Country Acres Saturday, November 5, 2022
Focusing on Today’s Rural Environment
Volume 9, Edition 48
PHOTO BY BEN SONNEK
Bill Larson uses the rings on his slide computer Oct. 21 at his home in Benson. Larson joined the Airforce in 1959.
From farm to sky
– and back again
Larson reflects on Air Force service as aerial refueler BY BEN SONNEK | STAFF WRITER
B
ENSON – When Air Force vet-
eran Bill Larson looks back on his life – including his adventures as a child in the early 1950s, his service as an aerial refueling aircraft engineer and his time as a flight instructor – one thing immediately comes to mind. “I thank the Lord for saving my life,” Bill said. “I should’ve died many times.” Even Bill’s entry into the world was a bit haphazard. He was born at 2 a.m. on Feb. 22, 1939, in the back of an ambulance that had gotten stuck in a snowstorm while on
the way to the Swedish hospital in downtown Minneapolis. His parents, William and Edna Larson, lived in a tiny upstairs apartment in the Twin Cities. His father worked in an ammunition manufacturing plant about 50 miles south of the cities, and when Bill was born, he could not get home because of the weather. While he cannot recall much of his childhood, Bill does remember the Pearl Harbor attack on Dec. 7, 1941, even though he was just under three years old. “I was over at my grandfather’s apartment somewhere, and I can remember them shushing me up because the news was coming over in the afternoon,” Bill said.
Bill’s father entered the Navy around the beginning of 1944 and was shipped to New Guinea as one of the Seabees, the Navy’s construction force, where he stayed until the end of WWII. Bill’s mother was often sick when he was young, so he ended up spending a lot of time on the farm that belonged to his maternal grandparents, Ben and Lena Holzheimer, west of Benson. Then, Bill’s parents divorced when he was about 12, so he spent summers with his grandparents, riding the Great Northern Railway to get there. “I grew up pretty much on the farm, and I was always good with machinery,” Bill said. “I was out plowing with an old John Deere Model A tractor, and this thing had a flywheel on the side and two pistons as big as 2-pound coffee cans, and I was
Larson page 2
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 Nov.19, 2022
7
An ode to veterans Grace Jeurissen column
20 Honoring the green Benson
9
Horsin’ around the winner’s circle Kimball
21 Country cooking Kimball
14 Peacful places Willmar, Burtrum and Spring Hill
22 Sundress Garden, part one Nancy Packard Leasman column
22 FFA student 27 Animals we love 27 Word search
Page 2 • Country Acres | Saturday, November 5, 2022
Country Acres Published by Star Publications Copyright 2014 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave. Sauk Centre, MN 56378 Phone: 320-352-6577 Fax: 320-352-5647 NEWS STAFF Grace Jeurissen, Editor grace.j@star-pub.com Jan Lefebvre, Writer jan.l@star-pub.com Herman Lensing, Writer herman@melrosebeacon.com Tiffany Klaphake, Writer tiffany.k@star-pub.com Carol Moorman, Writer carol@melrosebeacon.com Natasha Barber, Writer natasha@saukherald.com Ben Sonnek, Writer ben.s@saukherald.com Sarah Colburn Staff Writer
Story ideas send to: grace.j@star-pub.com SALES STAFF Robin Burnette, 320-351-7837 robin@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 Karen Knoblach Annika Gunderson
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. ISSN: Print 2834-6440 Online 2834-6459
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Larson
PHOTOS BY BEN SONNEK
Bill Larson shows his slide computer. Larson spent much of his childhood with his grandparents in Benson; he later joined the Air Force as a flight engineer for a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker, an aerial refueling plane.
from front too small to start it; I couldn’t turn the flywheel, so my uncle had to start it for me.” Bill befriended a neighbor boy, Kenny, while living in Benson, and the two of them would get up to all kinds of antics when Bill was not farming. These adventures included building rafts and sailing them on the Chippewa River, not to mention daring each other to sit under the town’s wooden trestle bridge, which still exists in Benson today. “The rails over the bridge were open,” Bill said. “If you sat on the shore of the river underneath the bridge when the steam locomotive went over, of course the whole world was shaking, and the cinders that would come out of the firebox and would fall down on your head through the ties.” Bill and Kenny would also hop trains for fun, riding them a short distance and jumping off before the train – a steam locomotive in those days – could get up to speed. Looking back, Bill considers it almost miraculous that they were not killed or seriously injured. “We hopped a boxcar when it was stopped,” Bill said. “We were getting ready to jump out of the car when we started moving. We were on both sides of the wooden boxcar, and Kenny was going to jump, but that side had other tracks. Kenny grabbed a hold of the door and swung himself out – and swung right back in – and a passenger train went right by us, going 40 miles an hour, and if he would’ve let go of that boxcar, he would’ve been mush. I was in shock, and he was about as white as a sheet of paper.” When Bill got tired of his mother’s house – a residence so small that he had to sleep on a screened-in porch – he stayed with his grandparents so he could hunt ducks, and he went to Benson High School starting halfway through his junior year. He also joined the Navy Reserve around that time and worked for the post office for a year. Bill was in naval aviation during his time in the reserve, on a path toward working on an aircraft carrier; his first airplane ride was on a Lockheed Neptune P2V patrol bomber, a
Bringing out his old flight bag, Bill Larson displays his headphones and his slide computer. Larson joined the Air Force in 1959 as a flight engineer for a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker.
