Minnesota Prairie Roots

Writing and photography by Audrey Kletscher Helbling

Go local when viewing fall colors October 26, 2025

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City View Park on Faribault’s east side provides a sweeping, colorful view of the city in October. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo 2022)

IF I WANT TO VIEW fall colors, I needn’t go far. I can step into my backyard to see glorious golden maples. Up the street from my Willow Street home, more trees blaze. If I follow Second Avenue to its intersection with Seventh Street, I’ll find especially vibrant trees on a corner property owned by friends Mark and Laurie. There are more splashy hues along Seventh Street and all about town. Tree-lined bluffs rising above the Straight River burst with color. Faribault is a beautiful, historic riverside city anytime, but especially in autumn.

A view of the Cannon River from the pedestrian bridge at the Cannon River Wilderness Area between Faribault and Northfield. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

Yet, even with all the colorful trees in town, I like to go into the countryside to see the colors, too. And it’s not just about the orange, red and yellow leaves. It’s also about sky and water, fields and farms, the “all” which comprises and defines rural Minnesota in September and October.

This weathered barn with the fieldstone foundation sits along the gravel road leading to Richter Woods County Park west of Montgomery in Le Sueur County. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

It’s also about following back gravel roads, the vehicle kicking up dust. It’s about meeting massive farm equipment on roadways. It’s about stopping to look at a weathered barn. It’s about traveling at a slower pace.

A view of Kelly Lake and a colorful shoreline. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

And it’s about stopping, exiting the van to walk into the woods or stand along the shoreline of an area lake to admire a colorful tree line.

A sweeping view of the countryside in the Union Lake area. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

As a native of the mostly treeless southwestern Minnesota prairie, it was not until I moved to Rice County in 1982 that I fully realized just how overwhelmingly stunning this season is in our state. I didn’t grow up going on vacations with the exception of two—one at age four to Duluth and the second to the Black Hills of South Dakota during my elementary school years. But each autumn, my siblings and I piled into the Chevy with our parents for a Sunday afternoon fall color drive along the Minnesota River Valley from north of Echo to Morton.

A partially-harvested cornfield in the Union Lake area. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

And so my love of Sunday drives (which were frequent during my youth because Dad wanted to look at the crops) evolved. As did my understanding that all we needed to do was travel a short distance to see a different landscape. One with woods, colorful woods, in autumn.

Colorful trees by Union Lake. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

The topography of Rice County is incredibly diverse. From the familiar flat prairie to rolling hills and valleys to lakes and rivers and streams, it’s all right here. Lovely.

Sometimes you just have to stop and look up, here in Richter Woods. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

I encourage Sunday afternoon drives, or whatever day works for you. Forget about schedules and the work at home. Get in the vehicle and go. Go local. Appreciate what’s right in your backyard.

Inside Richter Woods, rural Montgomery. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

Pull over along a gravel road, if it’s safe to do so, and take in the countryside. Stand along the shore of a lake. Walk into the woods. Hear the crunch of dried leaves beneath your soles. Look up at the colorful leaves. And see, really see, the autumn beauty that surrounds you…before winter strips the land, leaving it naked and exposed.

© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Autumn beauty at Valley Grove October 23, 2025

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Driving along Rice County Road 30 from Nerstrand toward Valley Grove. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

A HILLSIDE ABLAZE in color appears before us as our van descends Rice County Road 30 northwest of Nerstrand. The road curves, twists into the valley between farmland and farm sites until we reach our destination, Valley Grove churches.

The gated entry to the historic Valley Grove churches near Nerstrand and south of Northfield. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

Randy steers the van off the paved road onto the gravel driveway leading to these two historic Norwegian immigrant churches standing high atop a hill overlooking the rolling countryside. This secluded place rates as a favorite destination of ours any time of year, but especially in autumn.

From the churchyard, I focus my telephoto lens across the prairie to the distant woods. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

The hilltop location offers a sweeping view of the surrounding land, including the Big Woods, especially colorful now. I simply cannot get enough of the red, orange and yellow tree lines that provide a painterly backdrop to this bucolic setting.

