By Rev. Debra Jene Collum Chatfield United Methodist While the rest of us have been organizing closets, trying new recipes, teaching children online and figuring out ZOOM; all worthy occupations, a team of engineers and scientists have been spending their time during the pandemic getting a new observatory satellite ready to launch into deep space. As you can imagine, it was a … [Read more...]

My wife got me a nifty bird feeder for Christmas. Film rights are available.   It holds sunflower seeds. Now I won’t have to do any cooking when she’s away. I situated the feeder in a fine place for me to watch birds. My neighbor Crandall stopped by. “You’re putting up a new bird feeder,” was his greeting to me. “You got me there. Guilty as charged,” I said. “Does … [Read more...]

The commencement of commerce in the Houston County hamlet of Black Hammer dates back to the 1860s when blacksmithing and storekeeping became a business plan. Gunder Mathison owned a blacksmith shop while also operating a general store before selling it to Bernt Hanson, another blacksmith. Thrond Jacobson, who purchased the store in the 1880s, restocked the shelves by carrying … [Read more...]

As humans living through a pandemic, we have become experts at social distancing. Plants can also carry pathogens such as diseases, pests, noxious weeds and jumping worms. Keeping them separate from your garden until you are absolutely sure they are healthy will give you a healthier flower bed. It never fails. Every season, we receive a call from a client that asks us to … [Read more...]

My doorbell didn’t ring. It had voluntarily chosen to leave the labor force. I opened the door anyway and a robed visitor accompanied by sitar music walked in out of the dimming twilight. The renowned mystic from the Far East part of the township, the fabled soothsayer, the seventh son of the seventh son of the seventh son, the oracle from just down the road; Swami Davis … [Read more...]

Butter’s not a right There it was. I wasn’t expecting it. At least not before Christmas. I re-read the words my brain sluggishly computed: “Pay to the Order of...” Hoping to teach a 4-H butter-making class in my silo farm store, I applied for a Midwest Dairy grant, but I wasn’t expecting an answer until 2022. And here, as if whispering Merry Christmas, I received my … [Read more...]

Caledonia took pride having one of the best markets for raw furs in southern Minnesota, according to the Caledonia Journal in 1911. Houston County native Dell Stewart, launched his fur-buying business about 1899 and was well known by every trapper and hunter in the county. He paid the same commission price as would any fur house. He was credited with always giving “a man a … [Read more...]

The weather was up to something. It always is. My parents took me to town where Santa Claus (who resembled a neighbor named Merle Wakefield) set up shop at the Hartland fire hall. I’m not sure where he parked the reindeer. I was part of a group of humble, snot-nosed (we were snot walruses) children who needed to be prodded to ask Santa for things we weren’t sure we deserved. … [Read more...]