submarine hunter. After graduation and some
time in prep school, Bill joined the Air Force in 1959 and was
sent to Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. There were 60 men in his flight – his basic training unit – and he was the only one who ended up in aerial refueling. “My (drill instructor) was a master sergeant, and he was sitting next to me,” Bill said. “One of those old KC-97s (an aerial refueling plane) flew off right over our heads, and I said, ‘Boy, I bet that’d be fun.’ he DI looked at me kind of funny and said, ‘You think you’d like that, huh?’ Out of the whole 60 guys in our flight, I was the only guy who got sent off an Air Force base to a brand-new tanker squadron that was forming, and I know that sergeant had something to do with that.” Bill joined the Strategic Air Command aerial refueling squadron in Omaha, an outfit so new that they had 25 Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers more or less fresh off the assembly line. He worked in the jet engine shop for a few months before he was asked to go on a flight line, and he was assigned to 018, a new KC135. He went to flight school
Larson page 3
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Saturday, November 5, 2022 | Country Acres • Page 3
Larson from page 2
in Washington where his job was basically that of a flight engineer. “I didn’t have to go on every flight, but they wanted me to go whenever I could,” Bill said. The crew of a KC-135 included a flight commander, a pilot, a navigator, the refueling boom operator and the flight engineer. Bill all but lived with the 018 KC-135, hopping a truck to get to the airfield every morning. He knew all the aircraft systems, checking everything and keeping things immaculate, which a lot of crew members noticed when they boarded “Bill’s aircraft.” During his three-year service, Bill was sent up to Alaska for a winter; an airborne alert operation was being run out of there, with Boeing B-52s flying near the north pole. The tankers flew around Greenland and Alaska at an altitude around 40,000 feet, relying on no ground navigation and dropping to 30,000 feet to refuel other aircraft. “I’d look down (from the KC-135). I’d see the red lights. I could see the other guys in the cockpit,” Bill said. “You think, (the B-52) is carrying two big nuclear weapons in the bomb bay – in those days, they were almost as big as a railroad tank car – and then he had those two big cruise missiles on each wing.” When the fuel boom
STOCK PHOTO
A stock image shows a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker, landing gear down. Bill Larson served as a flight engineer on a KC-135, and he had a reputation for keeping the airplane immaculate.
reached the other plane, a snap of lightning would go between the aircraft because of their static charges; the bolt, although it could be visible at night, was not a hazard because it was mostly an external event. It would take about 20 minutes to refuel an aircraft with about 100,000 pounds of fuel.
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Saturday, November 5, 2022 | Country Acres • Page 5
Larson
PHOTOS BY BEN SONNEK
Using a picture of a Boeing B-24, Bill Larson points to the approximate location of where he would have been seated on his aerial refueling plane, a Boeing KC-135. (Below) A photo shows young Bill Larson with his mother, Edna Larson, and his uncle’s Remington rifle.
from page 4
- Bill Larson
Bill and Lonnie moved to their current home in Benson, inheriting 52 acres which include Conservation Reserve Program land and prairie. The land came from his grandmother, who had lived to be 100 and left Bill the land because he used to plow it.
Bill still enjoys taking care of machinery, especially his vehicles, with the same care with which he once attended to his 018 KC-135. “We love Benson; we’re never going back,” Bill said. “I love country living. The people are wonderful.”
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turing until his retirement. He kept his love of flying, though, and teamed up with his son and David White, a doctor friend with whom he flew aerobatics, to build a Van’s RV-4 light aircraft. About four years ago, after retirement,
“We love Benson; we’re never going back. I love country living. The people are wonderful.”
