Country Acres - April 16, 2022 by Star Publications

Saturday, April 16, 2022 | Country Acres • Page 1

Country Saturday, April 16, 2022

Sugar

cres A

Volume 9, Edition 40

Focusing on Today’s Rural Environment

shack The LeBlancs’ sap to syrup feat

BY CHRISTINE BEHNEN | STAFF WRITER

ITTLE FALLS – At the LeBlanc Sugar Shack north of Little Falls, there is a distinctive smell, taste, sight, feel and sound to the season. Brad, Karin, and their son, Dawson, are coming to know spring by when the sap starts running. If the sun is ripening the light and the snow is melting just so, if the air feels like the right back-and-forth of warm and cold, it is time. When it is time, when the sap gets going, then the air in the shack fills with the smell of maple sap becoming concentrated sweetness. When the smells talk to the bellies, the pancakes start flipping, and the tastes are soaked in syrup. And through it all are the sounds of 1-year old Dawson singing and talking away, and the voices of visitors answering spring’s sweet invitation. After moving onto their property, the Sugar Shack soon came into being. With plentiful warmth rising from the cooking sap, and homey furnishings of the shack, it is

LeBlancs page 2 PHOTO BY CHRISTINE BEHNEN

(right) Brad LeBlanc explains how the firebox heat rises into the flues that spread the heat evenly underneath the evaporator basin. An average of 20-30 gallons of steam may be released in an hour. (below) PHOTO SUBMITTED: Buckets connect to taps on maple trees and fill with sap about every other day.

ST R

Publications bli ti The newspaper of today is the history of tomorrow.

This month in the

COUNTRY:

Watch for the next edition of Country Acres on May 7, 2022

Technology a game changer Kensington

19 FFA student Staples-Motley

25 Country cooking Carlos

Cycle of life, country style Diane Leukam column

21 Ernie’s antique tractors Sauk Rapids

28 Taking down my first larger tree Nancy Leasman column

14 Farming for quality Morris

24 Easter and rabbits Herman Lensing column

29 Sheep-raising family Holdingford

Page 2 • Country Acres | Saturday, April 16, 2022

Country Acres

Diane Leukam, Editor diane@saukherald.com Sarah Colburn Staff Writer Grace Jeurissen Staff Writer Christine Behnen Freelance Writer Herman Lensing, Writer herman@melrosebeacon.com Jennifer Coyne, Writer jenn@dairystar.com Evan Michealson, Writer evan.m@star-pub.com Carol Moorman, Writer carol@melrosebeacon.com Natasha Barber, Writer natasha@saukherald.com

Story ideas send to: diane@saukherald.com SALES STAFF Kayla Hunstiger, 320-247-2728 kayla@saukherald.com Missy Traeger, 320-291-9899 missy@saukherald.com Tim Vos, 320-845-2700 tim@albanyenterprise.com Mike Schafer, 320-894-7825 mike.s@dairystar.com Warren Stone, 320-249-9182 warren@star-pub.com Jaime Ostendorf, 320-309-1988 Jaime@star-pub.com Bob Leukam, 320-260-1248 bob.l@star-pub.com

PRODUCTION STAFF Pat Turner Amanda Thooft Nancy Powell Maddy Peterson Cheyenne Carlson

Deadlines: Country Acres will be published the first Fridays of April, May, June, September, October and November, and the third Friday of every month. Deadline for news and advertising is the Thursday before publication.

ST R

Publications bli ti “Committed to being the eyes and ears of our communities.”

PHOTO SUBMITTED

The LeBlancs have placed 150-200 taps on maple trees in three locations. The bags fill with sap two to three times a day.

LeBlancs from front easy to imagine the shack as a hearth which draws the family and community together. Maple syrup is a marvelous stuff that attracts visitors, brings people together and, at its simplest, tastes better than any of its imitations in the store. Brad learned about syrup-making a bit when he was young, and then more from his high school natural resources teacher, Doug Ploof, who took the students out to collect sap and cook it in an evaporator. After doing shifts for a neighbor during the busy sap-running season, Brad took the next step. “I got my own evaporator and started doing it myself.” Brad said. It’s been roughly 20 years of experience for Brad. Now, he has 150-200 taps in trees across a few locations as wild as a forest and as tame as his

parents’ yard. Sometimes, snow gets in the way of recovering sap from the trees. “One year there was so much snow, I had to haul 300-400 gallons of sap to the Sugar Shack in very deep snow, 10 gallons at a time by hand, with no other way of getting it out of the woods,” Brad said. Maple syrup trees are not an elite breed. The larger the tree is, the more taps can be productively placed, but more than three taps will not result in a greater yield. The sap-producing life of a tree continues as long as the tree itself is living. The only moderation to productivity is the timing of the season itself. It may last for anywhere from two weeks to a month, and it all depends on the sweet spot as winter transitions to spring. “I’m always watching the temperatures real close,” Brad said. “When the temps are above freezing during the day and dropping below at night, that’s ideal for tapping,

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“I can just smell it in the air. I’ve been doing it for so long, I have a good feeling of when it’s going to go.” - Brad LeBlanc

usually the first or second week in March. You have to be ready for it.” Tappers down south are the first to send word to the tappers farther north that the sap wave is coming. Still, even trees in the same region may begin at different times, with variations spanning up to a few weeks. Brad pays attention to the outdoors, noticing indicators like the birds and the changing light, but he relies upon his knowledge of his trees and an indefinable feeling to know when to start. “I can just smell it in the air,” Brad said. “I’ve been doing it for so long, I have a good feeling of when it’s going to go.” Tree standard time can be fickle and changeable. This spring, the sap started and then backtracked when the weather turned cold again. It did start again this year, but a fast transition from cold to warm weather could result in a shortened season and lower yields. “There was one year that

it went from winter to summer so quickly that I didn’t get anything,” Brad said. Nevertheless, once tapped, sap will be harvested until the season finds its own end. Early sap begins light in color and becomes darker as the season progresses. With the darkening of the sap, the maple flavor grows stronger and stronger until the budding of the trees hearkens the end. “It’s a real strong maple flavor that is good for cooking,” Brad said. “Once it starts staying above freezing at night, the sap gets a buddy flavor and it stops running.” This is why sap runners hit the season as though it were a fast-paced marathon. The window of opportunity is limited and unpredictable. Anywhere from 1500-1800 gallons of clear sap is a typ-

LeBlancs page 3

Reasonable rates.

