ountry C Friday, January 15, 2021
cres A Focusing on Today’s Rural Environment
Volume 8, Edition 18
Monty's mix
of farming and fun
Krosch farms historic property in summer, races in winter BY DIANE LEUKAM STAFF WRITER
LITCHFIELD – It was one ne of those foggy, frosty January mornings and Monty Krosch looked oked over his small herd of 30 Black Angus steers on Oakwood Farm south outh of Litchfield. “They are more of a hobby,”” he said. “You always gotta have cattle attle around.” The young animals gathered ed toward the back of the fenced-in pen, much happier outsidee than in the barn. Nearby, Mackk and Murphy wandered, sniffing the ground as they nosed around. round. Leaving the pen and walkingg toward the farm shop, Krosch explained ined the dogs were 4-year-old brothers of a rare French pointer hunting breed,, Braque d’Auvergne. With a look that resembles esembles a cross between German Shorthaired orthaired Pointer and Bloodhounds, the animals are intelligent and friendly, but quiet – kind of like Krosch himself. Krosch is a grain farmer who has also been a professional snowmobile racer for nearly 30 years. The two endeavors have lent themselves well to one another. Oakwood Farm Having grown up on the 1,400-acre property, Krosch’s connection to Oakwood Farm began when his grandfather purchased it years ago. But, for the sake
ST R
Publications bli ti The newspaper of today is the history of tomorrow.
PHOTOS BY DIANE LEUKAM
While working in his shop, Monty Krosch has the companionship of his Braque d’Auvergne hunting dogs, Murphy (left) and Mack. (Top) Krosch checks on his Black Angus steers on the foggy, frosty morning of Jan. 5 on his farm south of Litchfield
of history and intrigue, one must go back to the 1870s, when a colorful character on the Minnesota political landscape owned the land. “There were three farms in Meeker County that were settled first and this was one of them,” Krosch said. Oakwood Farm was owned then by Col. William S. King and at one entrance to the property, the original gateposts still stand. King had a storied history and many interests as a leading
This month in the
COUNTRY
Shorthorn, Ayrshire and Jersey breeder; involvement with the NorthrupKing Seed Company; the railroad; was a newspaper man helping to found the Minneapolis Tribune and Pioneer Press; and founded King’s Fair, which was later the Minnesota State Fair. He was also a U.S. representative for Minnesota, and as such was considered corrupt. “He was in politics, and there were stories through the years,” Krosch said. “They threw political parties here.”
There was a beautiful house on the farm, a large barn that housed elite cattle, and other buildings. By the time Krosch’s grandparents, Maynard and Mabel, bought it, there were different owners. Next, Krosch’s parents, Merlyn and Marilyn, farmed the land, and now, Monty farms with his wife, Patty. They have two children, Jaden, who with her husband, Nick Rudie, lives in one home on the farm, and Mitchel, who is currently finishing up in trade school in St. Cloud. Monty and Merlyn farmed together until 2012, when Merlyn passed away at the age of 76. Even now, Monty often thinks of their time working together on the farm. Every morning they would go down to the shop and discuss what they were going to do for the day. They farmed, went hunting and fishing together, and later, motorcycled in the area. “My father and I were very close,” he said. “It was tough to lose him, somebody that you grew up with and did so much with. He’s my father but was probably my best friend, too.” Drag-racing farmer “Dad was a big snowmobiler,” Krosch said. “He would do chores in the morning and snowmobile in the afternoon with neighbors. They used to have a snowmobile club. Neighbors, all within 15-20 miles of here, would get together, then take off and end up at someone’s place at night. They were always planning evening trips.” Krosch snowmobiled a lot with his father, starting at age 5 on an Arctic Cat Cheetah 399. The snowmobile club put on rodeo-type events for kids, with barrels and pole racing. By his late teens he began drag racing, which is what he has continued to this day. When he was younger, he would
4
Family, farming, 4-H Clontarf
9
Recreating masterpieces Rice
7
Comedy in the country
8
Call me when the weather gets bad Diane Leukam column
15 A new way of life Litchfield 20 A wildlife haven in the backyard Sauk Centre
Krosch page 2 21 Country cooking Willmar, Starbuck 24 What’s this? 27 Animals we love
Page 2 • Country Acres | Friday, January 15, 2021
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Krosch from front
race almost every weekend, his Minnesota Snowmobile Drag Racing Series circuit taking him to numerous towns from Central Minnesota and to the south. “That’s what I would do all winter long is race on Sunday and fix on Monday,” he said. “I used to race every weekend and now we race two or three races a year and I’m fine with that; now, it’s more enjoyable.” Together with Cosmos High School friends Nate Blum and Jeff Lang, sleds are custom built for power and performance. Starting with a bare custom chassis, they add a lightweight tunnel and specialty motor. They choose cylinders, pistons, clutches, track length, studs and everything else. Components are sourced from all over. “I enjoy working on them as much as I do racing and driving them, and trying to get them the best that we can get them,” he said. Currently, there are two racing sleds sitting on stands in the shop. One has an 800cc custom motor with Wahl Brothers chassis and an MSD ignition. The other is a 1000cc custom motor fuel injection. Krosch’s team is one of the first to put fuel injection in open mods. “It’s been a learning curve, but we’re getting very close; something me and Nate enjoy is trying to think outside the box,” Krosch said. “Nate designed this whole carburetor and ev-
PHOTO SUBMITTED
A historic drawing shows Oakwood Farm as it appears in the 1800s, when it was owned by Col. William S. King, a prominent businessman, farmer and political figure in Minnesota at the time.
