Community Draws

From This Valley

By Kat Baumann

By Bert Mattson

Foundations February; Bellwether Brews

These days consumers seem to select beers less for being exemplary than for including novel ingredients, methods or, in some cases, being altogether rare. Here and there, storied breweries are even shelving flagship styles to meet the demand for experimental brews.

This dizzying innovation isn’t exactly an unattractive feature of the brewing field. Still, it’d be a shame to see trailblazing beers fall by the wayside, only for being honest to style.

My senior year in college I was pressed into an executive role in a campus tavern keeper's club. One of my jobs was to recruit members to replace the ones who had left me holding the hot potato. I was fortunate to find a windfall of interesting and motivated individuals to round out the board. They made me look good and, I’ve heard tell, took the club to new heights. That’s another story.

The point is that one of them was an avid homebrewer. Before long, in addition to field trips to taverns (it was a practical club), we were touring breweries. It began with Leinenkugel’s, but the scope crept to include trips to James Page Brewing Company and Summit Brewing Company — at the old University Avenue location. These were heady times, branching out from Boston Lager to Page’s Boundary Waters Wild Rice Lager and Summit’s Extra Pale Ale.

Flash forward and Extra Pale Ale is all but taken for granted. It’s something of a default. In contrast to those early days one might say we’ve become a bit spoiled. It was one thing to lose a stable of authentic Minnesota beer styles to industrialized brewing, but quite another to leave them behind in a fit of fickleness. I was devastated when rumors swirled that we might be losing Summit’s Great Northern Porter, which to me is an exemplar. I believe the only beer that predates it in the Summit stable is EPA — circa 1986. Folks forget this is an award-winning beer. Make this the month you rediscover it. Tap into the caramel, citrus and bite, and imagine the effect on a 1995 mentality.

On that same early wave rode the Pete’s Wicked Ale phenomenon. The meteoric rise of this one rendered it the nation’s second biggest craft brew label. In those early days it was contract brewed at no other than August Schell Brewing in New Ulm.

My father kept a stave and hoop Schell’s pony keg in my basement when I was a kid. He’d sometimes launch into inappropriate tales about that keg (he lugged it up a flagpole to avoid confiscation; he earned it).

Schell’s is about as old as any family-owned brewery in the country, and Fasching has likely been celebrated in New Ulm at least as long as the brewery stood. But Bock Fest dates back to around 1987. Back in the tavern keeper's club days, Bock was a revelation. Schell’s Bock is another award-winning beer. We’re coming upon the perfect season to rediscover the smooth, malty richness of this German-style dark lager. Past is prologue.

Bert Mattson is a chef and writer based in St. Paul. He is the manager of the iconic Mickey’s Diner. bertsbackburner.com 24003 Gingerale Trail, Madison Lake

5 Bedroom | 4 Bathroom | 9,986 Sq. Ft. MLS# 7025134 $1,450,000

By Nicole Helget

The dogs of Oshawa Township

Let’s say you’ve been mulling the idea of getting started on that book you’ve always wanted to write. Maybe the idea of the book bothers you all day. Maybe sometimes a scene or an exchange of dialogue or a plot twist or a revelation comes to you in the middle of the night and you scribble out a note to yourself that you can’t make out in the morning light.

But maybe you don’t know how to start. Maybe you feel like it won’t be any good and no one will read it. Maybe you feel like you don’t know anything at all about writing books.

To this day, even after many fulllength books under my belt, I never, ever sit down and think, “OK, let’s get cracking on that next 300-page manuscript.” The burden seems too much to bear, the task too enormous to even begin. No. Rather I think about the writing of it in small bits with a general idea that the book will eventually probably have three acts and a controlled plot so that I don’t wander in the weeds for too many years.

The easiest way to write a book is one sentence at a time. Then one paragraph at a time. Then one page at a time.

So, if you are thinking about 2021 as the year you may as well write that book, I have some advice for you on getting going.

Ask yourself who the book is going to be about and why. Who is the main character? If it’s creative nonfiction or memoir, the main character is probably you. Ask yourself where the story physically begins. What is the opening setting? Often, in creative nonfiction and memoir, it is a childhood home or hometown. Ask yourself what the first conflict is. What is the triggering event that begins the unspooling of all the problems? Often in creative nonfiction and memoir, it’s the first memorable moment of a physical change related to a rite of passage or phase of life or a cycle of transformation.

Then, get all three of those things,

Part 13

the main character, the opening setting, and the triggering event going, with urgency and your personal flair, through description, detail, and possibly dialogue, in the first few pages. We call this moment a hook, which is a literary magic trick used to invite a reader into a story and compel them to keep turning pages.

Characterization is the word we use to describe how the writer develops the people in their story. The main character(s) needs to be a dynamic character, meaning the character changes over time throughout the phase of life you’ve decided to write about. The change can be physical or internal.

