Table Talk

Picture book helps youth look at family tragedy

Sometimes, things change in a minute.

You look, and it’s one way. You look again, it’s different — and you didn’t even see the change happening. You might not like it, but that never matters. As in the new picture book “The Shared Room” by Kao Kalia Yang (illustrations by Xee Reiter), that’s when it’s best just to take a deep breath, roll your shoulders, and move on.

If it were any other winter day in Minnesota, it might’ve been nice. It was warm enough for the snow to melt and you could almost see that spring was coming. But inside the house in east St. Paul, there were shadows across a dark fireplace and quiet floors. There was light in the house, but no sunshine.

Pictures hung on the wall but it was hard to look at them because they reminded the family inside the house that one of them was missing. It had been seven months since the girl with the shiny brown hair and big toothy smile, the happy little girl in a framed picture, had walked into a lake, misstepped, and accidentally drowned.

Nobody had seen it happen and nobody in the family could forget. The mother and the father couldn’t even bear to take the sheets off the girl’s bed and for seven months. They visited her room and cried once, twice, three times a day. The house was quiet, except when someone would play a video of the girl on their phone, and everyone watched. But then, some thing shifted. “The Shared Room” Ever since the youngest brother by Kao Kalia Yang, illustrations by Xee Reiter was born, the oldc.2020, University of Minnesota Press est brother shared a bedroom with him in the house in $16.95 / higher in Canada 32 pages east St. Paul. There were four bedrooms, four children and two THE BOOKWORM SEZ By Terri Schlichenmeyer leaves a heaviness over the story that stays well beyond the final page, and you’ll feel it in your chest. parents, so there And yet, if you can withstand the pall, there’s a had to be sharing — until the parents asked the sliver of hope inside this book and a reminder that oldest brother if he’d like to have his sister’s room. life goes on. It also serves to tell a child that it’s He’d have her bed. He would have her dresser and best to come to terms with death but that never forher closet. getting is okay, too.

But he would never have her back. Would he miss Again, read this book through once before you give his sister forever? it to your 8-to-12-year-old. “The Shared Room” may

Is “The Shared Room” a book for children? prove to be too much, too early, too overwhelming — or it may change your child’s grieving. You may wonder that after you’ve read it through once — and you should, to gauge its appropriateness for your child before you present it. It’s a lovely story, but it’s also deeply, unbearably sad. Look for the reviewed book at a bookstore or a library near you. You may also find the book at online book retailers. While the artwork by Xee Reiter may soften things a bit, author Kao Kalia Yang’s tale starts with silence and ends like a grey tattered shawl draped over every page. This profound mourning The Bookworm is Terri Schlichenmeyer. Terri has been reading since she was 3 years old and never goes anywhere without a book. She lives in Wisconsin with three dogs and 10,000 books. v

Cruising along with a song in my heart (and on CD)

I do enjoy listening to ag radio stations Included on the CD is the song “You when I’m driving down the road alone. It Can’t Be A Beacon If Your Light Don’t helps me to stay awake while updating me Shine” prodding me on that I go the on the news they choose to share. After a extra mile to be a ray of sunshine in the few hours I am a travelling encyclopedia lives of anyone who crosses my path; on the often-repeated current events, the because “Greater Is He Than Is In Me.” spiraling downward trend of the market prices, the amount of water which has evaporated from the fields, as well as the water needed to keep the crops going. FROM MY FARMHOUSE These days trouble seems to come in waves attempting to overwhelm. The reassurance from their singing “He Will Provide” lets me know that “Jesus Loves

When I travel out of the stations’ sigKITCHEN Me.” Many times when “I Was Down, nal, it’s time to listen to prerecorded music on CDs. One of my favorites is by the Mountain Lake Gospel Singers from By Renae B. Vander Schaaf Down, Down, My Jesus Picked Me Up.” Sometimes he has sent His love “On The Wings of a Dove,” and other times I just a town which bears that name in Minnesota. A very have to “Dig A Little Deeper in the Well.” musical talented group of friends have gone the extra mile to share the gospel through their singing and a variety of instruments. I grew up on the farm near the Iowa-Minnesota border. The country church I attend It was a pleasure to hear them perform in our ed was in Iowa, but had a church some years ago, as the last I heard they Minnesota address. The have disbanded. Fortunately, we purchased several Mountain Lake Gospel Singers of the CDs they produced sing a song, “The Little Appropriately, the CD entitled Cruising Along With The Mountain Lake Gospel Singers is usually the one I listen to, as that’s what I am doing. Since it is only us cruising along, my voice just blends right in as we sing ‘together’. Country Church,” which could have been written by me…. “We’d open up the windows and everyone would join in singing and the little church was ringing.”

Not a day goes by that I am not thankful “He Made A Change In My Life.” Too often my conscience still has to prick me — causing my thoughts to go back to that day and realize it is again necessary to reassess the way I have been living or thinking. And once again confess, repent and experience the cleansing that happens because “He Touched Me.”

None of us know when our final day will be. In the back of our minds we wonder if some night, while sleeping, we will be “Serenaded By Angels;” or perhaps someday when I’m washing dishes the trumpet will sound and “I’ll Hear The Lord Is Coming.”

