Minnesota Prairie Roots

Writing and photography by Audrey Kletscher Helbling

A “prom pioneer” in Wasilla, Alaska May 8, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 9:25 AM
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Sean dances the night away in his homemade kilt at a 70s disco style prom in Wasilla, Alaska.

MENTION WASILLA, ALASKA, and most folks automatically think “Sarah Palin.”

Mention Wasilla to me, and I’ll tell you about my nephew, Sean. He attends Matanuska-Susitna Career and Technical High School there. And recently, this soon-to-be-graduate went to prom dressed in a Scottish kilt. What’s even more impressive, Sean, who is of partial Scottish descent, sewed his attire from Scottish McLain tartan fabric. He’s an accomplished seamster.

Now, 100 percent German that I am, I know very little about kilts, tartan fabrics or Scotland.

But Sean clearly values his heritage. “Sean is proud of his heritage because he knows the Scottish are hard-working, resourceful and tenacious people who have the ability to survive on nothing but passion,” his mom, Rena, says.

She calls him “an unabashed prom pioneer” for choosing to wear something other than the traditional prom suit.

I’ve got to hand it to my nephew. He’s one self-confident and brave young man to go solo to prom wearing a skirt.

© Text copyright 2010 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

Photos courtesy of Rena Helbling

 

My tomatoes are planted and now I have to worry about snow May 7, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 9:30 AM
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Marguerite sweet potato vine, Rose Morn Madness petunias and a sun-loving coleus fill one of 10 flower pots in my back yard. These are planted in a calf pail. Former farm girls, you'll understand.

WHAT’S WITH THE WEATHER here in Minnesota?

First, April comes and goes with unseasonably warm temperatures and lots of sunshine. Now May arrives with temps so cold that snow and frost are in the forecast.

It seems many of us, including me, were tricked in to believing that spring had arrived. Like many Minnesotans, I’m now scrambling to protect the tender young plants I prematurely planted outdoors.

For days, I have been lugging heavy, flower-filled pots into the garage at night and back outside in the morning. In and out, in and out. It’s back-breaking work. But I’m not about to lose those plants to frost. So my husband and I haul the pots inside and cover tomatoes and flowers with buckets and blankets.

All of this could have been avoided if only I had listened to my elders. You see, on Sunday while shopping at the Faribault Garden Center, I asked a seasoned gardener if it was too early to plant tomatoes.

He advised me to wait until the end of May. Foolish me. I didn’t listen.

Last summer I was introduced to, and fell in love with, Diamond Frost. I like the airy look of this plant with the tiny white flowers. Here I've mixed it with a Contessa Purple (Black Magic) ivy geranium, pink Superbells and Quartz Creek Soft Rush grass.

My husband found this Easy Wave violet petunia. I love the blue tinge at the edge of the blossoms. It's the perfect fit for my favorite flower colors--purple, pink, shades of burgundy and yellow.

For height, I picked out a grass that will grow into waving purple plumes. The ivy will spill over the pot. And Burgundy Madness petunias add just the right splash of color in a huge blue pot.

I can't wait until all of these flowers are in bloom. I replicated a planting I saw at Donahue's Greenhouse in Faribault. Included are Sunsatia lemon nemesia, Superbells Yellow Chiffon, Lemon Symphony Osteospermum and Supertunia Citrus. All flowers are in varying shades of yellows. Just the names of the plants drew me to them.

I combined Rose Morn Madness petunias and sweet-smelling purple Heliotrope in this clay flower pot.

© Copyright 2010 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

A kidnapping, killing of a police officer, bomb threat & more unnerve Minnesotans May 6, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 10:47 AM
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THE PAST FEW DAYS have been more than a bit unsettling for Minnesotans.

Here’s why:

  • A 14-year-old girl from tiny Fairfax is kidnapped while on her morning paper route and then sexually-assaulted in a cemetery. She escapes her captor, who has since been arrested and charged.

