ountry C cres A
A Supplement to the Star Shopper
From farm to By KATELYN ASFELD Staff Writer
GLENWOOD – Cattle, pigs and turkeys are a common sight to see all across Minnesota. One cannot drive across the countryside without spotting a dairy farm, a turkey barn or a pasture of beef cattle. These animals have become part of the Minnesota landscape, but, there is one animal, once considered exotic in the United States, that is slowly making its way into the country’s livestock industry – the alpaca. Hopeful Hills Ranch in rural Glenwood is one operation that raises alpacas. Jane Fauskee loves animals and always wanted to have a job where she could work with them. She attended Ridgewater College in Willmar to become a veterinary technician and once she completed college, she worked several years at Glacial Ridge Veterinary Clinic in Glenwood until she decided she wanted something different. “I wanted to have my own animals,” she said. Her husband, Randy, owns Fauskee Oil in Brooten. His job requires him to work long hours away from home. Randy was concerned for Jane’s safety around large animals. He was worried she might get injured when he was at work. In 2007, after hearing about alpacas, Jane began to do some research
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Friday, April 6, 2018 • Edition 4
Focusing on Today’s Rural Environment
Fauskee aims for high-quality fleece in alpacas
PHOTO BY KATELYN ASFELD
Jane Fauskee, owner of Hopeful Hills Ranch, stands in front of her herd of alpacas March 22 at her farm in Glenwood. Fauskee has raised alpacas since 2008.
and toured alpaca facilities. Alpacas were a relatively new livestock to North America. The first importation of alpacas into United States and Canada started in 1984, but by the late 1990s, the importation closed. “They’re very easy to take care of,” Fauskee said. “They don’t need a lot of
extra feed. They’re adapted to living in the Andes Mountains on some fair to poor quality grass. As long as you’re giving them good grass hay and a good loose mineral, they do just fine.” The couple agreed alpacas would be a safe animal to raise and handle, so, Fauskee bought her first three alpacas in
2008. “They’re so safe, and they’re so gentle,” said Fauskee. “I have one animal that kicks but even if he does kick, there’s a soft pad at the bottom of the
ALPACAS continued on page 5
Love is sweet Hulinsky, Schubert make maple syrup wedding favors By DIANE LEUKAM Staff Writer BURTRUM – The fire crackled while smoke filled the air from a newly-built outdoor oven. As Nathan Hulinsky poured a pail of maple sap into shiny metal trays above the fire, his fiancée, Amanda Schubert, watched, knowing months from now their wedding guests would receive the fruits of their labor as gifts. “For wedding favors we’re going to do little glass jars of syrup for all the guests at the wedding,” Amanda said. “We’ll have a little tag on them that says “Love is sweet as syrup.” We thought it would be a good way to put a more personal touch on our wedding.” PHOTOS BY DIANE LEUKAM
Amanda Schubert and Nathan Hulinsky stand near a tree they have tapped for maple syrup March 24 near Burtrum. Small jars filled with maple syrup will be used as wedding favors for the couple’s wedding in October.
The March air was crisp, to say the least, and the day would be spent mostly outdoors by the fire, the house nearby if anyone needed to warm up. Nathan and Amanda were at his parents, David and Shirley Hulinsky’s, 60-cow dairy farm near Burtrum. The four, along with Nathan’s brother, Greg, shared good-natured bantering while they carried out what is becoming a family tradition of making maple syrup. “It’s a whole family deal,” Nathan said. “I thought we should try it.” They bought 10 taps in 2013 and started cooking the sap outside on the old wood stove from the farmhouse. The “kettles” they used were stainless steel Surge buckets, formerly used for milking cows. Each year they make more syrup, so this year, Nathan built a new, bigger stove outside. “There is a lot of surface area so the steam boils off a lot faster,” Amanda said. Nathan explained the process of making maple syrup begins with collecting the sap. “You want the temps to be above freezing during the day and below freezing at night. You want the fluctuation,” he said. When that fluctuation begins in the spring, it is time to put the taps out. They tap the trees by
MAPLE SYRUP continued on page 7