The best books show both kinds of change. Dynamic characters should have at least three aspects to their characterization. The writer should show the reader how the main character looks, walks, talks, rests, laughs, broods, drives, cooks, and every other action that helps the reader understand how the main character interacts with the world around them. Also, the reader should have a sense of the main character’s internal life, the character’s thoughts, feelings, intellect, vulnerabilities, weaknesses, and strengths.

Thirdly, the reader should get a sense of how the main character affects other characters. When the main character enters the scene, how do the other characters react? For instance, if a person walked into my kitchen and my dog Polar Bear peeled back his lips and growled, that would tell the reader something about the person who walked into my kitchen.

As you keep writing, remember that setting isn’t only to be used as a stage on which your characters act. Setting can and should create conflict, reflect mood, reflect character, and reveal craft elements such as metaphor and lyricism.

In memoir, remember to create both active settings (where events happen) and sanctuary settings (where the main character goes to reflect). In memoir, it’s very common for the book to open and end in the same setting after some kind of transformation by the main character.

Often, when writers tell me they have writer’s block, it’s usually because they’ve gotten stuck on one type of conflict. So lastly, as you begin your writing journey this year, remember to indulge all three levels of conflict. The most obvious is man versus man, meaning one character is in some kind of battle or conflict with another character.

For instance, if your neighbor is mad your apple tree keeps dripping mushy fruit onto his driveway and screams at you at 7:30 in the morning, that’s a man versus man type of conflict.

If you decide to chop down the tree with a dull ax in a thunderstorm, you have another type of conflict: man versus nature.

Finally, if after you’ve cut down the tree, all the memories of your dead grandpa planting the tree when you were just a wee kid arise and make you weep, that’s a man versus self conflict.

Challenge yourself to get the first chapter written this month.

Nicole Helget is a multi-genre author. Her most recent book, THE END OF THE WILD, is a New York

Times Book Review Editor's

Choice, a Parents' Choice Award

Winner, a Charlotte Huck Award

Honor Book, a New York Public

Library Best Books for Kids, a Kirkus Best Middle-Grade Book, an

Outstanding Science Trade Book for Students, a Best STEM Trade Books for Students K-12, a Georgia Children's Book Award Nominee, and the Minnesota Book Awards Middle Grade Winner. She works as a teacher, manuscript guide, editor, and ghostwriter. She lives in rural St. Peter with her family and dogs. You can follow the

Dogs of Oshawa Township at @TheOshawa on Twitter.

By Ann Rosenquist Fee

Tackle boxes, shag mullets, other identity crisis hacks

DEAR ANN: Since I’m only using makeup like twice a month, is it okay to put the makeup carrier away instead of having it continue to take up space on the counter? Or is that an unconscious signal that I’m giving up? DEAR READER: Does “away” mean “shelved in a tidy fashion, clearly labeled, ready to be used?” Or “out of sight because I will never use this again but can’t bear to rid myself of it?”

My hunch is it’s a combination, and that you need to sort the “sometimes” items from the “over and done with” products. Whatever survives in the “sometimes” pile, definitely keep it on the counter but not in an open tote.

Get yourself a case with a lid. A hat box, a tackle box, some fauxsuede thing on clearance. As long as the lid closes, ta-da, you’ve got your occasional makeup at the ready without sitting there tormenting you with its visibility. The “over and done” makeup gets tossed because even if it’s technically still usable, you’ve moved on. And that’s not giving up. It’s the prelude to starting anew.

DEAR ANN: Shag mullet or something more appropriate for my age, which is 68? DEAR READER: Current events call on each of us to set examples of high-road forward-thinkingness. The most selfless and visionary thing you can do for anyone looking to you for guidance, which is basically everybody because everybody’s looking everywhere right now, is to eschew the notion of “appropriate hair” as one of many stale concepts no longer serving us well. So I’m sorry if it turns out to be unflattering, but for the greater good, shag mullet it is.

DEAR ANN: I’m 58 and have worked at home for most of COVID and will be working from Unworn makeup glaring at you? Make it stop. home through May. I had a work wardrobe I liked but now only casual clothes make sense, and I’ve always struggled with a casual wardrobe that feels like “me.”

This is funny timing because I’m finally coming to feel confident in myself and who I am. What I want others to see is someone who is curious, warm-hearted, and approachable. I do not want that “liberal, woke” vibe, just that “nonpolitical, open to learning about others and changing the way I think and act” vibe.

Unfortunately, I have a face that probably screams white entitlement but that’s not who I want to be associated with. I want to make sure that white entitled people get this message and are either scared to approach me or are intrigued and want to learn as much as I want to learn.

I like the athletic, energetic vibe, but I have a menopause stomach so tight yoga pants without a long sweater are out of the question. I like modern Scandinavian. Shoes are also an issue. I prefer thrift stores and natural fibers. I’m totally into remaking clothes (or making them) but lack that creative spark for figuring out what to do.