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and worked on anything he could. He then got into flying charter and teaching flying; many of Bill’s students were people who wanted to be crop dusters and needed a commercial license, and some of them were private pilots already. “The farm kids learned to fly right away, but they clammed up when you had to get them to call flight service or a control tower somewhere,” Bill said. “They knew which way the wind was blowing, they could figure out which fields were cornfields, but they were just too bashful to talk on the radio.” The Larsons lived in Edina for 50 years. Their son, Greg, went into the Navy, and in the late 1990s, Bill got to visit him on board the thennew aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, as it was going through the Mediterranean. Bill still has two metal pins that are needed to hold a jet in place on the carrier deck – one intact pin and one pin that was broken in half by the jet’s takeoff. Bill taught flying until the 1980s when he started his own business, working in manufac-
Saturday, November 5, 2022 | Country Acres • Page 7
An ode to veterans Protect your valuables from winter’s cold and snow. If your site is ready, you can get on our build schedule! CANov5-1B-RB
They are bound by a brotherhood held men and women who laid down their lives up by the promise they made to protect our at places thousands of miles away and great nation. They are protecting the honor across choppy seas, may they find peace. of the past, present and the next generaI sleep at night knowing my family will tion, their rights written on centuries-old be there the next day. Holding my lover’s paper. hand, I walk across the farmyard with only We the people… a wasp’s nest as my biggest threat. We the people should stand beside our Our brethren in arms carry the weight brothers and sisters. We should respect of their equipment and the memories of Touch of Grace their sacrifice and represent their purpose things they’ve seen or had to do all while well. We should be thankful for their ser- by Grace Jeurissen evading fire from adversaries. vice and be willing to embrace them. For They work their way up the ranks of some, the battles may still play like a broken record. the military, some collecting medals of honor for savI can’t even begin to imagine the things they’ve ing the lives of their comrades and civilians, but what witnessed. of those who they couldn’t save? Some have seen the ravages of a battlefield or Written letters of condolences are sent to families flown, walked, driven or sailed through treacherous on the home front whose flags wave in the wind on territory to back the red, white and blue. a brisk Autumn day. Those flags become still when As families are separated by seas, without truly a knock from the military representative echoes knowing when the next time will be that they can through the lonely halls of a home. hold their son, daughter, husband or father in their Dog tags are displayed proudly atop the flag that arms, there are preparations being made for the up- sits on a widow’s mantle. The widow is reminded coming holiday season on the home front. each day of how brave her husband was and knows Then there are the comrades who made it back, how proud he would be of his daughter who will finally having the security of being surrounded by the soon be graduating from college with honors. ones they love but haunted by the ones who couldn’t Article One of the Code of Conduct for members accompany them on the journey home. of the Armed Forces of the United States of America So many who return feel relief to be standing in states: their boots on American soil once again, but their “I am an American fighting in the forces which soles – and souls – still show signs of the places guard my country and our way of life. I am prepared they’ve been. Mud from the jungle, sand from the to give my life in their defense.” desert and salt from the sea are stuck deep in the On this November day, let us thank those who cracks of their boots. served our great nation and pay our respects The toughness, both mentally and physically, that to those who gave the ultimate sacrithese elite individuals possess is far stronger than the fice. glue that holds my own shoes together. I take advantage of my opportunities. My safety has never been a concern because of the young
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PHOTOS BY MAGGIE MOLITOR
Ty Filzen stands with a buckskin mare Oct. 7 on his family’s farm near Kimball. When Ty is not in the barn working with horses, he is a shop teacher at ROCORI High School.
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fancy diet or who can spend the most money. It is good genetics and consistent work,” Filzen said. Filzen and his wife, Mary, have been working with horses for over 35 years. Their sons, Ty and Troy, grew up training and showing horses and remain active on the farm, helping when available. The Filzens have built their business as a family-run operation with an emphasis on ethics and en-
suring they are providing what is in the best interest of both their horses and clients. “What makes us unique is that we do not hire out any of the workload,” Filzen said. “Either myself, wife or sons do the work – training, chores and showing. It allows us to truly know the horses.”
Filzen page 10
Paul Filzen reaches throught a gate to pet a Paint mare on his farm near Kimball. Filzen and his wife, Mary, have been working with horses for over 35 years.
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Page 14 • Country Acres | Saturday, November 5, 2022
PeacefulPlaces PHOTOS BY JAN LEFEBVRE
(Above) Arborvitae trees stand lush and tall Oct. 11 in the Grand Army of the Republic Cemetery near Burtrum. Arborvitae means “tree of life.” (Right) The grave of Guri Endresen-Rosseland stands Oct. 7 in sight of Vikor Lutheran Church near Willmar. Endresen-Rosseland founded the church and is honored by a monument there for her bravery during the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862.
