even know.

I am guessing you feel the same. Sick of wool, sick of fleece, sick of scratchy bulk. I feel you, men, and at the same time I’m writing to stop you from the bad decisions that can happen when you’re in that last-straw state of mind.

I am writing to caution you against one decision in particular.

It’s a choice you’ve been making for a few years now. I assume it’s a choice. I assume no loving partner would impose this on you. In fact, your partner might be so loving that they can’t figure out how to say what it is I’m writing to say, despite watching you leave the house every “casual Friday” for the past few summers dressed this way. It’s hard for them because you don’t seem embarrassed. You seem proud. Bold. Sassy.

Daring the world to stuff you back inside your heavy winter garb.

I am writing to help you both. Ready?

I’ll just say it. Stop wearing those slinky ribbed short-sleeved mock turtleneck shirts to work and I mean now.

As exciting as it feels to slip on something so light and soft, something you lucked out and found on sale, cheaper than golf shirts for sure, boom, your summer business-casual wardrobe completely figured out for the next however many years (I’m assuming there was a sale, or else why would you have so very many of them), it’s that very feeling that should be a red flag.

A red flag that says, this is too silky and too excitingly priced to be shirt. It’s 48 • may 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

not outerwear. It is, my man friend, a camisole with floppy sleeves and a weak neck.

True to its actual nature as an undergarment, the slinky tee tends to show us more than necessary. A white cotton undershirt as your foundational piece might smooth things out, as might a pair of stick-on daisy-shaped adhesives sold in most fabric stores near the lingerie straps and clasps. Alas, you don’t believe in undershirts or adhesive daisies. Not that we’ve seen. So we are left to see, you know, you.

Please understand that this cease-and-desist order isn’t about wanting you to comply with a certain trend or template. It’s not about reducing you to an ornament or my own personal preferred scenery. Quite the contrary. This is about respect and wanting you to feel relevant and vital on the summer style scene.

And your shiny tee, my friend, while it shows certain parts of you, is not you.

It’s flimsy and faux and kind of collapsing into itself. And you are not that. You are a man who goes to work on Fridays in the summer which, in itself, is fresh and sporting and strong. You deserve visuals that say so. You deserve a crisp hang, which flatters more than a damp cling. You deserve “tailored” versus “topography.”

So, go chambray. Go linen! Go button-down or regular collar, tucked-in or flat-bottomed hanging loose outside the belt. Go short-sleeved or longsleeves-rolled-up at the right moment at the right meeting. You know the one. For sure, regardless, go with an undershirt.

For starters, go back into your rearranged closet. Bag up the offenders

and drop them at

MRCI or Salvation Army. And then go forth to the office every Friday this summer in an actual old-school cottonpoly crisp and structured safe-for-work shirt.

Respectfully,

Ann Ann Rosenquist Fee is executive director of the Arts Center of Saint Peter and a vocalist with The Frye.

She blogs at annrosenquistfee.com.

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MANKATO MAGAZINE • may 2015 • 49

Coming Attractions: may 1-2

Spring Dance Concert 7:30 p.m. Friday; 2 p.m. Saturday Ted Paul Theatre, Minnesota State University — $10 regular, $9 discount, $8 current MSU students — 507-389-6661

2

2015 Senior Honors Recital 1:30-2:30 p.m. —Bjorling Recital Hall, Gustavus Adolphus College — 507-933-7013

2

Gustavus Choir’s Spring Concert 3:30-5:30 p.m. — Christ Chapel, Gustavus Adolphus College — 507-933-7013

2

Gustavus Wind Orchestra Spring Concert 7:30-9 p.m. — Bjorling Recital Hall, Gustavus Adolphus College — free — 507-933-7013

2-3

A Musical Review 7:30 p.m. Saturday; 3 p.m. Sunday — Elias J. Halling Recital Hall, Minnesota State University — $9 general, $7 current MSU students — 507-389-5549

3 Vivaldi Gloria: Lucia Singers and Gustavus

Philharmonic Orchestra 3:30-5 p.m. — Christ Chapel, Gustavus Adolphus College — free — 507-933-7013

3 Gustavus Handbell Ensembles in Concert 7:30-8:30 p.m. — Christ Chapel, Gustavus Adolphus College — free — 507-933-7013

7 Mankato Go Red for Women Luncheon 10:30 a.m. — Courtyard by Marriott — 901 Raintree Road, Mankato — www.MankatoGoRed.org