PHOTO SUBMITTED
The original grand house on Oakwood Farm near Litchfield was the venue for numerous political gatherings hosted by Col. William S. King in the late 1800s.
erything in here. They are oneof-a-kind.” When asked how long it takes to build a sled, Krosch laughed. “You never stop,” he said. Mostly, it is around three months. When a racing sled is
ready to go, it will be put on the track dyno in the shop to measure performance, and tested on area lakes. It will be around 300 horsepower, weigh about 365 pounds and capable of reaching speeds of 135 mph in under five seconds on a 660-foot race-
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track. That’s a handful. At 5’7” and 150 pounds, Krosch has to stay in shape to control thee sled. “With the better teams, ms, everybody has small drivers,” rs,” he said. “It’s just like a jockey ey on a horse. From the time you hit the throttle until you let off, it’s t’s still pulling on your arms.” He has been quite successccessful, with 50 or 60 trophies ies for race wins, series point wins, multiple individual classes es and overall high-point championmpionships to his name. However, wever, he considers it a greater honor to be known and respected ted in snowmobile racing. Along with Blum and Lang, Krosch credits Dale le and Ryan Nelson of Nelson International out of Willmarr as a huge help, both financially ly and knowledge-wise, in his racing career. Additionally, Krosch works with Ryan during ng the -counwinter with Ryan’s cross-counnture. try snowmobile racing venture. They have all helpedd him to participate in a sport he has really enjoyed. he 90s “My big thing in the and early 2000s was the World e,” he Series; I loved that race,” said. The World Series is where the best of the best race, and alconsin ways held in either Wisconsin ch has or Michigan, where Krosch 00 and won the 440, 500, 600, 800 1000cc classes. The onlyy class he has not won – yet – is the 700. It remains a goal. eries], “[In the World Series], ed the they also had a class called ‘Woody’s Challenge.’ It was a
PHOTO BY CHRIS HORD, RACE ONE
Krosch page 3
Monty Krosch races with his 800cc open mod drag sled in the 2015 World Series in Oconto Falls, Wisconsin.
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Friday, January 15, 2021 | Country Acres • Page 3
PHOTO BY DIANE LEUKAM
Custom-built high-performance racing sleds sit on stands at Monty Krosch’s shop near Litchfield.
is there when he needs her. “She’s a farm girl at heart; she grew up on a farm by Lake Lillian,” Krosch said. “She comes home during our busy time and says, ‘What can I do?’” When she’s not PHOTO SUBMITTED High school buddies Jeff Lang (from left), Monty Krosch and Nate around, Mack and MurBlum are pictured with custom racing sleds and many of Krosch’s phy are always there to snowmobile racing trophies from over the years, at Krosch’s shop keep him company. Krosch still loves the near Litchfield. farm, carrying out a deto Falls, Wisconsin in mid-February. As soon as spring from page 2 rolls around, the race shop will transition back to farming. With help from specialty race, 800 open son-in-law, Nick, during mods for a $5,0 $5,000 winner the spring and fall, Krotakes all,” Krosch Kr said. sch rotates corn and beans “I never won it, but was on the land that he once three times in the finals. farmed with his father and It was quite a prestigious grandfather. race as far as drag d racing By his side will be goes; we were wer building Patty who, though she sleds just for that t race to works full time at Home try to win it.” State Bank in Litchfield, Currently, he is preparing for his next World Series Se event, scheduled schedule to be held in Ocon-
cision that was made at a very young age. He considers farming a calling and a vocation. “Farming is one of those things that you have to love and want to do; if it’s a job for you, that just doesn’t work,” he said. “When I was 5 years old, I knew what I wanted to do and be.”
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Krosch
PHOTO SUBMITTED PHOT
Monty and Pa Patty Krosch pose on one of Monty’s racing sleds at a race in Detroit Lakes in 2017.
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a dairy project off his family’s dairy farm. Jane won a trip to the Minnesota State Fair with her duck during her Pope County 4-H days, following in the footsteps of her father, who showed a horse there in the early 1940s. “He has a funny story that he tells whenever we ask him about it,” Jane said. “He said he won champion with the horse and proudly hung the ribbon in the stall, but when he came back to check later, it had been stolen.” The Thielke girls were destined to love going to the county fair, after all, their parents had their first date at the Swift County Fair. “(Delroy’s friend) was dating one of my
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Jacob Skarsten, grandson of Jane and Delroy Thielke, chooses his 4-H piglet. Skarsten is part of the fourth generation of 4-Hers in his family.
