Valley Sentinel - 08-25-2022

Page 1

The Friends of the Kraemer Library in Plain are excited to announce a new program, Books for Babies, as a way to help families raise lifelong readers.

The regular monthly meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Village of Plain was held on August 10. Among some of the topics discussed were the continuations of the Main Street parking situation, pool updates and recognition of I-Diehl Tap. Main Street Parking Among many of the topics discussed was the ongoing decision of the parking on Main Street. The Streets Committee has met previously to decide what to do about the safety issues surrounding Main Street and discussed possibly switching the diagonal parking to parallel, more severely angled diagonal parking and a one-way street and four-way stop. It was stated that the different angles and the possibility of a one-way street did not seem possible, but a study will be done by the county about the fourway-stop as a possible solution.

An example Books for Babies kit from the Friends of the Kraemer Library.

Shannon Shelton-Ganser, educator and Friends board member shared that “Research has shown that speaking to, interacting with, and reading to Kathy Dwyer, Friends of the Kraemer Library continued on page 10

Village Recognition Also discussed in the meeting was the closing of I-Diehl Tap. Village President Ray Ring received a notice asking if the Village has any plans to show recognition of the I-Diehl Tap closing. The recognition was asked for because of the hard work and generosity that I'mil Diehl has done and shown for the village. Ring stated that he would like to do something specific in recognition of the closing, as there have been many recent business turnovers. “Plain has been very fortunate to have so many businesses started in this little town that we are all thankful for,” said Ring. In the past, the board has sent plants

continued

Friends of the Kraemer Library announces Books for Babies program

Memorial Bench Also discussed was the meeting of the Parks Committee with Nic Studnicka. The topic of the meeting was what to do with the memorial bench in the park for his brother, Travis Studnicka. He stated that they already have a bench similar to the rest of the benches in the park, though it is required by the Village that the bench must match the others. It was mentioned, however, that another memorial bench in the park does not match the others. Email correspondence showed that both benches had been ordered at the same time, and that the other party was not going with the Village bench theme, which is required. A motion was made to reimburse the $300 paid for the original bench from Studnicka, which will be taken back, and a new bench order will be run through the Village for tax-exempt status. The motion carried. Plain Pool Updates The board also heard some updates on the Plain Pool, including the

Photo contributed by Kathy Dwyer

children, beginning in infancy and throughout childhood, can help equip children with the language and vocabulary skills needed to be successful in school and life. By reading to children early, and often, they will develop a love for books and learning.”

Katie Green: The Rush Towards Oblivion Community Calendar: Live music, exhibitions, theater PiecesDoggosFeaturing:Insideeditionthis Page 2 Pages 6, 7 Pages 4, 5, 12 Thursday, August 25, 2022 | Vol. 3, No. 20Spring Green, Wisconsin FREE , Single-Copy

Adeline Holte, Editorial Intern on 10

Plain continues discussion on Main Street parking, pool updates, business recognitions to new businesses as a welcome to the village, but Ring feels it makes sense to start doing a recognition to closed or sold businesses in the village, as well as welcoming new ones. Considered among these were things such as charitable contributions, donations, or support from the Village through time and talent. Ring said these things would open the door to showing how much the Village appreciates the businesses that were and are a part of the Plain community.

page

Katie, who until recently lived in Plain, has been writing for fun and profit since childhood. Self-described as opinionated, she writes in the interests of a more loving, betterfunctioning world for all. She may be reached at katiewgreen@icloud.com.

On the "Spring Green Car Show" (2022) Photo, by Taylor Scott

Thursday, auGust 25, 2022Page 2 Commentary/Opinion Katie Green The (not so) Plain and Simple Correspondent: The Rush Toward Oblivion Katie Green, Columnist

cover

Driftless Grace - Heads Up around some things in life. Including windows.

Photo contributed by Katie Green Wildflowers and berries Grace Vosen, Contributor Grace Vosen

sense.Iresurrected my dogeared copy of verse by iconoclastic English Poet, artist, and rebel William Blake (17571827), a man known for his jaundiced view of the human condition yet who was optimistic about possibilities for redemption. Some people are just born contrarian, not on purpose, I imagine, just naturally impudent and original, unwilling to abandon their beliefs without a tussle. Ardently Christian and a lifelong reader of scripture, Blake rejected organized religion, believing all religions to be one; he couldn't abide race prejudice long before this was a common position of cultured men East or West; was a devoted husband, yet he briefly considered taking a concubine when his wife couldn't have children! On the other hand, he was in favor of equal freedom for women to fulfill their desires for work and love. He started out as a supporter of the American and French Revolutions until the mass killings of The Terror began, whereupon he withdrew support in disgust. His contemporaries then, and scholars today, argue over interpretations of his symbolic writing and art. Some critics say he is the best, most original artist England ever produced. Since college days I have wrestled with Blake on and off, ever confused but intrigued. He wrote a typically symbolic verse about truthtelling and revenge that suits my mood of the moment, called “A Poison Tree”. Sin and Satan beware. I was angry with my friend: I told my wrath, my wrath did end. I was angry with my foe: I told it not, my wrath did grow. And I water'd it in fears, Night and morning with my tears: And I sunned it with smiles, And with soft deceitful wiles. And it grew both day and night, Till it bore an apple bright; And my foe beheld it shine, And he knew that it was mine, And into my garden stole When the night had veil'd the pole; In the morning glad I see My foe outstretch'd beneath the tree. ...

I’ve had a busy summer, so it wasn’t too surprising last week when I was rushing to get somewhere and sustained a rather silly injury. I imagined no window where indeed there was one, and came away with a cartoonish –though very real – concussion. My prescription from the urgent care doctor was “brain rest” (insert joke about how some people engage in brain rest all the time). It can be difficult for me to accept rest of any kind. Tiredness and restfulness can seem more like the symptoms that need to be healed, not the tools for healing. But I recognize that this comes from being too hard on myself. In this case, rest was the only way to heal and become myself again. I quickly found that all of my normal activities made me tired, even reading and watching TV. Taking it easy was the only option. I had plans for the week, of course, which had to be canceled. This was unfortunate but made easier by the kind words of the folks on the other end. Don’t get me wrong: I’m extremely lucky, in that it was a minor injury and I could take several days to do nothing but heal. Still, it was a learning experience. No matter how strong my will or intentions, and no matter how badly I want the situation to be different, there is simply no getting

As I was sauntering around the prairie path one day, three times within a few minutes I was overtaken by a middle-aged woman repeatedly running the mile route as if her life depended on it. For all I know it did. At any rate, she was sweating profusely and didn't so much as meet my eye or respond to my cheery early morning greeting as she pounded by. I don't imagine she was anti-social so much as preoccupied with some goal she had set for herself, for between the second and third circuit I saw her pause long enough to consult some gadget she carried in a pouch. Did it measure distance, heart rate, tell the latest stock market prices, display emails or text messages from the Great Beyond?Beingignored isn't fatal. That didn't bother me so much as imagining about how much she was missing in her madcap dash, and wondering if her knees and hip joints were crumbling to gravel by the percussion on the asphalt. As a former runner, I know whereof I speak. As soon as my knees began to complain, I adopted slower speeds, which led inevitably to a closer inspection of what I was passing through and by. That, in turn, sharpened my organs of perception. There are those who believe it literally matters when one registers the presence of the other beings in our shared material world. They are convinced the ripple effect is huge. Hence the Chinese proverb, “When a butterfly flaps its wings, the movement can be felt on the other side of the world.” Does looking at things in loving curiosity deliver energetic benefits to the object of one's regard? Do I enrich the existence of the puddle of ants who for some reason forsook their underground den to have a threeday convention on the asphalt path? Similarly, by beholding the thistle down and the goldfinch relishing it, the brushfoot butterflies conducting mysterious commerce in the turf, the shy doe and her fawns browsing the weedy fields, a sea of goldenrod about to foam into lustrous bloom, the wounded oak that lost a major branch in a recent storm, the stupendous bluestem grass reaching for the sky, the owl silently gliding through the dusky evening, the unknown berry eater who deposited seedy scat for me to step in, what influence do I have? Do I bestow a blessing when, using the other senses, I inhale the nose-prickling aroma of cedar and native bee balm, the dark musky funk of wet swamp vegetation where the chipmunks hideout, and when I can't resist putting a hand out to feel the velvety soft texture of mullein leaves. Are all these beings passive recipients of my interest or calling out to be noticed? It may, in fact, be a two-way street.Living in a new place with new faces, it is taking me an inordinate length of time to memorize names to go with those wrinkled faces and compromised lives. Sadly, name tags are not popular here. But I'm fairly sure being called by your given name is good, a jolt of palliative medicine, akin to the butterfly's wing flapping. So I'll give it my all, wishing there weren't so many duplicate Marys, Johns, Janes, Ellens, Bobs, Shirleys. Fortunately, only one Alfonso, one Imok, and one Nan Ping. The close proximity of so many people after a lifetime of inhabiting one single-family home after another has been a difficult adjustment. In the ongoing campaign to reupholster my soul, lately I've begun again to try to reduce the amount of irritation I feel at people around me who do not behave or think as I think they ought. Yes, I know, being judge and jury is not properly humble or healthy. Having said that, aren't there a few human errors heinous enough that we can all agree on the need to squelch them? My list is compact. At the top is war against the sacred universal life force: we just passed the 77th anniversary of the nuclear age beginning with the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which incinerated hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians in a flash. As William Sloane Coffin Jr. wrote twenty years ago, “War is the coward's escape from the problems of peace.” Similar sentiments have been expressed for centuries. No one ever wins in war, be it war against the earth, war against our most vulnerable – children – through neglect, trafficking and pornography, food shortages, being cut off from liberating opportunities because of color, culture, politics, etc., war against common

The Spring Green Area Chamber of Commerce held their annual car show in downtown Spring Green on August 20. Submit your artwork or photography for cover consideration: editor@valleysentinelnews.com

available

of rebuttal, will not be published

without

The voters must decide whether the crack requires that we make a change in those we have chosen to be our representatives and who have the authority to write laws. Again from Hamilton: “Happy will it be if our choice should be directed by a judicious estimate of our true interests.”