BY JAN LEFEBVRE | STAFF WRITER
WILLMAR, BURTRUM and SPRING HILL – Cemeteries often receive unfair treatment in popular culture, as creepy locations in horror movies or places to double-dare schoolmates to enter on Halloween night. When someone visits a cemetery on a personal level, it is usually with the sorrow of saying goodbye to a loved one or paying respects to family and friends buried there. However, meandering through a cemetery just
to admire the place itself can provide serenity while offering a sense of history. Across central Minnesota are hundreds of cemeteries of all sizes, many well-known, others mostly hidden, but each with its own personality and atmosphere. Flowers during spring and summer add cheer to all of them, but older cemeteries with stately trees and weathered tombstones offer hints of stories from long ago. Three small cemeteries that are peaceful and historical in special ways are Vikor Lutheran Church Cemetery (a.k.a. Solomon Lake Cemetery) near Willmar, Grand Army of the Republic Cemetery (a.k.a. Moses Dane Cemetery) near Burtrum and St. Michael’s Cemetery in Spring Hill.
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Cemeteries page 15
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Vikor Lutheran Cemetery is pictured along Solomon Lake near Willmar. The tall oaks and nearby lake add a tranquil atmosphere to the historic site.
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an old cemetery with two striking names. Officially called the Grand Army of the Republic Cemetery, it is locally known as Moses Dane Cemetery because Dane, a Union soldier during the Civil War, is honored there. Randy Strassburg serves as president for the Moses Dane Cemetery Association and has family buried there. Until this year, when the association hired a lawn care business, he had been mowing it for 20 years. The cemetery relies on volunteers if there are special cleanup days. “The setting is very unique,” Strassburg said. “It has a lot of large arborvitaes that are really special.” “Arborvitae” means “tree of life.” The cemetery is filled with these lush evergreens. Usually, arborvitaes are trimmed for hedges or borders in landscaping, but those in Moses Dane Cemetery were allowed to grow tall and majestic. The cemetery also maintains historic traditions. “Every year we have
Cemeteries page 17
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descendants attend the annual service each year. “My great-great grandparents, grandparents, parents and other relatives are buried there,” he said. “(The board is) working on creating a permanent endowment to preserve and maintain the cemetery and the church and also working with the Kandiyohi County Historical Society in preserving the church records.” Hanson appreciates the nature of the small church and its cemetery. “It has a beautiful view with the lake and oak trees in the background, a very peaceful setting,” he said. Standing in the middle of Vikor Lutheran Cemetery feels like stepping back in time to days of hardship and perseverance, but always hope. The story of Endresen-Rosseland and those who suffered during the U.S-Dakota War, both settlers and Dakota, is sad to remember, but it is part of Minnesota’s history, and a piece of it comes to life in this little cemetery.
a Memorial Day service at the cemetery,” Strassburg said. “We also have an annual bean bake that has been going on for 125 years. We only missed one year during the pandemic.” He is referring to the recent pandemic, not the one of 1918. The bean bake went on that year. For the event, volunteers use the same recipes passed down for generations, which include chicken with homemade noodles. The beans are placed in cast iron pots and baked in the ground. Area residents believe the tradition first came from replicating a technique that Civil War soldiers had used. Strassburg said that many who grew up in the area but moved away still come to the bean bakes or Memorial Day services and arrange to be buried at Moses Dane Cemetery. There are around 20 Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Cemeteries in Minnesota and hundreds more in the United States, each established in honor of a different GAR member. The GAR used to be the biggest veteran group in the country and claimed Ulysses S. Grant among its members. However, there was one stipulation to belong:
Graves stand in the quiet setting of St. Michael’s Cemetery in Spring Hill. Some of the tombstones hold century-old photographs of those buried there.
Saturday, November 5, 2022 | Country Acres • Page 17
PHOTOS BY JAN LEFEBVRE
The entrance to St. Michael’s Cemetery is pictured Oct. 4 in Spring Hill. The German phrase “Ruhet in Frieden” means “Rest in Peace.”
in Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama. In 1862, he and his regiment were in a 45-minute skirmish at Clarksville, Tennessee to take back the town from a small group of Confederate soldiers guarding it. No losses were recorded on the Union side, but a few were recorded for the Confederates. Dane was honorably discharged for a disability (unclear as to what kind) in early 1864 and missed his regiment’s only major fighting in October of that year. The regiment spent three days helping Brig. Gen. Robert S. Granger and his small group of men succeed in stopping
a much larger group of Confederates under Gen. John B. Hood from crossing the Tennessee River. Since Dane wasn’t there, perhaps his biggest display of bravery came by joining up in middle age. He couldn’t have known that he wouldn’t be placed in the heat of battle. Dane was married, widowed and remarried in his life and had a total of five children. He ended up in Burtrum eventually, it is unclear as to why, and died there in 1883. How Dane came to be honored with a GAR cemetery named for him seems lost to history. Most likely, he didn’t realize that, over a century later, his name would be a fixture to people in the area. Spring Hill – Rivaling any cemetery for tranquility and oldworld culture is
St. Michael’s Cemetery in Spring Hill, which sits behind the church of the
around it to the cemetery are canopied by old trees that create a hushed atmo-
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Cemeteries page 18 St. Michael’s church is hidden by tree foliage shading its walkway Oct. 4 in Spring Hill. The church and its cemetery still hold reminders of the German immigrants who settled in Stearns County almost two centuries ago.