The 1894 wooden church opens today for weddings, a Country Social, a Christmas Eve service and other special events. The stone church serves as a fellowship hall/gathering spot. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

Here the 1862 and 1894 churches rise, a testament to the faith and endurance of the Norwegian immigrants who settled this area. The topography likely reminded them of the homeland they left for new opportunities in America.

The prairie fronts woods ablaze in color, as viewed from the churchyard. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

On this day, as the wind blows cold and strong across the churchyard—so much so that we eat our picnic lunch inside the van—I ponder how these foreigners felt once winter arrived in all her cold and snowy starkness. Perhaps they wondered why they ever left Norway.

A vibrant bush on prairie’s edge. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

But on this fall day, I recognize also how much they must have appreciated this beautiful hilltop location. The Valley Grove Preservation Society works hard to retain the natural beauty of these 50 acres of land. The trees. The tall prairie grasses. The wildflowers. They also maintain the two aged houses of worship—the old stone church built first and the adjacent wood-frame church constructed 32 years later.

Grassy paths lead into and through the prairie. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)
Prairie wildflowers dying and going to seed. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)
Randy steps up for a better view of the distant Big Woods from the prairie. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

Beyond the churches and surrounding cemetery, we follow an uneven path into the prairie, pausing occasionally to take in the colorful, distant trees. Randy steps atop a limestone slab for a better view. I spot a garter snake a step down from his feet, then edge away, not at all fond of snakes.

On the other side of the rolling prairie, the churches rise. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

Turning back toward the churchyard a bit later, I see the churches rise like ships upon an ocean of prairie grass. It’s not hard to visualize Norwegian immigrants boarding ships, sailing across the massive ocean bound for America.

Aged and new tombstones fill the Valley Grove cemetery. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

The hopes and dreams they carried to America and eventually to Minnesota imprint upon tombstones in names and dates and words. Their hopes imprint, too, upon this land.

Zooming in on the colorful trees surrounding Valley Grove. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

When I walk this ground, I feel the imprints of souls beneath my feet. This place seems sacred. Sacred in the voices I hear if I lean into the wind and listen. Sacred in the vistas I view.

Found at a gravesite, a serenity stone. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

Valley Grove is a place of serenity. Of quiet. Of natural beauty unequal in the autumn of the year.

A farm site nestles among the woods below Valley Grove. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

All of this I find, feel, experience, see on an autumn day at Valley Grove, among the rolling hills and valleys of northeastern Rice County.

© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Into the Big Woods on an autumn morning October 21, 2025

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Hiking toward Hidden Falls at Nerstrand Big Woods State Park. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

TO WALK INTO THE WOODS, any woods, but especially the Big Woods, calms the spirit in a measured way that feels poetically soothing.

Stunning fall colors draw visitors to the Nerstrand park. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

Surrounded by trees stretching high, the wind winging through the woods, Randy and I hiked at nearby Nerstrand Big Woods State Park on a recent autumn morning. We left behind work, worry and chores as we aimed northeast of Faribault to this popular fall color destination. We arrived early enough in the day to mostly avoid other leaf peepers. The park can get crowded this time of year.

The sun breaks through cloudy skies while we hiked deep in the woods along Hidden Falls Trail. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

Changing colors draw visitors to this remaining remnant of the Big Woods. Those woods once stretched from western Wisconsin into south central Minnesota, covering some two million acres of land in this part of Minnesota. Nearly all of that long ago hardwood forest is now farmland with a few exceptions like the Big Woods outside the community of Nerstand, population around 280.

A few wildflowers are still blooming even this late in October. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

That those before us had the foresight to preserve this forest with the establishment of Nerstrand Big Woods State Park by the Minnesota state legislature in 1945 is a testament to its value. This parcel of woods is truly a natural haven here in Rice County, drawing appreciative nature lovers from all over to see the rare Dwarf Trout Lily and other wildflowers in the spring and colorful trees in autumn.

The beautiful tree canopy along another trail we hiked. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

My first introduction to the Big Woods came as a child when an elementary school teacher read Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books, including Little House in the Big Woods, to me and my classmates I listened with full attention to the stories of young Laura, born in the Big Woods of Pepin, Wisconsin. As a child of the prairie, the idea of “woods” was unfamiliar to me. But Wilder’s writing proved so descriptive that I could imagine myself there in the thick of all those trees.