Professional design.

Brad Herickhoff, Owner 320-351-4872

Saturday, April 16, 2022 | Country Acres • Page 3

LeBlancs from page 2 ical good output for a season. With a roughly 30 to 1 ratio, what begins looking like water will turn into 50 to 60 gallons of sweet brown syrup. The evaporator that effects this transformation looks like a shiny, metallic, roiling thingamajig. Twenty years and some know-how have greatly simplified this puzzle of a process. How does tree water become the most popular pancake topper? “You’re taking out the water and getting the sugar,” Brad said. A 300-gallon tank hauled by truck flows sap through a hose threaded through the wall of the shack and feeds into the evaporator. A large basin holds the sap for heating. A firebox below harnesses the heat from burning firewood and sends it up and back. Flues line the bottom of the basin like fins, allowing the heat to work upon the sap with a greater surface area. As the sap heats, a cloud of steam forms.

PHOTOS BY CHRISTINE BEHNEN

(above)The evaporator is designed to efficiently convert sap to syrup. The firebox on the bottom sends heat through flues in the basin to cook the sap. Moisture leaves the sap and is drawn out through the hood. (left) Once the evaporator removes excess moisture, the syrup goes into the bottler.

It flows into the hood and is released into

the air outside. In one hour, 20 to 30 gallons of

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steam are released. As the syrup concentrates ever sweeter, a float box regulates its passage to another smaller compartment. Brad knows the syrup is ready to draw and can when the temperature reaches 219

degrees, and a hydrometer measures sufficient sugar content. To the eye, as the sap becomes syrup, drops change from flowing like water to elongating before they fall. Pulled syrup goes to the bottler, where it continues to

be heated at 180-190 degrees. Crystallized “sugar sand” is filtered out. The heat facilitates sealing the canning jars. Even with the help of machinery, cooking requires finding the ideal middle ground. Overcooking crystallizes the syrup. Undercooking leaves excess moisture which could allow growth of mold. The stove needs to be stoked every 30 to 45 minutes. Higher heat processes the syrup more quickly, but just as dinner can boil over, so too can the cooking syrup. A more moderate heat lessens the danger of needing to open the damper, or worse, cleaning up a sticky mess. If moderating the alchemy of sap to syrup weren’t enough for Brad’s attention, hundreds of taps on trees are constantly filling. While he’s cooking, buckets are filling. While he’s emptying buckets, he’s losing cooking time to convert the sap to syrup before it can go bad. During the highest flow, buckets fill every other day, and bags two to three times a day. Juggling is a necessary skill, and help from friends and family can

LeBlancs page 4

Despite the forecast,

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Page 6 • Country Acres | Saturday, April 16, 2022

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Technology a game changer

Persons keeps track of sheep with electronic ID system BY DIANE LEUKAM | STAFF WRITER

KENSINGTON – From inside the lambing barn, the door could be seen opening and several ewes came into view, ushered into the building by Dan Persons. In each hand he held a tiny newborn lamb as the ewes were quickly separated; one went into a small pen along with the two lambs he held. There was more pressing business to be done. In one swift movement, a second ewe was brought down to lie on the bedding pack, where

PHOTO BY DIANE LEUKAM

Dan Persons stands in the largest barn April 1 near Kensington where 400 ewes – 40 to a pen – along with all their lambs are housed in pens according to birth order of the lambs. About 1,000 lambs will be born on the Persons’ Rafter P Ranch this spring.

Persons, in a matter of seconds, helped her deliver her rather large single lamb with one leg hooked backwards Helping a ewe with lambing is nothing new to Persons; his ﬂock of 500 ewes has been downsized from 1,000 not long ago. Through the years, he has overseen thousands of births on his Kensington farm, where he and his wife, Kay, run a sheep and grain operation. Persons knows his sheep, and that his quick actions helping the ewe were necessary – for her and the lamb. “He probably would not have been alive had it not been pulled,” Persons said. “He’s pretty tired, his face pretty swollen.”

Kay works off the farm at a bank in Hoffman just down the road, but as soon as she gets home from work, it’s out in the barns to check on bottle lambs. They are those lambs who have not taken to their mothers and are kept in a small, warm building and fed a milk replacer until they are old enough to move on. The milk is fed through a system that automatically mixes more milk when needed, as long as milk replacer is kept in the tank. “Kay comes out here and makes sure everybody’s got milk,” Persons said. “The little pens are our starter pens. Both of these pens, they got at-

Persons page 10

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Page 10 • Country Acres | Saturday, April 16, 2022

Persons

PHOTOS BY DIANE LEUKAM

from page 7 tached to us, they would only suck if we walked into the room. So, my solution is I hang one of my old dirty barn gloves over the nipple; done, cured. Almost instantly the glove was ‘me’ and they would drink on their own. Otherwise, they would only drink if I came in and held them. Now, they have the smell of that glove and they find the nipple between the fingers of my glove and life is good!” While Kay does all of the bottle lamb work, she also does a thorough evening check at 9 p.m. each day. She goes into the barns and checks everything over to make sure all is well. Also on the farm is Eric, a hired man of many years who works a few hours every day during lambing season and as needed the rest of the year. He has a flexible schedule, something that has worked well for the Persons. Lambing season is nearly finished at Rafter P Ranch and, all told, there will have been about a thousand lambs born this year. Even on the busiest days on the farm, Persons works with an earpiece in his ear, a sign of his second occupation, one that has long been intertwined with the sheep he grows. It all started about 10 years ago. “My eyes went bad and I couldn’t read the ear tags like I used to,” he said. “I wanted to go electronic and I couldn’t find anything in the U.S., but I found a company in England.