Thursday, auGust 25, 2022 Page 3Commentary/OpInIon Contact us PO Box 144 Spring Green, Wisconsin 53588 USA (608) valleysentinelnews.comeditor@valleysentinelnews.com588-6694 EDITORIAL Editor-in-Chief Nicole Aimone Managing Editor Taylor Scott Legal Editor Gary Ernest Grass, esq. Graphic Designer Julianna Williams Commentary/Opinion Column Beverly Pestel Commentary/Opinion Column Katie Green Commentary/Opinion Column Barb Garvoille Commentary/Opinion Column Grace Vosen Editorial Intern Adeline Holte Editorial PolicyOn certain topics in areas of great community interest, the editorsof the Valley Sentinel may take positions they believe best representand serve the interests of the community. Any opinions or positions taken by the editorial board are separate and distinct in labeling andsubstance from the community journalism that appears in the rest ofthe publication and does not affect the integrity and impartiality of our reporting. Column PolicyEditors may feature opinion columns written by public figures,members of the public or other publication staff. Columns reflectthe opinions of the individual contributors and do not representpositions of the publication. Guest columns of an anticipated length more than 500 words should seek prior editor authorization. Letter to the Editor PolicyLetters submitted for consideration are subject to fact-checking andediting for space and clarity. Submissions must have a compelling localcommunity interest. Letters to the editor must fit within a 500-word limit, and include name, city and phone number. Phone numbers arefor office use only and will not be published. Letters of a

Deadlines: The display and classified advertising dead-line is Monday at noon for that week. If you would like ourdesign team to design the ad then please allow extra time for the creative process and proofing.

Subscribe Want the paper delivered to your home or business? Subscribe online at valleysentinelnews.com/subscribe or subscribe annually with your name, phone number, address and $30 sent to: Valley Sentinel, PO Box 144, Spring Green, WI 53588 Have graphic design experience or interested in meetings, events or writing and becoming a community contributor? Let us know. Thank you to all of our contributors for believing in our community. Ad team: ads@valleysentinelnews.com

Beverly Pestel

CONTRIBUTORS IN THIS EDITION Full and up-to-date

If you are able and enjoyed this week’s edition, pleaseconsider donating $1 today.

Recently we received word from our press that costs for materials have risen over 19% in the past few months and that our printing cost will go up accordingly. If we charged $1 for each copy of Valley Sentinel, just half of the copies that are picked up each week would entirely cover our printing costs — however, we are committed to remaining a free publication with an accessible, hybrid model that allows anyone that wants to read local news to have access to it. We do not believe financial ability should be a barrier to reading local news. We may be a free paper, but unfortunately it’s not free to print papers.Valley Sentinel will stay a free and truly independent and accessible paper. Please frequent our local businesses and let them know you read Valley Sentinel each week. What does independent news mean to us? It means NOT influenced by corporations or government, NO big corporate backers, NO corporate umbrella organizations, NO big money investors. Just a handful of people with a dream to build community.ValleySentinel is all-volunteer, independently owned and operated by its editors and is a majority woman-owned business. Community fueled and community focused. We only succeed if the community succeeds. For more about Valley Sentinel and our model, visit us at valleysentinelnews.com/about

Beverly Pestel policies at: www.valleysentinelnews.com

DRIVEDONATION

“Our Fragile Democracy” is a series of thought-provoking columns by retired local professor Beverly Pestel exploring the history and struggles of our nation's form of government from its founding to our current social, cultural and political tensions — looking at solutions and means of learning to work with one another, in hopes of preserving our democracy. It would seem that the first issue the Founders would need to address in a representative democracy would be deciding who should be allowed to vote. You would think that, right? But no, the Constitution as originally written, did not define who could vote. That is a perplexing omission. The Founders established a government on the principle of “people rule” but decided not to define which people should have the privilege of voting. Does this imply that they presupposed that all occupants of the new nation should be allowed to vote? It would seem not. The decision as to who could vote was left to the states. The states originally decided that voters had to be twenty-one, male, and own land –and in some states Protestants only were given the vote. Evidently, some of the leading colonists’ views were that only this group were committed members of the community and not susceptible to disorder and mob rule. If this sounds a little strange to you, I agree. Okay, the Founders had a lot on their plate, a lot to get done, a lot of issues to resolve, but this one seems kind of important. The decision to leave voting privileges to the states seems like an abdication of responsibility. The decisions made by the states seem more than a little self-serving. The American Revolution occurred in part because of a belief that a government derived its legitimacy from the consent of the governed, but evidently not all the governed. The colonies had a history ripe with discontent and disorder, and mob rule sometimes did Our Fragile Democracy —Part 3: The Voters win the day over the state governments that were almost entirely in the hands of those twenty-one plus male Protestant landowners. Well, I guess that explains it. Continued “mob” pressure, however, did lead this new union to gradually expand voting rights. By 1790 all the states had eliminated the religious requirements for voting. Gradually through the early 1800s restrictions based on owning property or being a taxpayer were removed. By about 1860, white manhood suffrage was essentially complete. Well, it was a start, but as a woman writing this, I’m still not impressed.Thepathto voting rights for all citizens over eighteen was arduous, painful, and torturous – literally. Women suffragettes were incarcerated and force-fed with tubes down their throats when they conducted hunger strikes while fighting for the right to vote. Although legally eligible, Black people were beaten and lynched for trying to vote. Poll taxes were imposed, absurd “literacy” tests used, and bean-counting tactics employed to deny Black people access to the ballot. It took multiple Amendments to the Constitution to finally give every citizen, men and women, over eighteen the right to vote. Ensuring that all of these citizens would have equal access to the ballot, however, was a different issue. The Twenty-Fourth Amendment and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were needed to enforce the right to vote. These additions outlawed “literacy” tests and poll taxes that had been used primarily against Blacks, and provided for federal examiners. A critical part of the 1965 Act was the preclearance required by the Justice Department civil rights division. Preclearance was needed for any new voting practices in Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Virginia and certain jurisdictions in four other states where discriminatory practices had been documented. The result was that the Voting Rights Act vastly increased the number of black voters. The Voting Rights Act was readopted and strengthened in 1970 and 1975 at which time all or parts of nine additional states were included in the preclearance category. In 1982 Congress extended the preclearance section for twenty-five years. In 2006, Pres. Bush signed legislation extending the Voting Rights Act for another 25 years. So, that should put the voting issue to rest at least into 2031, right? Sadly, no. After nearly two hundred years of federal action in increasing and protecting access to the ballot, representative democracy took a hit and our fragile democracy developed a crack. In June of 2013, in a five-to-four ruling, the Supreme Court struck down the section of the Voting Rights Act that deals with preclearance for voting changes. That action severely gutted the tool the federal government had used for fifty years to block discriminatory voting practices. A six-to-three Supreme Court ruling in 2021 further weakened the Voting Rights Act by upholding two Arizona laws passed in the wake of the unfounded claims of election fraud in the 2020 election. These laws restrict how ballots can be cast and are generally seen as disproportionately affecting minority voters. The crack could be repaired by passing a new voting rights bill in Congress. However, Republicans do not support a new bill and Democrats do not have a large enough majority to enact it by themselves. In the absence of a new bill some aspects of voting rights reside back

Beverly is a retired professor. She lives in a remodeled farmhouse and tends 40 acres of woodland in Richland County. When not in the woods she spends her time reading, writing and enjoying the beauty of the Driftless Area. political nature,chance the week before anelection.

From time to time the editorial board may select letters to the editorof a particular compelling community interest where apublic figure or accountable public action is the recipient of criticismand allow, in the same issue, the subject of the criticism chance forrebuttal, with expounded independent input. The format shall be point, counterpoint and expert analysis. This community discussionshall serve as a moderated dialogue that presents multiple views of important community topics.

Scan to support local journalism!

in the states. Numerous Republican controlled states have, or are in the process of, enacting voting laws that have the effect of limiting access to voting by certain segments of the population. I have an aversion to playing Chicken Little and screaming “The sky is falling.” However, it seems like this crack in the dome covering our democracy is serious. Whatever way you look at it, and regardless of what the writers of these new state laws say, many of the voting changes are making it more difficult to vote for those described by some of our Founders as susceptible to disorder and mob rule. In other words, it would seem that non-white, non-male, non-privileged citizens may not be completely trusted to vote the “right” way by those writing these state laws. In Wisconsin, the latest attack on voting access has been the recent State Supreme Court’s ruling outlawing drop boxes. There is also a question as to whether the individual voter is required to personally place their absentee ballot in the mail or in the hands of their town clerk in order for it to be a legal vote. The impact on the elderly and disabled could be substantial in limiting their ability to vote.

Valley Sentinel is a free, bi-weekly single-copy news publication, available on newsstands in the area. Covering Arena, Lone Rock, Plain, Spring Green and the surrounding areas in Sauk, Iowa and Richland counties. Est. 2020 igne conflatum “Forged in Fire” Valley Sentinel is published in Spring Green, Wisconsin every other Thursday by Lower Wisconsin River Valley Sentinel, LLC. ISSN 2694-541X (print) — ISSN 2694-5401 (online) Member, Wisconsin Newspaper Association

C-R-A-C-K. We have reached a point where it appears that actions have been taken that are “not connected with the public good” as Hamilton warned. Are these voting restrictions “the honest errors of minds led astray by preconceived jealousies and fears…[or] other motives not more laudable?”

Community Discussion Policy

, Columnist

Thursday, auGust 25, 2022 Commentary/OpInIonPage 4

Summer is rushing by and to paraphrase the lyrics of my favorite male rock vocalist Bob Seger, autumn’s closing in.The shorter days and foggy mornings are evidence enough that the sun continues its equatorial descent, but there are other signs in nature. Like the appearance of puffballs. Puffballs can be as small as marbles to as large as basketballs. They are frequent during the late summer and fall and are showing up in our yard. The surfaces are sometimes smooth or covered with bumps or spikes. They look like balls because they don’t have a stem, like other mushrooms. Giant puffballs from the genus Calvatia are filled with spores. The ripe mushroom can contain as many as seven trillion spores that erupt with a puff of fungal smoke when it bursts open -either naturally or with a kick. The dry spores are supposedly effective as a coagulant. The entire Milwaukee Brewers baseball team should bathe in the spores to stop their late-season bleeding.

Internship will be unpaid, interns will be required to sign a FSLA-compliant internship agreement. If credit is available from intern’s educational institution for participation in an internship, we are glad to work with you to meet any requirements for receiving credit. DESIGN/PAGE

Available subject areas: Looking for a challenge?