Help? Am I the only one feeling this way? DEAR READER: Pretty sure most silver-jewelry-wearing menopausal Minnesotans are with you, and the answer lies in busting “modern Scandinavian” into two parts: 1) “modern,” which I advise you to shelve because you’re spot-on in hinting that Fair Isle cardigans are somehow tone-deaf at the moment; and 2) “Scandinavian,” which provides the elements you’re looking for, if we look way back.

Prehistoric Viking women had some go-tos you might do well to import: leather footwear, which you can interpret as work boots or overthe-ankle house slippers, whatever, just make them natural-colored and sturdy as if you might need to go from spinning wool to slogging through fields on a moment’s notice.

Also strap dresses that are basically roomy jumpers with pockets. This is your answer to the oversized sweater — paired with yoga pants, the natural-fiber strap dress says, “I am energetic and aware of my heritage and might be carrying a flint, which I’m not afraid to use.” Also, “feel free to ask me about this thing I’m wearing unless it scares you because you fear introspection, in which case stay away.”

Bonus points for wood or bone buttons. Whatever you can do to replace the Fair Isle-ish elements of your wardrobe with earthier, more raw, more functional alternatives, I am confident you’ll start feeling more like the rune Ansuz (openness, insight, communication, vision) and less like, well, like a silver cuff bracelet stamped with the rune Ansuz.

Got a question? Submit it at annrosenquistfee.com (click on Ann’s Fashion Fortunes). Ann Rosenquist Fee is executive director of the Arts Center of Saint Peter and host of Live from the Arts Center, a music and interview show Thursdays 1-2 p.m. on KMSU 89.7FM.

By Jean Lundquist

Winter Sowing

Now is the time to try winter sowing in your garden

Have you ever thought about “winter sowing” for your vegetables and flowers?

I know – I had never heard of it either until I spent too much time in front of the computer during the pandemic. The World Wide Web is a truly huge place, and there are avenues for gardening I haven’t even found yet.

But the words “winter sowing” captured my imagination, and I’m doing it this year. Now is about the right time for our zone if you’d like to try it, too.

At first I thought it meant scattering seeds on the ground before the snow fell, hoping for a quick start in the spring. Or maybe, I thought, we just sprinkle seeds atop the snow and hope they don’t drift away with the winter wind.

But it turns out to be a lot more fun than that.

First, you need some gallon milk jugs, orange juice containers or something similar. I’ve seen people use 2-liter pop bottles, but it seems to work better with flatsided plastic jugs.

You’ll need to poke holes in the bottoms of your jugs for drainage. Cut the jug in half around three sides, leaving the fourth side for a hinge. To have enough room for root growth, I made the bottom a little deeper than the top. (That’s what we used to call the biggest half.)

Line the bottom with a layer of newspaper to hold the soil in, then put seed starting mix in the bottom half of your jug. Make sure the soil is damp but not soupy wet.

Then, plant seeds. Don’t crowd them, but four or five seeds per container seems to be quite common.

Using some duct tape, close the “lid” of your jug and set it outside. Place it in direct sunlight. Placing it in something like a milk crate is a good idea, so it won’t be sitting directly in water from any rain or melting

snow. Then, go in the house and rejoice that you are gardening in February. In fact, late January or early February is the perfect time to start winter sowing here.

Now mind you, I haven’t done this until this year, so I’m only going on what I’ve read.

This is not a way to avoid the grow lights in the basement or the heat mat for your warmth-loving plants.

According to gardeners in zone 4b, where we are, the freeze-thaw cycle won’t hurt what you’ve planted. In fact, the cycle helps plants such as morning glories to germinate, as the process breaks down the hard outer hull of the shell. No need to nick it before planting it.

I’m not all that knowledgeable about flowers, but I read a lot of them do well when started like this. Tomatoes and peppers are often stunted and will do better under lights and on top of your heat mat.

Cole crops such as cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, kohlrabi and cauliflower are the veggies that seem best suited to winter sowing, as they do best in cooler (or cold) weather.

Not all cold-loving plants will do well with this sowing method, however. Radishes and carrots for example, do well when planted early in the spring but do not like to be transplanted. They split and look funny if they are transplanted. They still taste OK, however, so give it a try if you are so inclined.

These mini-greenhouses sound like fun. They’re a way to get started gardening early, though I think it could hurt a bit to see them covered in snow. I’m assured they don’t mind and should not be brought in when it snows or turns cold.

Apparently it’s true that many people turned to gardening when the pandemic struck. Greenhouse manufacturers are warning potential buyers that delivery will take a bit longer this year due to a backlog.

Maybe these mini-greenhouses will have an uplifting effect for us all as we await the waning of the pandemic and the warm breezes of spring.