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Jane (Tjosaas) Thielke used this pin as her pass to get into the Minnesota State Fair each day during her livestock encampment in 1960.
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The couple had grown up close to each other, and rode the bus together in their youth, but did not connect until they were older. In 1966, the couple married and, after a combination of circumstances, took over Delroy’s father’s hog and crop farm in 1970, in addition to keeping his job at Hancock Concrete. “I was the only one of four kids who wanted to farm,” Delroy said. The Thielkes began to raise their family fa on the f farm and decided farming was something they en-
joyed. “It was great,” Jane said. “There was always something to do and it kept the girls busy. I look back now and wonder how I did it all, though.” As the girls grew up, Delroy wanted to spend more time with his family and started renting out the family’s 320 acres of cropland. “My girls were getting older and it was keeping me too busy,” Delroy said. “I didn’t like that I had to miss out on things.” The Thielke girls did not just show livestock in 4-H; they brought many projects to the fair, including flower gardening and
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Hunter Aggen, grandson of Jane and Delroy Thielke, shows his 4-H pig at the Minnesota State Fair in 2019. Grant is part of the fourth generation of 4-Hers in his family.
Friday, January 15, 2021 | Country Acres • Page 7
Thielke
Comedy in the country
from page 6
arranging, citizenship and baking and cooking, and they were also involved in leadership events through 4-H. One of Jara’s baking projects stands out in memory. After perfecting the recipe, baking time and temperature, she was getting ready to bring her pie crust to the fair to be judged. As any 4-Her knows, judging day can be hectic, and Jara’s sisters were also trying to load up the family’s Ford Bronco with their projects. Getting scrambled in the rush, Jara’s perfect pie crust tumbled and crumbled into pieces on the ground. As frustrated tears began to flow, Jane reminded her daughter how hard they had worked on the project. “I told her to scoop up the pieces and go to the judge and just tell her what happened,” Jane said. Jara did that, and took home a purple ribbon for it. “The judge told her, ‘It must be quite a flaky crust for it to crumble like that,’” Jane said. Jessica, the youngest Thielke daughter, completed her last year of showing in 1996, and Delroy was looking forward to taking a little break from bringing pigs to the fair every August. Soon, word got out there would be no Thielke hogs in the barn, and 4-Hers far and wide asked for a lease. “We had kids from town, from around here and not (from around here) show our pigs and have even sold pigs
PHOTOS SUBMITTED
Jane (Tjosaas) Thielke holds the duck she showed for 4-H around 1960. Thielke participated in Pope County 4-H.
through two generations now,” Delroy said. “If a kid wants to show a pig, I’m more than happy to offer (him or her) a lease.” Delroy does it for the future of the agriculture industry. “I think it’s more impactful for these kids to know about where their food comes from,” Delroy said. “I pointed to a cow [to a boy] at the State Fair one year and said, ‘that’s where your milk comes from,’ and he said, ‘no, we get our milk at the grocery store.’” While the line may get a few laughs from his peers, Delroy knows there is a more serious issue lurking beneath the surface. “(Educating future consumers is) my reason for doing it,” Delroy said. “There’s not a great chance they’ll be farmers, but there is a chance, whether it’s five or 10 years from now,
that they’ll be having lunch or sitting in the board room with someone and can share about their experience working with animals … There is a lot of false in-
formation out there, and this is something I can do to hopefully help the industry.” Today, Jane and Delroy’s daughters are grown and married with children of their own, but the family still reminisces on 4-H days gone by, spent at the county fair. “We’ve had some great luck with our grandkids in 4-H, too,” Jane said. “One grandson won Grand Champion Breeding Beef cow his first year at the State Fair.” Through their involvement with local 4-Hers and grandchildren, Delroy and Jane have been able to continue the legacy of Thielke 4-Hers. It is clear why the You know you are a You know you are a farmThielkes are such a fafarmer when you can er’s wife when you are miliar name to 4-Hers, drive a tractor for 36 hours on a first-name basis with not only for the accoevery parts man within lades, but for the joy- straight, but cannot sit in front of a TV, or 100 miles but don’t have ous memories and time in a church, for more the faintest idea who the spent with friends and than 10 minutes without local hairdresser is. family each summer. going to sleep. *Reprinted with permission from “The Farmer’s Bathroom Book,” by Marvin Jensen. COMEDY IN THE COUNTRY SPONSORED BY:
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Young Delroy Thielke shows off his prize-winning corn circa 1961. Thielke sent his crops to the Minnesota State Fair in 1960 and won four awards.