Chris Hardie, Columnist Threads of late summer Saying goodbye to Nessie

Puffballs are actually edible -- if they are completely white and don’t have any gills inside. They are part of the 30 mushrooms that grow wild in the Wisconsin woods that are edible, according to the Wisconsin Mycological Society.Whilemany take to the woods in the spring for the popular morel mushrooms, autumn is actually the better season for fungi like honey, oyster, bearded/combs tooth, sulfur shelf, hen of the woods, shaggy mane and chanterelle. I know many of these fungi grow on our farm, but I am somewhat flummoxed by the fall fungi foraging -- even with detailed photos and descriptions found on the internet. There are experienced foragers who can point out the differences. The Wisconsin Mycology Society offers guided forays throughout the fall. Check them out at nightshtmlwisconsinmycologicalsociety.org/events.https://www.Anothersignofwarmdaysandcoolisthemorningappearanceinthe

Photo contributed by Chris Hardie Nessie seemed as dismayed as Chris Hardie was during this hard freeze in May of 2021.

Want to help build community? Know a college student that’s looking for a summer or fall internship for academic credit or to gain experience? Already attending village board or school board meetings and want to record or report on them? Want to engage with arts & culture, ag, businesses and other topics important to our community? Want to take scenic walks or drives delivering papers to subscribers and businesses? We have so many ideas to grow and do more for our community, but we need help, we CAN’T do it alone. If you want to be a part of something bigger please email us and let us know what your interests are:editor@valleysentinelnews.comANDMORE!

they shed their coats twice a year. Due to a thyroid condition diagnosed five years ago, Nessie shedded year-round, dropping large chunks of fur that fell like leaves from autumn trees. The shedding was somewhat controlled by medicine but she moved from hypothyroid to hyperthyroid. Just when she was reaching the age where labs finally begin calming down she was behaving like she was a puppy again. Nessie passed Alex in age last year when she turned 13. The frisbee days were over as her joints started to stiffen. We were unsure if she was going to make it through the winter, so I dug her grave last fall so she could still be buried on our farm.Her breathing became ragged last fall and she was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in her throat that was inoperable. But winter came and went and Nessie got to spend a few weeks with our son Ross and his family while Sherry and I traveled to Scotland this spring. A couple of months ago she had a vertigo attack. She was eating less or had to be coaxed with special foods. She passed her 14th birthday at the end of June and then had a seizure a couple of weeks ago. The end started recently when I found blood on the floor. She had suffered another vertigo attack and I thought she had smashed her mouth on the corner of the coffee table. But two days later the bleeding started up again and I removed chunks of flesh from her mouth. It was Thankstime.toa wonderful and compassionate veterinarian, Nessie went as peacefully as possible as Sherry performed Reiki on her as I gently stroked her fur. We said our goodbyes as she took her last breath. I buried her with her frisbee and many, many happy memories.Thelossof a pet stirs many emotions about the passage of time, our own mortality and other family members who have gone before us. Pets are part of the family.It’sstrange to walk into the house and not be greeted by her wagging tail. Or getting up in the morning and not having to take her outside. Nessie was a quiet dog but the house seems silent and empty without her. We still have two cats, our livestock animals and perhaps a little more freedom not having to organize our schedule around an old dog’s bathroom needs.AndNessie is pain free, chasing frisbees like a puppy again.

Chris Hardie, Columnist In spring of 2009, my wife Sherry noticed a classified ad in the paper. For sale: An 11-month-old yellow labrador. I went to meet her. She was a sweet, energetic puppy. I told the owner we’d be happy to give her a new home. He called later that night and said she wasWeours.called her Nessie, the nickname for the Loch Ness monster, so she would fit in with our Scottish-English home theme. She was part sea monster the way she enjoyed splashing around in our creek. She also was part Tasmanian devil the way she tore around, shredding apart logs and rooting up the earth. She wasn’t our first lab, so we knew that they chest.slammedendedanleashsheonbedroom10whenwetheirpuppy-likerambunctiousremainandwellintomiddle-age.SowerenotsurprisedshewouldleapfeetacrossthetopounceourbedorwhenlungedathersohardchasinganimalthatsheupbeingbodyontoherIthadbeenayear since our previous lab Alex had to be put down. We did not rush into getting another dog. We sort of enjoyed having the house quiet and not being tied down. Truth be told, I think we – me for sure – needed some time to mourn. That sometimes pain-in-the-butt naughty dog had become a part of the family. Alex had grown up with the kids and her passing was keenly felt. For a few weeks I wasn’t sure if Nessie’s wildness would ever go away. But it did. And soon the yellow lab who was more creamy white in color settled into life in theLikecountry.alldogs, Nessie had her moments. Chewing on dead animals and rolling over the remnants in total ecstasy or ignoring our calls by running through the woods on the scent of something – she tested our patience at times. But one of her favorite pastimes was playing frisbee. Nessie would twist, turn and leap to make one acrobatic catch after another. We wore out several cloth dog frisbees over the years and it was a good way to wear her out as well. Nessie was also a champion shedder. As dogs go, labradors are supposedly average shedders. But thanks to their double coats and the change of seasons, Chris Hardie

We are looking for interns/volunteers who want to be in the unique position to learn the nuts and bolts of a news media publication that started from the ground up. You will have the chance to make an impact at the ground level of a startup and see the effect of your work and ideas carried out with a lot of flexibility, in an environment and creative culture you can help influence and create. We are a new, all volunteer local news source that holds a strong belief that by working to keep our communities informed and engaged on a variety of topics including arts & culture, events, community news and serving as a watchdog for our local governmental bodies, we can help create a strong identity for our community and ignite positive growth and change throughout the area.

Chris Hardie's 'Back Home' column yard of dollar spot fungus. The branching mycelium of dollar spot fungus looks like spider webs or cobwebs on morning grass, but disappears when the dew dries.Poor soil and poor lawn maintenance is the cause, which starts as small brown spots the size of dollar coins, hence the name. Apparently, I am rich with poor soil because many of our dollar spots are the size of legal papers. It has been a challenging summer for our yard and garden with several weeks of dryness that was alleviated by some recent rains. Good thing we’re not relying on our vegetable harvest to sustain us through the winter. The hummingbirds have certainly put on a show for us this summer. Until recently we were filling our three feeders almost daily and we enjoy watching the divebombing aerial show. In a few weeks, the hummingbirds will begin their seasonal departure south. Males typically leave earlier, so they can stake the best seats for the footballupcomingseason.The females and the young will fend for themselves before joiningChristiansthem.sometimes associate hummingbirds with the resurrection, sleeping still overnight like death before resuming its boundless energy at dawn; a messenger from heaven. Native Americans believe the birds are a symbol of luck, devotion, permanence and the cycle of life. In a few weeks it will be fall. The cycle of life turns. Chris Hardie spent more than 30 years as a reporter, editor and publisher. He was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and won dozens of state and national journalism awards. He is a former president of the Wisconsin Newspaper Association. Contact him at chardie1963@gmail.com.

EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY

WE'RE LOOKING FOR INTERNS AND COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTORS

ADVERTISING/MARKETINGEDITORIAL/JOURNALISMSOCIALMEDIA GRAPHIC

DISTRIBUTION/CIRCULATION/CRMDESIGN/LAYOUTMNGMTPODCASTING/AUDIOPRODUCTION

Interested? Send us your area(s) of interest and a resume to: editor@valleysentinelnews.com

Photo contributed by Barb Garvoille Yetti on Lost Horizon Farm not only got a new puppy but also a new window air conditioner for the kitchen to keep her environs cool. A summer snapshot of Yetti would show a dog laying comfortably under the kitchen table, in the usual sleeping dog posture, but sometimes on her back with all four legs pointed upwards.Yettiwas an excellent canine alarm system for the farm too. Wherever she was: on the cool cement pad in front of the milk house, on the front steps, in the house, or in the truck; if someone pulled in, she would bark. If it was temperate weather and the front storm door was ajar, a visitor might be faced with the daunting proposition of facing a dog that, when standing with her hind legs on the ground and her front legs on the reinforced mesh of the screen door, was taller than most men!

Barb has called Lost Horizon Farm, just north of Spring Green, her home for the past 42 years. She is fond of all creatures (including snakes). Her joy stems from being able to be outdoors every day observing and treasuring the plant and animal life on her small piece of this planet. She loved milking cows and is proud to have been a dairy farmer.

The worst thing about playing with Queenie was that sometimes when the human would tire of the game, Queenie would roll the ball about a bit longer and then into the barn where it would not always stay on the walkway. Sometimes the ball would roll into the gutter to become a ball christened with manure. One time it was an undiscovered and “covered” gutter ball that traveled with the manure on the barn cleaner outside the barn and into the manure spreader. It then made a trip aboard the spreader into the field. That basketball moved right along with the manure toward the back of the now engaged machine until it hit the beaters of the manure spreader and exploded. Mr. Farmer thought he had punctured a tire; the sound was that loud! Vocal and lip tricks were a part of Queenie's repertoire as well. She could "sing" on command. Her song was a kind of elongated, alto "OOOOOOOOO". Queenie also smiled. Actually, she had two kinds of smiles. One smile was for the people she knew, and that smile was accompanied by great tail wagging. The other smile was for people she wanted to get to know, and it was often misinterpreted. We had several salesmen stop in the farmyard and remain in their vehicle because they saw Queenie as an angry dog showing its teeth. Being a sensitive creature, I am certain Queenie would have felt badly knowing anyone thought of her as anything other than a graceful, loving animal. In fact, there were many times during a day when she would put her paws on something (you, the barn wall, the milking cart,a calf panel, a gate), thrust her wet nose under your arm and then push her face through just for a word of praise or reassurance. Queenie's black and white hair coat was often flecked with mud and manure and her feathery tail stuck with burdocks; she simply would not stay still long enough for a good brush. That trademark look was my last recollection of Queenie. It was accentuated by the stainless steel of the veterinary examination table. After thousands of working days, Queenie had to be put down. She had developed a severe Reflections from Lost Horizon Farm — Dogs on the Farm (Part 2) case of heartworm. Misty "What is brown and white, hides on the staircase during any thunderstorm and pants?" The answer to this question would be Misty, the Rat Terrier. When Misty arrived at Lost Horizon Farm as a puppy, Peaches and Queenie were both aged dogs. They tolerated this new house dog as the nuisance that always wanted to disturb their rest and play. Misty had to find her own fun, and she did. One fall morning, the neighbor had come to the farm to pick com for Mr. Farmer. There had been a breakdown of equipment, and Misty had been hanging around the two men busily repairing the New Idea Uni-Harvester. What she found in the machine shed had been irresistible to her. The neighbor's wallet had fallen out of his pocket as he contorted himself to reach a part deep in the harvester's interior. Misty had carried and tossed that soft prize in a path from the machine shed right to the house. How was this known?