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Members had to have served with the Union Army, so eventually they ran out of members when the last surviving one, Albert Woolson, died in Duluth in 1956. It was then that the GAR was officially dissolved. The organization is now part of history, but many members’ names live on due to the GAR cemeteries that honor them. Moses Dane cemetery holds graves of many soldiers, marked in similar ways to Dane’s, except that his has a flag pole right next to it. Out in the middle of farm fields with no church near the site, the cemetery is surprising to come across, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Who was Moses Dane? He is a difficult subject to pin down. What is known is that he was born in Vermont in 1815, but, according to U.S. Parks Service military records, in 1861 he joined Wisconsin’s I Company in the 13th Infantry. That means he was in his mid40s when he enlisted, fairly old for a Union soldier since the average age was around 25. By following National Parks Service records of Private Dane’s military regiment, it is evident that he never faced major battle during the war and was mostly serving on guard duty
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Cemeteries from page 17 sphere, the only sounds coming from the rustling leaves and singing birds. An iron arch marks the entrance, which displays the German words, “Ruhet in Frieden,” which means “rest in peace.” Stepping through the arch makes the German heritage of Stearns County feel present. Many of the tombstones in the older area of the cemetery are engraved with phrases and blessings in the dialect called Low German because of its use in the lowlands of western Germany from where many settlers in Stearns County originated. Karen Rademacher is one of a group of volunteers who help take care of St. Michael’s Cemetery. She hears comments from visitors about how neat and maintained the cemetery is. “We have wonderful parishioners who volunteer a lot of time,” she said. “We have three groups of about 10 people each who volunteer to mow and trim the parish grounds, including the cemetery, each week. When there are sticks, branches or clean-up after a storm, parishioners will volunteer and come in to clean up.” Rademacher notes that descendants of those buried at St. Michael’s still farm in the area. She sees the cemetery as a serene place for them to pay respects to their ancestors and loved ones. “Trees throughout the cemetery make it a peaceful setting,” she said. “(The cemetery is) surrounded by fields and God’s country.” At several graves, well-preserved photographs of those buried a century ago are still in good condition under glass casings embedded in their tombstones. In the southwestern section, some of the dates corresponding to several photographs of younger adults have the same year of death, 1918, the year the Spanish Flu – the country’s first pandemic – took the lives of so many across the globe. German immigrants in Stearns County were not exempt. One gravestone has photographs of a husband and wife, Hubert and Alisabeth Thelen, who succumbed to the illness days apart from each other. He was 28 years old, she only 23. After their deaths, their toddler and baby were raised by Hubert’s brother’s family. Hubert and Alisabeth look out from their
PHOTO BY JAN LEFEBVRE
Arborvitae trees in cemeteries can grow to be tall and stately. Arborvitae means “tree of life.” (inset) A tombstone depicts a german message of everlasting happiness in the afterlife.
photographs with earnest expressions, full of life. Their photographs keep them forever young and together. In the center of the cemetery is the tombstone of Susanna Winter, who was born in 1877 and died in 1907. The engraving on her tombstone, in German, gives a tender message of hope: Du gingst dem Tode froh entgogen Zum Himmel war dein letzter Blick Dort lohnet dich des Vaters segen Dort Blühet dir das ewige Glück. It roughly means, “You died happily; your last look was at the sky. There the Father’s blessing rewards you. Everlasting happiness blooms there for you.”
Many tombstones hold the same last names, suggesting, as Rademacher said, that families have stayed on their land a century or more, holding weddings in the church nearby and taking their final rest in the little cemetery. The aged trees must have witnessed generations of area families gathering together for burials there. St. Michael’s Cemetery is a place for reflection and appreciation of tradition.
Cemeteries page 19
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A tombstone depicts a german message of everlasting happiness in the afterlife.
In her poem “Immortality” Clare Harner wrote: “Do not stand at my grave and weep. I am not there; I do not sleep. I am the thousand winds that blow. I am the diamond glints in snow. I am the sunlight on ripened grain. I am the gentle, autumn rain…” By stepping away from the personal pain that each death brings and looking at a cemetery across the span of generations, it becomes part of the chain of human experience and story. Cemeteries can bring solace and remind us that we are all connected to something greater than just our own fleeting time that we are here.
