Protesting in Northfield at a NO KINGS rally. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo October 2025)
ICAN’T IGNORE the news. I want to, no, need to, know what’s happening on all levels from local to international. Perhaps it’s my innate curiosity or my journalism background that compels me to read and watch media reports. I feel an obligation, especially in these challenging times, to be as informed as possible.
What I’ve been hearing and reading from the federal government in Washington DC continues to concern me. Deeply. I can hardly believe the rhetoric, the hatred, the awfulness that is flowing like hot lava from fiery mouths upon this land.
Somali women walk through downtown Faribault during a community event. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)
The latest is the hatred directed by our president toward Somalis living in America, including some 80,000 in Minnesota. My community of Faribault is home to many Somali Americans. The president has singled out Somalis in Minnesota with his derogatory words and planned, targeted ICE raids here. I am proud of the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul and other leaders, including the Minneapolis police chief, for speaking up and standing strong for the Somali community during a Tuesday afternoon news conference. They recognize the threat to this specific demographic. And they value the Somalis who call Minnesota home.
“Who,” I ask, “will be next? Me, because my eyes are green?” Maybe he doesn’t care for green-eyed people. Or you? Because he doesn’t like something about you.
This is a pig, not a female journalist. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)
He certainly doesn’t care for journalists, especially female journalists. I realize a dislike of journalists is nothing new. But this president has gone well beyond “dislike” to outright meanness, bullying and name-calling. I never thought I would see the day when the leader of our country would chastise a reporter with “Quiet, piggy.” I never thought I would hear an American president call a reporter fat or terrible or ugly or any other adjective while hissing “fake news” at the media.
Bracelets against censorship and for rights. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo 2025)
When the U.S. government launched a Media Bias page on the official White House website just days ago, I felt nothing short of outraged. This is the United States of America, where freedom of the press ought to mean something, where the media is independent of the government, where reporters have a right and a duty to accurately report the truth without fear of intimidation, public shaming, recrimination,… This newest tactic of naming a “Media Offender of the Week” ought to anger every single person in this country. I don’t care what side of the political aisle you sit on. This latest action speaks to censorship, to controlling the press, to propaganda, to anything but democracy.
I value freedom. I hope you do, too, enough to stand up for a free press, individual rights, freedom from fear, intimidation, oppression and all that threatens us. These are unprecedented times (yes, I recognize that may be an overused word, but it fits) in our country. I refuse to remain silent.
I photographed this peace van parked outside a shop near Garrisonthis past summer. It took me back to the 70s. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo 2025)
I CAME OF AGE in the early 1970s near the end of the Vietnam War. Those were years of national protests and pushing for peace. Young people, especially, embraced the word “peace”—in speech, in fashion, in actions. Like so many other teens of my era, I flashed the peace sign, wore peace-themed jewelry, drew the peace symbol on the covers of school notebooks. I once wrote a poem about peace, long forgotten now and tucked into a cardboard box among other long ago musings.
Love the message on the tee worn by a member of the Jackson Paulson Band when they performed at a Faribault Car Cruise Night this summer. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo 2025)
Lately, I’ve been musing about peace during these tumultuous times in which we live. So I challenged myself to look around for that which uplifts, enlightens, makes me smile. Gives me a sense of peace.
Harmony is a synonym for peace. This mural is on Minnesota’s Iron Range in Crosby. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo 2025)
I found what I sought in art, actions and, most of all, words. I am, after all, a wordsmith. Someone who works with words. Building, shaping, sharing. Someone who understands that words hold great power to build up or destroy. Someone who understands that words matter. Greatly. They can inspire, give us hope, offer peace. Or just the opposite.
Nerstrand Meats sits several blocks from the school in the heart of downtown Nerstrand. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)
With peace on my mind, I revisited the Peace Garden at Nerstrand Elementary Charter School in the rural farming community of Nerstrand, population not quite 280 and perhaps best known as home to 135-year-old family-owned Nerstrand Meats & Catering.
This green space centers the Peace Garden outside the school entry. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)
In 1999, the school was established as a peace site with the garden started in 2000 on the front lawn. That’s 25 years now of honoring peace. In words, art and plantings, this garden features 14 countries.
A unifying message posted at the Peace Garden. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)
Signage at the garden emphasizes that we all live under the same sun and moon on the same planet. We are all connected and all part of building a world “to make everyone proud.” That includes the U.S., Russia, China, Mexico, Canada… This is not a political message posted outside this small town Minnesota elementary school. Rather, this is a simple statement about those of us who call planet Earth our home.
To the right, Ukraine’s national flower, the sunflower, flourishes. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)
I arrived on an autumn day looking for the newest addition to the Peace Garden. Ukraine. And I found it near a picnic table and bike rack—a yellow and blue (the colors of the Ukrainian flag) planter filled with towering sunflowers past their summer prime. As I paused and read the singular word “Kiev” on a sign, I thought of the people of Ukraine. Oh, how they must yearn for peace in the midst of ongoing war.