Each edition, retired dairy farmer Barb Garvoille brings her musings on dairy farm life from her own years of experience on Lost Horizon Farm with her late husband Vince “Mr. Farmer” Garvoille. This mooving memoir focuses on 19802000, join Barb as she rises with the herd. Queenie Queenie was the closest thing we ever had to a fluid fence. Being a Border Collie, she was an overachiever. When there were no cattle to herd, she would busy herself with the barn cats and even the geese. She would focus her deep brown eyes in a locking gaze on some critter and "doggedly "move it from one place to another. The herding instinct was so strong it sometimes got her into trouble. One time she decided to herd the heifers at night. Her nocturnal presence was frightening enough to the youngstock to drive them through a fence and half a mile down the county road towards the state highway. From that notable evening onward, Queenie was tied up in the hay mow as soon as dark time arrived. Queenie's sport was basketball. It was not at all unusual to be milking cows and have a basketball come rolling down the walkway. Queenie would find the basketball and with her muzzle, shoulder, and right front leg maneuver and roll it into position until she found someone who would play with her. Just the sound of a basketball being bounced on the earth or on the hay mow floor would bring her from anywhere on the farm. The best thing about playing with Queenie was that one could shoot hoops and never have to collect the ball. Queenie would bring it back to you!

Mr. Farmer found a trail of bills in varying denominations lining the farm road from the shed right up to the house! Further investigation turned up a very wet wallet bearing the markings of sharp puppy teeth! Being exceptionally cute and attentive, Misty was the sort of dog that would be tempting to hold. She did not like being picked up and would bite anyone (including her "family") who tried to do so. Mr. Farmer had to use his heaviest leather gloves to pick her up when transport to the veterinary was required. When Misty was carried into the examination room, the Velcro muzzle went right on!! In addition to shedding hair in an amount one would think would leave any dog naked, Little Mist's extreme fear would inevitably prompt her to deposit a very large amount of fecal material on the exam table. A vet visit with Misty was always an embarrassment. As Misty grew old, her love affair with food deepened. During the time she could retain her position as the dominant house dog, she became quite rotund on Yetti's puppy chow. However, food nirvana ended the day she lunged at Yetti, slipped, banged against the stainless steel dog dish and knocked her front teeth out. Misty was the greatest of all dog barometers. When there was even a hint of a thunderstorm (and the weather event could be miles away), Misty would begin to pant in the most intense way. When the real thing would arrive, Misty would station herself on the staircase until all threatening weather had passed. This habit was OK during daylight hours, but it was downright dangerous at night, especially if there had been a power outage, because a person never knew which step she might be on. Yetti Our Bernese Mountain Dog was to be called Yeti, after the name given to Tibet's abominable snowman. We put in one too many t's, and the misspelling stuck. Yetti came to the farm from an Illinois breeder on an August day so scorchingly hot that a layer of ice packs was placed in the bottom of the dog crate to keep her pleasingly cool during the truck ride home. Lost Horizon Farm was blessed with a sort of double feature when Yetti arrived; we

Barb Garvoille, Columnist Barb Garvoille

Thursday, auGust 25, 2022 Page 5Commentary/AGrIcuLture

Haying season sometimes offered Yetti round bales to summit. Pushed up together in rows along a field's edge, “rounders” offered a commanding view not only to Yetti but also to her canid brethren: fox and coyotes.Onespring day, posed on a side hill in the yard, I saw Yetti's gaze tum to the wood's edge. A very young fox kit had wandered out of the understory onto the lawn. Yetti loped down the hill to delicately touch noses with this creature. These two youngsters seemed totally inquisitive about each other. Once the nose contact had occurred, the kit slipped back into the woods, and Yetti resumed her sentinel post. The encounter was quiet, without aggression or chase, and completely infused with the curiosity of the young.Yettihad some interesting quirks. In the summertime, Yetti liked drinking water straight out of a hose: in the wintertime she liked rushing alongside our toboggan and pulling people's stocking hats off! When she had to be left at home, she would express her delight at your return by running rapidly in ever widening circles around the yard. Yetti had a kind of crying whine too that she only vocalized on the rare occasion when was left alone for an extended period ofYettitime.left a lot of memories at Lost Horizon Farm. No one could forget how her wagging tail plume would brush the top of the kitchen table like a feathery dust cloth. Her love for butter demanded that the butter dish always be taken off the table promptly and placed on its perch atop the flour canister at the far reaches of the counter top. (Out of habit, the butter dish is found in that place to this day!) If a person made the mistake of leaving something tempting within reach, Yetti would always eat the food item, but never break its dish. One German Chocolate Cake was a good example. Carelessly left on the table by one of her humans, she ate the entire cake, amazingly, with no ill effect. The carefully doggie-cleaned plate under the table was the only evidence left of its existence! The seasonal change from winter to summer was easily marked by the great chunks of Yetti underfur left on the floors. Static electricity would transport these fluffy, fibrous clumps onto one's clothing, wisps of it would cling to the base of appliances, and it was guaranteed to plug the hose of the vacuum cleaner. Our farm dogs that were also house dogs were rarely permitted onto the carpeted areas of the house. Vince had built a dog gate that slid down between the kitchen and the rest of the house. It was made of a nice piece of stained plywood. He had used a hole saw to make a place where you could grab the gate to lift it up. Yetti used the hole to nose into the rest of the house. She knew it was off limits, but she was compelled to collect information nasally. Yetti was perhaps the most beautiful dog ever to live at the farm. Her life of 10 years was a long one for the breed. She left her mark with her beauty, her serenity, and her loving character.

Bernese Mountain Dogs are known for their devotion to a single individual or family, and Yetti was no different. Any nonfamily person had to wait for this dog to warm up to him. For the duration of her life, Yetti would give a yelp indicative of injury if a stranger attempted to pet her. She knew the pained sound would lead most people to withdraw their hand, and that was the way she liked it. Friendship was always at her discretion and on her terms, and she was a great barometer of character. When Yetti was still a puppy, I had taken her with me to bring the cows home from the pasture. We had walked to the end of our valley to urge a group of lingering heifers home, when an exuberant and inexperienced Yetti raced ahead of them. The heifers, seeing this new "thing" in the pasture, gave chase. Thankfully, the thundering hooves of the running animals did not trample her, but the incident did teach her to travel behind livestock. Yetti loved piles: piles of sand, piles of gravel, and, of course, piled snow. These were her mountains, and if there was one in the farmyard, she could be found on top of it. Great was her chagrin as the snow melted or the sand and gravel piles diminished when loaded out for some project on the farm.

Photo contributed by Barb Garvoille Misty on Lost Horizon Farm Photo contributed by Barb Garvoille Queenie on Lost Horizon Farm

LIVE MUSIC: Scott Wilcox 5:00 PM Wild Hills Winery, 30940 Oakridge Dr., Muscoda wildhillswinery.com Join us for Wine Down Fridays! Stitch and Bitch 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM Spring Green General Store, 137 S. Albany St. Spring Green springgreengeneralstore.com The Spring Green General Store’s Stitch and Bitch handwork group meets Thursday afternoons weekly. All are welcome. Knit Night at Nina’s 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM Nina’s Department Store, 143 E. Jefferson St. Spring Green ninasdepartmentstore.com Every Thursday from 6 to 8 pm. All knitters and crocheters are welcome. Store closed after 5:30 pm. Thursday, September 1 Saturday, September 3 Spring Green Farmers Market 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM S230 E. Monroe St., Spring Green Spring Green Farmers Market Is a year-round outdoor market offering seasonal produce, local meats, baked goods and many other wonderful items. Held outside the Spring Green Community Public Library every Saturday morning. Pre-or ders are recommended. Visit our Facebook or Instagram page or email SGFarmersMar ket@gmail.com for a list of participating vendors and their contact into. Wine & Yoga 5:30 PM - 8:00 PM Wild Hills Winery, 30940 Oakridge Dr., Muscoda wildhillswinery.com Come for the wine specials...stay for a peaceful and rejuvenating yoga session with certified instructor Lara Carpenter. All sessions are held outdoors in our vineyard. Yoga sessions are $10 cash only.

Friday, September 2

LIVE MUSIC: 3 Souls 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM Wisconsin Riverside Resort, S13220 Shifflet Road, Spring Green www.wiriversideresort.com Join us for live music outside on the river stage! Drinks specials, great food and even better views!

LIVE MUSIC: Trailer Kings 4:00 PM - 8:00 PM Wisconsin Riverside Resort, S13220 Shifflet Road, Spring Green www.wiriversideresort.com Join us for live music outside on the river stage! Drinks specials, great food and even better views!

LIVE MUSIC: Mike Munson with Matt Monsoor 9:30 PM Slowpoke Lounge, 137 W Jefferson St., Spring Green slowpokelounge.com Mike Munson is steeped in the country blues tradition. His original works weave together dark lyrics, impossibly fast-paced finger-picking and grinding rhythms. His sound marks the similarities and highlights the distance between Fred McDowell, Leo Kottke and Chuck Berry. Matt Monsoor is a singer songwriter from the Driftless region of Wisconsin using mixed mediums and salvaged materials to craft furniture and songs. Currently working on an EP with Shane Leonard with sights set on end of summer for release. Tickets $10 in advance/$15 at the door.

BOOK SIGNING: "Bad Day Breaking" with John Galligan 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM Arcadia Books, 102 E Jefferson St, Spring Green readinutopia.com In the first three Bad Axe County Bad Axe County novels, author John Galligan balanced motherhood, marriage and work for main character Sheriff Heidi Kick. In this fourth and latest installment, Heidi is forced to confront her ghosts while investigating the infiltration of her department by ne'er-do wells. Not to mention the arrival of a death cult that she must stop from fulfilling their prophecy. It's a big heart- pounding mess!

OPEN HOUSE: Harrisburg School & Museum 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM Harrisburg One-Room School House, E7646 Cty Rd. B, Spring Green voiceoftherivervalley.com www.harrisburgtroyhistoricalsociety.com Restored one-room school, veterans exhibit, farm equipment museum, area historical memorabilia.

Summer Storytime 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM Spring Green Community Library, 230 E. Monroe St., Spring Green (608) 588-2276 Join us for a story read by Ms. Grace and a nature walk afterwards to learn about the plants and animals in the area!

Friday,August 26 Wednesday, August 31 SOLD OUT – LIVE MUSIC: Shitty Barn Session 272: Lissie 7:00 PM 506 E Madison St, Spring Green shittybarnsessions.com Doors open at 6 Lissie’s Carving Canyons finds the acclaimed singer-songwriter digging deep to carry on through life’s many uncertainties. The singer-songwriter’s fifth album is her most personal expression yet, with twelve songs that chart the ripples caused by heartbreak and loneliness as well as what happens when the soul perseveres amidst pain. Advance tickets sold out. That sald, tickets often come up that people can't use. Check website or socials for the latest detalls about ticket availability.