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The graves in St. Michael’s Cemetery stand by a cornfield Oct. 4 in Spring Hill. The rural location at the edge of town creates a peaceful setting for the cemetery.
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Maryanne and Raymon Luschen stand by a 1938 John Deere A tractor on Oct. 7 south of Benson. Ray restores and collects John Deere tractors and this one is his favorite.
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BENSON – Rayymon (Ray) Luschen has been driving John Deere tractors ever since he was a young boy growing up on a beef farm south of Benson. He started to collect them m in 2013 after he retired ired from his job in town own at the CASE IH plant. ant. While Ray built CASE ASE IH implements there for over 20 years, his true passion was John Deere tractors. “John Deere is a good tractor,” Ray said. Ray and his wife, Maryanne, live south of
“My favorite part is getting each one back together and getting them to run. Most of them, you couldn’t even get the flywheel or anything to work when I got them.” - Raymon Luschen
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Luschen page 23
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Ray Luschen is currently working on a John Deere in his shop. Luschen has the tractor running and is now in the process of painting it.
Page 22 • Country Acres | Saturday, November 5, 2022
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The immediate Leasand had since then grown man family includes two some small trees and brush. parental people, seven We had planned an auadult “kids,” various parttumnal cutting of selected ners, three grandchildren trees. It was a short span of and a total of a dozen cats time when the COVID vi(most of whom stay in their rus seemed to be letting up respective homes) and two and others of the kids and dogs who visit on occasion. their significant others were When the Leasmans planning to join the venWorking out – have a big project, the famture. Then we got 14 inchoutdoors, that is ily comes together. We’ve es of snow! We cancelled by Nancy Packard roofed houses and garages, that October operation. But Leasman sided houses and garagnow, it was the end of the es, replaced windows and doors, built year and with only 3 or 4 inches of quaint structures, poured sidewalks, snow on the ground, and my 10 days sanded and refinished floors, paint- of wood-clearing experience under my ed all sorts of walls and ceilings and belt, we decided to begin the clearing planted trees. Of course, we’ve also cut of Sundress Garden. trees, including some very large cotRon loaded the pick-up with the tonwoods between two houses in town. saws, gasoline and brush cutters and One project that has ended up be- drove 200 feet down the west trail into ing a rather long-term undertaking has the woods. been to clear a spot in the woods for a We spent about two hours each of garden. With chain saws and a smallish those three days cutting small trees, plot plan of roughly 150- by 150 feet, marking others for later removal or we hoped to start in October of 2020. pollarding (cutting trunks at about 6 An unexpected autumn snow storm, as feet above the ground to encourage well as the COVID pandemic, delayed sprouting), cutting prickly ash and the initial takedown to the end of that making piles of logs and piles of brush. year. By then, only three of us were Later, we would rent a wood chipper available. and make mulch for use on the garden. Dec. 30, 31 (2020) and Jan. 1 (2021) Silas, one of our metro area kids, came home for a few days. He had a COVID test first and wore a mask. He ate meals across the room from us and slept downstairs. Silas is a gardener and his longtime dream has been to have a dedicated space where he could plant trees, woody ornamentals and perennial vegetables. Land in and around the metro area is so expensive and we have 40 acres, so why not give him a permanent plot here? When we bought this property nearly 40 years ago, it had been pastured. There were large trees, open areas, a flowing creek, a swamp and, depending on the water level, a river adjoining it. Over time, small trees filled in open areas: prickly ash, honeysuckles, viburnum, osiers, hazelnuts and (unknown to us) buckthorn. Silas wanted about a quarter acre not too far from a water source. We settled on an area west of our home site, one that had been pastured 40 years ago
Jan. 23 Silas came home for a few days. We intended to continue with his garden clearing that we’d started at the end of the year. We bundled up and went out to the shop. I oiled the chainsaw and put the battery in. Silas was up for cutting prickly ash with a clipper. I offered him the red-handled “Cindy Lopper” or the one with pale wood handles, “Cindy’s friend.” He stood outside the door since he wasn’t wearing a mask and just relied on distancing for COVID safety. He accepted “Cindy” with a grin and we headed westward toward the upper end of the yard and onto the trail leading to his garden. His sepia-colored stocking cap perfectly matched the red in his beard. I marveled at that perfection each time I looked at him. I used the chainsaw to cut up the tree tops from the ones Ron took down the last day we worked. Silas cut the smaller prickly ash and I used the saw on the larger ones. We spent close to two hours and cleared a significant part of the shrubbery.
Saturday, November 5, 2022 | Country Acres • Page 23
Some of the signs Ray Luschen has hanging up in his shop show his love for John Deere tractors. PHOTO BY TIFFANY KLAPHAKE
Ray Luschen has a number of 1/32 scale John Deere tractors as part of his collection..
