Minnesota Prairie Roots

Writing and photography by Audrey Kletscher Helbling

A taste of Germany coming to Faribault on November 11 November 1, 2012

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 5:55 PM
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ONCE UPON A TIME, in 1974 to be precise, I entered college with every intention of majoring in German. Eventually, though, I realized that following such a path, because I had no desire to teach, was rather foolish. And so I pursued my other love, writing, and earned a journalism degree.

I tell you this tidbit because it relates to the rest of this post, about an upcoming German Fest to be presented by Cannon Valley Lutheran High School.

We need to backtrack even further, first to Wabasso High School where I studied the German language for four years and was an active member of the German Club. I loved learning German. I expect either you love learning a foreign language or you don’t and German was the single foreign language offered at my alma mater.

I also enjoyed the social aspect of German Club, specifically our annual club trip to New Ulm, undeniably the most German city in Minnesota. Back in the 1970s, traveling to New Ulm in the next county to the east to shop downtown and at Domeier’s, a little German import store, and later dine on a German meal at Eibner’s Restaurant, rated as a major trip. I am serious. It is not all that often that I left Redwood County while growing up.

It was on one of those German Club trips to New Ulm that I first tried sauerbraten, beef marinated in vinegar and I don’t know what else. The main dish tasted so exotic and different from the corn-fed beef my mom roasted in her speckled enamel roaster back on the farm.

During that single meal in the upstairs of a New Ulm supper club, I felt as if I had traveled across the ocean to Germany to dine.

Serve me sauerbraten now and I am that giddy German-speaking high school girl dining at Eibner’s in New Ulm.

The 2011 CVLHS German meal: sauerbraten and spaetzle on the left, German potato salad, sweet and sour cabbage, dinner roll and sauerkraut and brats.

Today I needn’t even leave Faribault, my home of 30 years, to eat sauerbraten. Cannon Valley Lutheran High School will serve sauerbraten and a plateful of other German foods—spaetzle, German potato salad, sweet-and-sour red cabbage, bratwurst with sauerkraut and bread pudding—at a Sunday, November 11, German Fest. Serving is from 5 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. in the gymnasium at Trinity Lutheran Church, 530 Fourth Street Northwest, Faribault.

It’s a heavy, filling ethnic meal that is absolutely delicious. These Cannon Valley people know how to cook.

Diners  pack the Trinity gym and enjoy the German meal at the second annual CVLHS German Fest in 2011.

Tickets go fast. So do not tarry if you wish to partake. To reserve your tickets, call CVLHS at 507-685-2636 between the hours of 8:30 a.m. – 3 p.m. Monday – Friday or email the school at cvlhs@cvlhs.org.  (Tell them I sent you.) Advance ticket purchases are recommended by Wednesday, November 7. A limited number of tickets will be sold at the door.

Meal tickets are $13 for ages 11 – adult; $7 for ages 5-10; and free for preschoolers with paid adult.

In addition to the German meal, the Fest includes a free program of “Thanks and Praise”—songs and readings in German and English—beginning at 4 p.m. in the Trinity sanctuary.

During the supper, diners will be entertained with polka music. You will have to tap your feet as I do not expect there to be dancing.

However, I do expect great food and fellowship.

As a bonus, you will support CVLHS students by attending. The meal is a fundraiser for a German Club trip, not to New Ulm three counties to the west, but to Germany in February.

CLICK HERE TO READ a post I wrote about last year’s second annual CVLHS German Fest.

BONUS PHOTOS: Earlier this fall, CVLHS hosted its annual silent and live auctions at the Morristown Community Center in Morristown, where the high school is based. Below are three images from that event. Students, staff, parents and others volunteer countless hours to support Christian education at CVLHS. Their dedication continues to impress me.

The crowd of bidders at the annual CVLHS auction. The school has strong community support.

CVLHS  students work the baked goods and produce sale during the recent auction.

Auctioning of  a beautiful pieced quilt at the CVLHS live auction.

© Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

In Hastings: The comfortable familiarity of an old-fashioned grocery store

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Reissner’s Meats & Grocery in historic downtown Hastings, Minnesota.

YOU KNOW HOW SOMETIMES, when you step into a place, you feel like you’ve been there before, but you haven’t.

That would be Reissner’s Meats and Grocery in historic downtown Hastings.

Third-generation owner Dick Reissner.

Entering this narrow two-aisle store with a mustachioed, gray-haired shopkeeper in a butcher’s apron leaning on the front counter, I experienced a sense of familiarity tracing back to my childhood. Reissner’s reminds me of the corner grocery in my hometown of Vesta where I purchased my favorite Tootsie Pop suckers, Bazooka bubble gum and yellow packs of Juicy Fruit gum from the candy counter on many a trip to town with Mom.

Honestly, I cannot remember much else about Rasmussen’s Grocery except the candy and the wood floors and the big old screen door that banged shut behind me.

