I recently saw someone talking about their food, saying, “Why do farmers need to spend so much time and effort when most people just get their food from the grocery store anyway?” Grocery stores must have a great big manufacturing facility somewhere that takes air and turns it into all the food that you eat. I imagine that a grocery store would be kind of like that … [Read more...]
The Best Used by Date is Today
I hadn’t heard from him since he went off to college at the South Dakota School of Mimes. I thought it was because he’d stopped talking, but there was another reason. I paid my respects to him, family members, friends and loved ones buried in a rural cemetery with their locations marked by gravestones showing expiration dates. A cemetery is any large burial ground, while a … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past – No One Else Ate Any of It
Blackcap sauce over cooked rice was an original family recipe and “comfort food” on a Houston County farm on South Ridge in the 1940s. Most food, including berries, came from the family garden, but blackcaps (small black raspberries resembling caps) were a rare wild treat. Annually, around the Fourth of July, the Beckman family would unpack long-sleeved shirts, because … [Read more...]
A Goodly Heritage – Rasberry Tactics
With the ripening of berries like currants, Juneberries, and especially raspberries, I have been reminded of past situations at berry time. The following story taken from the book, “Tales From Heritage Farm” by Randall and Wenda Grabau illustrates such a memory. Judy, my mother-in-law, had a raspberry patch which I inherited when my husband and I moved onto Heritage Farm. I … [Read more...]
A Driver Wearing Only One Mitten Might Be Lost
Technically, nothing is lost until I stop looking for it. Most men have a favorite shirt. Someone said, “You look good in that shirt.” Boom! That’s his favorite shirt. We’d wear that shirt every day if we could get by with it. I know a grown man in Alaska who owns only two shirts. They’re identical. I stood in front of the closet. I moved my eyes and hands to every shirt … [Read more...]
Pastor Devotions – Do You Ever Feel Lonely?
By Pastor Mark Woodward Maple Leaf Parish Churches: Spring Valley: Faith, Cherry Grove, Fountain, Preston (and Lenora) Traditional, Christian hymns have much to offer our world today. In about 1855 Joseph M. Scriven composed the words to a great Christian hymn. From time to time, I believe we all feel lonely, discouraged and sad. For our devotions today, I’d like … [Read more...]
For the Beauty of the Earth
By Pastor Mark Woodward Maple Leaf Parish Churches: Spring Valley: Faith, Cherry Grove, Fountain, Preston (and Lenora) A few nights ago I was out in the yard transplanting some flowers that I had rescued from a construction site. I like digging in the soil. I like planting in the cool, rich, moist dirt. As I planted the wild lilies, I got to thinking about the beauty … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past – Brownsville Summer Coldness Due to Driftless Deviation
By Lee Epps Third in a series It was at first a disappointment as well as an inconceivable surprise. Later, it provided welcome albeit unexplained enjoyment – cool relief during summer heat for area visitors and annual snowball fights during Fourth of July celebrations. It was a longtime source of amazement when it was “cool” to be in Brownsville, Minn. It took about 120 … [Read more...]
Fresh off the Farm – Your Last, First Breath
Eleven days ago, I held my dad’s hand while he took his last breath. After a 15-month battle with brain cancer, he stepped from earth into eternity with Jesus. In the last hours of his life, we hung on every breath as apnea caused long pauses between each one. Each pause brought the loudest silent words I’ve ever heard as we collectively wondered “was that his last one?” … [Read more...]
Visit the County Fair and Pick Up a Few Calories
The Inuit have 50 names for snow cones. Last year, a nice woman told me she had attended the State Fair on each of its 12-day run. She planned on doing the same thing this year. She lives closer to the fairgrounds than I do. A trip to the State Fair eats up an entire day for me and part of the next. The sounds of the fair become my three-day earworm. I’ve engaged in purposeful … [Read more...]