Saturday, March 19, 2022 | Country Acres • Page 1
ountry C
Saturday, March 19, 2022
cres A
Volume 9, Edition 38
Focusing on Today’s Rural Environment
On Schumers’
pond
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Family, friends and neighbors often gather on Sunday afternoons to skate and to slide down the hills surrounding the pond at the Jim and Marilyn Schumer farm near St. Stephen.
Hockey rink provides winter fun for farm family, friends
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BY SARAH COLBURN | STAFF WRITER
T. STEPHEN – There’s a low-lying spot in the pasture on the Jim and Marilyn Schumer family farm in St. Stephen; it is sheltered from the whipping winds of winter and has become a hangout spot for some of the Schumer kids and their friends. Additionally, dozens of other people, young and old, might show up on a Sunday afternoon to slide down the steep hills surrounding the pond that lies at the bottom. They also come to skate. Growing up, the Schumer kids (including Melinda, Luke, Paul, John and Peter) played ice hockey on the spot, between the farm house and their grandmother’s. The low-lying area naturally collected water and it froze for winter. The boys would brush it off and play with their cousins or siblings and eventually, as they grew older, inviting friends from school to come play. As time went on, the family removed some soil from around the pond, creating enough space for a
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Publications bli ti The newspaper of today is the history of tomorrow.
hockey rink. John and Peter Schumer and the other guys who play these days have all played amateur baseball – three of them still do – and use the space to gather with their friends, staying in shape in the off-season. They play for the St. Wendell Saints, for Pearl Lake Lakers and the Sartell Muskies. “There’s nothing better than being out on the pond skating in the winter, getting together with the guys and being able to get outside,” John said. The guys gather on the ice for two hours a night during the week and once on the weekend. Most of them have never played organized hockey, except for one who played professionally overseas. Most of the guys are in their early 20s to late 30s, though they have had some who are almost 60 out there, as well as the local priest a few times. They usually try to play three games, scoring up to 7 points each. A simple group text message alerts everyone it is time to play. There is a
Schumer page 2
This month in the
COUNTRY: Watch for the next edition of Country Acres on April 2, 2022
PHOTO BY DIANE LEUKAM
Peter (left) and John Schumer pause for a photo on their hockey rink March 3 on the Schumer farm near St. Stephen. The rink is on a pond in the pasture, and skating there has been a family tradition.
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A respite from the chaos Diane Leukam column
12 Nature Enthusiast Holdingford
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