The trees gossiped in the wind. “It’s a nice day, except for the wind,” says everybody capable of putting eight words together. I’ve been picking up sticks in the yard. Great crop this year. I’ve picked rocks, too. It’s a spring habit. What do you call a boomerang that won’t come back? A stick. The wind finds branches or limbs with weaknesses, rips them free and deposits … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past Farm boy evades “friendly” fore hooves while dancing to Lady’s tune
Part seven of a series It was “a different approach to torture,” putting the harness on a horse named Lady. It was “a dance to Lady’s tune.” Her front feet were some of the most active I have ever seen,” wrote Warren Lange in the published memories of his boyhood on a 1930s farm on South Ridge in Mound Prairie Township, Houston County. Lange described Lady as highly … [Read more...]
Journal Writing Project Pet peeve
By Kristina Biel When it comes to using the bathroom, I’d rather not have people have the ability to hear what’s going on in that world. It’s very uncomfortable and overall isn’t welcomed. What makes it worse is when you can hear what’s going on in the stall next to you too. Nobody wants to hear that. Now that you know why it’s such a bother we can teach proper bathroom … [Read more...]
Good tires and air — gifts that keep on giving
Who hasn’t had a flat tire? Other than those people who don’t drive a car, truck, bicycle, lawn mower, tractor, motorhome, airplane, tire swing or submarine. I threw in the submarine to see if you were paying attention. I was in an airplane that blew a tire when landing at the Denver airport. On the subject of airplanes, a different flight had been delayed, canceled, took … [Read more...]
Pastor Devotions – The elusive peace
By Pastor Pam Seebach Harmony, Mabel, and Newburg United Methodist Churches Recently, someone said to me that we need to pray for the people in Ukraine. True! We held a prayer service in Mabel with Ukraine and its people as the focus. But, as I planned the service, my ears and heart were caught by multiple reports on the radio of other war-torn areas of the world. People … [Read more...]
Fresh Off the Farm-History doesn’t take naps: Why you need a Poofy Pancake today
If today was the only memory your child would have, would you live it differently? Some of us would forget everything else and have a cake fest. Others would schedule things out to the minute. Maybe some wouldn’t leave the couch to allow for every last snuggle. I doubt any of us would carry on as usual. What does this have to do with a Farmhouse Poofy Pancake recipe? … [Read more...]
The case of the purloined 3/8-inch combination wrench
I’ve never wrestled with a grizzly bear with an impacted tooth or tangled with a mountain lion that had just lost his job in the biotech industry, but I have been the victim of a fly-by pooping by a gang of ruthless gulls and had a run-in with a Canada goose. I called the honker a “wawa,” which is a Native American name for a Canada goose. The gander took exception to that and … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past Wearing bells in Houston, stuck in muck in Caledonia
They wore “beautiful brass bells, that made the prettiest musical sounds,” according to Houston, Minn., historian Ingrid Julsrud, referring to dray horses. A dray was a wagon and team of horses that unloaded freight and merchandise at the train depot for delivery to downtown merchants. Baggage might be taken to hotels. Railroads reached southeast Minnesota during the 1860s and … [Read more...]
A goodly heritage – Triumph in the farmhouse kitchen
The milk production from our cow is tapering off, but the chickens are producing many eggs. Some days customers empty out our cache of large brown eggs. Then there are other days when 20 dozen sit in the cellar waiting to be used. My husband collects nearly four dozen eggs a day. You might imagine what a challenge it is to use all of them. We give many to our children to … [Read more...]
Pastor Devotion – When words fail
By Pastor Kevin Barnhart Spring Grove Evangelical Free Words usually pour from my heart; thoughts, feelings, insights, and ideas often come naturally. But Sunday as the palm branches waved, as children shouted Hosanna, my heart began to sink. Holy week is here. This is the week we all have been preparing for, we have been longing for and yet as Jesus sets His face towards … [Read more...]