APT: Inside Out Tour – Stair-Free Option 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM American Players Theatre 5950 Golf Course Rd Spring Green springgreen.com $15 or free w APT insider card. A less rugged alternative to the popular Inside Out Tour, this modified two-hour walking tour includes most areas on the regular tour but skips the second floor of our production facility, and offers a shuttle ride to the Touchstone Theatre and to the Hill Theatre. Please note, this is still a walking tour. You will need to be comfort able with a half-mile walk, and nearly two hours of standing.

Saturday, August 27 Tuesday, August 30

THEATER: Play Talk – Sense and Sensibility 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM American Players Theater, 5950 Golf Course Rd, Spring Green americanplayers.org Learn more about the plays. Visit our website for specific topics and speakers as they become available. $5 or Free with an APT Insider's Card.

APT: Saturday Salon 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM American Players Theater, 5950 Golf Course Rd, Spring Green americanplayers.org A casual conversation with APT and Leadership about whatever is on your mind. Free event.

Sunday, August 28

APT: Saturday Salon 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM American Players Theater, 5950 Golf Course Rd, Spring Green americanplayers.org A casual conversation with APT and Leadership about whatever is on your mind. Free event.

THEATER: Play Talk – Love's Labour's Lost 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM American Players Theater, 5950 Golf Course Rd, Spring Green . americanplayers.org . Learn more about the plays. Visit our website for specific topics and speakers as they become available. $5 or Free with an APT Insider's Card.

Sunday, September 4

APT: Sunday Salon 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Post House Garden, E. Jefferson St. Spring Green americanplayers.org A casual conversation with APT and Leadership about whatever is on your mind. Free event.

LIVE MUSIC: Wild Child 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM Wisconsin Riverside Resort, S13220 Shifflet Road, Spring Green www.wiriversideresort.com Join us for live music outside on the river stage! Drinks specials, great food and even better views!

APT: Inside Out Tour – Stair-Free Option 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM American Players Theatre, 5950 Golf Course Rd Spring Green americanplayers.org $15 or free w/ APT insider card. Get a peek at APT’s inner workings during our popular two-hour walking tour of the grounds, costume shop, backstage areas and more. This modified two-hour walking tour includes most areas on the regular tour but skips the second floor of our production facility, and offers a shuttle ride to the Touchstone Theatre and to the Hill Theatre. Please note, this is still a walking tour. You will need to be comfortable with a half-mile walk, and nearly two hours of standing.

Thursday, auGust 25, 2022 CommunityPage 6 Events for August 26 - September 8

THEATER: Play Talk – Hamlet 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM American Players Theater, 5950 Golf Course Rd, Spring Green americanplayers.org Learn more about the plays. Visit our website for specific topics and speakers as they become available. $5 or Free with an APT Insider's Card.

THEATER: Play Talk – The Moors - Virtual 4:00 PM americanplayers.org We're back to Zoom for this one, because we are lucky enough to have Playwright Jen Silverman join us for a virtual chat. Boy, we are going to have some questions for her about this fascinating play.

LIVE MUSIC: Lillies of the Midwest Concert 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM Spring Green Community Center, 117 S. Washington Street, Spring Green A trio of Irish Traditional Musicians based in Madison. Combining the unique sounds of concertina, mandolin, and fiddle, the Lilies of the Midwest inspire audiences with their infectious energy and joy. Charlene Adzima is on fiddle, feet, and vocals, Kara Rodgers plays concertina and accordion, and Jeanna Schultz plays mandolin, bouzouki, and accordion. Free concert brought to you by Folklore Village's Senior Outreach Program.

Spring Green Farmers Market 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM S230 E. Monroe St., Spring Green Spring Green Farmers Market Is a year-round outdoor market offering seasonal produce, local meats, baked goods and many other wonderful items. Held outside the Spring Green Community Public Library every Saturday morning. Pre-or ders are recommended. Visit our Facebook or Instagram page or email SGFarmersMar ket@gmail.com for a list of participating vendors and their contact into.

APT: Sunday Salon 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Post House Garden, E. Jefferson St. Spring Green americanplayers.org A casual conversation with APT and Leadership about whatever is on your mind. Free event.

Christ Lutheran Church Summer Picnic and Worship 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM Post House Garden, Jefferson Street, Spring Green christlutheransg.org All are welcome to a worship service at 9 a.m. with lunch served 11 a.m.-1 p.m. by the owners of the Shed. The Solstice Jazz Band will be playing during lunch.

LIVE MUSIC: Tobie & Kendall @ Local Night 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM Post House Garden, Jefferson Street, Spring Green Look up “The Shed” on Facebook for more Grills will be fired and beverages available, so come and enjoy the best that River Valley has to offer!

LIVE MUSIC: The Sapsuckers 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM Wild Hills Winery, 30940 Oakridge Dr., Muscoda wildhillswinery.com We're so excited to welcome The Sapsuckers to Wild Hills Winery! The Sapsuckers write and perform original country/Americana songs that blend humor, heartache, and honky-tonk. Join us for Wine Down Fridays!

LIVE MUSIC: Growlers 1:00 PM - 4:30 PM Wisconsin Riverside Resort, S13220 Shifflet Road, Spring Green www.wiriversideresort.com Join us for live music outside on the river stage! Drinks specials, great food and even better views! Psychic Readings with Dianne Walters-Butler 12:00 PM - 4:00 PM North Earth Crystals & Gifts, 124 W. Jefferson St, Spring Green northearth.com Dianne Walters-Butler is a Psychic Medium of over 30 years. Besides connecting with your loved ones on The Other Side. She is gifted with insight into such issues as relation ships, business, addiction, and untimely deaths. $60 per half hour session. Walk-in appointments will be taken as availability allows. Time slots fill up quickly, so please call 608.588.3313 to set up an appointment. Night-Flying Prairie Insects: Blacklighting & Sugaring for Moths 6:30 PM - 9:00 PM Mounds View Grassland Preserve, 8624 Reilly Rd, Barneveld theprairieenthusi asts.org Prairies support an extremely diverse array of insects. We can easily observe the many butterflies, bees and other insects during the day but what about the moths? There are more than 10,000 species of moths in North America. This workshop will introduce you to the life cycle, behavior and ecology of prairie moth species. You will learn how to identify moths, particularly some prairie-specialist species which inhabit the Mounds View Grassland. We will demonstrate sugaring and blacklighting to collect and observe moths and other night-flying insects. What to bring: Wear clothing appro priate for night hikes on the prairie. Bring a flashlight or headlamp and a camera with a flash. Class size: Limit 25 people. Cost: $10.

BIRDING: A Swift Night Out! 7:45 PM Homecoming (White School), 242 N. Lexing ton St. homecomingspringgreen.com Spring Green has an active Chimney Swift night roost in the chimney of Homecoming. Join the River Valley Birders as Barbara Duerksen from the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology gives a brief talk, followed by (weather dependent) watching over 100 swifts circle and drop into the chimney for the night. Meet near the entrance to the Spring Green Park at Lexington and Daley Streets.

Savor your Salad 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM RedBarn Catering, 525 E. Madison Street, Spring Green redbarncatering.com Join Jay Miller of RedBarn Catering and Steven & Elisabeth from Steadfast Acres as they explore different salad greens, how to use them, and how to add texture & flavor to your salads. You'll also learn about the elements of salad dressings and how to make them. You'll be making and tasting different salads and dressings, too! This fun class will be packed with great information and was designed with both kitchen novices and foodies alike. Join us to increase your salad savvy. Participants will enjoy three hearty salads, so come hungry! The cost is $60. Registration is required. Register online at www.savortherivervalley,org/events

LIVE MUSIC: Myles Talbott Dyad 12:00 PM - 3:30 PM . Wisconsin Riverside Resort, S13220 Shifflet Road, Spring Green . www.wiriversideresort.com . Join us for live music outside on the river stage! Drinks specials, great food and even better views!

Local Art at the Library: Jill Metcoff and Ed Wohl Hours Vary Spring Green Community Library, 230 E. Monroe St., Spring Green Throughout August, Jill Metcoff is exhibiting her photos in the Community Room Gallery and Ed Wohl is exhibiting his woodworking in the Glass Case Gallery at the Spring Green Community Library during regular library hours: Monday-Thursday: 10 AM - 7 PM Friday: 10 AM - 5 PM Friday: 9 AM - 1 PM calendar Monday, September 5 Art in the Woods Sunrise - Sunset Throughout APT property, 5950 Golf Course Rd, Spring Green americanplayers.org FREE Art in the Woods is a series of art installa tions displayed throughout the APT property. Art that evokes conversation, that intertwines with our landscape, that sparks your imagination. Art in the Woods is presented with major support from the Wisconsin Department of Tourism.

LIVE MUSIC: Caravan – Rural Musician’s Forum 5:30 PM Wyoming Valley School Cultural Arts Center Lawn, 6306 WI-23 Trunk, Spring Green ruralmusiciansforum.org

Please email us with these meetings, or use the form on our Community Calendar page — and let's build community together: editor@valleysentinelnews.com C

EDITORIAL

This calendar will be a place listing (for free) the typical meeting dates for area governmental bodies, as well as typical/specific meeting dates for service and community organizations and participating non-profits that are seeking to get more of the area community involved. This calendar will grow and change, but is not necessarily intended to be exhaustive. We can't build it alone, if your service or community organization would like to be included, please let us know.

Homecoming and School Fair Preview – TBD

Join us for the final concert of the season! Hot Swing in the Gypsy Jazz style. Bring lawn chairs and a picnic for this fun concert. Tickets $12, Children 12 and under FREE! For more than thirty-five years, unswerving commitment to music, musicians and the community in the Wisconsin River Valley and beyond.

Evenings Afield: Restoring Our Natural History: Prairies & Savannas 6:00 PM8:00 PM Frank Lloyd Wright Visitor Center, 5607 County Rd C, Spring Green driftless conservancy.org

CIVICS & CalendarSERVICES

For everyone asking “where have all the Bridge and Cribbage clubs gone?” (those go in our general community calendar, but nice try), “why won’t any young adults attend village board meetings?” and “how do I get more people at my service organization meetings?” — this is the calendar for you!