Sunflowers grow around a sign naming Ukraine’s capital city. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)
Peace on an international scale feels elusive, as it’s always been. But then the same can be said nationally. Disagreements have flamed into much more than differences of opinion.
While the word PEACE was photographed from the back (because I couldn’t get a front angle), it holds the same meaning either way. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)
Yet, here I stood outside a school where children grow their knowledge, begin to understand that this world is much bigger than Nerstrand or Rice County or Minnesota or the U.S. I’m thankful that each day, as these student walk into school, they see the word “PEACE” atop the roof.
Lovely landscaping, flowers and plants surround the art honoring China with an inspiring message. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)
These children are our future. Perhaps they will grow to make peace marks upon their communities, maybe even the world. Perhaps they will live just ordinary lives, living peacefully among others while doing good. There’s so much potential.
Peace, a universal word we can understand no matter our home country. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)
I needed to walk around the Nerstrand Peace Garden, take in the words, art, plantings. In the quiet of this small town where the school sits next to farm fields, peace feels possible.
Jesus multiplied two fish into enough to feed 5,000 people. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)
“THE SMALL LITTLE LUNCH became more than enough.” That statement, made during the Rev. Bruce Stam’s sermon at Trinity Lutheran Church in Faribault on Sunday morning, really resonates with me in this week of thanksgiving.
Stam was referencing the feeding of the five thousand as recorded in all four gospels and specifically in John 6:1-13. In that story, Jesus and his disciples are faced with a hungry crowd and nothing to feed them. That is until Andrew notices a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish or, as Stam termed it, “a happy meal.” I laughed. I appreciate humor in sermons.
I expect the disciples were not laughing, but rather were highly-skeptical when Jesus suggested that the boy’s meager meal could feed thousands. I would feel that way, too. But Jesus took the loaves and the fish, gave thanks and there was enough to feed everyone. With leftovers.
A Thanksgiving week message outside Faribault Church of Christ. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2025)
There are several takeaways from this miracle of feeding 5,000 people. First, God provides. That’s clear and Stam emphasized that point. In my own life, I’ve seen God provide again and again to meet my needs whether physical, mental, emotional or spiritual. I live in a house that is paid for. I have enough to eat. I have loving and supportive family and friends. I’ve had excellent healthcare. The list goes on and on. It’s not that I have the biggest, best or most. But I have enough.
And on that referenced day during biblical times, there was enough bread and fish in a small boy’s lunch to miraculously feed thousands. Jesus, the Rev. Stam said, opened his heart to compassion and fed the hungry.
As I jotted sermon notes, I began to better understand how Jesus taught compassion on that day. He could have ignored the hungry crowd, although that may have been a bit difficult to do given the sheer numbers. Rather, Jesus fed them. His disciples handed out the bread and fish and gathered the leftovers. They were learning an important lesson in compassion as active participants in a compassionate and caring act.
A kindness rock photographed among plants in the Waterville Community Patio. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)
Just like the disciples, we are each capable of compassion, of giving to others. Perhaps we only have a happy meal to share. Or maybe we have an entire Thanksgiving feast to offer. I’m speaking figuratively here. The point is that, as the Rev. Stam said, this world needs compassionate love. And we can give that through monetary and food donations, volunteerism, kindness, anything really that shows care and love for our fellow human beings.
Finally, in the biblical feeding of the five thousand, two other words resonate with me. And those are “gave thanks.” Jesus gave thanks when he took the loaves and fish and then multiplied them. This week “thanks” is the focus, or should be the focus, of our thoughts.
Thank you to the readers who sent these cards to me. Your kindness touched me. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2025)
I am thankful for you, dear readers. I am thankful for everyone who tells me how much they appreciate my writing and photography. I am thankful for my family, especially the birth of my second grandson in January. I am thankful for time spent at a family lake cabin. I am thankful for freedom of speech. I am thankful for a locally strong arts scene. I am thankful for friends, those who are long-time and those I’ve only just met. I am thankful for too many reasons to count…
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! May you always be blessed with “enough” and with a heart of compassion.
TELL ME: What are you especially thankful for this Thanksgiving?
This custom-built community food pantry recently opened outside the Guild Houseat the Cathedral of Our Merciful Saviour and is a replica of the historic cathedral. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2025)
IN THIS SEASON of gratitude, the Faribault community now has one more reason to give thanks. And that’s for a new food pantry recently installed outside the Guild House at The Cathedral of Our Merciful Saviour.