Luschen from page 20 John Deere A, that Ray’s dad drove on the farm. Ray did a lot of the mechanic work while on the farm and, therefore, was very familiar with John Deere tractors. Before Ray retired, he would often help other local farmers with their mechanic
work. “I grew up on a John Deere tractor, and I liked farming,” Ray said. His current project is a John Deere from the 1950s. Ray got it running and now, he just needs to paint it. To get each piece painted to perfection, Ray sometimes goes to a friend that has a body shop. Ray does almost all the restoration himself. “My favorite part is
getting each one back together and getting them to run,” Ray said. “Most of them, you couldn’t even get the flywheel or anything to work when I got them.” Today, Ray’s collection includes 11 John Deere tractors, and he is working on number 12.
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Page 24 • Country Acres | Saturday, November 5, 2022
PHOTOS BY TIFFANY KLAPHAKE
A 1936 John Deere B and a 1938 John Deere B tractor are part of Ray Luschen’s tractor collection south of Benson.
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A fully restored John Deere 3020 Diesel shines in the sun Oct. 7 near Benson. Owner Ray Luschen often drives his tractors in local parades and goes on tractor drives with his tractor club.
Luschen from page 23 His collection includes four John Deere A’s, a 1936, 1938, 1950, 1951, 1952; three 1941 John Deere B’s; a 1943 John Deere H; a John Deere 50; a 1956 John Deere Model 50; and a 1967 John Deere 3020. Ray’s favorite tractor is the 1938 John Deere A because that is the year he was born. “That’s his pride and joy,” Maryanne said. Ray grew up raising 25 black Angus cattle, 120 hogs and 500 layer chickens, as well as growing crops. When he graduated high school, he went to the West Central School of Agriculture (WCSA) in Morris.
With a degree in agriculture, Ray worked for a farmer near Hancock for two years. Then, he returned to Benson to become a milkman, delivering milk for a local dairy farmer. In that time, Ray married Maryanne and had two kids. Then in 1973, Ray moved back to his home farm to help his dad on the farm. After Ray’s father passed away in 1985, Ray’s brother, Dale, moved back home and helped farm until 1993. Today, Dale still lives on the home farm, while Ray and Maryanne live next door. The brothers rent out the farm land. In addition to collecting actual tractors, Ray also collects smaller replica tractors. The basement of their home is filled with John Deere
toy tractors, signs and other memorabilia. Ray likes to keep the tractors in their original box so they stay in pristine condition. There are even some signs and pictures that his family have made for him as gifts over the years. Today, Ray loves tinkering with his tractors, going on tractor drives with the tractor club called Putt N Purr, and spending time with his grandkids and great-grandkids. Ray’s children and grandchildren help with driving the tractors in local parades and around the yard. Ray is proud to have four generations drive the John Deere tractors that his dad bought for their farm all those years ago.
A wall of John Deere toy tractors that Ray Luschen collects is evidence of his love of all things John Deere. Luschen likes to keep the replicas in their original boxes to preserve them in mint condition.
Page 26 • Country Acres | Saturday, November 5, 2022
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2019 Versatile 315 $227,500 2019 Versatile 315 MFD, 390 hours, Cummins 9 liter, 315 HP, 16 speed power shift, radar, full front and rear wheel weights, quick hitch, 6 remotes with high flow, 1000 PTO, 380-80R38 front tires, 480-80R50 rear tires, hub duals, Deluxe cab with leather seats LED lighting chassis and cab, Isobus harness, front duals and rear duals, front fenders, remaining factory warranty.
320-252-6650 | advantageoneins.com
HOLDINGFORD 580 Main St., Holdingford, MN 56340
LONG PRAIRIE 9 Central Ave Long Prairie, MN 56347
New 2022 Westfield MKX 13x94, 540 PTO, 235-80R16 tires, lo profile mechanical drive swing hopper, hydraulic lift, landing gear electric power swing with remote.