Dan Persons looks over ewes and their daysold lambs April 1 near Kensington.

I was their ﬁrst customer in the U.S.” That company was Shearwell, and as a result of years of collaboration, Persons now represents them in sales and customer support throughout the country. His business is almost exclusively with sheep operations at this time. In his own operation, the technology has helped him to be more efﬁcient. That, in turn, helps him on the other end of the phone as he takes calls from farmers in four time zones. After all, he uses the technology every day. When each baby lamb is born on the farm they receive a painted number on their back and that number is also painted on the ewe. The lambs also get an electronic ear tag (EID) that is recorded in a handheld computer

A new ewe and her lamb rest in their pen just minutes after being assisted by Dan Persons during the difficult lambing.

where it is linked to its dam and sire. That tag stays with the animal its whole life, and links the lamb to pedigrees, date of birth, weights and production information including average daily

gain from birth, vaccinations, and any sort of treatment the animal may receive. The lambs, in turn, provide valuable information on the ewes. “We want a ewe

that will wean and have two lambs survive to market, an average of two live lambs per ewe per year,” Persons said. Persons uses a reader that is a little larger than a cell phone to scan

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Persons page 11

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Saturday, April 16, 2022 | Country Acres • Page 11

Persons from page 10

the corner and we put 40 ewes and all their lambs in a pen. When the pen has 40 ewes we move to the next pen, all the way down the barn. When we wean, we know which pens are the oldest and we can just keep taking the next youngest pens.” While Persons enjoys the entire process of caring for sheep, he looked forward to a busy day coming up. “Tomorrow, we begin weaning,” Persons said. “By the end of tomorrow we’ll know which lambs and ewes perform the best.” For weaning, 4-5 people are on hand to help with the operation. All the sheep are held in an alleyway. As they go

through the chute, ewes and lambs are weighed, and lambs receive one vaccination. The chute sorts the lambs off and moves the ewes out a different gate. Then, the lambs go back to the pen they were raised in and the ewes stay in the feedlot. They will wean lambs off of 80 ewes and vaccinate the lambs from 80 more ewes in a matter of 2 hours. Performance determines breeding practices. Ewes that give birth to lambs that don’t perform well are bred to a totally different bloodline and none of their females are kept as replacements. On the other hand, the highest-performing ewes’ female offspring are kept in the flock as replacement ewes. Persons strives for a 1520% replacement rate each year. With a strictly

Polypay flock, rams are selected using information from the National Sheep Improvement Program (NSIP). “We are members of NSIP and all sires are enrolled in that, and we get estimated breeding values back on all our ewes,” Persons said. “We’ll go to the NSIP Polypay breeders and select rams that are in the top 10% of the breed across the country.” The Persons use a system called wave lambing. During breeding season, 150 ewes are exposed to rams at one time. Every two weeks, more ewes are added, ensuring that when lambing season begins in February, there are not too many

Persons page 12

PHOTOS SUBMITTED

Dan and Kay Persons work together on their sheep farm in Kensington, where the 2022 lambing season is coming to a close.

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Page 12 • Country Acres | Saturday, April 16, 2022

A bottle lamb is pictured with its electronic ear tag, which was inserted when it was one day old. The tag stays with the animal its whole life and keeps track of pedigrees, date of birth, production including average daily gain from birth, vaccinations, and any sort of treatment the animal may receive.

Persons from page 11

PHOTO SUBMITTED

Kay Persons, with help from Rocky (front) and Chip, works in the bottle room, where lambs who have not taken to their mothers are kept in the small, warm building and fed a milk replacer until they are old enough to move on.

ewes lambing at any given time. Ewes are outside in cold housing, but as each group comes close to lambing, they are brought into a lambing barn that is insulated and heated to just above freezing. “We bring them to the lambing barn one

group at a time; it’s all based on the records,” Persons said. “I have the dates they were turned in with the ram so I know when they were exposed so we can set up those lists.” The sorting system will look at the list to sort ewes. If a ewe is due to lamb in this time period, she goes to the left and takes a short walk to the lambing barn For Persons, having technology in his back

pocket means all the difference. “Ear tags are their key to all the data that lays behind them,” he said. “It’s fast when we do things. They go through single file but when we weigh lambs or sort ewes, we can easily do 2-300 an hour. It was kind of a game changer.” As the last of the 2022 lambs are born on the Persons farm, Dan admits he is ready to be done lambing for

the year. There are no breaks in the action from start to finish. He is grateful for Kay, Eric and others who help on the various busy days. Like so many other farmers, he looks to the future, unsure of what it holds. Time will tell the rest of the story. “Downsizing wasn’t really what I dreamed of,” he said. “My mind was telling

Persons page 13

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Saturday, April 16, 2022 | Country Acres • Page 13

PHOTOS BY DIANE LEUKAM

Pens of 40 ewes, each with all their lambs, are pictured April 1 at Rafter P Ranch near Kensington.