As we returned from Hidden Falls, these hikers walked toward it. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

Today I don’t have to imagine. I can walk among those trees in the state park outside Nerstrand only a 20-minute drive from my home. Upon our recent arrival at the park, Randy and I headed straight for the half-mile trail leading to Hidden Falls. Deep in the woods, Prairie Creek spills over a limestone and shale shelf forming the falls.

Steps twist along the Hidden Falls Trail. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

It’s a bit of a challenge to get to and from the falls. I felt like I was always watching my feet, assuring I wouldn’t trip over a root or uneven ground or, on the many uneven wooden steps, misstep and fall. I realize my vision issues contribute to my cautionary approach. Randy sometimes lent a steady hand. I managed and made it all the way down the hill to the waterfall. Climbing back up the hill, as you would expect, was harder, but not difficult.

Hidden Falls. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

Because of recent dry weather and resulting low creek water level, the falls wasn’t exactly gushing water. Still, it was worth seeing. And hearing. Even minimal water, when it cascades over rock, roars.

Be still and the birds are, too, at least long enough to photograph. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

But mostly, unless you choose to talk, the woods are quiet. Still. Calm. Cocooning. Sheltering.

Everywhere I turned on the second trail we followed, I saw colorful leaves. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

Our pace was not keep-your-heart-rate-up fast. We were here to immerse ourselves in the woods. To notice the details that comprise the whole. I paused often to photograph orange, red and yellow leaves. I bent low to the ground at times, other times aimed my camera lens upward to the tree canopy.

I photographed this bird near the park entrance where food was placed for the birds. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)
Masses of colored leaves drew my eyes upward. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)
I appreciate the patterns of fungi, like outdoor art. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

I noticed birds flitting among trees, the last of the season’s flowers, dried goldenrod, bright red wild rose hips, fungi on a fallen tree…

Welcome to Nerstrand Big Woods State Park, established in 1945. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

And I heard a young mother tell her children to listen for the wind in the woods. These woods—the Big Woods of south central Minnesota.

© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Wandering through a Faribault flower garden in autumn October 14, 2025

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Flowers blooming a few weeks ago in the Rice County Master Gardeners Teaching Gardens. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

IN THIS FLEETING TIME before winter arrives, I find myself drawn to end-of-the-season blooms. And plenty remain, clinging to summer past, attaching to autumn present, but some already ceding to the inevitable cold and snow yet to come.

A mass of brown-eyed (I think) susans. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

Even as days grow shorter and nightfall presses dark upon the land, these flowers remain. And I delight in them wherever they stand, bend into the wind, catch the light of the morning and evening sun.

The roses are still blooming. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

Most surprising, perhaps, are the roses that linger. I dip my nose close, expecting the heady scent of perfume, only to be disappointed. They smell ever so faint, a scent barely noticeable.

When I took this photo in late September, Monarchs flitted among zinnias. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

Zinnias flash color, a beacon for monarchs.

Stunning sedum, absolutely beautiful in the evening light. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

Sedum and seed heads and sunny yellow flowers all cozy together, some spent, some still determined to survive as the season shifts toward winter.

Paver pathways weave through the gardens which include benches, a water feature, rock snakes and more. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

I feel this sense of urgency to focus my eyes on flowers, to imprint upon my memory their glorious beauty. And so I wander among the blooms and dying blooms in the Rice County Master Gardeners Teaching Gardens in Faribault.

Photographed up close or at a distance, these flowers are lovely in the evening light of autumn. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

I love this oasis on the Rice County Fairgrounds next to the historical society. It offers a peaceful respite just off heavily-trafficked Second Avenue where vehicles rush by, their drivers seemingly unaware of the nearby gardens.

The garden includes two rock snakes, this flower stone among the many forming the serpent. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

But I long ago discovered this spot. Perfect for a picnic. Perfect for wandering. Perfect for photographing flowers. Perfect for reflecting and learning and enjoying. I’m grateful for every volunteer who lovingly tends this garden so I can come here. Sit. Walk. Photograph. Snapshot the scene for future reference.