PIERZ 205 Main St N Pierz, MN 56364
SAUK CENTRE 864 Main Street Sauk Centre, MN 56378
Have all your Ag & Truck equipment repaired locally: • Combines & Heads • Tillage Equipment • Mowers
• Tractors • Trailers • Trucks
Large in-stock parts and bulk oils for Trucks & Farm Equipment: Oil, Washer Fluid, Lights and more
CANov5-1B-JO
ALBANY 140 5th Street, Albany, MN 56307
ST. CLOUD 3801 North 3rd Street St. Cloud, MN 56303
CA-Nov5-1B-WS
MELROSE 6 3rd Ave NE Melrose, MN 56352
2022 Westfield MKX 13x94 $42,500
Propane Special Fresh S AV E W I NT E R W E D N E S D AY ’ S
BAD NEWS we had to raise the price
NEWS $5.00 on 20 lb tank GOOD we save you money on $8.50 on 30 lb tank Wednesdays! $10.00 on 40 lb tank $15.00 on 100 lb tank
produce, salads, wraps & sandwiches $3.29 - $7.49
Careers AVA I L A B L E
STOP IN FOR A APPLIC N ATION O R APPLY O NLINE A T northerns tarcoop.co m
Hiring awesome people who enjoy making someone else’s day brighter with a smile & great service! Various day & evening shifts available.
northernstarcoop.com lpcstore@northernstarcoop.com
Long Prairie Convenience Store 904 1st Ave NE, Long Prairie, MN 56347 320-732-6670 • Manager: Lauri
Long Prairie Propane P.O. Box 358, Long Prairie, MN 56347 320-732-3422 • Manager: Jeremy
CANov5-1B-JO
For more information, please email Lauri, store manager, at lpcstore@northernstarcoop.com or Call Dorrine, Asst. Manager at 320-732-6670
Page 28 • Country Acres | Saturday, November 5, 2022
YO U R FA M I LY D E A L E R S I N C E 1 9 9 5 WE ARE OPEN Mon - Thu: 7:30 am – 6:00 pm Fri: 7:30 am – 5:30 pm | Sat: 8:00 am – 4:30 pm
DAVISMOTORSGM.COM
LITCHFIELD: 320-693-3224 OR 877-693-3224
1989 FORD LTD CROWN VICTORIA LX
$
7,995
Stk. #P3866AAAA - Low miles!! 5.0 V8, aftermarket wheels, power driver seat, very clean, sharp car!!
2019 HYUNDAI SANTA FE SEL
2018 GMC SIERRA 3500HD SLT
LIFETIME WARRANTY
$
54,995
Stk. #7819B - Low miles, remote start, navigation, snow plow prep package, Z71 off road suspension package!
2018 GMC SIERRA 1500 DENALI
2021 KIA K5 EX
LIFETIME WARRANTY
$
31,998
Stk. #7846C- Sunroof W/2nd Row Skylight, Navigation, Bluetooth, 3.6 V6, Side Blind Zone Alert!! & MORE!
2015 CHEVROLET SILVERADO 2500HD HIGH COUNTRY BUILT AFTER AUG 14
LIFETIME WARRANTY
$
26,459
LIFETIME WARRANTY
$
46,488
LIFETIME WARRANTY
51,488
$
Stk. #7862A - AWD, power driver seat, heated seats, remote start, rear view camera, Bluetooth, low miles!
Stk.#P3824 - Local trade, 6.2 V8, Bose, navigation, sunroof, lane keep assist, rear view camera and low miles!
Stk.#7754A - 8ft box, rear DVD player, Duramax diesel, heated steering wheel, trailer tow package, loaded!
2017 CHEVROLET SUBURBAN PREMIER
2021 GMC SIERRA 2500HD DENALI
2021 CHEVROLET SILVERADO 1500 RST
LIFETIME WARRANTY
28,975
$
Stk. # P3830 - Heated leather, navigation, remote start, trailer tow package, Bluetooth, surround sound!
LIFETIME WARRANTY
72,495
$
Stk.#P3880 - Duramax diesel, X31 off road package, head up display, trailer brake control and low miles!
LIFETIME WARRANTY
44,899
$
Stk.# P3868 - 7k miles! RST package, All Star edition, trailer tow package, Bluetooth, heated front seats! CANov5-1B-WS
Grab a hold of savings on Bobcat compact track loaders.
BIG
COMPACT LOADER FINANCING AND CASH REBATES
Pay as low as 0% APR* or choose rebates up to $5,000 USD* in cash rebates on select Bobcat compact track loaders. *Offer ends 12/31/22. Available at participating and eligible dealers only. Offer may vary by product type, series, model and select units in dealer’s current inventory. Must take delivery from dealer stock by 12/31/22. Offers available on new equipment in US and Canada only. Some restrictions apply. Length of contract and rate may vary. Monthly payment subject to change. Prior purchases not eligible. See dealer for details. Financing provided on approval of credit by authorized Bobcat finance providers to well-qualified buyers. Administrative fees may apply. Offer not available to government accounts, national accounts and municipal/utility bid customers. Bobcat Company reserves the right to extend or discontinue any of these programs at any time without prior notice.
Dassel 888-679-4857 Long Prairie 866-514-0982
St. Cloud 844-262-2281 Willmar 877-484-3211 CANov5-1B-WS