Persons

from page 12 me I should expand but my body and my labor were telling me, hmm, nope. I don’t have anybody coming back to the farm. It changes

how you operate late in life. If nobody’s going to take over, it changes what decisions you make. You don’t make those big-dollar decisions that are long-term investments unless you know someone is going to come back. I would like to sell it [someday]

for what it is, a modern sheep operation, but, in reality, I don’t know.” Before Persons finished speaking, his phone rang. “Hello, this is Dan,” he said. A farmer in Montana needed his assistance. Back to work.

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Page 14 • Country Acres | Saturday, April 16, 2022

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MORRIS – All hands and hooves on deck when it comes to farming with the Hufford family. Possibly their greatest success has been farming alongside all generations of the farm at some point in their lives. Jeff and Kirby Hufford have been farming together since the mid 80s. They have worked alongside their Grandpa George, father Dick, and now get to involve their own kids and grandkids on the beef, crop and swine operation. Working with family and handling all aspects of the farm have given them plenty to do and plenty from wich to learn. While there have always been beef cattle on the farm, the Huffords realize how important utilizing modern breeding practices and technology is to improving the vigor of their herd. “We actually sold the cows in 1988 because of a drought,” Jeff said. “Then, we backgrounded and ﬁnished out feeder calves until the early 2000s, when we bought 40 cow/calf pairs again.” A drought that started with abnormally low rainfalls in 1987, worsened into 1988 throughout Minnesota. The hardship that affected many livestock operations at that time was a low supply of feed for livestock. The Huffords chose to sell their cow/calf herd and opted to buy a group of feeder calves to maintain their pasture land. They continued to put weaned calves out on pasture and to feed them out until a ﬁnished market weight.

Hufford page 15

PHOTO SUBMITTED

The Hufford family spreads straw in the calving barn that was built three years ago on their farm near Morris.

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Hufford from page 14 “When we started to do the backgrounding and finishing of calves, we would buy weaned 500- to 600-pound calves and send them out to the pasture,” Kirby said. “We pull them off the pasture at the end of the season, and they would be around 900 lbs. They would then be finished out in our feedlot.” This system was working fine for the Huffords, until the size of calves coming from the groups and being put on pasture wasn’t suitable for their operation. To combat this issue, they took to supplying their feedlot with their own homegrown calves, from birth to market. Between 2006 and 2007, the Huffords took to purchasing 40 commercial cow/calf pairs to put on pasture and restart their breeding herd. A decision like this at the time seemed logical but, to their surprise, ended up being something both Jeff and Kirby’s families find joy in. “I really enjoy this time of year,” Kirby said. “All of the calves being born gets me ex-

PHOTO SUBMITTED

For the Hufford family of Morris, it’s all hands on deck when it comes to farming. Pictured are Easton, (front from left) Carson, Dick and Myrna; Back: Katie, Mitch, Jeff, Kirby, Julie, Makenna, Taylor and Amanda.

cited, because you can ﬁnally see what the genetics you paired during breeding season turn out to be.” Of the 90 cows the Huffords have calving this spring, about 40 of them are registered An-

gus, 20 registered Simmental, and many of the commercial cows are carrying embryos transferred from previous ﬂushes. “We started artiﬁcially inseminating around 2008, and saw

an astounding difference in the quality of our calves,” Kirby said. Artiﬁcial insemination practices on the Hufford farm led to an interest in registered genetics. They bought three registered An-

gus heifers to get their registered herd rolling. Though the heifers were, as Kirby described, runof-the-mill type heifers, it was a start. It didn’t stop there. They saw the importance a quality cow has

within their herd, and decided to dive in and retain half interest on a high-quality heifer from Schiefelbein Farms in Kimball.

Hufford page 16

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Page 16 • Country Acres | Saturday, April 16, 2022

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from page 15 Schiefelbeins have been raising Angus cattle for generations, and provided a heifer for the Huffords to lay a solid foundation for their herd. From there, the Huffords began really getting into choosing the best genetics to pair with their cattle, by ﬂushing their top cows and pair-

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care of the calf as her own. Even though they have been aiming for a few heifer calves out of their top cows, they have had several bull calves turn into high-quality breeding bulls. In 2015, one of their bull prospects placed ﬁrst in the Minnesota Performance-Tested Bull Sale. “We had the one get ﬁrst, but we also had a second and a third-place

Hufford page 17

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Saturday, April 16, 2022 | Country Acres • Page 17

PHOTO BY GRACE JEURISSEN

For the Huffords, calving season starts at the end of February and is an exciting part of farming for the family each year.

Hufford from page 16

bull over the last few years,” Jeff said. When looking for their next calf crop, Kirby and Jeff utilize Expected Progeny Difference charts (EPDs) r to choose bulls to sire their herd. They look at numbers from calving ease to weaning weight, yearling weight and among t temperament, others. What makes for a good group of progeny is calves that are born with ease and grow quickly and well.

Having an easy herd to work with is important to the Huffords, because Jeff had an incident several years ago that he does not want to happen again. “I had a cow come at me in the pasture,” he said. “I saw the sky twice before hitting the ground.” Kirby agreed with his brother. “I know I can’t outrun them, so I would much rather have them easy to work with,” he said. The Huffords continue to outsource genetics from different herds by purchasing embryos to put in their recipient

cows. They are always striving to raise their version of the perfect cow. Raising cattle has also helped the brothers raise their families. The rest of the family enjoys the farm as much as Jeff and Kirby. Jeff’s son, Mitch, works full-time on the farm. Kirby’s son, Taylor, often helps after work. Makenna, Kirby’s daughter, shows some of the cattle at their local county fair and enjoys helping work cattle in her free time. Kirby’s wife, Julie, owns a hair

Hufford page 18

PHOTO SUBMITTED

Makenna Hufford shows cattle at the Stevens County Fair for 4-H during the summer. Halter breaking heifers for shows is one of her favorite parts of the farm.