This happened in rural southwestern Minnesota, an area I know well because I grew up in Redwood County. After I left home and graduated from college, I worked as a newspaper reporter in Gaylord, several small towns away from Fairfax along Minnesota Highway 19. I drove through Fairfax every time I returned to my hometown.

Later, I worked for The Sleepy Eye Herald-Dispatch in Sleepy Eye, even closer to Fairfax. My northern coverage area reached to Fort Ridgely State Park just south of Fairfax.

Somehow, when you know the places involved, a serious crime like this really hits home. And the fact that my cousin Dawn and her family live in Morgan, near where the girl was found, makes this crime even more personal. Read my May 5 blog post to see how Dawn’s family was impacted.

Knowing southwestern Minnesota as I do, I can only imagine how residents of these closely-knit small towns are feeling—shocked, fearful, angry, less trusting, shaken…

  • Tuesday evening a SWAT team gathered on the street by my Faribault home. As I watched, the SWAT vehicle and a contingent of squad cars turned right and proceeded up the hill. I later learned that they made a meth bust three blocks away.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time law enforcement has descended upon my neighborhood. A decade or more ago, they were searching for a knife used in a murder two blocks away.

Yes, I lost my small-town innocence years ago. In the 25 years my family has lived in this house, we’ve called 911 several times. Once, my husband and I awoke to the frantic screams of a woman calling for help in the early hours of a cold January morning. An ambulance hauled one person away.

Another time a young man came to our door pleading for help as he was chased by a pack of young men. And, yes, we saw his pursuers and worried that they would burst into our home.

And then there was the time we, unknowingly, sold a car to a member of a Twin Cities gang. Police later found a gun, involved in a shooting, in the trunk of the car, still registered to us.

Long ago, I lost my trusting innocence.

  • And then, just several days ago, a Minnesota Department of Agriculture employee reportedly threatened to blow up a Minnesota state office building, the place where my eldest works.
  • On Saturday, Maplewood Police Sgt. Joseph Bergeron was shot to death, still buckled in his seatbelt, en route to investigate a reported car-jacking.

Yes, these have been unsettling days for me, and for many Minnesotans.

© Copyright 2010 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

How the kidnapping of a 14-year-old Fairfax, Minnesota, paper girl impacts a family in nearby Morgan May 5, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 10:51 AM
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A sense of security and trust has been eroded in small towns like Morgan, above, after the abduction of a teen from nearby Fairfax. The girl was found near Morgan.

UP UNTIL YESTERDAY, Fairfax was just another sleepy little town in a string of small towns along State Highway 19 in southern Minnesota.

That all changed when a 14-year-old newspaper delivery girl was abducted Tuesday morning from this community of nearly 1,300. According to news reports, the teen managed to escape her alleged 25-year-old kidnapper by jumping from his moving car. She then used her cell phone to call her mom.

The girl, who was reportedly sexually-assaulted, was found 10 miles south of Fairfax in Brown County. Her alleged abductor, a Marshall man with ties to Fairfax, has been arrested.

For families who live in the Fairfax area, especially, this crime has come as quite a shock, according to my cousin Dawn. She lives in nearby Morgan and tells me the abducted teen was found just miles from that farming community.

Dawn suspects that the man likely drove through Morgan en route to his Marshall apartment. She’s probably right. If you dig out a map and pick the most logical route west, you would drive right through Morgan to Marshall.

All of this has left my cousin, the mother of five, shaken. But it is her 12-year-old daughter who has been most impacted. “I think she put it together that as she walked to school yesterday morning, he (the alleged kidnapper) was probably driving through town…She refused to walk to school this morning. We are one block from the school. I believe everyone is pretty shocked around here.”

Dawn tells me, though, that her community had a wake-up call several months ago when a Level 3 sex offender moved onto a farm place several miles from town. Neighbors no longer leave their children alone or allow them to walk anywhere without an adult.

“I don’t know if it’s because in a small town you typically know everyone and are so trusting that when something like this happens we get even more paranoid,” Dawn says.