The Cathedral of Our Merciful Saviour has always been community-minded, including as home to the Community Cafeserving free meals every Tuesday. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2025)
The pantry, housed in a custom-built replica of the historic cathedral, is a joint endeavor of Our Merciful Saviour and of the Community Cafe and Triumphant Life Assembly of God Church, both based in the Guild building along Northwest Sixth Street. The pantry will be dedicated during the 10 a.m. Sunday, November 30, worship service at the Cathedral.
The bell tower on the food pantry is shown in the foreground with the Cathedral bell tower rising in the background. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2025)
When I first saw this approximately 3-by-5-foot structure rising some four feet, I just stood there looking, impressed by the details, the artistry, the craftsmanship, the likeness to the mammoth stone cathedral built between 1862-1869.
The front entry to the Cathedral of Our Merciful Saviour with its signature red doors. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2025)
The front of the cathedral in the custom-built mini version. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2025)
The smaller version took the builder, Don Greeley of Stillwater, an estimated 200-300 hours (he didn’t tally time) over 1 ½ years to complete. The results are stunning, right down to the signature red doors, the stained glass windows, the limestone walls, the cedar shingles and the cross above the front door.
A side view of the food pantry shows the detailed construction, including cedar shingles, just like on the actual cathedral. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2025)
CONNECTIONS & A CHALLENGE
The Faribault native, who grew up in this church where he served as an acolyte and where his parents’ cremated remains lie in the lower level columbarium, agreed to take on the project because, “Why not?” he said. He has a strong connection to the cathedral, is always up for a challenge and is an avid do-it-yourselfer. The retired Minneapolis Police Department crime prevention specialist likes designing, creating and building things. He’s been working on his house for 30 years. And he’d already built a food pantry for his church in Stillwater, Ascension Episcopal.
The new food pantry, built by Don Greeley and donated by he and his wife, Emily, sits outside the Sixth Street entry to the Guild House and cathedral. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2025)
It was that church replica, seen by the Cathedral’s the Rev. James Zotalis, that got Don involved. Zotalis mentioned the mini Stillwater church to parishioner Candy Greeley, who then informed him that her brother built it. One thing led to another and the food pantry project was underway. Candy provided measurements, which Don used as guides along with photos. He started with the church doors, then scaled his model around those, admitting that he also “winged it.”
“I love it,” his clearly proud sister said. “I could not believe what came out of his head.”
A back and side view of the pantry looking toward Second Avenue and Central Park. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2025)
CAREFUL, PLANNED CONSTRUCTION
In talking with Don, I realized just how much thought, time and effort he invested in planning and constructing this 80 to 100-pound cathedral replica to withstand a Minnesota winter. He learned from the Stillwater project that he needed to improve weatherproofing. To that end, Greeley used treated plywood for the walls, which he then painted with four to five layers of paint mixed with sand. He used an electric saw to cut lines into the walls to resemble stone. Epoxy adds another layer of protection.
The bell tower is crafted from plastic. Sheets of layered heavy black plastic under the entire structure add more waterproofing. And the handcrafted cedar shingles are protected by an oil-based varnish. Don did everything he could to prevent rotting. The church sits on a wrought iron base crafted by Myron Hanson of Eagan, who previously did wrought iron signage for the Guild House exterior.
A recent look at items inside the food pantry. A message on an exterior door reads: “TAKE WHAT YOU NEED. LEAVE WHAT YOU CAN. BE BLESSED.” (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2025)
FROM TABLE TO TABLE
There’s one more aspect of this food pantry project that I find compelling. Don, without a heated workshop to build the mini cathedral, did about half the work inside, in the dining room of the Stillwater home he shares with wife Emily. The church sat on a work stand. And sometimes on the dining room table.
A list of items to place in the food pantry is listed on a door. Because of freezing issues due to weather, there are winter restrictions such as no cans or glass jars. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2025)
This project has come full circle. Now those in need can put food on their tables, find personal care items and much more in this mini streetside cathedral partially crafted atop a table. What’s inside the pantry varies, depending on donations. It supplements already existing food shelves and services in the community. But the need is great and growing.
Words on the exterior of the massive cathedral express gratitude for the bell tower and also honor Bishop Henry Whipple. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2025)
In this season of thanksgiving, I feel gratitude for this new food pantry in Faribault, for the talents and generosity of Don Greeley and for the Cathedral of Our Merciful Saviour, the Community Cafe and Triumphant Life Church. I expect Bishop Henry Whipple, who long ago led this mission-minded congregation in service to others, would be pleased with the Cathedral’s ongoing community outreach. Says Candy Greeley of the newly-placed food pantry, “It’s getting used.” And that is enough to understand its value in our community.
Barn Bluff in Red Wing as photographed from Sorin’s Bluff in Memorial Park. Zoom in and you will see people on a path atop the bluff. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)
AT THE BASE of He Mni Caɳ, also known as “Barn Bluff,” I contemplated whether to climb the 340-foot cliff rising high above the Mississippi River in southern Minnesota. It seemed like a good idea when Randy and I were considering just that on our drive from Faribault to Red Wing recently. But reality set in once we found the bluff, started up a steep pathway and determined that this might be a little much for two people pushing seventy. My vision issues and fear of heights also factored into discontinuing our hike.