A grass stem glows in the light of sunset. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

When winter comes with its wind and deep-freeze cold and snow, I will remember the pink roses, the bold brown-eyed susans, the grass glowing in the sunlight.

A coneflower seed head. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

And when winter drags on, I will remember this place and how, when spring arrives, the perennials will resurrect and pop through the earth. I will remember, too, how seeds sown in the soil will sprout and push green shoots through the earth to leaf and blossom and bring me summer joy.

© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Plenty of pumpkin stands popping up October 7, 2025

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A customer picks pumpkins at a roadside stand along Minnesota State Highway 19 in Stanton. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

FROM PUMPKIN PATCH to pop-up roadside stands and elsewhere, pumpkins are popping up everywhere just weeks away from Halloween.

Pumpkins for sale at Little Prairie Sunflower, Pumpkin & Produce roadside stand along Minnesota State Highway 3 between Faribault and Dundas. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

I love the pops of color these seasonal stands add to the landscape, setting the mood for October and the fun festivities the month brings.

Pumpkins of all sizes and shapes for sale at the Little Prairie stand. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

Growers gather in the pumpkins, heaping them atop wagons for ease of display and purchase.

A payment box and price list for mums and other plants at a seasonal roadside stand in Stanton. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

Buying is made easy with secure drop boxes, pay on the honor system via cash, check or Venmo. I love the trust the sellers place in the buyers.

Oversized pumpkin art directs passing motorists’ attention to the Stanton pumpkin stand backed by a cornfield. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)
Decorative Indian corn decorates the pumpkin wagon at Stanton. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)
Beautiful potted mums for sale at the Stanton stand. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

I love, too, the signage, art and seasonal decorations which draw customers to stop and shop for pumpkins and often other goods like squash and mums.

Knucklehead pumpkins get their own display area at the Stanton stand. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

It all feels so good and earthy and connective, this buying direct from the grower who seeds, tends, harvests, markets. Locally-grown at its most basic.

A field of sunflowers, ideal for photo ops, grows next to pumpkins and corn at the Little Prairie roadside market. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

I love, too, how rural pumpkin stands pop up next to cornfields and occasionally sunflower fields. Sunflowers make me smile with their bright yellow blossoms. Sort of like thousands of smiley faces beaming happiness upon the land.

Getting in the spirit of Halloween on the Little Prairie pumpkin wagon along Highway 3. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

All these pumpkins placed for purchase prompt memories of Halloweens past. Of pulp and seeds scooped from pumpkins. Of pumpkins carved into jack-o-lanterns with toothy grins. Of jack-o-lanterns set on front steps and candles extinguished by the wind. Of pumpkins buried in drifts of snow in the Halloween blizzard of 1991 which dropped up to three feet of snow on parts of northern Minnesota and somewhat less here in southern Minnesota, but still a 20-inch storm total.

Pumpkins heap a wagon parked next to sunflower and corn fields at the Little Prairie stand along Highway 3. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

Pumpkins represent more than a prop or seasonal decoration. They represent nostalgia, stories, the past, the present, the timelessness of tradition. Those are the reasons I can’t pass a pumpkin stand without feeling grateful, without remembering the childhood Halloween when I clamped a molded plastic gypsy mask onto my face or the Halloween I fingered cow eyeballs (really cold grapes) at a party in the basement of a veterinarian’s home or all the years I crafted Halloween costumes for my three kids.

Unpicked pumpkins in the Little Prairie field. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

Then there’s the year I helped my father-in-law harvest pumpkins from his muddy patch in the cold and rain so he could take them to a roadside market in central Minnesota. Because of that experience, I understand the occasional challenges of getting pumpkins from vine to sale.

A cornfield backdrops the pumpkin wagon and signage at the Little Prairie pumpkin stand. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

I appreciate the growers who are offering all of us the beauty of autumn, the fun and fright of Halloween, and the gratitude of Thanksgiving with each pumpkin grown, picked and placed for sale at a roadside stand.

TELL ME: What does a pumpkin represent to you? Do you buy from roadside stands or elsewhere? I’d like to hear.

© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

A tractor, pumpkins & a conversation after sunset October 1, 2025

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Parked at Thomas Gardens in Faribault, a late 1970s or early 1980s International tractor centers an autumn photo op scene. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

ON THE EVENING of the autumn equinox, I headed to Faribault’s east side, crossing the viaduct over the Straight River to Thomas Gardens along St. Paul Road. The business was closed upon my arrival, which mattered not to me. I was here to photograph an International 274 tractor and pumpkins during “the golden hour.” That’s an hour before sunset or an hour after sunrise when the warm, soft glow of the setting or rising sun proves particularly lovely for taking photos.

The setting sun shines through an opening in the treeline as I shot this image. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

As I framed the tractor, staged as a photo prop in an autumn scene of straw bales, varied colorful pumpkins and corn shocks, I noticed the golden orb of the sun peeking through the treeline across the street. I remained ever cognizant of the light, diminishing with each snap of the shutter button.

(Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)
(Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)
(Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

I felt giddy as I photographed first that tractor and then masses of pumpkins outside the building. Colors popped in the perfect light. Multi-hued pumpkins. Deep orange ones. White ones. Yellow ones. Pumpkins with warty bumps, others smooth. Sooooo many pumpkins scattered across the street-side yard.

Thomas Gardens is housed in this building along St. Paul Road on Faribault’s east side. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

I remember when the previous owners of 50-plus years piled pumpkins onto flatbed trailers parked inside and outside Twiehoff Gardens & Nursery. Matt and Stefanie Thomas bought the business in 2019. Matt grew up on a dairy farm near Dundas, which pleases me given I was also raised on a dairy farm. Like me, he understands hard work. On his business website, Thomas writes about teaching his three kids the value of hard work, teamwork and family values. This seems a good place to do that.

Mums for sale outside the greenhouses. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

Here the Thomas family grows and sells garden-fresh vegetables, flowers and plants, plus markets honey, maple syrup, Christmas trees and more from their pole shed style building, greenhouses and the yard where I roamed with my 35mm Canon EOS 60D camera.

Mostly potted mums, but a few other flowers and plants, are for sale in autumn. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

When I finished photographing the tractor and all those pumpkins, I moved onto the flowers, mostly mums. The flower of fall. Single colors and multi colors in pots. Oranges, yellows, rose, even white.

A pumpkin tops the tractor against a corn shock with a tint of pink in the sky. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)
I aimed my camera lens down for a closeup photo of a massive striped pumpkin. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)
Pumpkins set next to a tractor tire pop color in the grass. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

I remained caught up in my photography until I glanced back at the tractor and the treeline. In that moment I realized I really wanted to watch the sun set at City View Park, just down the road a bit. It’s a beautiful site overlooking Faribault next to a city water tower and across the street from Trump’s Apple Orchard. We occasionally picnick here and watch the Fourth of July fireworks at this hilltop location.

Just after sunset at City View Park, Faribault. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

But Randy and I arrived too late. I could see, as we pulled into the small parking lot, that the orange ball of the sun had already dropped leaving a skyline tinged with pink. Disappointment coursed through me.

Yet, others didn’t miss the sunset. Three teenage boys sat on a park bench facing the city overlook. As I walked toward them, I wondered why they were here, what they might be doing. Yes, I admit I thought they might be up to no good. I was wrong. They were here watching and photographing the sunset with their smartphones. I asked to see their pictures and they pulled out their phones and showed me the beauty I missed by my delayed arrival.

I took the opportunity then to praise them—to tell them how wonderful it was to see them outdoors, appreciating the sunset. Moments like this, generational interactions like this, conversations like this, matter. These youth understood the value of pausing to sit and watch the sun set across their city on the first evening of autumn. And I recognized the value of acknowledging that.

© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Welcoming autumn at a market in small town Lonsdale September 24, 2025

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Outside RR Revival/Rusty Rabbitiques in Lonsdale, this guy waits with a decorative metal pumpkin in my favorite market photo. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

DAYS BEFORE THE AUTUMN EQUINOX, I found myself in small town Lonsdale at a craft and flea market. Located in northwestern Rice County, this community of just under 5,000 with easy access to Interstate 35 to the east, is experiencing both residential and business growth.

The aged grain elevators of Lonsdale near the market site. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

Yet, it retains its rural character, most notable in the aged grain elevator complex rising high above the town. Those grain elevators provided the backdrop for the recent weekend sale centered around RR Revival/Rusty Rabbitiques, a spacious vintage goods, garden iron and home accessories business.