Yet, despite the fears she is now dealing with among her children and her diminished sense of security, Dawn is focusing on the 14-year-old who managed to escape her kidnapper. “I guess we are all so happy she was able to get out of that car.”

© Copyright 2010 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

The SWAT team rendezvous in my Faribault, Minnesota, neighborhood May 4, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 9:19 PM
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TUESDAY EVENING I’M WATCHING American Idol when my husband suddenly leaps from his comfy spot on the couch to peer out the window.

“What’s going on?” I ask.

He doesn’t respond.

I can see only the tail end of a brown car parked in the street.

“The SWAT team is out there,” he says.

The SWAT team leads a team of law enforcement officials in Faribault Tuesday evening.

I grab my camera, which is sitting nearby. Sure enough, armored men, thick as flies, cling to the side of a vehicle that leads a procession—an ERU (which I think means “Emergency Response Unit”) vehicle, a Rice County sheriff’s squad and several Faribault police cars.

They turn at the corner by my neighbor’s house and head up and over the steep hill on First Avenue Southwest. Through the window, I quickly snap two pictures, which don’t turn out very well given my haste and the fading light under cloudy skies.

A Rice County sheriff squad and several Faribault police cars follow the SWAT team and ERU vehicle up First Avenue Southwest in Faribault.

Soon Randy and I are slipping on our shoes and walking up the hill, although I’m thinking this isn’t the smartest thing for us to be doing given all those weapons. Half way up the hill I decide to play it safe. Randy, despite my protests, forges ahead and disappears.

“They have guns,” I yell after him.

I head back home, waiting for my curious spouse to return. Safely, I hope.

He does and reports that the action is happening about three blocks away next to Division Street near the Faribault Senior Center, where the street has been cordoned off. He can’t get any closer.

And that’s OK with me.

© Copyright 2010 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

My $7.50 garage sale finds

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 9:00 AM
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FOR YEARS, I SHOPPED garage and rummage sales primarily out of necessity. These sales provided an inexpensive way to clothe my children and decorate and furnish my house.

They also proved a great source for books. I would buy gently-used books for my kids and for the library at the Christian day school they attended.

Sometime during those years, I also began buying vintage tablecloths, trays, bowls, glassware, pictures and mirrors. I like old stuff, especially usable old stuff.

These days, with the attitude that I really don’t need more things, I’ve become selective about bargain purchases. On Saturday, for example, I passed up a $5 mirror.

Even though I’m adhering to that stricter policy of buying only what I really, really like, and/or what may be valuable, I do not apply this rule to others.  I tried convincing my friend Lois, whom I saw at a garage sale on Saturday, to make an impulse purchase.  She made the mistake of telling me that her father-in-law likes John Wayne. That’s all it took for me to pitch a $35 near-life-size stand-up cardboard cut-out of John Wayne as a birthday gift for Herman.

Lois is to be commended for not giving in to my peer pressure. She settled on an 8 x 10-inch photo of the star that cost her only a few dollars.

A silver-plated mirror purchased for 50 cents.

While Lois had her John Wayne, my morning of garage-saling had proven fruitless until I picked up a round, silver-plated, mirrored tray for 50 cents. I have no idea how I will use it, but I like the piece and think it may have value.

I love the colors in this vintage tablecloth, added to my collection.

Then, later in the day, I scored my big finds. My husband and I just happened to see the yard sale while en route to Walmart. In other words, this was not a planned stop. Here I found a vintage tablecloth for $5. It was the colors—vivid lemon citrus mingled with blood-red and blue-gray—that drew me to the floral print fabric. Those hues are rare and I was happy to add this to my collection. And, yes, I use my tablecloths.

A vintage TV tray becomes a work of art.

Then, my husband discovered two TV trays in the most beautiful orange, yellow and deep rose florals. Each cost $1. I collect vintage metal trays too, with or without the folding legs. I removed the legs from one of my new trays and propped it atop my entertainment center as a piece of art. I often re-purpose my finds. If I need the tray for its real purpose—dining—I’ll pop the legs back onto it.