An historic photo in an informational plaza shows teepees at the bluff’s base, circa 1840s. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)
While disappointed, I was still thankful we were here because He Mni Caɳ holds historical, cultural and sacred significance for the Bdewakantunwan Dakota Oyate, the Indigenous Peoples who originally inhabited this land. They lived on land below and around the bluff on the site of current-day Red Wing. They held ceremonies and rituals atop the bluff, also used for burial, shelter from enemies and more. This was, and always has been, a sacred place to the Dakota.
This sign welcomes visitors to Barn Bluff. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)
That message is shared in an Entrance Plaza to He Mni Caɳ. There storytelling markers and seven towering pillars reveal details about this place and its importance to Native Americans. Via images, words and art, I began to learn, to understand. By learning, I am also honoring National Native American Heritage Month celebrated in November.
An overview of the seven columns rimming a center plaza at the base of Barn Bluff. That’s an aged power plant in the background. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)
I admittedly did not read every single word and somehow missed noticing the buttons to push on the storytelling markers that would allow me to hear the spoken Dakota language. But I still gathered enough information, enough story, to recognize the value of this land to the Dakota and the respect we should all hold for them, their history and the sacred He Mni Caɳ, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Mississippi River Valley is a place of remarkable natural beauty, here photographed from atop Sorin’s Bluff in Memorial Park. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)
The city of Red Wing and the nearby Prairie Island Indian Community have partnered to preserve and honor this place along the Mississippi following the guiding principles of heal, sustain, educate and honor. I saw that and read that in the plaza.
A message highlighted on a plaza column. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)
The pillars feature traditional Dakota patterns. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)
Strong words on a storytelling marker. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)
As I viewed the historic Dakota patterns on the seven plaza columns and walked around this history circle reading and photographing, words and phrases popped out at me: We are all related. Interconnectedness. Kinship and a shared landscape. If only, I thought, we would all hold those words close, remember them in our differences, remember them in our relationships with each other and with the earth, remember them in our struggles and disconnect.
A sculptured head tops a storytelling marker. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)
The city of Red Wing is named after Tatanka Mani (“Walking Buffalo”), long ago leader of the Mdewakanton Dakota in the upper Mississippi River Valley. Early immigrants who settled in the area gave him that name. Tatanka Mani helped shape the history of this region through his decisions and leadership. He was clearly connected to his people, to the non-Natives who arrived here, and to the land.
A current-day view of Barn’s Bluff from high atop Sorin’s Bluff. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)
Today He Mni Caɳ/Barn Bluff remains a major attraction in Red Wing, just as it was years ago for those traveling the river, exploring the region. Henry David Thoreau, Henry Schoolcraft and Zebulon Pike are among the countless who viewed the river and river valley below from atop the bluff.
Two of the storytelling markers at the entrance plaza and steps leading to paths that take hikers onto and up the bluff. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)
But not me. I was content to stand at its base, to take in the history shared there. And then later to view the bluff from Sorin’s Bluff in Memorial Park, a park with a road leading to the top. Even then I settled for a partial ascent, because I’d had enough of heights on this day when He Mni Caɳ challenged me and I learned the history of this sacred place.
People gather for the Salvation Army Red Kettle Campaign Kickoff. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2025)
MINI RED DONATION KETTLES decorated tables in the Faribault Lutheran School gym, site of the annual Rice County Salvation Army Red Kettle Campaign Kickoff on Sunday, November 16. I was among the many who showed up to support this faith-based social services organization serving people in need. It is a non-profit that takes the biblical words, “Love your neighbor,” and puts them into action.
Via this kickoff event and also from donations received throughout the holiday bell-ringing campaign and into 2026, the county chapter aims to raise $100,000. Those monies will provide assistance for food, clothing, housing, travel expenses and more in addition to emergency aid for those in need and/or during a natural disaster. If the goal is reached, $88,000 stays in the county with the rest going to the larger Salvation Army organization for administrative costs.
Volunteer Mary Sanborn greets people as they arrive for the event. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2025)
The all volunteer-run county chapter works with the Community Action Center, Three Rivers Community Action and Rice County to provide assistance. The organization does a lot with housing and helping the homeless, according to local board members who spoke.
Additionally, Rice County’s Salvation Army unit offers a shoe program for school-age children, free camping adventures and Shop-with-a-Cop providing free winter gear to eligible elementary school students. Personal care items are also given to local organizations offering meal programs. All of these require lots of dollars and the need is anticipated to grow.
At Sunday’s event, donations flowed as county chapter secretary Rose Marraccini encouraged the crowd to give to their neighbors. “Do what you can with what you have where you are at.” I like that simple, clear directive recognizing that some can give more than others, but that every gift helps no matter how big or small.