Vendors set up shop outside RR Revival. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

Vendors set up shop near RR Revival to sell food, crafts, flea market and other goods. That included mushrooms, floral bouquets, jewelry, upcycled clothing, hand-painted seasonal décor and much more. If you weren’t in a fall mood when you arrived, you would be upon departure.

An artful display of seasonal merchandise for sale at RR Revival. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)
Flowers for sale burst in autumn hues. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)
RR Revival is packed inside and out with goods. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

Pumpkins and mums, ghosts and scarecrows, flowers and gourds in autumn hues, all set the stage to welcome the change in seasons. I even saw a young girl trying out her “Wizard of Oz” Dorothy costume, complete with red shoes, for Halloween.

Among the numerous food vendors set up in the street, this one from Gaylord and selling kettle corn. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

As I wandered, the caramel scent of kettle corn wafted through the air.

This duo added to the market with their music. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

Musicians played in the shelter of a small tent pitched on the street near RR Revival.

Upcycled shirts from The Thrifty Toad Shop included this autumn-themed one and others themed to sports, music, movies and much more. Ellorie is based in Cottage Grove and also sells on etsy. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

I appreciated the smallness of this craft and flea market and the ease with which I could meander and chat with sellers. The creativity and ingenuity of artisans always amazes me. Take Ellorie at The Thrifty Toad Shop. An avid thrifter, she turned her love of thrifting into a business. She buys second-hand shirts (mostly flannel) and graphic tees then upcycles them by cutting and sewing the t-shirt designs onto the backs of flannel shirts. I love this idea of reusing second-hand clothes, of creating something visually interesting and different. I’m no fashionista. But for someone like me who wears a lot of t-shirts and flannel (come autumn), Ellorie’s shirts are the perfect fit.

An example of the art created by Patti of A Touch from the Heart Creations based in Chaska. Patti brought mostly autumn and Christmas art to the market. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

Under another tent, Patti of A Touch from the Heart Creations also upcycles, painting seasonal designs onto old shovels, spades, pails, gas cans and more.

Shellie, from nearby Webster, chats with customers inside the tent displaying her mostly autumn and Christmas-themed crocheted creations. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

At Shellie’s Stitches Everything Crochet, it’s all about crocheting—Christmas trees, snowmen, pumpkins and, well, whatever this crafter wants to make and vend.

A representative from Dispatch Dogs of Lonsdale was on hand to talk about supporting dogs in need through fostering, transporting and fundraising. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)
Loved this Minnesota shaped vintage ashtray with key town names and locations on the back and for sale from a flea market vendor. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)
RR Revival organized the market. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

This event, along Railway Street near the grain elevators in Lonsdale and billed as the RR Revival Flea Market, proved a wonderful way to welcome autumn.

This thrift shop is packed with goods and is one I’ve shopped before. A small ice cream shop has been added to the space. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

Two blocks away, the Something for All Consignment/Thrift Store also drew me inside to shop in the building’s nooks and crannies. Outside the shop, kids (mostly) could pose behind seasonal photo cut-outs, decorate a mini pumpkin, play with an oversized Jenga. There were wooden ghosts, jack-o-lanterns crafted from gas can, fiery salsa and more for sale, too.

Halloween decor and pumpkins for sale outside Something for All. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

I left Lonsdale without a single purchase. But what I bought was a few hours of contentment and enjoyment in a small town with a grain elevator, a familiar rural landmark that will always claim a piece of my heart.

© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Into the woods, onto the prairie of November November 19, 2024

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The woods, sky and prairie of River Bend in early November. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2024)

NOVEMBER MARKS A SEASON of transition, a time when the landscape slides ever closer to a colorless environment. Soon winter will envelope us in its drabness of gray and brown highlighted by white. There’s nothing visually compelling about that.

I found the veined back of this oversized fallen leaf especially lovely. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2024)

As a life-long Minnesotan, I understand this about November. I know this. But I still don’t like the absence of color or light, the dark morning rising, the darkness that descends well before 5 p.m. And, yes, seasonal affective disorder, even if you don’t admit you’re experiencing it, likely touches all of us in Minnesota.

Beautiful: Wisps of clouds in the big sky and grass heads soaring. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2024)

Times like this, it helps to get outside, into the natural world, and view the November landscape through an appreciative lens. It’s possible to reshape your thinking if you slow down, notice the details, determine that beauty is to be found in the outdoors, even in this eleventh month of the year.

My initial glimpse of the nearly invisible deer standing on a leaf-littered trail. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2024)

So into the woods I went at River Bend Nature Center in Faribault, where first off I spotted a deer on a trail, the animal effectively camouflaged among the dried leaves, the trunks of trees and buckthorn (an invasive species still green). The doe stood and watched as I eased slowly toward her intent on getting within better focal range. Soon she wandered into the woods, among the trees. I shot a rapid series of images as the stare-down continued, until finally the deer tired of my presence and hurried away.

I moved closer, then zoomed in with my telephoto lens to get this close-up image. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2024)

What a wonderful way to begin my walk. Even if I consider deer too populous and a danger on roadways, my interest in watching them never wanes. And there are plenty of deer to watch at River Bend.

This grass stretches way above my head and dances in the wind. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2024)

Mostly, though, I don’t see many animals at the nature center. Plant life becomes my point of interest. In November, that means dormant plants like dried grasses stretching across the expansive prairie. Or grasses rising high above my head along the trail, stalks listing, pushed by the wind. Dancing.

Dried grasses, possible fuel for fire, edge a trail. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2024)

These grasses have lost their luster green, but they are no less lovely in muted shades. The thought crosses my mind how rapidly a spark could ignite a raging grass fire here upon the parched land.

Dried goldenrod seemingly glow in the afternoon sunlight. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2024)

Weeds and wildflowers (I’m no naturalist when it comes to identifying what I see) are likewise dead and dried, some glowing in the late afternoon sunshine. And that, too, is lovely.

Cattails burst open at season’s end. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2024)
Fungus blends in with bark. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2024)

Cattails appear ravaged by the seasons. Fungi ladder a tree branch. These are the details I notice in looking for photos, in convincing myself that beauty exists within the woods, upon the prairie, even in November.

Dried sumac edge the prairie. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2024)

Dried sumac in a hue that isn’t orange, that isn’t red, flames.

Walking uphill to the prairie, the sky appears expansive. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2024)

A blue sky, swept with wisps of clouds, accents the scenes I take in. I always feel small under the expansive sky, no matter the month.

A spot of color in stubborn leaves. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2024)

A few stubborn, autumn leaves still cling, flashing color like the flick of a flame. That, too, I see on this November day.

If any image visually summarizes November, this would be it. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2024)

A flutter of birds near the end of my walk draws my eyes to a bare tree. To watch. To hear their movement, like a whisper of winter coming. Quiet and colorless. Signs of December soon overtaking November.

© Copyright 2024 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

About that PUMPKIN SPICE OIL CHANGE October 28, 2024

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A pumpkin spice sign, far left, banners a fence at Glenn’s on the corner of Central Avenue and Seventh Street NW in Faribault. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2024)

ONLY At…Glenn’s For A Limited Time. PUMPKIN SPICE OIL CHANGE.

That message bannering a corner fence at Glenn’s Service, a full service auto repair shop, gas station and towing service, 628 Central Avenue North, Faribault, certainly grabbed my attention. Not that I needed an oil change given my sort-of-retired automotive machinist husband services our vans. But, I wondered, what exactly is a PUMPKIN SPICE OIL CHANGE?

The sign led me to call Glenn’s and ask about that oil change. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2024)

So I called Glenn’s, expecting to learn that oil change customers will be treated to a pumpkin spice latte. Not that I’ve ever had a latte. I haven’t. I brew my own plain black decaff coffee at home in my mini coffee pot. Nothing fancy for this girl, although I wouldn’t mind trying a fancy coffee drink.

The guy who answered the phone—the guy who isn’t Glenn, because Glenn passed away years ago—told me the whole PUMPKIN SPICE OIL CHANGE offer is a joke. Oh, so there’s no free pumpkin spice latte with an oil change? Nope. I didn’t ask for a detailed explanation because I know service stations are often busy places and I didn’t need to take anymore of this guy’s time. But he did volunteer that a customer had the sign made for the shop a few years back.