Aisle one with the candy counter to the left.

Reissner’s in Hastings possesses that same nostalgic feel, even a vintage look in the red-and-white tile floors, the mishmash of merchandise, the hulking and energy-sucking open cooler that holds pop, and the price stickers adhered to canned foods and more.

Dick Reissner reads at the front counter while I explore his store.

Richard (Dick) Otto Reissner was preoccupied with reading when I walked in on a recent Saturday afternoon and didn’t seem to want to be bothered. So I didn’t query him with the list of questions formulating in my mind as I perused the aisles.

Vintage photos which clued me in as to the history of this place.

Therefore I have no stories to share with you about this third-generation family business. Only photos.

The exterior sign, which dates the business to 1902.

I totally forgot to search for the lefse or ask about  Grandma Ruth.

The vintage toys, etc., are not for sale.

An old, old cooler…

How often do you see price stickers on food anymore?

I have no clue, none, why there’s a saddle, right, in the grocery store.

© Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Leaving my mark in a Hastings antique shop October 31, 2012

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 8:29 AM
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I’VE NEVER INKED my name onto a desktop, never etched my name into a picnic table nor my initials into the bark of a tree.

But I left my mark recently in a Hastings antique shop, because, well, I could.

I stood before the vintage Smith-Corona Floating Shift typewriter in The Emporium and pounded out this message: Minnesota Prairie Roots was here. Clack, clack, clack, clack… Twenty-nine times.

The message I left at The Emporium.

And I didn’t even make a typo, but felt a surge of Lutheran guilt at my self-centered promotion of my blog.

“Who would read this?” I wondered. “A customer? Management?”

Then, in an automatic reflex, I pulled my Canon EOS 20D camera to my eye and photographed the evidence. I would not make a good graffiti vandal.

However, from an artistic perspective, I fell in love with the photo—the simplicity of the image with its strong lines, its fuzzy quality (who says sharp focus is always best in photos?), its artsy quality and the red bands of ribbon and of words.

The gracious Emporium staff allowed me to photograph them.

So as to redeem myself for my self-indulgent infraction, I photographed the staff at the counter—they had no idea what I had typed onto that sheet of paper.

And just to make sure I’ve totally redeemed myself, I’m showing you several pieces of merchandise which particularly caught my eye on the second floor of this spacious, lovely and historic building.

Just loved this Fire King piece and this fruit. Should have bought it.

Artsy and lovely and beautiful.

I have no idea of the identity of this flaming orange-haired woman. I could think only of Cruella de Vil dressed for Halloween.

FYI: Click here to learn more about The Emporium, 213 East Second Street, Hastings, Minnesota.

The lovely architecture of The Emporium.

CLICK HERE TO READ a previous post from the Mississippi River town of Hastings, Minnesota, which brims with antique shops in its historic downtown.

© Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Lovin’ Hastings’ historic downtown October 30, 2012

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:51 AM
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Just a sampling of the historic buildings in downtown Hastings, Minnesota.

WHY I’VE NEVER VISITED historic Hastings, a Mississippi River town an hour from my Faribault home, prior to a few weeks ago remains a mystery to me.

Jammed with building after building after building hearkening from yesteryear, Hastings’ downtown holds precisely the type of architecture and vintage imprint that I find especially appealing.

Looking up at Second Childhood Toys.

I could just stand there and gawk at the upper floors of these mostly brick buildings—at the arched windows, the detailed trim, the dates that define a building’s birth—for a good spell.

Stroll the sidewalks of downtown Hastings at a leisurely pace and step inside the many charming shops.

But the sidewalk level, too, offers an equal amount of charm with a multitude of antique and gift shops, a sweet spot to sample ice cream or candy, and more.

Relaxing on an early autumn afternoon in downtown Hastings, when the weather was still warm.

It’s the kind of Main Street where folks lollygag, where locals relax on a bench and sip coffee, where a dog lazes in the middle of the sidewalk and no one minds skirting around the canine, where trolls lurk near the bridge.

In Oliver’s Grove 1819, a downtown park, I found this mural of trolls and the old spiral bridge which once crossed over the Mississippi from Hastings to Wisconsin. Hastings was originally called Oliver’s Grove after Lt. William G. Oliver who arrived here in 1819.

This describes the Hastings I found on a Saturday afternoon in early autumn. Hastings, with its historic district, reminds me of Faribault’s downtown. Except Faribault seems to be mostly undiscovered.

Mailboxes and an historic marker on a door in the business district.

These circus glasses caught my eye inside an antique shop, Second Street Antiques and Collectibles, I believe. It was difficult for me to resist purchasing these as I collect vintage glassware.

Inside the same antique shop, looking across the street at a row of historic buildings.

Just in time for Halloween…a vintage clown costume in the same antique mall.