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Friday, January 15, 2021 | Country Acres • Page 9
Recreating Watts’ wooden boat restorations are works of art BY DIANE LEUKAM | STAFF WRITER
riveau said. “We have about 20 coats of varnish on here.” Nearby, Dave Nelson worked on filing a window frame. It must be perfect before being chromed and placed on a boat. No two boats are exactly the same, but there are currently two that are as close as they get. Watts walked over to the Abby B. She has been in the shop for two-and-a-half years. She is sided with planking of African Mahogany, a tropical wood with natural oils that retard rot and bacteria, and built back with a tightness of the hull to ensure the vessel is waterproof. Caulking was added to fill any holes, followed by sanding and many layers of varnish. Like every boat, the Abby B has a story. She is a 1930 Dodge 21 1/2 ft. Hull #2, the oldest 21 1/2 foot known to exist. “These are amazing boats, extremely elaborate,” Watts said. “The Dodge brothers, Horace and John Dodge, became ill and both died within a month, probably from the Spanish Flu. They were extremely successful and were building parts for Ford and government contracts. Horace Junior, an heir, went through his money real quick. He liked boats.” The two boats were designed for Horace Junior by naval architect George Crouch. Each boat had a figurehead on the front; the Abby B’s is a sea nymph. The Emma S, Hull #83, is another 1930 Dodge and Abby’s twin; both are now owned by the same client who
PHOTO BY DIANE LEUKAM
Dave Watts is owner of Little Rock Boat Works in Rice, where he and his crew restore one-of-a-kind vintage wooden boats. The boat he leans on is the Abby B, one of two they are currently working on, that was designed in 1930 by naval architect George Crouch for an heir of the Dodge Brothers.
has named them after his twin granddaughters. Watts has had numerous clients, but basically, there are two that keep him booked up with work for years in advance. Watts will find an unusual boat, something a little out of the ordinary. If they like the boat, they purchase it with plans of restoration. Over the course of the projects, they communicate often with Watts, and take great interest in the work.
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RICE – Ask Dave Watts what his favorite aspect of restoring vintage wooden boats is and his answer is simple: He is recreating masterpieces. He and his crew of four which includes his son, Ben, at Little Rock Boat Works in Rice, take great pride in their workmanship while bringing one-of-a-kind treasures back to their original beauty – or better. On Dec. 7, Watts talked about the art of boat restoration and the business that has been his full-time work since 1986. Walking through the facility just outside of town, the sights, sounds and smells of work and wood filled the air. Each boat that comes into the shop can take up to three years to rebuild. They are completely disassembled and put back together in a process that creates a boat with longevity far outlasting the original. They were first built to last six to eight years; after Watts is done with them, they will be treasures that last generations. By the time they are finished, the owners will have at least $300,000 into each boat. “Originally, they were mass produced in a factory,” Watts said. “They were not perfect and there is no such thing as a perfect restoration, but we try.” In one area of the shop, Wayne Carriveau worked on a shiny, beautiful boat. He paused to explain what he was doing. “I am on my third stage of buffing, taking out all the fine scratches and everything,” Car-
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Page 10 • Country Acres | Friday, January 15, 2021
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Friday, January 15, 2021 | Country Acres • Page 11
Watts
from page 9 “I think they enjoy the restoration n process as much if PHOTOS BY not more than n DIANE LEUKAM the finished This is a 1930 project,” 8-cylinder Lycoming Watts said. engine, installed in a M a n y boat at Little Rock Boat Works in Rice. boats have gone through the shops (thee original shop p is located nearby and d iis still used as well) over the years. Most are pre-war, in other words, built before WWII, up until 1940. There are also many Chris Craft boats. “We just finished a 1961 31-foot Chris Craft Roamer with extensive restoration. We thought it would take five or six weeks and it took us six months working seven days a week,” Watts said. He lists off others they are currently working on, like a 1954 36-foot Chris Craft; 1940 25-foot Chris Craft; 1940 23-foot Chris Craft barrel-back, triple cockpit; and a 1936 28The foot Gar Wood sporting Abby B is a a Scripps V-12. One boat 1930 Dodge 21 with a colorful history is 1/2 foot, Hull #2, the 1928-29 42-foot Belle runabout. Each boat Isle. Its entire life was in the shop can take spent on Lake St. Clair three years from
The elaborate chrome gauge panel on the Abby B features a sunburst, just one of thousands of parts Watts must source from throughout the nation.
start to finish.
Watts page 12
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Reiny Hanneken - Manager 401 S. Main St. | Pierz, MN • 320-468-2516 CA_Jan15_1B_BL
Page 12 • Country Acres | Friday, January 15, 2021
PHOTOS BY DIANE LEUKAM
Wood bungs are cut and set in, grain matching, to cover each bronze screw that fastens the planks on the hull.