Glenn Rasmussen opened the business at this location in 1937. In 2010, Glenn’s son Donny sold the business to the Bock family, dad Bruce and his son, Steve. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2024)

I can only imagine mechanics and customers joking about pumpkin spice this and pumpkin spice that. And then coming up with that PUMPKIN SPICE OIL CHANGE idea and someone ordering a banner and the guys hanging the sign, laughing the entire time.

It’s clever marketing, for sure. Humor works in marketing as does a message that elicits interest. That banner at Glenn’s has likely been the source of more than one entertaining story between oil changes, car repairs, tows…during this season of all things pumpkin spice.

© Copyright 2024 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Immersing myself in southern Minnesota’s autumn colors October 23, 2024

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This towering maple on the campus of the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf in Faribault is by far the most vibrant orange tree I’ve seen this fall. I took this photo nearly two weeks ago. The leaves are no longer as brilliant and many have fallen. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2024)

FROM CITY STREETS to gravel roads, Randy and I have traveled many miles in October to view the fall colors. Autumn rates, undeniably, as my favorite season except for the part of knowing what comes next—the cold and snow of a Minnesota winter.

A full view of that MSAD maple, photographed on October 12. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2024)

We’ve stayed close to home, driving around our home county of Rice and also heading into portions of neighboring Le Sueur County, then Nicollet and Blue Earth counties. Admittedly, the lack of color has sometimes disappointed us. Blame the current drought, the too-warm weather or the hazy, dusty skies of windy days. Yet, the color is there, just not as abundant or brilliant as some years.

One of my favorite spots in rural Rice County is Valley Grove, two aged churches atop a hill near Nerstrand. Views and fall colors are beautiful here. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2024)
A colorful tree line backdrops Valley Grove Cemetery. On this visit, skies were mostly cloudy and hazy. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2024)
These beautiful trees hug the bluffs along the Straight River near downtown Faribault. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2024)

Favorite area fall color spots include Valley Grove churches near Nerstrand Big Woods State Park, Dudley Lake in Rice County and right here in Faribault, along city streets, on the campus of the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf, along the Straight River bluffs and even in our own backyard.

Setting out to fish on Dudley Lake Sunday afternoon. This was photographed from the dock at the public boat landing. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2024)

It’s not too late to catch some of the colors. But they are fading, morphing, with many trees now stripped of leaves.

The Nicollet County Trail Association is hosting a second weekend of the Haunted Hayride from 7-11 p.m. October 28-29 at Riverside Park-Mill Pond Municipal Campground in St. Peter. The ride will wind through woods. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2024)
Every leaf is worth study and appreciation for its fall beauty. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2024)
Fall is a popular time for church dinners, including this one advertised on a flyer taped to the checkout counter at the St. Peter Thrift Store, St. Peter. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2024)

We hope to take one last fall color drive along the Mississippi River in southeastern Minnesota…if it’s not too late. Time is fleeting.

I photographed this bucolic rural scene along Canby Way just outside Faribault. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2024)

Fall color drives are rooted within me. As a child, my parents, siblings and I piled into the Chevy each autumn for a Sunday afternoon meander along the Minnesota River Valley from the Granite Falls area to Morton. That annual outing imprinted upon me the seasonal beauty of September and October in Minnesota. I felt then, and still feel now, a close connection to the land during fall color drives.

More colorful trees, photographed October 12, on the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf campus. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2024)

There weren’t a lot of colorful trees on the rural southwestern Minnesota prairie where I grew up. There weren’t even all that many trees. Maybe that’s why I appreciate the trees blazing orange, red and yellow into the landscape in this area of Minnesota.

Monday morning I stood in my backyard and aimed by camera lens upward to my neighbors’ trees with the fading moon in the backdrop sky. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2024)

I love slowing down to view stunning tree lines or a single brilliant red leaf. The nuances of nature, of the countryside, of small towns this time of year are worth noticing. And appreciating. Soon winter will be upon us. Stark. Devoid of color.

© Copyright 2024 Audrey Kletscher Helbling