M A R K E T I N G | A D V E R T I S I N G | P A R T N E R S H I P

Thursday, September 8 Savanna Institute Pasture Walk 5:00 PM Savanna Institute Demonstration Farm ,6511 Hillside Rd, Spring Green co.sauk.wi.us We will branch out to learn more about Silvopasture and how to manage animals, trees, and forages across the landscape at this pasture walk. Please contact Serge Koenig at (608) 355-4837 or serge.koenig@ saukcountywi.gov for more information on the pasture walk programs. Wine & Yoga 5:30 PM - 8:00 PM Wild Hills Winery, 30940 Oakridge Dr., Muscoda wildhillswinery.com Come for the wine specials...stay for a peaceful and rejuvenating yoga session with certified instructor Lara Carpenter. All sessions are held outdoors in our vineyard. Yoga sessions are $10 cash only.

Explore the natural history of the Driftless Area at a spectacular example of restored prairie and oak savanna on the slopes of Taliesin's Welsh Hills. Learn about the decade-long process that returned a cedar-covered hillside back to native grasses and oaks. Community Calendar curated and designed by Julianna Williams. Events are subject to change, always check ahead for up-to-date information on any events you are interested in.

LIVE MUSIC: 14th Annual BeatleFest

Join us for live music outside on the river stage! Drinks specials, great food and even better views!

All special sections subject to change and participation. The more support and engagement we get, the more we can offer the community together.

Taliesin Preservation

September 22: Autumn Antics (Special Section) – Everything apples, autumn and fall! A special section and autumn activities guide to take you through your autumn antics in the Valley and day trips beyond. Section sponsorship, premium positions, sponsored content, events and activities listings and display ads available.

Sunday, September 4 cont.

O N T E N T B U S I N E S S I N S I D E R

or stories we should cover? Let

Upcoming special sections/editorial notes: September 8: Fall Sports Preview – Talking with coaches about what to expect this fall sports season. Section sponsorship, premium position, events and activities listings and display ads available.

October 6: Spooky Season (Special Section) – MAY BE MOVED TO OCTOBER 20 – Everything spooky! A special section and spooky activities guide to help you plan your spooky activities in the Valley and day trips beyond. Section sponsorship, premium positions, sponsored content, events and activities listings and display ads available.

FIREWORKS Dusk Wisconsin Riverside Resort, S13220 Shifflet Road, Spring Green www.wiriversideresort.com

Frank Lloyd Wright Visitor Center, 5607 County Road C, Spring Green. Open Daily 9:00 A.M. - 5:00 P.M. Through August taliesinpreservation.org31

( REAL )

CIVICS & SERVICES EXAMPLESCALENDAR

11:00 AM - 6:00 PM Spring Green General Store, 137 S. Albany St., Spring Green springgreengeneralstore.com Live beatlesinspired music by regional groups and solo musicians, special festival menu, local beers by Lake Louie/Wisconsin Brewing Co., and cider from the Cider Farm. Check website for further information and full set list.

FULL CALENDAR COMING SOON ideas to Special sections or graphics us know!

Local Art at the Library: Jill Metcoff and Ed Wohl Spring GreenLibraryCommunity 230 E. Monroe St. Spring Green Open during August

Wednesday, September 7 SOLD OUT – LIVE MUSIC: Shitty Barn Session 273: Haley Heynderickx w/ Léponds 7:00 PM 506 E Madison St, Spring Green shittybarnsessions.com Doors open at 6 It takes a mix of skill and luck to tend a garden well, but it’s impossible without a certain amount of kindness tended. While the cyclical nature of gardening seems inherent, in some ways, Heynderickx is just beginning. Her debut album, named I Need to Start a Garden out of a search for calm through these waves of uncertainty and upheaval, is out now via Mama Bird Recording Co. Advance tickets sold out. That sald, tickets often come up that people can't use. Check website or socials for the latest detalls about ticket availability.

SACRED SPACES: FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT X ANDREW PIELAGE Open Daily 9:00 AM5:00 PM Through August 31 Taliesin Preservation, Frank Lloyd Wright Visitor Center, 5607 County Road C, Spring Green taliesinpreservation.org

September 3: Friends of the Library Book Collection - www.springgreenlibrary.org - The Friends of the Spring Green Community Library will accept donations of gently used books for resale from 10 a.m. to noon in the Library Community Room. Proceeds from book sales help support library programs and other amenities. Damaged books, encyclopedias, textbooks, and instruction manuals are not accepted.

October 20: TBD – Shortly we’ll be establishing an editorial calendar for special sections and edition themes to give business partners more time to work with us in engaging the community. We wanted to give the area business community an opportunity to weigh in first. Let us know what themed sections, special sections and more you think we should feature in Valley Sentinel to engage with our community and help them better engage with you: editor@valleysentinelnews.com

Thursday, auGust 25, 2022 Page 7Community Events for August 26 - September 8

Launched following the Trailer Kings performance.

LIVE MUSIC: Acoustic River @ Local Night 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM .Post House Garden, Jefferson Street, Spring Green Look up “The Shed” on Facebook for more Grills will be fired and beverages available, so come and enjoy the best that River Valley has to offer!

add?

LIVE MUSIC: Wild Child 4:00 PM Wisconsin Riverside Resort, S13220 Shifflet Road, Spring Green www.wiriversideresort.com

ART IN THE WOODS APT property 5950 Golf Course Rd, Spring Green JULY THROUGH OCTOBER, SUNRISE TO SUNSET

Have

More information: valleysentinelnews.com/advertising-businesses

September 6: Arena Village Board - www.villageofarena.net - The Village of Arena Board of Trustees typically meets the first Tuesday of the Month at 7 p.m.

WHAT’S HANGINg ? ongoing art exhibitions

Thursday, auGust 25, 2022 CommunityPage 8 .”stuffgood“The COVID-19WisconsinDashboardSummary Cases as of 8/24/2022 Cases as of 8/24/2022 Graphic by juliAnna1,604,676Williams Positive Cases +20,473 from 8/10 +54 from 8/10 Percent of Wisconsin residents ages 5-11 who have received at least one dose by county Vaccine Summary Statistics Vaccine Data 5,928,210 3,798,065 344,44510,071,420 Pfizer administereddoses These two core measures are measures of herd immunity in Richland, Sauk and Iowa County. We do not yet know what level of vaccination leads to herd immunity for COVID-19, or how current or future variants might affect herd immunity. We know based on other diseases that herd immunity is likely at least 60%, and if more transmissible variants become more common, that threshold may become higher, so the current target range is 60-90%. -Adapted from Madison Public Health and Dane ModernaCountydosesadministered Johnson & Johnson doses administered Updated: 8/24/2022 Updated: 8/24/2022 Updated: 8/24/2022 Ages 55-6445-5435-4425-3418-2412-175-1165+ Cases per zip code Percent of Wisconsin residents who have received at least one dose 13,309 Deaths Data From: https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/covid-19/index.htm +104 from 8/10 +0 from 8/10 4,525 Positive Cases 51 Deaths Richland County Ages 5-11 Ages 5-11 Ages 5-11 Ages 5-11 33.3%19.8% 26.6% 60.8% Higher %Lower % Richland County Iowa CountySauk County Dane County +606 from 8/10 +1 from 8/10 18,935 Positive Cases Sauk County 140 Deaths +1 from 8/10 +133 from 8/106,227 Positive Cases 31 Deaths Iowa County Iowa Percent with at least one vaccine dose Target Range Percent fully vaccinated 67.8%70.4% Sauk Percent with at least one vaccine dose Target Range Percent fully vaccinated 65.6% Richland Percent with at least one vaccine dose Target Range Percent fully vaccinated 57.8%59.9% 29.1% 61.2%62.5%65%69.7%72%78.3%84.9% 62.7% covid case activity level Updated: 8/24/2022 This map shows the current CDC COVID-19 Community Level for each county in Wisconsin. Community levels measure the impact of COVID-19 illness on health and health care systems in communities. COVID-19 community levels can help communities and individuals make decisions based on their local context and their unique needs. Community vaccination coverage and other local information can also inform decision-making for health officials and Updated:individuals. 8/24/2022 county level weekly statistics Updated: 8/24/2022 2,073,997 564,2332,638,230 First AdministeredBooster SecondAdministeredBooster Total administereddosesTotaladministeredboosters NOTE: The case totals by zipcode for Spring Green and Plain appear to be higher than recent trends. We are looking into if those numbers are accurate representations or a periodic DHS update based on an audit of case totals. Always check DHS site for updated information.

Want to be the first to read Valley Sentinel?

UW-Platteville Richland will re-start the campus’ “Love of Learning” free series of public community educational presentations, offering three lectures on diverse topics in the campus’ Pippin Conference Center throughout the Fall. The monthly series of Monday evening events all start at 7 pm. and are free and open to the public. The “Love of Learning” series is underwritten by the Richland County Campus Foundation. On Monday September 12, learn about Cryptocurrency and NFT markets, with Jesse Goplen, alumnus of UWRichland and CEO of clink.fm, who has worked extensively in the NFT and Cryptocurrency marketplaces. His talk on “Cryptocurrency: An Introduction to the Promise, Perils, and Best Practices” will take you inside the intersection of creative work and financial markets. The October 10 presentation will shift lanes, and offer an exploration of the art of Pre-Renaissance Florence, with John Christensen, Branch Campus Communications Manager 'Love of Learning' series restarts for Fall at UW-Platteville Richland area teacher John Madden. “80 Years of Renaissance Art” will dig into the stories of Florentine Innovators Giotto di Bondone (c. 1267-1337) and Fillippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446), as they transformed Medieval artistic traditions and anticipated the outpouring of culture that came in the Renaissance. There will be extensive visuals used. And then on November 14, join Dr. Christine Richards, family practitioner and mystery novel aficionado, as she explores the ways classic detective work and medical diagnosis draw on similar traditions that combine logic and rationality with instinct and intuition. Her talk, “The Mystery of the Family Practitioner Doctor” will offer a retrospective history of diagnostic medicine and how mystery-solving techniques aid and help a physician’s work.The“Love of Learning” lectures all start at 7pm in the Pippin Conference Center on the UW-Platteville Richland campus. All are free and open to all.