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Page 18 • Country Acres | Saturday, April 16, 2022

PHOTO SUBMITTED

Once weather and land permits, cows and calves are put on the Huffords’ pasture where they rotationally graze about 120 acres.

Hufford from page 17 salon in Morris and is an instrumental part to many fencing projects

and helps immensely during calving season. “One of my favorite things about what we are doing here is the fact that we are carrying on our family’s legacy or tradition,” Jeff said.

Kirby agreed. “It is really something special that we have been able to work alongside our grandpa, dad and now our own kids,” he said. Jeff and Kirby’s dad,

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Saturday, April 16, 2022 | Country Acres • Page 21

PHOTOS BY ELLARRY PRENTICE

Dozens of restored tractors of various makes and models fill Ernie Wollak’s shop in Sauk Rapids. Wollak has amassed a collection of about 130 tractors and other antiques inside his museum, which is open for tours by request.

Ernieʼs antique tractors Wollak’s collection a rainbow of history BY SARAH COLBURN | STAFF WRITER

SAUK RAPIDS – Ernie Wollak has always been a historian but since the early 1980s, he’s been preserving the history of farming on his property in Sauk Rapids. Wollak has a museum there; it doesn’t have an ofﬁcial name or anything but unofﬁcially, he refers to it as Ernie’s Antique Tractors. Inside the doors sits a rainbow of history: red Farmalls, McCormicks and Massey-Harris, orange and yellow Minneapolis-Molines, an Avery and Internationals, green John Deeres and a Hart-Paar, a gray Wallis and black Oliver. The tractors, 135 of them, gleam under the lights, each one restored to its original glory. Lining the walls of the room are vintage gas pumps, shining in their own right, each with the glowing face of its brand name adding to the feel of the room. Antique signs and oil cans reminiscent of the “Wizard of Oz” have their own display area.

Ernie Wollak stands in his tractor museum April 5 in Sauk Rapids. The tractor beside him is a 1948 Minneapolis Moline that was once used by Great Northern Railway.

Wollak page 22

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Page 22 • Country Acres | Saturday, April 16, 2022

Wollak from page 21 Trophies earned at auto shows rise like stalagmites from the floor. Inside this unofficial museum, Wollak welcomes groups and individuals to view his collection. Wollak, owner of Wollak Construction, gets weekly calls expressing interest in a visit to the tractors. He says “yes” as often as he can. With big weekend groups he often provides a complimentary meal as guests spend hours mingling among the pieces and chatting about the old days. “It’s fun watching them, listening to them,” Wollak said. “With the older equipment, I still learn from them.” Wollak, who grew up on a farm, also has equipment as part of the collection, like a corn shucker, and the first Allis Chalmers round baler. All in all, the tractor collection ranges in age from 1912-65. He finds them at auctions and hears about them through word of mouth, purchasing pieces as far away as Canada, Texas, Pennsylvania, the Dakotas and Iowa, to name a few. His collection includes three United States Army, Airforce and Marine tractors, each with special hooks

PHOTO BY ELLARRY PRENTICE

Ernie Wollak has an assortment of vintage gas pumps and streetlamps – one from New York City – April 5 in his collector museum in Sauk Rapids. Some of Wollak’s gas pumps date back to the 1940s.

afﬁxed where a helicopter could drop them into service. “They’re all special to me,” Wollak said. “Everyone has a little story behind it.” Wollak began his collection in the weeds on his land. He was constructing farm buildings and one of the farmers owed him for a project and didn’t have the cash in hand and offered Wollak one of his old tractors in-

stead. Wollak moved it to his own back lot and there it sat. Through the years he’d add another piece and then another. They sat out there in the elements, grass growing around them, for six to eight years. Then, he decided it was time to restore them. At the time, he had a mechanic working on his company’s

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construction equipment and he asked him to begin restoring the engines, carburetors and mags on the side. Pretty soon, Wollak hired a handful of restoration experts to do the work. When ﬁnished, the tractors all have new clutches, bearings and tires. Rusty gas tanks are steamed out and radiators are replaced or restored. Each time Wollak adds

a tractor to his collection he knows it could be many months – or even years – before it’s ready for display. “It takes a long time to ﬁnd the parts,” he said. His restorers ﬁnd original parts as much as they can but every so often, they have to replace something with a reproduced part.

Wollak page 23

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Saturday, April 16, 2022 | Country Acres • Page 23

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Tractors from the 1920s and 1930s are part of Ernie Wollak’s extensive collection, including a 1928 Hart Parr, made in Charles City, Iowa, a 1929 Wallis 12-20 and a 1937 Case C.

Wollak from page 22

Wollak estimates 99 percent of his collection is restored completely. He still has four or five tractors outside in the tree line but now he’s filled the museum, his home garage, and he’s got vintage and antique gas pumps and paraphernalia in his man cave and his home office.

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A 1955 Minneapolis Moline High Crop is one of about 130 restored tractors owned by Ernie Wollak.

Wollak page 26

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PHOTOS BY ELLARRY PRENTICE

Ernie Wollak stands beside a 1946 AV Super McCormick Farmall April 5 in Sauk Rapids. Wollak does not have a favorite tractor, but this collector ranks high on his list.