Watts
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between Lake Huron and Lake Erie. It was built specifically for running illegal alcohol from Canada to the United States during the Prohibition. One might suspect that sourcing parts for one-of-a-kind boats can be challenging; in fact, it is the most difficult part of Watts’ work. For instance, just one part, an original glass globe on the Abby B, cost him $1,000. It has never been reproduced, but he was able to find one in Michigan. Sourcing quality wood has also become more difficult as
the years have gone by. “When these [the Dodges] were made, there were huge stacks of wood the size of this building, with many stacks at each boat manufacturer and now, to get quality patterned grain wood of a particular species is about impossible,” Watts said. He keeps an extensive inventory of parts that he has found over the years on hand. There is a large collection of cruiser search lights and many other cabin cruiser parts, along with parts for other boats such as runabouts, the core of the business. All of his sourcing is done by phone, and through people he knows from all around the United States.
“I know a lot of people around the country,” Watts said. “Unfortunately, I’m 68 and a lot of the men I’ve done business with are no longer alive, and certain items we need for these boats are no longer produced in this country.” He also keeps his business local whenever possible. Rapids Upholstery out of Sauk Rapids does all upholstery work, with much research going into appropriate grain patterns and coloring; other businesses include the Rice Blacksmith Shop, Northside Welding, East Side Glass, EMF Machine Shop in
Watts page 13
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Dave Nelson carefully files the welding on a metal window frame that, when perfect, will be chromed and applied to a boat. Behind him is a 1940 25-foot Chris Craft Sportsman.
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Friday, January 15, 2021 | Country Acres • Page 13
Watts
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from page 12 Sauk Rapids, and farther away, B & L Plating in Warren, Michigan. Watts, 68, is nearing retirement from the business that has kept him busy for so long. He thinks back to the beginning of his boat obsession. He grew up in Austin, and his parents kept a travel trailer in La Crosse, Wisconsin. He first boat was a 6-foot with a sheet metal bottom and pine sides. “I bought it for $15 and my dad hauled it home in the trunk of his car,” Watts said. “I worked on it a little bit, and I’d go up and down the Mississippi with it. I would see these cabin cruisers that were all wood on the Mississippi and I was just enamored with them; they were phenomenal works of art.” Being from a very blue-collar family, he never thought he would have anything like them. “I remember one time at the marina in La Crosse, it was called Pettibone Yacht Club,” he said. “I had my little 6-foot boat there and I was walking the docks looking at these yachts. One man must have seen how I admired them and he called me over, took
REMEMBER*
A DRYER IS ONLY AS GOOD AS THE DEALER YOU BUY IT FROM! PHOTO BY DIANE LEUKAM
Wayne Carriveau buffs the Emma S to remove fine scratches from its African Mahogany body that is covered in 20 coats of varnish. In the background is the Abby B, a twin to Emma S; the boats are named after the owner’s granddaughters.
me on board and showed me all through his boat. I was maybe 15 or 16. I still remember all these years later, what that man did for me.” After being drafted and serving on a combat mission as a field radio operator in Vietnam, Watts went to college for criminal justice and
worked at the reformatory in St. Cloud. “One day, I looked in the paper and saw a one-bedroom lake house for sale with a guest house on Little Rock Lake,” he said. “Payments were less than a one-bedroom apartment in St. Cloud,
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Watts page 14
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Page 14 • Country Acres | Friday, January 15, 2021
PHOTOS BY DIANE LEUKAM
Ben Watts is pictured Dec. 7 at the original Little Rock Boat Works shop, where he is currently reconstructing the body of a 1947 25-foot Chris Craft boat.
Watts
from page 13 so I bought it and a short time later, started dragging home wooden boats and working on them.” He met his wife, Elaine, they married in 1988 and the two spent many years boating on Lake Superior in their own cabin cruiser. When Ben came along, they
graduated to a larger cabin cruiser. After all these years, Watts’ love for wooden boats has not waned. He and Elaine would like to retire to Leech Lake, where he would set up a small shop and work four hours a day, four days a week. “I still like working on boats, it’s the business end; I’ve had enough of it,” he said. He can take pride in a lifetime of work, recre-
ating masterpieces. His work has been noticed at shows around the country and even internationally. Typically, a Little Rock Boat will take best of show. While he is proud of the accolades, they are not what drives him. Ultimately, his clients’ satisfaction is the end goal. “Awards are yesterday’s news,” Watts said. “The clients appreciate the boat for what it is and not what it collects.”