We’re looking for help distributing the paper! Paper Distribution Routes Arena Subscribers: COVERED Arena Businesses: COVERED Lone Rock Subscribers: COVERED Lone Rock Businesses: COVERED Plain Subscribers: AVAILABLE Plain Businesses: AVAILABLE Spring Green Subscribers: AVAILABLE Spring Green Businesses: AVAILABLE Want to enjoy scenic drives or a walk around town and assist in connecting our businesses, subscribers and community? Whether for fun or for volunteer experience, just one village, route, or more, we’d be happy to have you! We can’t thank those who have recently stepped up to offer to help enough, thank you! Interested? Email: editor@valleysentinelnews.com or call 608-588-6694

Thursday, auGust 25, 2022 Page 9Community adno=300787For more informaon on these current openings or to complete an online applicaon, please visit: hps://www.richlandhospital.com/careers/ Human Resources The Richland Hospital, Inc. 333 E 2nd St, Richland Center, WI 53581 608-647-6321 Equal Opportunity Employer Come join The Richland Hospital team, whose work was just recognized with 5-Star ranking for medicare Currently we have the following full-me benefit eligible employment opportunies available: RE GIS TERE D NUR SE S Full-me and Part me posion ME DICA L AS S IS TA NT Full-me posions PATI EN T AC CE SS Full-me posions ENVIR ONMENTAL SER VIC ES TE CH Full-me posions CER TI FI ED NUR SI NG ASSIS TA NT Full-me Night posions LPN Full-me posions PH YS ICAL THE RAP IS T Full and Part me posions ULTRA SOUND TE CH NICIAN Full-me Posions MAINTENANC E ME CHA NI C / PO WER PLA NT AS S IS TA NT Full-me Posions SENIOR LIFE SOL UTIONS THE RA PIS T Full-me Posions RE SP IRATO RY T HERAP IS T Full-me Posions PHA RMA CY TE CH Full & Per Diem Posions Updated Wage Scales

The Fall 2022 production of the UW-Platteville Richland Theater Department will be an original adaptation of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. This classic and beloved book will be adapted and directed by Andrew Sharp. Published in 1943, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a semiautobiographical novel based on the life of author Betty Smith. Open auditions are scheduled for September 7 and 8 at the Coppertop theater, UW-Platteville Richland, 1200 Highway 14 West, Richland Center, Wisconsin. The main character Francie is portrayed at both age 11 and age 15, and many other large and small speaking roles of all ages need to be cast. Shows will be November 4, 5 and 6. All are welcome and encouraged to audition. Questions can be directed to Andrew Sharp at sharpwi@uwplatt.edu A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is loved — UW-Platteville at Richland by many, but few remember that it was a banned book. The story focuses on Francie Nolan, the young daughter of an Irish father and a mother whose parents were immigrants. Set in 1912, Francie and her younger brother Neeley must navigate their lives amid hardships. Their father is an alcoholic and they move from apartment to apartment in Brooklyn. Francie reads books and dreams of a better life for herself. At school, her teacher favors the richer children. She and her father scheme to get her into a better school which Francie comes to love.Her life is also softened by her mother’s sisters, especially Aunt Sissy, who provides warmth to Francie as well as several comic episodes in the book. But even Sissy is known as a “bad” woman in the neighborhood, due to the way she “carries on” with men. Unlike many other books about a John Christensen, Branch Campus Communications Manager Campus Fall Play will be 'A Tree Grows in Brooklyn' girl’s youth, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn doesn’t shy away from adult themes. Alcoholism, poverty, sex, puberty, unmarried mothers and other strong subjects arise. Along with these are themes of optimism, imagination and the desire to better yourself. Like the tree growing up from the hard pavement, Francie’s insight and understanding grow as her life unfolds. Many characters appear in the novel and will need to be portrayed during the play. There will be roles for both a younger Francie, approximate age 11, and an older Francie, approximate age 15. The show will also include her mother Katie, father Johnny, brother Neeley, Aunts Sissy and Evy, as well as other children, teachers, police officers, uncles and neighbors.

CAMPUS News

added

Each Books for Babies kit includes 6 assorted books, an introduction letter from the Friends Board, a library card registration form, a Friends memberships form, and information on the 1000 Books before Kindergarten program.FortheOppert Family of Plain, Carl, Becca and Finn, were excited to receive the first Books for Babies kit for their newest family member, Rowan. They were delighted to add the books they received to their home library collection.Thisprogram is open to regular users of the Plain Kraemer Library and for residents of the Plain Fire District that have had a new baby in the past year. Kits are available to pick up from the library staff. The Friends of the Kraemer Library Board are delighted to be able to offer these kits to our local patrons.

Also discussed was the Fire Board Meeting held on July 11 Among some of these updates was the news that Travis Nachreiner is resigning from the treasurer and secretary position of the Fire Department, which will be effective in one year. The next meeting will be held on September 12. The Golf Course Committee will hold a meeting in the near future for budgeting. There has been a decent sized donation for removing the dead trees on and near the course, continued from page 1 with 32 dead trees total that need to be removed and can hopefully be removed by spring. The Library Board meeting was held on June 27. Updates on the roof include that it is coming along well, though there were a few leaks when it rained, and 10 ceiling tiles inside will need to be replaced due to the leakage. They are looking for a summer helper to do book shelving, Monday through Friday for two hours a day. The annual filing of liquor licenses has been submitted to the state after being approved at the June meeting. Also submitted was the audit paperwork for the annual Worker's Compensation policy, which will help the insurance company determine if there is to be a partial refund, or an additional premium that will have to beThepaid.meeting adjourned at 8:47 p.m. The next meeting will be on September 14 at 7 p.m. at the village hall. $30 or $60 be to the next edition’s

Friends of the Kraemer Library announces Books for Babies program

Other Actions of the Board

premium placement business/professional directory.

to any ad order

than business card sized, full color, updated annually or for a flat $25 design fee. Perfect for top-of-mind awareness, runs under an attention-grabbing header. Want to run it every edition at a discounted rate? $750 for 6 months,

for 1 year (36% discount) CELEBRATION

continued from page 1

Kody was taken from his family at the young age of 28 from a car accident on the evening of December 22 2020 Due to the pandemic at that time, we were unable to hold a proper Johnson style celebration, so we will be holding it Saturday, August 27, 2022 at Willow Hill (formerly Sports Arena) 200 Sharon St Arena, WI from 4:00pm 10:00pm Please join Kody’s family for food, music, cocktails and laughter because you know that every Kody story ends with laughs We will also be holding a fundraiser corn hole tournament face painting and more Fundraiser will go towards misc family expenses including the purchase of a headstone Anything left over will be used in the community such as being put into a scholarship or used to get the RVHS Chess Club up and running again

The Oppert Family with their Books for Babies kit from the Friends of the Kraemer Library.

T H A N K Y O U

ALLEN

Photo contributed by Kathy Dwyer

SATURDAY, AUGUST 27 200 SHARON ST ARENA 4:00PM 10:00PM Plain continues discussion on Main Street parking, pool updates, business recognitions

For questions or to donate food or prizes, please call Joni 608 588 5477

as a stand-alone order and you’ll

Thursday, auGust 25, 2022 CommunityPage 10 information that the lifeguard seat will be taken down and possibly replaced with a new style. A new sunshade was installed over the child’s section of the pool recently. The pool has continued to stay busy throughout the season, with night swim and water aerobics staying popular.

•Natural double shredded oak bark mulch •Colored decorative mulch Red-Brown-Gold•OtherOrange landscape supplies available! Gravel-Boulders-Screened Topsoil-Sand, etc. Jand J We offer complete landscape and lawn care service •Full Landscaping from start to finish •Lawn •Limestone•Bark•Grading•PlantingsMowing&SeedingsSpreading&Boulder Retaining Walls Total Lawn Care and Snow Removal•QualityWork•FullyInsured•FreeEstimates SatM-F8am-5pm8am-noon James Harwood •608-588-2453• E4792 Kennedy Rd. oneWe’reyourstopshop! Business/Professional Directory Reserve a spot in our directory!business/professional Add

Bigger $1000 OF LIFE FOR KODY PHILLIPS

*Certified Nursing Assistants – part-time positions available in our Nursing & Rehab Center on day, evening and night shifts, $3,000 Employment Bonus included along with a competitive wage and benefits package for part or full time work!

*RN OB unit - .75 FTE evening/night shift position. $3,750 Employment Bonus Eligible!

*Grant Writing Specialist – .5 FTE day shift position.

*Physical Therapy Assistant – .8 to 1.0 Home Health PTA position.

“August is ripening grain in the fields blowing hot and sunny, the scent of tree-ripened peaches, of hot buttered sweet corn on the cob. Vivid dahlias fling huge tousled blossoms through gardens and joe-pyeweed dusts the meadow purple.”

*Activities Supervisor - .8 FTE day shift position coordinating activities in our Skilled Nursing Facility.

*Operating Room Technologist - .8 FTE day shift position.

"When gardeners garden, it is not just plants that grow, but the gardeners themselves."

*Maintenance Technician – full-time day shift position.

Selecting and Growing Dahlias across. The ones in our garden are around three to four feet tall. Dahlias come in a wide range of colors: red, orange, yellow, pink, lavender, white, and even multi-colored. There are variety of types to consider such as: dinnerplate, cactus or semi-cactus, anemone-flowered, collarette, ball and pompon, border, single and peonyflowered, orchid, mignon, decorative, and waterlily dahlias. There are a couple things to dislike about dahlias. They do generally need staking, so you have to plan ahead. It is best to place the stake next to the tuber as soon as you plant it so as not accidentally drive a stake through a tuber later in the summer. Also, it’s easier to keep tying them up a little at a time as they grow versus trying to wrangle a large plant once it has spilled over into your garden. (I speak from experience.) Another thing to not like is that you must dig them in the fall after the first frost. They will not overwinter in our zone. That means also having a place to store them. Of course, if they are happy, the tubers will multiply over the summer as well. If you can get over those two things, dahlias are easy to grow, making them an excellent addition to your gardens. Plus, they can provide numerous cut flower bouquets if you have the heart to cut them. Moving away from the flower gardens, here’s an event you should attend that features the amazing tomato.

*Environmental Services Staff – full and part time p.m. and night shift positions. $1,000 Employment

Valley Sentinel is seeking office space in the downtown area of Spring Green to move into before the end of the year.

Flexible ideas for the space include a newsroom, co-working space for small businesses and entrepreneurs, local retail/consignment, local art exhibition/gallery space and (eventually) working collaboratively with area businesses to provide extended hours coffee and potentially grab-and-go food.

*CulinaryBonus!Aide – .6 FTE day shift position including our full benefits package. To find out more detailed information about all open positions and to apply, go to our website at www.uplandhillshealth.orgUplandHillsHealth 800 Compassion Way, Dodgeville, WI 53533

*Clinic CMA or LPN – .8 FTE day shift position for our Barneveld and Mt. Horeb clinics.