Mini donation kettles with a message of gratitude. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2025)
Atop each tabletop red kettle, a thank you message read, “Gratitude is the music of the heart, when its chords are swept by the breeze of kindness.”
Old Country Boys provided musical entertainment. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2025)
Signage identifies the band playing on the gymnasium stage. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2025)
The music got this couple up and dancing. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2025)
Music by the Old Country Boys was part of Sunday’s fundraising event. From Simon & Garfunkel to Johnny Cash, the tunes created a fun and relaxing vibe as folks visited and enjoyed complimentary slices of homemade pie purchased from and made by the Trinity Piemakers.
A volunteer helps with the pies. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2025)
A woman carries a variety of pies to her tablemates. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2025)
Auctioning off pies. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2025)
Later, whole pies were auctioned off. An apple pie fetched a winning $100 bid. A peach pie got $55. Strawberry-rhubarb, Dutch apple and cherry got $50 bids. On and on the bidding went of blueberry, apple-cranberry and more with all monies going to the Salvation Army.
Looking at and dropping raffle tickets in baskets. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2025)
A string of raffle tickets stretches along a tabletop. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2025)
A large poster on the gym wall thanks supporters of the kickoff event. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2025)
And then the basket raffle, with items donated by businesses and individuals, raised even more funds to help our neighbors in need in Rice County. Strings of tickets covered tables and even flowed onto the floor as donors compared the numbers on their tickets to the winning numbers called. My hopes of winning a one-hour massage did not come to fruition. Randy and I won nothing.
Karen Twiehoff listens and watches during the event. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2025)
But in a way we did. We, like others attending, won by giving. We experienced the satisfaction which comes in knowing that, in some small way, our monetary contributions will help our neighbors in need. Thus far in 2025, the local Salvation Army unit has assisted 274 Rice County families in crisis.
In reality, we are all only a crisis away from needing help. And that’s important to remember as we go about our daily lives while some of our neighbors struggle just to put food on the table.
Randy Twiehoff has been a long-time volunteer and leader with the Rice County Salvation Army.(Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2025)
FYI: Volunteers are still needed to ring bells during the holiday season. Sign up at RegisterToRing.com. A local office with a social worker is based at 617 Third Avenue Northwest in Faribault.
Additionally, there’s another opportunity to “love your neighbor.” Little Prairie United Methodist Church, 2980 130th St. E., rural Dundas, is hosting a Fall Ham Dinner from 4-8 pm Saturday, November 22. All profits will go equally to the Community Action Center food shelves in Faribault and Northfield. The Masonic Lodge of Northfield is matching donations to the CAC at this event, up to $10,000. For details on the dinner, click here.
Photographed many years ago in downtown Faribault.(Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo used here for illustration only)
MY SUNDAY BEGAN as most Sundays do with morning worship at my church. The sermon highlighted sections of Mark 12, which includes this verse: Love your neighbor as yourself. That would theme the rest of my day.
Hours later I found myself gathered with others for the annual Rice County Salvation Army Red Kettle Campaign Kickoff. Again, the focus was on neighbors, specifically helping our neighbors in need.
Shortly after that event, Randy and I were on the road to neighboring Northfield for a 5 pm candlelight prayer vigil at Bridge Square. That, too, was about loving our neighbors. This time the gathering focused on supporting the family of Adan Nunez Gonzalez, a 41-year-old father of four snatched by masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at gunpoint on November 11 in a residential neighborhood of Northfield. That incident has sparked outrage in this southern Minnesota college town and beyond.
Several family members and others witnessed Nunez Gonzalez being pulled from the passenger side of a vehicle while he was arriving at a job site along Washington Street. He’s a painter, originally from Mexico, with reportedly no criminal record who has been living in the US for 11 years. The entire incident was captured on video by his teenage son, called to the scene, and has been widely-circulated on social media. Nunez Gonzalez is now being held in the Kandiyohi County Jail. That county is among eight in Minnesota assisting with various aspects of ICE enforcement efforts. My county of Rice is not among them.
Attendees gather at Bridge Square as the candlelight prayer vigil is about to begin. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2025)
HEAVY, YET HOPEFUL, HEARTS
The mood at Sunday’s prayer vigil felt heavy, yet hopeful, as some 200 of us gathered in the town square for this event organized by the Northfield faith community. As the sun set, as the nearby Cannon River roared over the dam, candles were distributed, lit and the crowd pressed together around a monument honoring Civil War soldiers. In late September, football players from Carleton College, blocks away, met here to turn the eagle atop the monument toward their college after defeating across-town rival St. Olaf College. It’s an annual celebratory tradition for the winning team.
Bridge Square has long been a community gathering spot, a place to celebrate, to peacefully protest, to meet one another for local events.