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Friday, January 15, 2021 | Country Acres • Page 15
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Farm Girl Fresh page 17
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Page 16 • Country Acres | Friday, January 15, 2021
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Friday, January 15, 2021 | Country Acres • Page 17
Farm Girl Fresh from page 15
that could help more people. T h e y launched Farm Fresh Girl and spent a year and a half working on creating their book. T h e y received t h e i r f i r s t shipment of PHOTOS SUBMITTED books in In an effort to encourage more natural cooking, 2015. farm girls Colleen Anderson and Joyce Kaping They have developed their own line of organic spices, take indried beans, meal plans and kitchen essentials. spiration on topics from real life. In their online posts, they are sure to include things their own daughters call them about, like how to blanch a vegetable Colleen or how to prepare a cerAnderson and tain cut of meat. Between Joyce Kaping the two of them, they offer advice on have six daughters and how to grow daughters-in-law and get vegetables and fruits and how lots of questions. Having grown up on farms them- to preserve and prepare foods. selves, and both marrying Their book offers farmers, they have long nutritional, included cooking, cangrowing, ning and freezing as part preparation of daily life and they’ve and preserving advice as well as recipes.
Farm Girl Fresh page 18
SA HU VI G NG E S!
The goal, they said, is for this way of eating to become a lifestyle that’s passed down through the generations and get people back to basics. “I wanted to be able to teach our kids and have our families have a healthier lifestyle,” Anderson said. “Our grandchildren are coming up now; I want them to not experience what we have been through.” Together, the women help others focus on growing, preserving and preparing food through their business, Farm Girl Fresh. They have a series of recipes and blogs as well as YouTube videos on the basics, from how to cut a pineapple to how to prepare a whole chicken. They also have their own book which, rather than being filed as a cookbook, is filed under “educational” in the Library of Congress. The book is complete with information on how to grow everything from asparagus to rhubarb and contains information on how to choose foods with fewer chemicals and how to preserve each food fresh from the garden. Additionally, it
provides recipes for every facet of eating including snacks, dressings, soups, entrees and treats. The two focus on topics like providing simple switches people can make to get them eating more healthfully to dispelling myths around more healthful eating. It’s not always more expensive, they said, and it doesn’t have to be hard to get started. “You consume less food because you’re feeding your body whole food with minerals and nutrients,” Kaping said. “You tend to eat less and don’t have all these cravings; with processed foods, you keep eating and eating because the body is trying to find those nutrients, it’s calling out for them.” Kaping and Anderson first met at work and both realized they were eating similarly at lunch. That sparked an idea to start a beginning gardening class for moms who wanted to learn how to feed their families. The two spent April to November of 2013 gathering together young moms every other week to teach them how to make healthful meals and snacks, how to grow things and how to preserve foods. They focused on faith during the class and when it ended, they knew they had to continue their mission in a way
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Friday, January 15, 2021 | Country Acres • Page 19
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Page 20 • Country Acres | Friday, January 15, 2021
A wildlife haven in the backyard Tommer Tommerdahls’ creek, wooded hillside is a photography “studio” BY SA SARAH COLBUR | STAFF WRITER
SAUK CENTRE CENT – On a cold, wintry day, the water of Ashley Creek appe appears to stand still under a frozen layer of ice. The creek meande meanders through Nancy and Blake Tommerdahl’s backyard, dotted bby trees that cast dancing shadows on the ground below. The Tommerd Tommerdahls live on two-and-a-half acres in Sauk Centre and they chose the property specifically because of the water source. source The creek is what beckoned to the couple from the minute they saw the land. Nancy found the home on Facebook; it was posted by one of her classmates who was assisting her he mother in selling her childhood home. The property proper was enough for the Tommerdahls to move from Fergus Ferg Falls back to Sauk Centre where Nancy grew up. It’s a place where the Tommerdahls relax on a warm summer’s day. Lounge L chairs grace the outdoor deck that runs the length of the back of the house. Five bird feeders sustain the neighborhood nei birds and provide a playground for the chickadees chickad that hop from the feeders to the nearby tree, the only on birds that carry their snack back to the tree to eat.
Tommerdahls page 25 PHOTO BY DIANE LEUKAM
Blake and Nancy Tommerdahl live on two-and-a-half acres along Ashley Creek no north of Sauk Centre, where they fully enjoy the wildlife in their back yard, and where Nancy photographs many different species of birds and other animals. diff
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Friday, January 15, 2021 | Country Acres • Page 21
COUNTRY COOKING LORNA GLESNE | Willmar, Kandiyohi County WANT YOUR FAVORITE RECIPES TO BE FEATURED IN COUNTRY ACRES?
Contact Diane at diane@saukherald.com
Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies
Peanut Clusters • 1 pound almond bark • 1 package (12 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips
• • • • •
• 1 cup chunky peanut butter • Crushed peanuts
1 cup vegetable oil 1 cup brown sugar 1 cup white sugar 3 eggs 2 tsp. soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt • 3-1/2 cups flour • 1 package (12 ounces) chocolate chips
Melt almond bark and chocolate chips in microwave. Stir in peanut butter; add crushed peanuts. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto wax paper or in little paper cups. Store in refrigerator.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix oil and sugars; add eggs, soda, salt and flour. Add chocolate chips and mix. Form into cookies and place on ungreased nonstick pans and bake for 8-10 minutes.