Page 24 • Country Acres | Saturday, April 16, 2022

Easter and rabbits ing up on you. The Easter Bunny is a long-established tradition in Western culture. The creature is a combination of a judge and

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the Easter Bunny comes from old German stories of a pagan goddess (Eostre) and rabbits. That, however, has never been proven, although connections with Christian traditions and themes do exist. Those connections go back far into Christian history. The Greeks were using the rabbit with religious images in the first millennium. Throughout early Christian history, there were paintings of a rabbit with Mary, the mother of Jesus. That originated because hares can conceive a second litter while still pregnant with a first litter, producing a belief that hares, which were sometimes mistaken for rabbit, have miraculous births. Since tradition and belief teaches Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a virgin when Jesus was born, the connection was made between hares (rabbits) and Mary. Titian, a 15th Century painter, has Mary holding a white rabbit. The painting is officially titled, “The Virgin and

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Child with St. Catherine and a Shepherd,” and places Mary with Jesus in a pasture. Unofficially, it is called “The Madonna and the Rabbit.” There are other, older paintings with that theme. The treat-giving rabbit tradition hopped from those paintings and into popular culture about 100 years later. It is pretty well documented that tales of the Easter Bunny (aka Osterhase) were told in the 1500s in Germany. Martin Luther is credited with telling the tale of how the Oster Haws (Easter Hare) brought candy and Easter eggs to children. That story took hold of the imagination. With rabbits being active in

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the spring, when Easter comes, seeing a rabbit produced stories of the Easter Bunny checking up on people. As Germans migrated to new lands, the story came with them. It was carried to England by Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. She was the mother of Queen Victoria and established the tradition of Easter Egg hunts on palace grounds. What the monarch did was copied by the nation. German immigrants brought the tradition of the Easter Bunny with them as they came to America. Today, it has spread throughout the world and is wellknown folklore imagery. As you drive through the countryside in March and April, chances are you will see a rabbit. It is probably just another of the elements of living in country acres. Or, it might be the Easter Bunny checking up on you.

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Saturday, April 16, 2022 | Country Acres • Page 25

COUNTRY COOKING RECIPES SUBMITTED BY MARY LANDOWSKI | Carlos, Douglas County Want your favorite recipes to be featured in Country Acres? Contact Diane at diane@saukherald.com

• 2 packages (3 ounces) raspberry jello • 1 cup boiling water • 2 cups vanilla ice cream, softened • 1 cup orange juice

Sunday Morning Brunch

• 2 cans (8 ounces each) unsweetened crushed pineapple, drained

Dissolve jello in hot water, stir in ice cream and orange juice until well blended. Fold in pineapple, cover and refrigerate. Optional: Add a can of mandarin oranges.

Strawberry Salad • 8 ounces cream cheesed softened • 1/2 cup powdered sugar • 1 package (10.5 ounces) frozen

strawberries, with juice • 12 ounces Cool Whip, thawed • 1-1/2 to 2 cups mini marshmallows

In large bowl, beat together cream cheese and powdered sugar. Add frozen strawberries and Cool Whip. Mix together with a wooden spoon until well blended. Fold in 1-1/2 to 2cups mini marshmallows. Refrigerate. It’s best to make the day ahead, and it keeps well. Feel free to add extra strawberries.

Yogurt and Berry Salad • 1 (16-ounce) container vanilla yogurt • 1 (12-ounce) container Cool Whip • 1 box instant vanilla

pudding • 2 bags frozen fruit (raspberry, strawberry, blueberries, etc.) • shaved chocolate

Mix yogurt, Cool Whip and pudding together. Add frozen fruit and chill. Top with shaved chocolate and whole berries if desired. Serves approximately 12 people.

Mickey’s Pie

• 1 (8- or 9-inch) graham cracker crust • 8 ounces Cool Whip, thawed

• 1 (3-ounce) package lime Jell-O • 1 (6-ounce) container keylime yogurt

• 2-1/2 cups Brownberry croutons • 1 pound lightly seasoned pork sausage • 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

Easy Meatloaf • • • • • •

• 6 eggs, lightly beaten • 1 Tbsp. dry mustard • 2-1/2 cups milk, separated • 1 can cream of chicken soup

Brown sausage; drain. Grease 9x13 pan and cover bottom with croutons. Then, cover with cheese and top with sausage. Mix together 2 cups milk, eggs and mustard; pour over layers. Refrigerate overnight before baking the next day. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix soup with the 1/2 cup milk and pour over the top. Cover in tinfoil and bake for 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hours. Uncover for the last 45 minutes.

( I use Chi-Chi’s brand) • 1/2 cup milk • 8 tortilla shells, cut into 1” pieces • 1 cup Mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brown ground beef with onion; drain. Mix soup, salsa and milk together. Add tortilla shells and mix into ground beef mixture until well blended. Put in a small roaster or a 2-quart baking dish. Cover and bake for about 30 minutes. Uncover, stir (add more milk or some water if needed), add cheese and bake another 30 minutes.

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• 1 cup flour • 1 cup brown sugar, packed • 1 cup oatmeal • 1/2 cup butter, melted • 4-5 cups rhubarb,

1 lemon cake mix 6 eggs, lightly beaten 1 can lemon pie filling Frosting 2 cups powdered sugar 1/2 cup butter, softened Lemon juice (real lemon), enough to spread easy

• • • •

cut up 1 cup sugar 1 cup water 2 Tbsp. cornstarch 1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix flour, brown sugar, oatmeal and butter. Put half of mixture in a greased 9x13 pan. Cover with rhubarb. Combine sugar, water, cornstarch and vanilla; cook until clear and thick. Pour over rhubarb and cover with remaining crumbs. Bake for 45 minutes.

Rocky Road Bars • 1 package (11.5 ounces) milk chocolate chips • 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk

• 2 Tbsp. butter • 2 cups dry roasted peanuts • 1 package (10.5 ounces) minimarshmallows

In top of double boiler or on a low burner, melt chips with milk and butter. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine nuts and marshmallows. Fold in chocolate mixture; mix well. Put evenly in a grease 9x13 inch pan. Cool and cut into squares. These freeze very well.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix cake mix and eggs together; fold in pie filling until well blended. Spread evenly on a cookie sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes until done; cool. Mix frosting ingredients together and frost cooled cake. Serve with a scoop of lemon sherbet.