On this mid-November evening, it felt right and necessary to be here. To pray. To sing. To hear scripture quoted. To contemplate the gravity of ICE actions that have traumatized, torn families apart, instilled fear in communities across the country, raised the ire and concerns of many Americans like me who care about our neighbors and how they are being unjustly treated. Taken by armed, masked ICE agents and Border Patrol. Confined. Deported. Without due process of law.
Clergy gather before the start of the prayer vigil. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2025)
A COMMUNITY RESPONDS
I felt the unity of a community determined to raise their voices and to take action. Northfielders have fed the family of their detained neighbor, organized activities for his children, started a GoFundMe to cover legal and other expenses, emailed support, expressed outrage and much more.
Love your neighbor as yourself was emphasized by clergy leading the vigil. One after another they stepped up to the mic, the first pastor leading us in The Lord’s Prayer. One referenced the biblical parable of the mustard seed and how we are to plant seeds of hope, faith, advocacy that will grow sturdy and strong among us. Another spoke of Jesus and his family fleeing to Egypt after his birth following threats from King Herod to find and kill all first-born males. It was fitting.
Another view of the crowd, not all of it, but a section of the attendees. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2025)
A BIBLICAL DIRECTIVE
And then there was the well-known scripture from Matthew 25 in which Jesus asks us to care for one another—when hungry or thirsty, in need of clothing, when sick and in prison. It is as strong a directive as any in the bible to love our neighbors and to show that love in kind, caring and compassionate action.
The 25-minute Sunday evening prayer vigil closed with singing of “This Little Light of Mine.” Voices rose clear and strong in the darkness, arms stretched high, each hand grasping a single candle. A light. Many candles shining lights of support, hope, protest, resistance, outrage and more in a community that cares deeply about its neighbors.
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NOTE: Please check back for a second “Love your neighbor” post, this one on the Salvation Army Red Kettle Campaign Kickoff.Also, note that the vigil images in this post were taken with my smartphone, thus the quality is not great compared with pix I would have taken with my 35 mm Canon. I left that at home, opting to be in the moment.
WHENEVER AN AUTHOR appears locally to read from and discuss his/her book, I try to attend. I love reading and learning. I enjoy listening to other writers talk about the craft of writing as I read and write nearly every day.
Osterholm, an internationally-renowned epidemiologist and director of the University of Minnesota Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, is a familiar name, especially to Minnesotans. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he was tapped as an expert. I, for one, found him to be an invaluable and trusted source of information during the pandemic. His knowledge and research into infectious diseases stretches well beyond COVID, though.
My history with Osterholm goes back decades to the late 1970s when I was just out of college working at a small town Minnesota weekly newspaper, The Gaylord Hub. Osterholm came to Gaylord during a hepatitis outbreak at the local school. While details of that health issue have long faded, I recall that this highly-contagious disease was connected to a band teacher and musical instruments. I remember photographing Osterholm, also starting his career, and writing a news story about what was unfolding at the school.
The original coronavirus as depicted by the CDC in 2021. (Sourced online)
On November 17, Osterholm will focus on pandemics, sure to be an enlightening talk at this 7-8:30 pm first come first serve seating (doors open at 6 pm.) event at The Grand, 316 Washington Street in Northfield and hosted by local independent bookshop, Content Bookstore.
(Book cover sourced online)
While Osterholm will present in a large venue, author Gary Heyn will appear in a much smaller, intimate setting, the Rice County Area United Way’s Books on Central. The used bookshop is housed in a former jewelry store at 227 Central Avenue North, Faribault. Heyn, a retired corporate executive turned historian, genealogist and writer upon his retirement, will read from and talk aboutStanding at the Grave: A Family’s Journey from the Grand Duchy of Posen to the Prairies of North Dakota. This free literary event is set for 6 pm Thursday, November 20.
I’m about a third of the way through Heyn’s book and I can attest that it is a captivating read, the kind of book I don’t want to put down. It’s relatable when considering my German immigrant ancestors and also in the context of immigration issues today. Once I’m finished with the book, my husband will also be reading it. His ancestors, the Helblings, moved from Germany to then Russia (current day Ukraine) before journeying to America and a new life in North Dakota.
Insights into immigration, tracing family history and stories are always of interest. Heyn will read from the chapters of his book about three mothers from Gembitz Hauland, an historic German-Polish village, who were reunited in Steele County 18 years after sending their children to America. To type those words is enough to break my heart. I cannot imagine how difficult that must have been for those three mothers. But it happened. Over and over and over again.
I encourage you, if you live in my area, to attend these upcoming author talks. These are opportunities to learn via the expertise and creativity of those inspired to write.