Dividing Perennials CLASSIFIEDS Healthcare Employment Opportunities *CRNA – full-time position, new scheduling program working 3 weeks on, 1 week off! Excellent compensation/benefits and incentive package! *Director of Home Medical Services – full-time managerial position based in our Platteville office. *RN Float Nurse –.6 FTE Premium Pay Weekender position and a .75 FTE evening/night shift position. Employment Bonus Eligible! *RN Emergency Department – Weekender .6 FTE

*RN or LPN - .5 FTE p.m. shift position in our Nursing & Rehab Center.

Photo by Jeannie Manis Dahlias and Cosmos in a bouquet.

Jeannie Manis Wisconsin Certified Master Gardener position working Saturday/Sunday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Premium pay program!

We also currently have publication racks available for businesses that would like them.

*Med Tech, MLT or CLS – 1.0 FTE p.m. shift position.

- Ken Druse

The Terrific Tomato Tasting event is Saturday, August 27 from 10:00 am to 11:30 am and will be held in the Baraboo Civic Center gym, located at 124 2nd Avenue, Baraboo. Attendees will hear cultivar success and/or failure stories, try a variety of tomatoes, and vote on their favorites. There will also be sample dishes featuring tomatoes to taste. The event is sponsored by the Sauk County Master Gardeners Association, along with the Baraboo Parks, Recreation, and Forestry Department and is free and open to the public.Ifyou have any gardening questions, please contact the Extension Sauk County by emailing to trripp@wisc.edu or calling the University of Wisconsin Madison Division of Extension Sauk County office at 608-355-3250.

Thursday, auGust 25, 2022 Page 11Community/Outdoors

−Jean Hersey

*Imaging Technologist – premium pay Weekender Program with 2 -12 hour day/evening shifts! As well there is a 1.0 FTE p.m. shift position. Up to a $5,000 Employment Bonus, prorated based on FTE!

Seeking office space

Jeannie Manis, Wisconsin Certified Master Gardener

Over the years, I’ve divided many of my plants and used them to increase the size of my gardens or shared them with family and friends. For some plants, division is necessary to get maximum blooms year after year. Knowing how to divide your plants takes a little research and practice to ensure you’re going to get a division that will thrive once it's planted. If you have an overgrown plant, determine when it prefers to be divided – spring or fall. Many plants can be divided in the spring but there are quite a few that can be divided in the fall and some even prefer fall division. To help you determine when to divide certain perennials, growing-guides/dividing-perennials.extension.umn.edu/planting-and-visit Specific early fall examples include peonies, Oriental poppies, and Siberian iris. All plants should be divided when they are not blooming so it can focus its energy on growing new roots and leaves. Daylilies are a good example of a plant that does well being divided just after they’ve bloomed. Next figure out is what kind of root system it has. Some root systems are easier to divide than others. Plants such as Hostas, daylilies (Hemerocallis spp.), and lamb’s ears (Stachy byzantine) grow in “clumps” with fibrous root systems. New plants grow around the base of the original plant, each growing its own set of roots. These are some of the easier plants to divide. Simply dig up a clump and tease or tug apart clumps for new divisions.Plantswith runners and thin rhizomes and/or stolons are also easy to divide. Some examples include bee balm (Monarda), aromatic aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium), and goldenrod (Solidago spp.). Dig up the plant and split off rhizomes into smaller sections, ensuring each section has at least a couple growth tips. If need be, use a sharp pruner to separate shoots or clusters. Plants with woody crowns are a little more difficult to divide. Examples include baptisia (Baptisia spp.) bluestar (Amsonia spp.), and peonies Paeonia spp.). The buds are more tightly packed into a hardened crown, making them harder to divide. To be successful, only divide when the plant is large enough that it could be divided into three or four pieces. Peonies do not like to be disturbed and it’s recommended to rarely divide them. If you do, divide them in early fall and be careful not to plant too deep as it will diminish flowering. Plants with single tap roots are fairly difficult to divide. Examples include Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia), butterfly weed (Ascelipias tuberosa), and balloon flower (Platcodon grandifloras). All of these do not like to be disturbed and it’s recommended to not divide them often. Try to locate an offshoot near the crown or select young seedlings of taproot plants instead disturbing the original plant. After you’ve finished dividing, you will need to replant your perennial and its divisions. Make sure the hole is wide enough as roots want to grow out and down. Firm up the soil so it’s in good contact with the root system so the new root hairs will hit soil and water when they start to grow. Water the plant slowly and thoroughly. Finally, avoid feeding the plant and divisions. Follow these simple guidelines and you should have very happy divisions for your gardens and to share with others.

Please let us know if you have any vacant or soon-to-be vacant commercial space, know of any space, or have any creative ideas or partnership opportunities, by phone at 608-588-6694 or by email at editor@valleysentinelnews.com.

*Patient Access Specialist – .85 FTE day shift position and a .6 FTE p.m. shift position.

*Clinic Registration Specialist – full-time day shift position in our Mineral Point and Dodgeville clinics.

*MRI Imaging Technologist - .5 to a 1.0 FTE day shift position. Up to a $5,000 Employment Bonus, prorated based on FTE!

Last year we created a cutting garden so we could plant flowers for our daughter’s wedding and so I could regularly have fresh floral bouquets in our home. We planted numerous flowers, but dahlias were the majority of the flowers that were planted for the wedding. We successfully overwintered most of the tubers and once again, the cutting garden is full of beautiful dahlias along with cosmos, zinnias, roses, lavender, and several others. Although the garden is full of flowers, I still continue to struggle cutting the

The Sauk County Gardener flowers for bouquets because they look so beautiful in the garden. I did manage to cut one small bouquet for my desk to admire while I’m working. Dahlias are popular in landscapes and make excellent additions to border plantings, flowerpots, and cutflower gardens. They have a very long blooming season (summer through the first frost) and they bloom even more with regular deadheading. They prefer full sun, moderate moisture, and welldrained sandy soil (ours are planted on top of our leach field). Dahlias make excellent cut flowers. In fact, the more dahlia flowers are cut, the more the plant will produce. Dahlias come in a variety of different colors, size, and types so the challenge for most will be selecting which ones to plant. They can be as short as twelve inches to as tall as six feet and the blooms range from two to twelve inches

*Physical Therapist - .8 FTE position working in our Skilled Nursing Facility.

Thursday, auGust 25, 2022Page 12 Outdoors & Recreation

P U T T I N G P E O P L E B E F O R E P O L I T I C S

Want to read more? Check out previous weeks’ columns at www.outdoorsmansjournal.com teaching the basics like sit, stay, down, go, and no but am not into the water training. I know this is not a good thing but at this month of my life all I want to do is hangout with her. I have to tell you a story, three days ago my sister Chrissy Luke came and visited me, and we went on a 22mile ATV ride. There was a monarch butterfly that wanted to hang out with us, and she told me a story about when a butterfly hangs out with you it is someone that has recently passed away. Today at my sandbar campsite I had a Tiger Swallowtail butterfly that stayed by me until dark. Red kept trying to catch and eat it, but my friend would always escape just in time Saturday, August 6th High 85°, Low 57° Last night the river rose and just about flooded out my camp. What was really neat was that there was a major fish feeding frenzy that began about midnight and lasted until about dawn. I could literally hear fish catching minnows just a few feet away from my tent and it was nonstop. This morning I tried casting and dead sticks with crawlers and the bite the entire day was almost nonexistent, one sand sturgeon, a couple of small catfish and sheepshead. The real story for the day was my butterfly, from daybreak to dark it stayed within ten inches to ten feet of me and had at least 20 near misses with Red trying to eat it. I worked on thank you cards, drank some always refreshing beer, read, cooked and trained the pup. There was a group of 15 young men that were brought to a neighboring sandbar, they were maybe 21 to 25 in age and it was a real hoot to watch these guys have an absolute blast.

An Outdoorsman’s Journal

Sunday, August 7th High 84°, Low 60° The river is dropping big time and I hope I have enough water to make it back to the landing. Last night there was no sound of fish feeding, but like the night before the pups and I listened to raccoons fighting and in my opinion that is one nasty animal. This morning as soon as I got out of the screen tent my butterfly found me and today it would land within inches of my hand. I have no idea about the story Chrissy had told me just a few days earlier, but I have to tell you, on this three day experience it sure had me thinking.

Photo contributed by Mark Walters This Tiger Swallowtail butterfly hung out with Mark Walters for three days.

It would be my honor to go to Madison to fight for the rights of working people, for the future of our small businesses and farms, for our aging parents, and for the future of our kids

I grew up on a small farm here in the 51st My partner Kyle and I live on that same farm and are raising our three little kids there. We own a restaurant in Spring Green and I am the clerk of my town board

All’s well that ends well and the War Eagle made it back to the landing and the Chevy made it home.

Photo contributed by Mark Walters Our camp on the Wisconsin River near Boscobel. Photo contributed by Mark Walters Red had fun with this sand sturgeon.

Summer Days on the Wisconsin River

Friday, August 5th High 89°, Low 62° I would be using my 18.6 War Eagle and my goal was to have enough water on the very low Wisconsin River to find a sandbar that had deep enough water next to it to hopefully catch some walleye or catfish from shore. In reality, my only goal was to do as little as possible and have an enjoyable experience with Ruby and Red.Ifound paradise about a mile south of Boscobel where I had 10 feet of water a short cast from shore and I then casually began setting up a screen tent camp with a kitchen, a cot, Coleman lantern, a cooler and a chair. Though I know it will pass — since Michelle passed away on June 15th my mood is improving, but I am very low key. In all honesty, all I wanted to do was sit on a lawn chair and watch the world while the pups took part in their always nonstop wrestling matches.Ididhave two simple goals: one was to write as many thank you cards as possible, and the other was to do some serious water training with Red for the upcoming waterfowl season. Here is my situation with the training — I am not in the frame of mind to play hardball with a pup. I am Mark Walters, Columnist

RURAL OPPORTUNITY • QUALITY OF LIFE FOR SENIORS • FREEDOM AND SECURITY FOR ALL

Thanks for reading, Sunset Follow along the adventures of Mark Walters, a syndicated outdoor adventure columnist who lives in Necedah, Wisconsin. He began writing his column, An Outdoorsman’s Journal, in 1989. It includes hunting, fishing, lots of canoeing and backpacking. He currently writes for around 60 newspapers on a weekly basis. He hopes you enjoy reading about his adventures!

Paid for by Spicer for 51st, 7080 Leaches Crossing Road, Avoca, WI 53506

Hello friends, This week’s column is about a simple, fourmyWisconsincampingdo-as-little-as-possibletriponasandbarontheRivernearBoscobelwithgoldenretrieverRubyandhermontholdpupRed.

Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.