A leaf-shaped, three-legged dish from the FREE box.

I nearly left my final treasure behind in a cardboard box. It’s an odd-shaped melamine scooped serving plate that rests on three legs. Imprinted on the bottom are the words: “UNION PRODUCTS INC. LEOMINSTER.MASS. CAT.#2729″

I had picked the curved dish up and then placed it back in the box because it was a bit grimy. I figured I really didn’t need it. But then, when I learned that everything in the box was free, I snapped up the dish. With some scrubbing, the dirt washed away.

Now I have this lovely green plate that, I suppose, could hold raw vegetables or any assortment of food. But when I study the gentle curves, I see simply a fine piece of art.

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I WOULD LOVE to hear your garage/rummage sale stories. Why do you shop these sales? What treasures have you found? Did you find a valuable item dirt cheap? Share your stories in a comment to Minnesota Prairie Roots.

© Copyright 2010 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Iris May 3, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 9:22 AM
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SOMETIMES, NATURE NEEDS few words to define her beauty.

Close-up of an iris bud

Iris buds

A clutch of iris buds

Iris buds and iris blooming

An iris in bloom

© Copyright 2010 Audrey Kletscher Helbling



 

Faribault art gallery seeks “Shoe Stories” May 1, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 12:11 PM
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HEY, ALL YOU MINNESOTA artists. Here’s your opportunity to get your foot in the door, or at least your shoe in the door, of a southeastern Minnesota art gallery.

The Paradise Center for the Arts in Faribault is seeking entries for a juried show featuring artwork related to shoes.

That’s right.

Shoes.

Maybe these shoes, belonging to me, my teenage son and my husband, will inspire you.

Entries must include an image or parts/whole of a shoe or shoes. And, get this—your shoe art must fit inside, and be delivered in, a shoebox.

Deadline to get your “Shoe Stories” in to The Paradise is Tuesday, June 8, 2010. Click here for the rules: http://www.paradisecenterforthearts.org/gallery/

Now, if you’re not from Faribault, you’re likely wondering, what’s with the shoes? This isn’t Grand Rapids, hometown of ruby red slipper tapping Judy Garland.

But the Shaft-Pierce Shoe Factory operated here from 1903 – 1934 and our historic downtown is home to a third-generation family-owned shoe store. That would be Burkhartzmeyer Shoes, which, along with JA Johnson Advisors, is sponsoring the shoe art show. Try saying that three times.

I love Burkhartzmeyer Shoes, an old-fashioned shoe store that caters to customers. Here employees measure your feet, find shoes in your size and slip them onto your feet, check the fit and then when they ring up your purchase, they’ll tie the shoebox with string and add a sucker. Yes, exactly as I remember from my youth.

Burkharztmeyer also repairs shoes and addresses special foot needs.

Burkhartzmeyer Shoes is located on Central Avenue in historic downtown Faribault.

As you can tell, I am a bit smitten with this business that speaks to the niceties of yesteryear in today’s fast-paced, self-serve world.

These are my Clarks Shoes, purchased at Burkhartzmeyer Shoes. I wear them all the time, as evidenced by their obvious need for a coat of polish.

My 16-year-old, whose feet sweat profusely, was fitted with these breathable shoes at Burkhartzmeyers. He loves them as they keep his feet mostly dry.

Anyway, back to that shoe art show. Entries may be in any artistic medium, but must be prepared for gallery display. Submission by digital images is required. Four prizes will be awarded, including a $100 first place honor. The show runs August 6 – September 25 in the Paradise gallery.

So hop to it, you creative Minnesota types. Box up your magical shoe art and bring, or ship, it to paradise.

Here I am in my kicking-around, well-worn Clarks shoes inherited from my sister Monica, who collects shoes. Maybe these will inspire you.

And last, but certainly not least, my husband's hard-working work shoes. Or, should I say the hard-working husband's work shoes?

© Copyright 2010 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

Burkhartzmeyer Shoes building photo courtesy of Kaylyn Wirz