A new mural on the side of Midwest Indoor Storage celebrates Farmer Seed & Nursery’s history in Faribault. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)
THE FIRST PART of a three-pronged project honoring Farmer Seed & Nursery in Faribault has been completed. Recently a 20 by 24-foot mural, designed by local historian and creative Jeff Jarvis of West Cedar Studio and painted by Minneapolis artist Melodee Strong, was installed at Midwest Indoor Storage, site of the former nursery.
The new Farmer Seed mural hangs on an indoor storage building where Farmer Seed once stood. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)
The artwork hangs on a corner of the building’s west side, visible to eastbound passersby along Minnesota State Highway 60/Fourth Street.
A 1920s image of Farmer Seed from the Jeff Jarvis Collection. (Photo courtesy of Jeff Jarvis)
Vegetable art in a vintage seed catalog for sale at Keepers Antiques in downtown Faribault. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)
The beautiful, artsy cover of a 1921 Farmer Seed catalog found at Keepers Antiques. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)
The iconic Farmer Seed and Nursery multi-level complex once rose here, an identifiable community landmark business rooted in agriculture. With nearly a 130-year history in Faribault and company roots in Chicago dating to 1888, Farmer Seed was once noted for its local seed farms, seeds, mail order seed catalog, retail store and Christmas trees. I remember paging through the company’s catalogs while growing up on a southwestern Minnesota dairy and crop farm. From vegetables to flowers to shrubs and trees, Farmer Seed offered endless options for the everyday gardener, farmer and other growers.
Simple, bright, bold and memorable graphics define the mural. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)
Today the mural and a forthcoming kiosk and memory book will continue to celebrate this long-time Faribault business. In designing the mural, Jarvis kept it simple, focusing on the signature exterior signage that graced the historic building. He added a splash of color in a clutch of sunflowers, highly recognizable, he said, and a popular agricultural symbol.
The multi-paneled kiosk will stand on the corner of Fourth Street and Eighth Avenue. (Design rendering courtesy of Jeff Jarvis, WestCedarStudio.com)
Jarvis also created conceptual sketches for the planned corner kiosk and is developing an interior graphic panel display featuring company history, little-known products and personnel information.
The memory book cover designed by Jeff Jarvis of WestCedarStudio.com. (Courtesy of Jeff Jarvis)
Additionally, this keeper of local history is compiling a Farmer Seed memory book of stories, historical information and photos. Jarvis has included his own childhood story about a coveted Ant Farm purchased at the retail store by his mother and gifted to him at Christmas. He’s looking for more stories and encourages submission of those via a form on his website at https://westcedarstudio.com/farmer-seed-nursery-memory-book/. Once the stories are compiled they will be available to read for free on Jarvis’ studio website or as a printed copy for a fee.
On a recent rainy morning, I photographed the Farmer Seed & Nursery historic-themed bench along Faribault’s Central Avenue, among many history benches downtown. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)
I expect this trio of projects will be well-received in Faribault, where the 2018 closure, then sale and eventual complete demolition of the iconic Farmer Seed complex in 2023 raised public concern. I was among those who hoped the building, on the National Register of Historic Places, could be saved, a new use found for this long-time landmark. It was not to be. But the city, including the Heritage Preservation Commission, recognized the importance of preserving memories by requiring historical remembrance projects as part of the property sale, according to Jarvis. I’m grateful for that and for parts of the building that were salvaged for historical purposes.
Flocked Christmas trees for sale at Farmer Seed in 2014. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo 2014)
Today when I view the newly-installed mural, I think of my own Farmer Seed memories. Like so many others, those trace to Christmas. I loved to wander through the retail store to see all the trees decorated with ornaments. Sometimes my husband and I would buy our short needle short Christmas tree there. Not a flocked tree, which was a Farmer Seed specialty. One year we waited too long and, days before Christmas, got what I think may have been the last tree in town at a bargain price.
A page in a 1970 seed catalog at Keepers Antique Shop. In 1894 Farmer Seed moved to Faribault and started its seed growing operation here. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)
For many area residents, Farmer Seed holds a life-time of memories. Of seed catalogs. Of seed potatoes. Of seed packets. Of lilac bushes and Christmas trees. Of wood plank floors and a building rising high along highway 60, where an indoor storage unit and an under-construction apartment building now stand on land once rooted in agriculture.
On the back of this photo, my dad simply penned “a letter from home.” I appreciate this photo taken by an unknown buddy while they were in the service. (From the Elvern Kletscher photo collection)
A SHORT BIT AGO, I reread a letter my dad wrote home to his parents in southwestern Minnesota on his 22nd birthday in March 1953. Dad penned the letter thousands of miles away in Korea, where he was fighting on the frontline during the Korean War.
Among my dad’s “Korea stuff” are a book of military instructions he carried into the battlefield, a newspaper clipping about him, and his dog tags atop his letter home, the chain circling the words “hell hole.” (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo November 2023)
One long paragraph of that missive stands out for me on this Veterans Day. That is Dad’s anger at the draft board and at those who thought it necessary to send young men like him into what he termed a “hell hole” and a war against Communism that he didn’t think could be won.