The CD was playing in my pickup while my granddaughters were riding along. Without any prompting they sang “Oh, How I Love Jesus” along with The Mountain Gospel Singers. I knew they were beginning to understand why

I enjoy listening to this CD so much. Thank you to The Mountain Gospel Singers and other area groups who have taken the time to share your musical talents with the rest of us who enjoy good music. Renae B. Vander Schaaf is an independent writer, author and speaker. Contact her at (605) 530-0017 or agripen@live.com. v

Fire, friendship and the ties that bind

There’s just something about small ring and temporary stands set up around town settings. it.

Or maybe there’s just something about It was a chilly February day with a regthe loyalty of the farm community within ulation winter storm making its way a small-town setting. towards us. The fuel-driven heat blowers Our local sale barn experienced a fire just before Christmas this past year. It was not the way the owners expected to spend December. But with so much going on — and important sales scheduled ahead — it was time for them to stop, reset and decide whether or not to rebuild the office and show arena which TABLE TALK By Karen Schwaller were running to take the chill off, and I was grateful for it on such a cold, damp day. The rain came first, and I felt some drops land on me as I sat in the stands. I decided as long as it was rain water dripping on me and not bird doo-doo, I was okay with getting a little wet for the cause. were destroyed in the fire. I looked around and saw people with evidence of The ruins were still smoldering after the fire department had deemed it safe to leave. raindrops on their coats, visiting in the stands. The sponsor signs had been re-posted in the new show arena, and they really spruced up the place. The

And then the farmers showed up in the hours and auctioneer began crying the sale, and it was busidays that followed. ness as usual. After the blowers stopped running,

They came to help clean up with tractors and you could see the breath of both man and beast. loaders, trucks, skid loaders, helping hands and But the people stayed, the sale continued, people heavy hearts. This was their sale barn, too and they were bidding and catching up with each other, runknew it was part of their responsibility to help ning calculators to gauge their dreams, and compareither bury it or resurrect it. They were going to be ing farm prices and stories. there to support their owner friends if the barn was going to become part of their past; or they were going to roll up their sleeves and help try to keep a local venue for selling their livestock. I nodded to acknowledge a friend there and decided I should wait to do things like that until after the bidding had stopped, or we would go home with animals I never meant to have … or pay for. The decision was made to reconstruct something that would at least get them by — so they could get their first scheduled sales in. So just a few short weeks later, I walked into the sale barn which looked very different from the one we had known. It was a hoop building of sorts, with a less-showy show Further over in the stands sat a man and his dog. The dog sat faithfully next to its owner, watching the calves — as they did for all the calf sales in the other show arena. They are inseparable, and the dog has become a fixture of familiarity at the calf sales there. Beer and water quality go hand in hand

LAND MINDS, from pg. 2

levels in FY 2020,’ but did not specify why.

The program’s earlier funding levels were set by the 2018 Farm Bill, which also directed USDA to use the program›s carryover balance from previous years to fund the program through FY 2023.

National Farmers Union (NFU) is concerned by the implications of the lower reimbursement rates for smaller organic farms, many of which are already coping with financial hardships due to the pandemic. Several other organizations, including the National Organic Coalition (NOC) and the Organic Farmers Association have expressed similar concerns.”

I guess when you’re doling out billions of dollars in CFAP money to farming’s top 10 percent, you’ve got to cut corners wherever you can. n

To prove I’m not a complete grouch, I’ll end this “Land Minds” with a notice I received from the Mower County Soil and Water Conservation District.

“Gravity Storm, a craft brewery in downtown Austin, (Minn.) has teamed with Mower Soil and Water Conservation District and the Cedar River Watershed Partnership … to reward Mower County farmers who are certified through the Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program.

A 64-ounce growler of one of Gravity Storm’s craft beers will be provided for each new certification of a Mower County farmer through MAWQCP.”

A county official I knew from my reporter days was fond of saying, “Whiskey was made for drinking, water was made for fighting.” He would be pleased to know Mower SWCD and Gravity Storm are working to bring the two closer together.

Paul Malchow is the managing editor of The Land. He may be reached at editor@TheLandOnline.com. v

For these livestock producers it was a year’s work on the line; and they were hopeful for a good price and a chance to pay bills, plan and dream. Some left knowing their plans would become reality. Others left knowing that some dreams won’t be able to happen — at least not this year.

But one thing remains: the deep-seeded connection between farmers and those who would be part of their farm story. They are strong ties — ties that bind a farm community together. And when tragedy strikes, colleagues in agriculture rarely take it sitting down — unless it’s to get in their pickup trucks to rush to their neighbor’s aid, or to sit on the seat of their farm equipment to help someone in their time of need.

There is no tie as strong as the tie that binds people to people … and sometimes man to beast. In this case, it came in the form of a farm community which banded together in a show of support for the local sale barn so the sales could continue … and giving a man and his dog more chances to spend the day together in the stands watching the calf sale … and teaching others what true friendship is all about.

Karen Schwaller brings “Table Talk” to The Land from her home near Milford, Iowa. She can be reached at kschwaller@evertek.net. v

New Ulm Toy Show

Celebrating 35 Years!

September 5 th & 6 th , 2020

Saturday 9am-4pm Sunday 10am-3pm

Held at the New Ulm Civic Center 1212 N. Franklin St., New Ulm, MN

Admission: $3.00 for 12 and older Up to $500 worth of Door Prizes will be given away

Farm toys, cars, trucks & Various Collectibles Farm Layouts Contest