Rolled Out Sugar Cookies
Pecan Pie Bars
• • • •
1/4 tsp. salt 1 tsp. soda 2 tsp. cream of tartar 3 cups flour
• • • •
• • • • • • •
1 cup butter 2 eggs, lightly beaten 1 cup sugar 1 tsp. vanilla
Mix salt, soda, cream of tartar, flour and butter like a pie crust. Add eggs, sugar and vanilla and mix together with fingers; let cool in refrigerator for 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out thin and cut into desired shapes. Bake at 350 degrees until lightly browned.
• Pecan Top: • 1 cup butter, unsalted • 1/2 cup light corn syrup • 1-1/2 cups brown sugar • 2 Tbsp. cream • Chopped pecans
1 cup sugar 1 cup brown sugar 1 cup peanut butter 2 eggs 1-1/2 tsp. soda
• • • •
2 cups flour 1/2 tsp. salt 1 tsp. vanilla Crushed peanuts
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter, white and brown sugar and peanut butter. Add eggs and mix well. Add flour, soda, salt, vanilla and crushed peanuts. Form dough into small balls and flatten with fork dipped in sugar. Bake on greased sheets for 10-12 minutes.
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix eggs, oil, sugar and pumpkin. Add flour, soda, baking powder and cinnamon and mix until moistened. Gently add chocolate or butterscotch chips. (I use half of each.) Pour into muffin tins lined with paper to two-thirds full. Bake 10-12 minutes. CA_Jan15_1B_JO
• 15-20 Ritz crackers, crushed • 1/4 cup melted butter
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut chicken into smaller pieces, if desired, and place in baking casserole. Cover with soup. Top with crushed crackers. Pour melted butter over the top. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
• • • • •
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9x13 pan. Beat butter and sugar; add vanilla and one egg at a time. Mix in flour, salt and soda. Press in pan; bake for 13 minutes. Place butter, brown sugar and syrup in heavy pan; heat on low until melted. Bring to a boil about 2-3 minutes. Take off heat and mix in milk and pecans. Pour over crust and Bake 20 minutes. Cool.
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1-1/4 cups soft butter 1/3 cup sugar 2 eggs 1 Tbsp. vanilla 2-1/4 cups flour 1/4 tsp. soda Pinch of salt
Peanut Butter Cookies
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Tell us about your FFA program and your involvement in it: I am a member of the FFA program of Willmar. Our chapter meets once a month to have formal meetings; we then have a fun activity after the meeting. We have about 35 members. Each member has a select few competitions that we compete in every year. Members compete with members from different schools to make it to state. Some of the competitions are Floral, Livestock Judging, Fish and Wildlife, and Ag Mechanics. I am the former sentinel, and I currently hold the officer position of vice president. I am currently on the Livestock Judging team, and also participate in the Fish and Wildlife contest. This past year, I was able to rent the school’s farm from my FFA chapter.
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Expectations Include:
What other hobbies and interests do you have outside of FFA? I wrestle on the Willmar wrestling varsity team. My eighth grade year I was a state entrant, but fell short last year. I show cattle and goats at my county fair for 4H, FFA, and in open shows. I am an avid hunter and occasionally fish. I am very involved in my church youth activities. I spend lots of time out on the farm. There’s always something to fix, clean, feed or make.
• Treating customers in a friendly and professional manner • Willingness to work 50-60 hours weekly • At least 2 years of driving experience or recent graduation from truck driving school • GED or high school diploma equivalency
What are your plans for the future? I plan on attending South Dakota State University and getting a degree in animal science. I plan on being in the beef club as well as the livestock judging team. After college, I plan on going back to farm with my brother on our family farm, raising feeder cattle, and having a row crop operation. I also plan on raising registered cattle for show to sell to 4Hers and FFA members.
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What are you most looking forward to in 2021? I am looking forward to getting life back to normal. I am excited to wrestle for my school, and at open tournaments. I also have my first three bred heifers calving out this spring. I plan on going to many cattle shows in Minnesota and surrounding states to show my cattle competitively. I also am excited to get my driver’s license, and obtaining a job on a local farm.
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Friday, January 15, 2021 | Country Acres • Page 25
Tommerdahls from page 20
“They’re just so fun to watch,” Nancy said. Chickadees aren’t the only birds the Tommerdahls see; there are many others, depending on the season. Nancy makes her own suet from a mixture of peanut butter and lard, and also puts out whole peanuts to attract the blue jays. Five of them call her backyard landscape home and they visit most often in the morning, though she sometimes sees them flitting about at other times of the day. Hummingbirds come and go, their high-powered thrumming driving their fast, jerky movements. Sparrows dart about the yard, back and forth among the hovering tree branches while piliated woodpeckers leave indelible marks in the trees as they hunt for bugs in the bark. The holes they make are a lasting reminder of their determination. Robins, orioles and dark-eyed junco join the others, creating a symphonic aviary. Nancy tracks each of them inside the four wellpaged bird books she has, writing down the dates so she knows exactly which birds have visited her out-
PHOTOS SUBMITTED PH
This egret stands in the shallow water of Ashley A Creek at the Tommerdahls’ property north of pro Sauk Centre.