8

Raw Fusion Fashion Show 8 p.m. — Verizon Wireless Center — $35 general standing, $50 general seated, $75 VIP — www.ticketmaster.com

8-10 & 15-17

Merely Players present “Guys and Dolls” 7:30 p.m. Friday-Sunday, 2 p.m. Sunday Lincoln Community Center Auditorium — 110 Fulton St., Mankato — $17 adults, $15 senior, $10 youth — 507-388-5483

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Woodwind Chamber Ensembles Spring Concert 3:30-5 p.m. — Bjorling Recital Hall, Gustavus Adolphus College — free — 507-933-7013

12 50+ Lifestyle Expo

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12 Choir of Christ Chapel Home Concert 7:30-9 p.m. — Christ Chapel, Gustavus Adolphus College — free — 507-933-7013

14-17

Into the Next Room, or The Vibrator Play 8 p.m. — Thursday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday — Anderson Theatre, Gustavus Adolphus College — 507-933-7013

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16 Vasa Wind Orchestra and Chamber

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17 2015 BrassWorks

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2015 Season Finale with Gustavus Wind Orchestra and Concerto/Aria Winners 8-9:30 p.m. — Bjorling Recital Hall, Gustavus Adolphus College — free — 507-933-7013

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Mankato Area Derby Girls Roller Derby 7 p.m. — Verizon Wireless Center — $15 trackside, $10 general advanced, $12 general at the door, free children 10 and under — www.verizonwirlesscentermn.com

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Mankato Symphony Orchestra: Triplet 7 p.m. — Mankato Golf Club — 100 Augusta Drive, Mankato — $90 individual ticket, $1,000 table of 8, $1,200 table of 10 — 507-625-8880

50 • may 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

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MANKATO MAGAZINE • may 2015 • 51

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52 • may 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

Faces & Places: Photos By Sport Pix

Southern MN Home Builders Expo 1. Custom fish tanks were a hot item at the Home and Builder’s Show.

2. Dozens of vendors filled the Verizon Wireless Center floor for the Southern Minnesota Home and Builder’s Show on March 22.

3. The Home and Builder’s Show wasn’t all about work. This couple found time to relax on a mattress.

4. A saleswoman speaks to the quality of her product to potential clients.

5. A woman looks over the many quartz countertop options available at the Cambria showcase.

6. Potential clients ponder ideas.

7. A vendor points out some the home improvement options her business has available.

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MANKATO MAGAZINE • may 2015 • 53

Faces & Places: Photos By Sport Pix

St Patricks Day Parade in St. Peter 1. An old-time band was a favorite attraction during the parade.

2. A couple of children run onto the street to grab as much candy as they can handle.

3. Even therapy dogs had their time to shine during the parade.

4. St. Patrick’s Day Parade queens from previous years were on hand to celebrate with parade-goers.

5. A saxophone player in the St. Peter High School Band belts out festive music.

6. The St. Peter 7th grade boy’s basketball team hoists up its state championship trophy.

7. A bass drummer from the St. Peter Crusaders keeps the beat.

54 • may 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

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Faces & Places: Photos By Sport Pix

WCHA Final 5 Championship

1. MSU players and coaches pose for a team photo after winning the WCHA Final Five tournament.

2. Players stand at attention as the national anthem is sung at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

3. The Mavs rush the ice as the final horn sounds with a score of 5-2.

4. Michigan Tech’s goalie is temporarily blinded by ice sprayed in his direction while the Mavericks score on the play.

5. Minnesota State captain Chase Grant holds up the Broadmoor Trophy at the conclusion of their game with Michigan tech.

6. MSU players celebrate as the puck passes Michigan Tech’s Jamie Phillips for another goal.

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MANKATO MAGAZINE • may 2015 • 55

From this Valley

By Pete Steiner

The people’s fair “I

t was Mankato’s Rite of Spring for 30 years … I start dreaming it again: we’re always setting up or tearing down.” — Paul Horrisberger For 26 years, when January would roll around, Paul Horrisberger would immerse himself in his second job. A job he did for free. Over lunch, he’d amble a few blocks to the Wagon Wheel, take a stuffed pocket notebook from his jacket, and start poring over lots of names and numbers. In 1975, Horrisberger, who had just become administrator of the Eclipse Crisis Intervention Center, also became the de-facto Godfather of the People’s Fair.

Begun in 1971, in the wake of Woodstock, the event first sprang up at the old MSU Athletic Field, now the open space south of Old Main Village.

It was to be a benefit for Eclipse, itself a response to the burgeoning epidemic of illegal drugs. Staffed 24-7, mainly by volunteers, Eclipse took some pressure off police who had been besieged by friends and family to respond to those who had overdosed.

Homegrown

People’s Fair — always the third weekend in May — soon moved to Sibley Park. For a while, Horrisberger did all the booking of musical acts.

He got help from Shirley Piepho and Jeanie Robbie in lining up the craft and food booths. Horrisberger says, “I just fell into it. I never planned to, but you go with the flow. It became part of my life.” Gradually he gathered more people to serve as a “People’s Fair Committee,” to help organize the hundreds of volunteers needed to stage the event.

Originally, musicians donated their time (one of the musical acts, Mankato’s own City Mouse, actually played every single People’s Fair.) The festival over its long history raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund Eclipse, and later, to donate to other charities like the Volunteer Center and the Sharing Tree. As crowds grew, some

56 • may 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

neighbors adjacent to Sibley also grew to dread the event. Cars would park for many blocks around, and litter became a problem. Horrisberger met with residents and decided to hire young people and groups like Campfire to pick up cans and paper and other detritus left by Fair attendees.

Expansion In 1978, at the suggestion of thenPolice Chief C.D. Alexander, who was also chair of the Eclipse Board, People’s Fair became a two-day event.

Organizers moved to book bigger acts: I have a 1983 poster advertising Michael Johnson, who was at the peak of his career following “Bluer than Blue.” A 1986 poster hanging in my basement office advertises the great Minneapolis reggae/jam band, Shangoya. The Fair would also bring in Martin Zellar, Lamont Cranston, Little Feat, and the Jayhawks. In the late ‘90’s, a crowd estimated at 10-thousand-plus showed up for guitar phenom, Kid Jonny Lang.

As bigger acts brought bigger crowds, they also upped the ante. Horrisberger says, “The bigger risks began to bother me … It was becoming a really big production.” How big a production is revealed in notes published online by Dick Dietz, People’s Fair Committee Chair in 1995. Attendance that year was nearly 7,700. It cost $41,000 to produce the weekend, with 123 volunteers. Setup alone of the huge, rented “batwing” stage and 10,000 watt sound system took 15 hours. The weekend did net $39,000 for distribution.

Jean Lundquist, who had just become Mankato’s first female news director at KTOE, joined the People’s Fair Committee in the late ‘80’s. She still has great memories: “Everybody worked so hard.” Did she have a favorite act? “Volunteers never had TIME to appreciate or listen. We were too busy running around. It was a BLAST, though, such a feeling of accomplishment. We DID something.”

The Demise Lundquist says the challenges of putting on the festival were weighing: “We worried how to grow and still remain true to our roots approaching the 30-year mark. Maybe there is a life span to these things. The volunteers were getting worn out.”

A photo album on Flickr shows three shirtless 20-something guys hoisting beer cans in a toast. There’s a cuddling couple relishing the sunshine. A shot of an enormous crowd spilling all the way up Sibley’s sliding hill. But May’s changeable weather sometimes meant small crowds. One year, Bob Marley’s backup band, The Wailers, came in from Jamaica. It was raining, about 44 degrees, windchill in the ‘20’s. Tough day for reggae. I asked the bass player bundled in a parka backstage how he was doing. “Cold, mon,” was his reply.

Of course, there was the alcohol. A “no-coolers” controversy erupted after two high-profile incidents in the late ‘90’s. The city council and police chief acted after a 15-year-old girl nearly died of alcohol poisoning. Some used to bringing their own beer revolted.

Lundquist says, “We had made it so successful, we didn’t like the no-coolers ruling. But it WAS getting dangerous.”

In another incident, a drunk out-oftowner assaulted a police officer.

But Horrisberger says, the real undoing of People’s Fair was MSU going to a semester system. That meant thousands of students were no longer in town for the third weekend in May. Paul says he would have retired after the 30th year, regardless. The committee wrapped up the 2000 People’s Fair with a positive balance and did not stage another one. But Lundquist says, “It’s something people will miss for a long time. A lot of memories remain from that hill.”

Peter Steiner is host of “Talk of the Town” weekdays at 1:05 p.m. on KTOE.