At the last meeting, the Rushford Village, Minn., council set a public hearing for September 5 to discuss the possibility of demolition of the bridge on Village Road. While the village and county intended to make some repairs to the structure, they could not secure the needed property easements. At the August 15 meeting, City Clerk Mary Miner clarified that one property owner … [Read more...]
Kirsten Zoellner
Reporter
kirsten@fillmorecountyjournal.com
Kirsten has been a reporter for Fillmore County Journal since 2008. No awards to date, but her mother finds her articles riveting. She enjoys shining a light on the great people and events in the county and has aspirations to someday write a novel about them. A native of Rushford, she is a member of Root River Community Church, co-founder of Odyssey Homeschool Association, and was the founder for the Rushford-Peterson Valley Farmers' Market.
When not writing, Kirsten happily spends her time raising a family alongside Joel, her husband of 18 years. She homeschools their six children (Evin, Lauren, Logan, Ada, Kathleen, and Emelia) and does her best to ensure domestic bliss. Kirsten is an advocate for conservation and homesteading and operates Liten Dal Farm, where the family raises dairy goats, pastured poultry and hogs, alpacas, a few steers, and horses. Hobbies other than juggling include the outdoors, reading, vegetable gardening, cheesemaking, fermenting various things in Ball jars, and making everything from scratch despite the fact that it probably costs more.
Kirsten and her family proudly reside in rural Fountain on her great-great-grandfather's farm.
You can follow more about Kirsten on the family's Facebook page, Liten Dal Farm, or their blog: ourprairienest.wordpress.com.
Peterson Inspections on the Way
At the August 9 meeting, the Peterson, Minn., city council announced it would begin home water connection inspections. Driven by a revision to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Lead and Copper Rule two years ago, all Minnesota cities must develop lead service line inventories of every water connection in its municipality. Cities must submit this documentation by October of … [Read more...]
Fountain Puts a Stop to Speeding
Last month, following citizen complaints and years of rampant speeding on Cedar Street, the Fountain Council unanimously approved installing a four-way stop at the intersection of Cedar and Third Street, which is about halfway down the length of Cedar Street. At the time, they also discussed the extension of temporary speed bumps, making it impossible to go around and move the … [Read more...]
Rushford gets SMIF update
At the July 24 meeting, the Rushford Council heard from Southern Minnesota Initiative Fund (SMIF) representative Andi Arnold, who discussed ongoing programs, grants, loans, and investments in communities and future partnerships and programs. Rushford is just one of the cities in Fillmore County benefitting from the SMIF partnership. According to Arnold’s report, for every $1 … [Read more...]
Rushford development gets new owner
At the July 10 meeting, the city of Rushford entered into an agreement with the Realty Gift Fund, a non-profit organization accepting charitable gifts of real estate. Bluff Country LLC is the former owner of the land, which sits east of Rushford Manufacturing in the Himlie Business Park. The city and Bluff Country LLC Development had an agreement for the Planned Unit … [Read more...]
Fountain addresses resident complaints
At the July 5 meeting, the Fountain Council discussed in length a number of citizen complaints. They included both noise during the day and after the 10 p.m. noise cutoff, as well as parking and street concerns. “Some of them are kind of nit-picky,” said Councilor David Gudmundson, who’d requested the complaints be discussed. No identifying information was given during the … [Read more...]
Rushford school building to be sold
At the June 26 meeting, the Rushford City Council once again discussed the future of the former Rushford-Peterson School District facilities at 100 North Mill Street during a closed session meeting. The historic site was sold to a private party in 2019 after the district expressed no interest in developing the properties. The city did indicate an interest in assuming control … [Read more...]
Rushford Village to update website
After speaking with several design companies, Rushford Village will contract with Vision Design for an updated website and domain. The council discussed details at the June 20 meeting. The current website provider, Catalis, contacted City Clerk Mary Miner regarding a sizable price increase. According to the Miner, the company says the increase offsets revenue shortages. She … [Read more...]
Peterson forms Museum Board after loss of curator
Long-time Peterson enthusiast and volunteer museum curator John Erickson passed away on May 30, leaving an obvious hole in museum operations. Erickson had an avid interest in history and genealogy. He was instrumental in the creation and operation of the Peterson Station Museum. “We lost John, as we know. We want to keep the museum going,” said Councilor Gail Boyum. She and … [Read more...]
Rushford eyes downtown beautification
The June 12 Rushford Council meeting primarily discussed notices and miscellaneous reports. Still, two items of general business did garner some comment. First up, new Rushford Ambulance Director Joey Busse was present, along with retiring director Lynn Humble, to meet the council. Humble’s time with the service ends this month after 39 years with the crew and 13 years in the … [Read more...]