door w world orld and when. A pair of cardinals pops in and out occasionally, a male and a female. “It’s a surprise when they show up and that’s what keeps me interested in what I’ll see next,” she said. During migration season, she looks forward to seeing birds that are just flying through on their way to their final destination. When she’s not watching them from her summer spot, Nancy watches from inside her living room, enclosed by two big picture windows facing west that provide
a n unpar-alleled view of the outdoors utdoors and the creek beyond. d. Nancy has an eye for beauty, and has a degree in commercial art. She photographs birds from the deck and through the windows, capturing each look, head tilt and
Tommerdahls page 26
A Barred Owl visits the Tommerdahls’ backyard for just one day, captured here on film by Nancy.
PHOTO BY DIANE LEUKAM
This unique little three-story barn and hillside brick wall system were built by a previous owner. The “silo” has a lookout, accessible by a spiral staircase inside.
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Page 26 • Country Acres | Friday, January 15, 2021
A male Scarlet Tanager is always a flash of color and a welcome sight.
PHOTOS SUBMITTED UBMITTED
A Pileated Woodpecker feasts on homemade suet of lard, peanut butter utter and sunflower seeds.
Established d in 1975
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Tommerdahls from page 26 feathered wing. She has literally thousands of bird images and there’s not a day that goes by that she doesn’t snap a few photos with her long-range lens. She’s always enjoyed watching wildlife and been able to occupy herself in nature, having grown up on her parents’ (Eugene and Marilyn Schindler) 180-acre hobby farm with cows, pigs and chickens. In addition to watching the aviary spectacle around them, the Tommerdahls also keep an eye on the waterfront. Deer occasionally trapse through the property and every so often, fox. She and Blake bring
their lounge chairs down to their floating dock on the creek to read and enjoy the day – and of course, take pictures. “We mostly watch the wildlife,” Nancy said. “When the sun is shining, we can see the carp there in the spring, they’re fun to watch and they jump.” The floating dock sits in water so shallow that in a year without much rain, it sits on the bottom of the creek. Ducks float by – mallards, wood ducks and merganser ducks. Otters flip in and out of the water in the summertime. They’ve seen two across the creek playing together around a log, swimming in the water, jumping out and back in. A woodchuck made an appearance every day for a couple months, walking
around down by the water, eating leaves, making its way up to the wood pile by the back of the house. The wood is used in the Tommerdahls’ lower-level family room fireplace. The Tommerdahls have made good use of the land; they planted fruit trees the last couple of years. The land now is host to various varieties of apple trees as well as pears, cherries and apricots – yes, apricots. The land was already home to prolific plum trees that grow so many of the bursting little fruits that they give them away. This spring and summer the Tommerdahls, who’ve toured every winery in Minnesota and
Tommerdahls page 27
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Friday, January 15, 2021 | Country Acres • Page 27
Animals we
Tommerdahlss from page 26
many from here to Flororir ida, plan to make their own wine using a homee brewing kit. They plan to focus on plum wines, but will maybe try to create a few apple wines or dabble with other fruits. “We’ve noticed as we go south the winess get sweeter,” Nancy cy said. “Our goal is to see if we can make it drinknkable.” In addition to their eir trees, the Tommerdahls hls have a small garden of fruits and vegetables including strawberries, letettuce, beans and peas. Nancy runs her home business out of the site as well, utilizing a very unique feature of the property. A prior owner built a small barn there, as a way to cover up the well. It boasts three stories of 450 square feet each, along with a “silo” that is complete with a spiral staircase inside. The Tommerdahls have converted the barn into her work space for her company, Nancy’s Picture Place. She creates photo prints, enlargements and canvasses, and does sublimation, signs, T-shirts and vinyl cutting. The barn has been renovated to be climate controlled and when she is not in it working, she and Blake can most often be found just simply enjoying the world around them. At the end of the day, they often make their way to nearby Fairy Lake to watch the sunset. The natural environment graces them with many sights and sounds, like the occasional eagle flying overhead and once, an owl that Nancy watched perched in a tree for a single day.
PHOTOS SUBMITTED
A female Northern Cardinal is less showy than n her male counterpartt but still beautiful.
Baltimore Orioles take a break together. PHOTOS SUBMITTED BY AMY AND PETER BORASH
ROYALTON /2), This is our son, Adam (age 1-1/2), looking through the Country Acres paper. He “reads it” to find cows ws and tractors!
Nancy Tommerdahl often ventures out into the nearby countryside for photos. Here, a farmer works the fields just west of Sauk Centre.
The visit was fleet- around them, the moment ing, but that’s OK. Like has been captured with a so much of the beauty camera.
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