Mix Cool Whip, yogurt and Jell-O together and put in pie shell. Refrigerate at least a couple of hours. Serve with a little Cool Whip and a cherry on top.

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Beef Taco Bake • 1 pound ground beef • 1/2 cup onion, chopped • 1 can (10.75 ounces) tomato soup • 1 cup medium flavor thick and chunky salsa

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Page 26 • Country Acres | Saturday, April 16, 2022

Wollak from page 23 “I can’t get one more tractor in there, there’s no way,” he said. “I have no room.” Wollak began with an ofﬁce on the land for his construction business, then he built a shop, then he added the 150-foot museum. Soon after, he added a 150-foot wing on the back of the shop, then another 120-foot wing on the back of the museum and then an L-shape of an additional 120-feet. Now, he’s out of room and out of land. This summer, Wollak plans to begin construction on a new museum site in Pillager where he plans to eventually retire. He’s hoping to move his entire collection there over the course of the next two years. “History, it’s all about the history and trying to keep the younger generation a little bit interested,” Wollak said. Wollak, who’s served as president of the Benton County Historical Society for two decades, said he considers any interest from people younger than 65 a win. “Our grandfathers and fathers worked their butts off with that type of equipment and I think about how hard it was and before that, it was horses,” he said. For him, the museum is a way to honor all they’ve put into the land. “It’s challenging but it’s fun,” he said. “You get it in your blood and it’s tough to get it out.”

PHOTOS BY ELLARRY PRENTICE

Ernie Wollak shows off a 1952 Minneapolis Moline tractor once used by the United States Air Force. The ZASI model was one of 259 built for the U.S.A.F.

Antique oil cans and gasoline nozzles fill a display case April 5 in rural Sauk Rapids. Owner Ernie Wollak has collected these and other vintage items for decades.

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Page 28 • Country Acres | Saturday, April 16, 2022

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About three weeks into “working out,” it was time to take down a tree of unusual size (for me). It was 30 degrees and we had 1.5 inches of new snow overnight. First, I finished cleaning up the trees Ron took down two days before. Then, I moved up the hill toward the west, cleaning up dead branches and noting where the wild blackberries edged the woodlot. Blackberries appreciate a little sun with their shade, so they’re considered shrubs of the woods’ periphery. Blackberries also grow on the edge of an open area in the woods where many years ago we had started a plot of asparagus. That area opened onto the lawn and wasn’t far from the sewer’s drainage mound and the chicken coop. Across the opening, just on the edge of the woods on the far side, Ron had a small plot where he was attempting to grow mushrooms. Back on the blackberry side, I noticed a dead tree with a diameter at its base of about 9 inches. It was perhaps 45 feet tall. It leaned toward the clearing. If I took it down it would fall across the asparagus patch, but that wouldn’t be a problem this time of year. It wasn’t tall enough to fall on the mushroom plot. Sooner or later, I had to take down a significantly sized tree – or not. I didn’t really have to because Ron would do it. But, I could probably do it, too, and it would be a source of pride in my woodlot-clearing capabilities. I’ve mentioned the danger before. I know the danger. I evaluated the danger and knew this tree’s upper braches would not get hung up on any oth-

Working out – outdoors, that is by Nancy Leasman

ers since it was on the edge of the clearing. It was leaning in a good direction to fall and not damage anything. I reconsidered a few times but then decided this would be it. I would no longer be a woodlot virgin. This would be my first tree takedown. I looked at the trunk and determined my wedge cut would be on the west side of the tree. Two other trees grew closely on the east side, so I had to position myself carefully to be outside the line of fall. I made the first cut of the wedge, angling upward so the second cut, when meeting the first, would remove a wedge of wood which would then cause the tree to go down in that direction. I removed the saw and started the second cut at an angle to meet the first. My little saw is perfect in many ways but it works hard when it has to cut anything bigger than 3 inches across. I sawed and sawed, or rather the chainsaw sawed and sawed. The cuts weren’t coming together as I had planned and I was getting nervous about when the tree would take a notion to fall in spite of my careful planning. Though I probably shouldn’t have, I abandoned the wedge cut and positioned myself on the east side of the tree to make the final cut. I didn’t have as much room to maneu-

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ver as I would have liked, but I couldn’t stop now. Leaving a half-cut tree is no better than forging ahead and letting the chips fall. As I sawed, I heard the first crack, an indicator that the tree was going to come down. Because the other trees were in the way and I knew I couldn’t move back at the last second, I stopped the saw and stepped to the left and backward a step. I watched as the tree separated from the stump and the upper branches hit the ground 30 feet away. I also watched as the trunk hit the ground and because of a bend in the trunk, it rolled to the left, with the end of the trunk landing horizontally on my right foot! Yeah, that hurt. That wasn’t good, but it may have been more or less unavoidable, or at least, I couldn’t have planned for it. It was kind of a “huh” moment. I was glad for my sturdy boots. They’re not steel-toed but still provided some protection. After assessing the level of pain, the position of the trunk, where I was in relation to where anyone else was, I just pulled my foot out from under the tree. It was a little like the two times I’ve ended up in the ditch during winter driving; once on black ice, and once on very clearly visible ice. Both times I assessed the situation, determined that I didn’t want to call anyone for help, and drove out myself even though the first time a metal fence post had impaled the running board of the van I was driving and the second time I had to drive down the ditch for about 50 feet and scale a driveway approach. You just do it. My foot hurt for a little while after I’d extracted it from the grip of the tree but before long I was back to trimming branches and piling wood. My foot quit hurting and ultimately I didn’t even have a bruise. What I did have, though, was a newly experienced respect for the dangers of the woods.

Saturday, April 16, 2022 | Country Acres • Page 29

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family

Genetics the focus at Molitor Club Lambs BY HERMAN LENSING STAFF WRITER

HOLDINGFORD – Travis and Rachel Molitor’s lives revolve around their family and their sheep. “Our lambing season just concluded about a week and a half ago,” Travis said April 4 at the Molitor Club Lamb farm east of Holdingford. “Most of our lambing season, though, is in January because showmen like lambs born in January for fairs.” There are numerous seasons on the farm: the breeding season, then lambing, followed by the selling season and the show season. Molitor Club Lambs produces and sells lambs to showmen and producers. They had a brief downtime between lambing and their April 10 lamb sale. “With Easter where it is this year, we’re trying to find a day to slide it in,” Travis said. The Molitors’ lambs are predominately Hampshire with some Suffolk influence, a meat-producing sheep. “From a meat standpoint, they are one of the main breeds,” Travis said. “Our wool quality is not worth anything.

Meat is what our breed of sheep is good for.” This year’s flock of 35 ewes includes lambs born last year. Using a combination of artificial insemination and purchased rams, the Molitors are improving their flock quality. “AI gives us access to more genetics and improving our stock,” Rachel said. “We have a ram for some of our own ewes and for clean-up on what doesn’t settle with AI.” Travis, a native of the Watkins area, has a life-long interest in sheep. Rachel, who met Travis through 4-H at the Stearns County Fair, is not far from where she grew up. “It was about five miles from here, on a dairy farm near Opole,” she said. Raising sheep was part of their lives from the day they were married. Initial-

Molitor page 30 PHOTO BY HERMAN LENSING

Rachel (from left), Calvin, Travis and Grace Molitor, joined by family dog Remi, check on Legacy, the sheep Grace showed last year, April 4 in their Molitor Club Lambs barn east of Holdingford. Legacy was among the ewes that gave birth this year.

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Page 30 • Country Acres | Saturday, April 16, 2022

PHOTOS BY HERMAN LENSING

Recently shorn lambs mingle with ewes April 4 at Molitor Club Lambs east of Holdingford. The wool was sheared from the lambs in preparation for the April 10 sale at the farm.

Molitor from page 29 ly, they rented a barn near Eden Valley for their flock. In the fall of 2018, they moved to their farm east of Holdingford. “It was really nice having the sheep right in our yard after we moved here,” Travis said. The former dairy barn and machine shed fit their operation perfectly. It has enough room for the flock, including an area fenced off for newborn lambs. An open end allows enough light in to see well inside.

“The barn is not heated. When they (lambs) are born, we get them dried off, then we put mom and baby into a lambing jug,” Travis said. “The lambs can stay warm with a heat lamp.” Rachel and Travis work off of the farm; Rachel works for Compeer Financial, a farm credit cooperative in Waite Park, while Travis manages a feed mill in New Munich. They monitor their flock via cameras during the day while at work.

Grace Molitor carries a lamb she would like to show this year, April 4 at Molitor Club Lambs east of Holdingford. Grace showed lambs last year at age 3.

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“When we moved up here we put cameras in the barn,” Travis said. “It was one of our best purchases. We can look at the phone and see when one is starting to lamb.” Records are kept of when ewes are bred, and then ultrasound data is used to determine the due date and the number of lambs in the womb. “You can see if there are three or one in there,” Rachel said. “If there are three, you keep a closer eye on them, especially if it’s a first-time mom.” Some ewes are a year old when they have their first lambs, which is fairly common. So, too, are multiple births. “This year we had our first set of quads and had three sets of triplets,” Travis said. Some lambs born this spring will be seen at shows this summer. Molitor Club Lambs is gaining a reputation for the lambs and genetics they produce. “Last year we sold lambs to kids in different counties (for showing). Our lambs won in every county but one,” said Travis. Lambs are a great livestock project for a newcomer to livestock showing, Rachel said. They are easy to care for, smaller than a horse or cow and easily managed. Last year their daughter, Grace, then 3 years old, showed and even won a jackpot show. “I showed Legacy,” said Grace, who named that ewe and others in the barn. She is now working with another lamb to show. “She shows at jackpot shows,” Travis said. “She is too young for county fairs.” The only one in the family not actively working with sheep is 6-month-

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from page 30

old Calvin, but they bring him to the barn when checking on the flock. Getting the barn and animals ready for the April 10 sale started in late March. Lambs were sheared, the barn cleaned and a display area created. Family stepped in to help with that. They have had up to 40 people at a sale. Most purchase lambs to show throughout the summer, and some are looking for new genetics to add to their flock. “Our sheep grow pretty fast and have a lot of muscle, so commercial guys like them for rams,” Travis said. “The commercial game is how fast to get them to market weight and off the farm.” The Molitors have seen a growing interest in sheep production and showing over the years. It ebbs and flows but is clearly stronger than when they were in 4-H. “If you go to the Stearns County Fair it’s really interesting to see the variety of breeds there are now,” Rachel said. “There are the black face, hair sheep, Columbia and others. Stearns County might have the most variety.” The Molitors attend various fairs to see how sheep from their flock do and to support people who purchased their lambs. Molitor Club Lambs does more than produce quality lambs. “We sell lambs to 4-H and FFA members, so it is important for them to be able to use us as mentors,” Rachel said. “Travis does a really good job showing them how to shear or what to feed them. This (the farm) is more than a selling program. We want to make sure the people who buy lambs from us understand the project.” Travis benefited from similar mentorship when he started raising sheep in Watkins. That mentorship helped him, and now Rachel, into a yearly cycle of working with lambs.

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