This photo from my dad’s collection is tagged as “Kim, Rowe, Allen & me, May 1953 Machine Gun Crew.” That’s my father on the right.(From the Elvern Kletscher photo collection)
I expect many others thought like Dad. How could you not after shooting, killing, watching your buddies die in battle? After living with hunger and bone-chilling cold in a mountainous land far from home.
At the time of his letter, Dad was especially concerned that his younger brother, Harold, would be drafted. He vowed revenge if that happened. I suppose when you’re an older brother and you’ve seen war like he has, you don’t want someone you love to experience the same. Dad’s words were just that. Words. Words written by a combat soldier weary of war. A soldier frustrated. A soldier counting the months until he could leave Korea and then be discharged from the Army.
Dad vented to his parents. He called for those in positions of power to come to the Korean battlefields, to see for themselves the realities of war. I imagine many a soldier wished the same, that officials, leaders and decision-makers understood the results of their policies, actions, decisions, orders.
My dad came home from Korea with the wounds of war. Mental, emotional and physical. He was wounded by shrapnel at Heartbreak Ridge. He experienced depression and post traumatic stress disorder.
Yet, he returned to America still patriotic, a proud American whose sacrifices and service were not then recognized. He served in what would become known as “The Forgotten War.” How demeaning, to be ignored, unsupported, just like Vietnam War veterans. Only decades later did Dad receive the Purple Heart he earned on the battlefield.
Dad went on to become an active American Legion member, serving as commander of the local post. He taught me and my siblings to respect veterans and those who died in battle. We attended every Memorial Day program in my hometown of Vesta. Afterwards we gathered at the cemetery for the playing of taps, prayer and a gun salute. We wandered among the tombstones.
I joined the Junior American Legion Auxiliary, which mostly involved selling poppies on Poppy Day. I also read “In Flanders Fields” at the community Memorial Day program and placed paper poppies on a wreath. My mom was an active American Legion Auxiliary member.
Dad integrated back into life in rural Minnesota upon his return from Korea as if nothing had changed for him. But it had. And it did. Going through his box of “Korea stuff” 72 years after he wrote that birthday letter home to his parents, I glimpse the “hell hole” of war he experienced. My anger rises, too, for all he endured and suffered on the battlefield and upon his return home to rural Minnesota.
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
Commentary: I care about my neighbors, a free press, freedom & more December 3, 2025
Tags: America, bullying, censorship, commentary, Faribault, free press, government, journalists, media, Minnesota, news, opinion, Somalis
I CAN’T IGNORE the news. I want to, no, need to, know what’s happening on all levels from local to international. Perhaps it’s my innate curiosity or my journalism background that compels me to read and watch media reports. I feel an obligation, especially in these challenging times, to be as informed as possible.
What I’ve been hearing and reading from the federal government in Washington DC continues to concern me. Deeply. I can hardly believe the rhetoric, the hatred, the awfulness that is flowing like hot lava from fiery mouths upon this land.
The latest is the hatred directed by our president toward Somalis living in America, including some 80,000 in Minnesota. My community of Faribault is home to many Somali Americans. The president has singled out Somalis in Minnesota with his derogatory words and planned, targeted ICE raids here. I am proud of the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul and other leaders, including the Minneapolis police chief, for speaking up and standing strong for the Somali community during a Tuesday afternoon news conference. They recognize the threat to this specific demographic. And they value the Somalis who call Minnesota home.
“Who,” I ask, “will be next? Me, because my eyes are green?” Maybe he doesn’t care for green-eyed people. Or you? Because he doesn’t like something about you.
He certainly doesn’t care for journalists, especially female journalists. I realize a dislike of journalists is nothing new. But this president has gone well beyond “dislike” to outright meanness, bullying and name-calling. I never thought I would see the day when the leader of our country would chastise a reporter with “Quiet, piggy.” I never thought I would hear an American president call a reporter fat or terrible or ugly or any other adjective while hissing “fake news” at the media.
When the U.S. government launched a Media Bias page on the official White House website just days ago, I felt nothing short of outraged. This is the United States of America, where freedom of the press ought to mean something, where the media is independent of the government, where reporters have a right and a duty to accurately report the truth without fear of intimidation, public shaming, recrimination,… This newest tactic of naming a “Media Offender of the Week” ought to anger every single person in this country. I don’t care what side of the political aisle you sit on. This latest action speaks to censorship, to controlling the press, to propaganda, to anything but democracy.
I value freedom. I hope you do, too, enough to stand up for a free press, individual rights, freedom from fear, intimidation, oppression and all that threatens us. These are unprecedented times (yes, I recognize that may be an overused word, but it fits) in our country. I refuse to remain silent.
THOUGHTS?
© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling