Country Acres - March 16, 2024

Candace Perish holds boxes of handmade artisanal chocolates. Perish launched her chocolate business in 2022.

(Background) Chocolates, finished with an intricate chocolate transfer sheet design, add a festive flair to the specialty chocolate boxes Candace Perish creates. The cottage foodlicensed producer creates thousands of chocolates for customers each year.

BY SARAH COLBURN STAFF WRITER

BROWERVILLE —

Candace Perish spends nights and weekends working over her melter and the cool marble slab she uses to perfectly temper chocolate to create a glistening, shiny shell.

It is a finicky process, and one she has taken years, and lots of schooling, to perfect. As she gently pours the molten mixture into polycarbonate molds, she forms a thin, fragile layer of bon bon shell, ready for filling.

From her home in Browerville, the accountant by day and chocolatier by night has created a bustling candy side business

Crafting Crafting

Browerville woman creates artisan chocolates

by accident. This year alone, through her Candies by Candace business, Perish created roughly 3,000 individual chocolates to meet the demand of her customers for Valentine’s Day.

“I absolutely love chocolate, and I love working with good chocolate,” she said. “I hand samples out to friends. … The look on their face when they’re eating that piece of candy — that’s my little

warm fuzzy.”

As a lover of all things chocolate, Perish said she appreciates the craftsmanship and flavor that goes into crafting high-quality chocolates. She told her husband that she would love to be able to create something that wonderful, so, he found her a class.

Now, she spends time before each holiday, with

Christmas and Valentine’s Day being her busiest times of the year, creating thousands upon thousands of hand-crafted and handfilled pieces.

Perish page 2

Candace Perish fills her chocolate creations with everything from caramel to dark chocolate ganache to mint and fruit flavors including lemon, banana cream and raspberry milk chocolate ganache.

5Farmers, cattle caught in shifting weather Minnesota

7Making a difference Tiffany Klaphake column

CAountry cres

launched her business.

PHOTOS SUBMITTED

Published by Star Publications

Copyright 2024

522 Sinclair Lewis Ave. Sauk Centre, MN 56378

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NEWS STAFF

Sarah Colburn, Editor sarah.c@star-pub.com

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Perish from front

The cottage food producer transforms her living room into an assembly line for the finished pieces. She folds together cardboard

boxes, places the delicate paper-wrapped chocolates inside, cushions them, inserts a slip of paper printed with a chocolate guide and stickers the boxes for presentation to her customers.

Candace Perish molds shells for decadent chocolate creations.

After the mold is filled, Perish recaptures the excess chocolate.

“I didn’t have any intention of doing this as a business,” she said. “I just wanted to make good chocolate for myself.”

Now, Perish takes orders for her chocolates ahead of each holiday, and while she tries to keep a few extras on hand, she said she sold out of her chocolates at Christmas. Her customers contact her through social media and via phone from friends of friends.

“I’m letting it grow organically,” she said.

The chocolates have become an outlet for her.

Her business came about through word of mouth as friends and family shared her delicacies with others. Demand for the chocolates grew, and in January 2022, she

“Being I’m an accountant by day and a pretty type A personality, going into chocolate and creating, I get to make it however I want,” she said. “I have to pull out my artistry a little bit.”

Perish page 3

ST R T

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

These golden caramel treats are topped with a gold cocoa butter swirl design. Candace Perish designs a number of unique chocolates at her home in Browerville.

Candace Perish sells handmade chocolates at a vendor event. The Browerville chocolatier often sells out of chocolates ahead of the holidays, but she works to create enough to meet demand.

Perish from page 2

And, get artsy she does.

Each piece is finished with a nod to its ingredients. A swirled rose design made of colored cocoa butter tops one portion while a hand-dipped square caramel is adorned with sea salt. Some of her treats tout a nut or a coffee bean while others are finished with a drizzle.

She fills her creations everything from a decadent caramel to a dark chocolate ganache to fruity delights including lemon, banana cream and raspberry milk chocolate ganache.

Perish took classes online in 2021. She started with a beginner’s kit and 10 pounds of chocolate, and she moved up from there. She starts her creations with Felchlin chocolate.

She has to keep the chocolate within a 2-degree margin as she works. Any chocolate that gets too high in temperature or gets out of temper is not workable.

Even the temperature of her house impacts the chocolate, so winter is the perfect time for her to create.

Though Perish works under a cottage food license, which demands she sell her chocolates directly to consumers, she

Candace Perish tops each specialty chocolate with a nod to the ingredients inside.

Once dry, each piece of chocolate is wrapped in paper to protect it.

would like to work out of a commercial kitchen so she can sell her treats to floral shops, coffee shops and boutiques and offer them online.

“The history behind chocolate is quite incredible,” she said. “It used to be something only royalty had access to, and the fact that the whole world gets to enjoy it now is pretty incredible.”

These white chocolate lemon treats are one of Candace Perish’s top sellers. The Browerville chocolatier creates a wide array of artisan chocolates, each with a different filling and flavor.

PHOTOS SUBMITTED

These bon bons, crafted by Candace Perish, are ready to be filled. After filling, Perish caps each bon bon.

Temperature-related concerns from meteorologist, agronomists, veterinarian

Farmers, cattle caught in shifting Weather

BY SARA EISINGER STAFF WRITER

MINNESOTA — Fluctuating weather conditions can cause various problems for farmers and cattle alike. From potentially dry planting soil to a risk of pneumonia in animals, local experts weigh in on the impacts of

this year’s unseasonably warm temperatures.

However, warmer-than-average temperatures might not stick around for too much longer. Consequently, experts discourage farmers from planting any sooner than normal.

“Being warmer this first part of March, farmers

might be inclined to get seeds in the ground quicker,” said Caleb Grunzke, National Weather Service meteorologist.

Warmer temperatures are predicted to linger into mid-March, but the meteorologist does not expect such conditions to last.

“Farmers should be

careful, because during the latter half of March, a (possible) freeze could kill crops,” Grunzke said. “I would say temperatures could cool down to below normal but likely above freezing. It is not looking hopeful for moisture.”

University of Minnesota Extension corn agronomist

Jeff Coulter, Ph.D., shared concerns related to dry planting ground.

“Warmer and drier weather conditions over the last couple of months may lead to drier soil conditions at planting,” Coulter said.

Weather page 6

PHOTO BY TIFFANY KLAPHAKE Dairy calves eat grain September 2022 at a dairy farm near Willmar. It is important for animals to have proper nutrition and ventilation to maintain good health.

stuck like

Syrup family is glue

Skroches began early tapping of maple trees Feb. 6

BY SARA EISINGER STAFF WRITER

BOWLUS — Hidden in the woods, liquid gold spews from more than 2,860 maple tree taps on approximately 50 acres of land, known as The Syrup Ranch, to kick off an early season.

Higher-than-average February temperatures meant early tapping for Mike and Jacleen Skroch, and their children, Jayda, Laken, Weston and Wyllow, of Bowlus.

The family was collecting, labeling and bottling maple syrup as early as Feb. 6 this season. The Skroch family collected approximately 4,000 gallons of sap that day. The kids tapped around 360 trees on Presidents Day.

“We usually have a little assembly line going,” Mike Skroch said. Jacleen helps by operating the bottling machine when Skroch needs a break. Laken helps by collecting sap in pails in the woods and putting the sap in a tank, which is then heated.

“Last year, Laken had almost 500 taps in,” Skroch said. “He would get home from school and do that.”

Twins Weston and Wyllow bring Skroch empty bottle cases and do the

capping. Sometimes, they watch the press. Laken and Jayda take the full cases off of the turntable when Skroch is bottling or labeling. Jayda usually helps with taking care of the kids and supper.

What is for dinner in the Skroch household?

“The kids eat syrup on everything,” Skroch said. “They want to dip it in everything. We use syrup on breakfast pork links. When I smoke meat, I brine it in there. We glaze carrots with it. The kids put it in their shakes, smoothies, oatmeal and cereal.”

Syrup is distributed through Coborn’s grocery store in Sauk Centre as well as several other stores around central Minnesota.

Skroches page 12

PHOTO BY SARA EISINGER The Skroch family — Weston (front, from left) and Wyllow; (back, from left) Laken, Mike, Jacleen and Jayda — gather for a photo Feb. 26 near Bowlus. The family collected approximately 4,000 gallons of sap Feb. 6 to kick off an early season.

Skroches from page 11

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In 2014, the Skroch family’s maple syrup won first place at the Minnesota State Fair for light, medium and dark amber grades of syrup. Their syrup also won first place in the dark/robust and very strong/dark divisions at the 2017 Minnesota State Fair. The Syrup Ranch has also earned ribbons at the Morrison, Benton and Stearns county fairs.

The Skroches’ syrup venture revved up in 2009.

“I got laid off due to the slow economy,” Skroch said. “There wasn’t enough ice to ice fish, and the water really wasn’t flowing yet. I had nothing else to do. So, I decided to tap a few trees. I boiled the sap in a cast iron kettle. I decided to go bigger the next year.”

In 2010, Skroch updated the production line with a four-wheeler and 2- by 6-foot flat pan that held approximately 100 gallons of sap.

“I could keep up boiling and haul sap without a problem,” Skroch said.

PHOTO BY SARA EISINGER

are in the land improvement business. We do farm drainage, ag waste systems, site work for farm buildings and silage pads, plus miscellaneous work. We also do county, township, and watershed work, as well as soil conservation work.”

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“My evaporator ran 27 days straight day and night non-stop,” he said. “Well, now I was getting too much sap and couldn’t evaporate it fast enough.”

In 2013, the most unlikely of friendships emerged over a shared interest in maple syrup.

“My parents met a guy in Wisconsin on vacation,” Skroch said. “I got to know him over that time. He decided he was going to retire and offered his equipment for sale.”

Allen West was longtime owner of A&M Sugarbush. West sold Skroch an evaporator, finishing pan, filter press and reverse osmosis machine, among other items. It was everything Skroch needed to get started on a larger scale.

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Mike Skroch collects sap Feb. 15 at The Syrup Ranch near Bowlus. Maple sap is collected from trees on approximately 50 acres.

Skroch then added 125 taps in 2011, hungry for more production. Unfortunately, the next season rolled around with a spring that was far too warm for sap production. That did little to deter Skroch from purchasing a 400-gallon vacuum bulk tank the following year.

Skroches

from page 12

“I thought, ‘That equipment is way too big for me,’ but he was like, ‘You have to at least try it,’” Skroch said.

West was there to teach Skroch everything he knew about the maple syrup business, and later that year, Skroch licensed his business with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.

At the time, a 4- by 14-foot fuel-oil evaporator evaporated roughly 200 gallons of sap per hour. By 2015, it was time to start using a tube system to carry the sap to a single collection point.

“This worked great with the work-load becoming less la-bor intensified,” Skroch

said. “In 2016, we used a lot of tubing and started phasing out our pails slowly.”

They installed additional tubing and built a vacuum pump house with electricity in 2017.

“We introduced vacuum to the trees, and this definitely made life easier in terms of collecting sap,” Skroch said. “We had a few pails left, and the vacuum was in full swing.”

Skroch partnered with Coborn’s in 2017 after a chance meeting at the Made in Minnesota Expo.

“They were looking for a maple syrup partner,” he said. “I told them that I needed to think about it. So, I talked it over with Jacleen.

That following year, we put a bunch of taps in and scaled up production quite a bit.”

The Syrup Ranch began selling maple syrup products under the Coborn’s Four Brothers brand name.

“We got that rolling,” Skroch said. “Then one day in 2020, Allen’s wife called and told me that he had passed away. I was pretty devastated. Allen was my mentor. For any questions I had, he was who I went to. I didn’t know who I was going to look to after that.”

Skroch decided to further expand business operations, offering maple almonds, maple sugar, maple cream and maple cotton candy, and more.

“That went pretty well,” he said. “Last spring, we found more used equipment in Wisconsin. We got rid of the stuff we had. It was tired and over 30 years old.”

Last fall, Coborn’s approached the Skroches about flavoring their syrup. Strawberry, raspberry, blueberry and bourbon flavored syrup was added to their product offering.

“We extract the fruit juices, blend and add it to the syrup,” Skroch said. “There is nothing added; it’s all natural.”

A filter press pulls out any seeds and pulp, and the bourbon is in barrels for this coming fall.

“We are slowly taking steps and building up,” Skroch said.

PHOTO BY S ARA EI S INGER

Weston (left) and Wyllow Skroch try to lift a barrel Feb. 26 at The Syrup Ranch near Bowlus. The twins said they enjoy helping their family make maple syrup.

PHOTO SUBMITTED

Laken Skroch stands in between sap buckets in March 2015 near Bowlus. This year, the Skroch kids tapped around 360 trees and hung pails to catch the sap.

PHOTO BY S ARA EI S INGER An evaporator is used to make syrup Feb. 15 near Bowlus. The Skroches are taking steps to grow their maple syrup production and product offerings.

A basket of freeze-dried goods sits on a table Feb. 2 at Triple H Acres near St. Joseph. Robin Heinen and her family freeze dry a variety of goods, including candy, fruits, vegetables and flavored teas.

An array of canned goods are arranged Feb. 2 at Triple H Acres near St. Joseph. Any freeze-dried goods have to be stored properly to prevent them from absorbing moisture.

Heinen

from page 15

When they moved to the farm in 2009, the goal was to move to a place where they could raise their own food for their own use. The farm started with two chickens and two beef cows.

“Our cattle are 100% grass-fed and pastured,” Heinen said. “We also do rotational grazing in our fields. This is what makes our food more nutrient-dense, and it puts more nutrients into the soil. Our goal was, and still is, to raise healthy food for our family, and then it just turned into so many other things.”

They added show goats to the farm and, Holly has been showing them for about 10 years. It was not long before they added pigs to the farm; Adam has started showing pigs in the past couple years. The chickens and pigs are fed a diet with no corn or soy.

“It’s important for us to not have any soy or corn,” Heinen said. “We’re not certified organic, but I feel like

we go above organic.”

Once the animals were butchered, the family launched into another product line. They were left with an abundance of tallow, so Heinen decided to do research on what it could be used for.

“The first thing I made was a tallow

lip balm,” Heinen said. “Then, it was soap, then the lotion. I figured it out as I went by experimenting with different formulas.”

Heinen prides herself on having a family that is able to produce a variety of products.

Heinen page 17

PHOTOS BY EMILY BRETH

Holly Heinen feeds grain to goats Feb. 2 at Triple H Acres near St. Joseph. Heinen shows the goats in 4-H, while her brother, Adam, shows hogs.

for all

Halvorsons share family trade with others

BY EMILY BRETH | STAFF WRITER

BENSON — Thousands upon thousands of plugs and seeds are growing inside the seven greenhouses of The Flower Basket in Benson.

“It’s a good two months of solid planting,” Beth Halvorson said. “It’s a lot, but at the same time, it’s so rewarding to watch everything bloom as it starts to get closer to when we open the greenhouse. It’s fun to watch.”

Halvorson oversees The Flower Basket’s fresh flower shop while her mother, Dianne Halvorson, oversees the greenhouse portion of the business. Halvorson’s cousin, Zoe Halvorson, manages the greenhouse with the help of their grandma, Carolyn Buerskin, and Halvorson’s sister, Amanda Grussing.

“I grew up here for almost all of my life,” Halvorson. “A lot of me joining (the business) has to do with all the work, blood, sweat and tears my mom and dad put into it. It is very important to keep that going to me. So, their legacy wouldn’t just blow away.”

The greenhouses are teeming with a variety of flowers and filler greens for the fresh floral arrangements created on-site. Additionally, the team grows annuals, herbs and succulents for customers to purchase and bring home for their own gardens and outdoor potted arrangements. They also have perennial plants.

Halvorson said managing the greenhouses is a family operation, and they work to open the doors to the public the last week in April. Service typically continues until at least the middle of June. Four greenhouses are open to the public, and the remaining three are for nursery stock.

The family tries to do as much work themselves as possible to keep their prices low, even though it means longer hours in the greenhouses.

“We all get along,” Halvorson said. “We like being together.”

Halvorson’s aunt, Barb Sudduth, does the bookkeeping, answers phone calls and assists customers along with helping during holidays. Together, the family puts care into the plants. They water two to three times a day, depending on the weather. They also walk through the greenhouses throughout the day, looking for anything that does not belong or plants that need to be removed.

Halvorson page 20

A

of

in the greenhouse in 2023

The Flower Basket

The workers water the plants two to three times a day, depending on how hot it is in the greenhouse.

PHOTOS SUBMITTED

Zoe Halvorson works in the greenhouse transplanting plugs March 7 at The Flower Basket in Benson. Halvorson started working at The Flower Basket with her focus mainly in the greenhouse.

A combination of hanging and bedding plants grow in 2023 in one of the greenhouses at The Flower Basket in Benson. The Flower Basket has a greenhouse that’s open to the public as well as a floral shop where Beth Halvorson creates fresh arrangements for customers.

group

flowers sit

at

in Benson.

Halvorson

from page 19

“You learn what to look for,” Halvorson said. “We have so many people here who care and want everything to be what customers want it to be.”

The crew at The Flower Basket works to grow not only what they need, but what they know customers want.

“We had a lady come in who wants to plant a butterfly garden, so we try to facilitate to what people want,” Halvorson said. “That way, it can help everybody out. We want everybody’s garden to succeed and to look beautiful, so we try really hard to make sure everything is as healthy as it can be when it goes out the door.”

Halvorson said the rarest item found in their building is a century plant.

“They are only supposed to bloom once every 100 years, and they are rare to get to bloom,” Halvorson said.

The Halvorsons have had the plant for about 20 years, and it bloomed last year.

“The blooms were just massive and pretty,” Halvorson said.

The Halvorsons

have a history in the floral business. In the early 1990s, Dianne began with the floral shop and a small, portable greenhouse, and the business blossomed from there. Halvorson’s grandmother played a role in the business even in its early years.

“Dianne always enjoyed landscaping and creating yard designs, but at the time, when she was just getting started, there wasn’t really a call

for it,” Halvorson said. “She knew she couldn’t do (landscaping) all the time, so in between jobs, she did this.”

While the floral shop and greenhouse started as a way to have a steady income, after a while, Dianne realized that she enjoyed designing and working with the floral arrangements and started to grow more in that area.

Halvorson grew the business from there,

moving the shop and adding greenhouses.

Now, Halvorson handles the majority of the fresh flower arranging at The Flower Basket. She creates arrangements for all occasions and uses what they grow on site whenever she can. The remainder of the flowers for arrangements are shipped into the store.

Halvorson page 23

PHOTO S S U B MITTED

Kylie Conger gets small pots ready for different plants

March 7 at The Flower Basket in Benson. At The Flower Basket, they start plants from both plugs and seeds, doing as much work in-house as possible.

Dianne Halvorson (back) and Carolyn Buerskin work in the greenhouse planting March 7 at The Flower Basket in Benson. Halvorson started The Flower Basket in 1992 with a small tent-like greenhouse she put up in the spring.

Country

Cabbage salad

• 1 bag shredded cabbage

• 2 cucumbers, peeled and diced

• 1 green pepper, diced

• 1 cup mayo

• 1/4 cup sugar

• 1/4 cup vinegar

• 1 box macaroni noodles

Cook noodles according to the box and let cool. Mix noodles with cabbage, diced cucumbers and pepper. Combine mayo, sugar and vinegar in separate bowl. Pour over the cabbage mixture and mix well. Keep refrigerated.

Reuben dip

• 4 2.5-ounce packages of Buddig corned beef

• 1 16-ounce can of sauerkraut

• 8 ounces cream cheese

• 1 cup sour cream

• 8 ounces shredded Swiss cheese

Chop sauerkraut and corn beef. Add all of the ingredients into a slow cooker. Melt together and stir before serving.

Cheese ball

• 2 8-ounce packages cream cheese

• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

• 1 tablespoon chopped onion

Chocolate caramel bars

• 50 caramel candies

• 2/3 cup evaporated milk

• 1 German chocolate box cake mix

• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

• Chopped green olive, to taste, if desired

Combine all other ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Shape into a ball. Keep refrigerated.

• 3/4 cup melted butter

• 1 cup chopped nuts, optional

• 12 ounce bag of chocolate chips

Mix cake mix, butter, 1/3 cup evaporated milk and nuts, if desired, and mix well. Grease a 9-by-13 pan, pat half of mixture in pan and bake for 6 minutes at 350 degrees. Melt caramel candies with 1/3 cup evaporated milk in microwave. Pour caramel mixture over the baked cake. Then, sprinkle chocolate chips. Take remaining batter and drop small pieces all around and bake for an additional 1518 minutes at 350 degrees.

That tree was a ‘hand’ fall

I’d spent the better part of the morning cleaning up a few downed trees and piling branches. I had decided against cutting several trees. One of them would have gotten hung up in the upper branches. It was a job best left for a day when I wasn’t alone in the woods. Another tree was long dead, bark hanging in shreds, but it was too big for my saw. I’m not saying the saw wouldn’t have handled it. It would just have used up too much battery power. Ron’s big saw would deal with it much more quickly.

Working out –outdoors, that is by

Nancy Packard Leasman

I left a dead tree that was leaning into another tree because I was uncertain which way it might fall. Another one draped itself across the path into the woods, but it looked like ironwood, a really hard wood, was about 10 inches in diameter and, like the others, was best left for another day when assistance, or chief chain sawer, were available.

It was a beautiful morning, with the temperature just under 40 degrees. The sun was bright, and the wind was slight. Blue jays and a gravelly throated raven provided a background of sound along with distant vehicles. A jet contrail drifted way up high.

Back on earth, there was a double-trunked tree that looked dead. It was on its own, not crowded by other trees. It would fall to the east, at least the eastern part of the trunk would, and I would cut it first. The base was about 6 inches in diameter.

I had recently written an article on using a chainsaw for a regional magazine. The main theme of the article was safety, so I was even more aware of safety concerns than usual, and I’m always very careful.

I positioned the saw on the west side of the tree and cut it just above where the trunks joined. I stepped back into my safety zone as the tree fell. It was all well and good until that trunk rebounded and whacked the back of my right hand. It was good that

I had stepped back, or it may have done more serious damage. As it was, I was afraid that my hand was broken. My hand, encased in my rubber-palmed glove, hurt. Or maybe it didn’t hurt, because I wasn’t sure I could move it. No, it hurt.

I felt foolish for letting a tree smack me, but more so, I felt dizzy. I bent at the waist and hung my head low until the fuzzy feeling passed. Then, I gingerly tried moving my fingers. They moved a little, and as the pain ebbed, I moved them a little more. I didn’t take my glove off. I didn’t think there would be much to see. There wouldn’t have been an abrasion, and bruises take time to develop.

My session in the woods could have ended right there, but my hand seemed to be functional. There was a downed tree to take care of.

I cut up and stacked that tree and then went to the nearby pond to extract a white 4-gallon bucket. The wind had blown it into the pond quite some time ago, and the water level had finally lowered to the point the bucket was only in mud. I walked along the deer tracks on the muddy edge, and using a stick, I tried to ladle out the mud that filled the bucket. After the stick broke, I tried stepping close enough to reach the bucket, putting down the broken stick to step on, but the mud clutched at my shoe.

Wasn’t it bad enough that I had suffered a tree-induced injury? I didn’t need to become mired in the mud too.

I went back into the woods and chose another stick. This one had a shovel-like end, and I used it to scoop out the mud. With the bucket relieved of its muddy contents, it was light enough that I could pull it close enough to grab.

So much for one day’s achievements in the woods.

Halvorson

from page 20

When Halvorson takes orders from customers, she works to create just what they want.

“Most people will tell you what they are looking for color-wise, but we want to make sure it is something showy, tall, has a filler and something to drape around the side,” Halvorson said. “The arrangement will tell you what it needs.”