A vintage turkey decoration for the table, a few booths over from that Halloween costume.

One more seasonal find, a casserole in autumn hues.

So many antique shops to visit and not enough time to see them all.

Walking the dog in historic downtown Hastings on a warm and sunny Saturday earlier in autumn.

PLEASE CHECK BACK for more posts from historic Hastings.

© Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

The inspiring art of Richard Vilendrer October 28, 2012

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 8:55 AM
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IF YOU HAVE ANYTHING in your life weighing you down today, and I mean anything, then you need to watch a You Tube video, “The Artwork of Richard Vilendrer.” (Click here to view.)

Richard is a 73-year-old Faribault artist who uses a ballpoint pen and colored pencils and a technique called cross hatching to create the most uplifting and inspiring art. He draws subjects like flowers, leaves, crosses, stained glass and more, integrating religious themes.

An example of Richard’s nature and faith-inspired pen-and-ink and colored pencil artwork.

In fine and precise block print, Richard often incorporates a message: GOD’S GREAT LOVE HOLDS EVERYTHING IN EXISTENCE or I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE or MAY THE PEACE OF JESUS BE WITH YOU ALL.

I first discovered Richard’s art about a year ago at the Faribault Farmers’ Market where Carol Vilendrer was selling her husband’s work, and I hesitate to call his art “work.” Passion would be a more accurate description, I later learned in a phone interview with Richard. That led to a blog post, which you can read by clicking here.

Recently, Carol tipped me off to the You Tube video created by the Vilendrers’ daughter, Rebecca Quidley, who is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree with an emphasis on arts at a North Carolina community college. As a class assignment, Rebecca had to write about someone who inspired her in life. She chose to write about her father.

When you view this video, you will understand why Rebecca chose Richard because, I promise, you will be inspired. You see, Richard suffered a stroke while vacationing in October 2010 and was paralyzed on his right side. Fortunately, he is left-handed. Richard underwent intense physical therapy to recover. The video shows that recovery process.

Daughter Rebecca writes in her video that, after the stroke, her dad drew with more passion and fervor than ever. That shows.

He draws in a small room—a bedroom before the kids left home—at a drawing table.

Childhood memories, daily life and his faith in God inspire Richard in his art.

Right now, watch “The Artwork of Richard Vilendrer” and be inspired. Your day will be better for having done so.

Scripture and Christian songs also inspire Richard.

FYI: Richard’s given four drawings to his church, Divine Mercy, and one was purchased by the Friends of the Library, on display at Buckham Memorial Library in Faribault. Half-fold greeting cards are sold at a downtown Faribault consignment shop, Fabulous Finds. Richard’s prints and cards are also sold at events with all proceeds given to the American Cancer Society.

© Text copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
All artwork copyright of Richard Vilendrer and photographed with permission

 

Seriously, beer for breakfast? October 25, 2012

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 7:16 AM
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SITTING IN THE RECLINER the other night perusing a coupon book recently inserted in my local newspaper, the Faribault Daily News, I came upon this deal from L & M Bar & Grill in downtown Dundas, just south of Northfield:

I taped the word “VOID” across this coupon so you cannot use it.

I turned to my husband, informed him of the beer deal and said something like, “Can you believe this?/They must have made a mistake./Are you kidding, beer for breakfast?”

Breakfast is served at L& M from 7 – 11 a.m. Monday – Saturday and from 8:30 – 11 a.m. on Sunday.

What’s your take on this coupon, this offer of free beer with purchase of breakfast?

 

Zumbrota exhibit explores water during this year of extreme drought October 19, 2012

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 7:55 AM
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I LOVE THE ARTS.

And I expect part of that passion comes from the lack of arts in my life when I was growing up on the southwestern Minnesota prairie. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, out there in “the middle of nowhere,” as some would say, life focused more on survival than anything.

By survival I mean my father earning enough money to support his wife and six children on a modest crop and dairy farm.

So much depended on the weather, on the rain or lack thereof. Enough rain meant a bountiful crop to feed the cattle and/or sell grain on the market. Too little rain meant scrimping on feed and less money to pay the bills, buy the groceries, clothe the family.

But let’s circle back to my original statement about loving the arts and connect that to water.

Recently I entered, and successfully competed in, an “It’s All One Water” poetry competition sponsored by the Zumbro Watershed Partnership and Crossings at Carnegie, a privately-owned art center in Zumbrota.

This evening a public reception will be held at Crossings, 320 East Avenue, beginning at 6:30 p.m. It is an opportunity to view works by 56 writers and photographers who “explored the aspects of water which fascinate them and created their own artistic expression of this most basic foundation for life,” according to promo info for the event.

At 7:30 p.m., writers, photographers and guests will move down the block to the historic Zumbrota State Theatre where writers will read their works while the water-themed photographs are projected onto a screen.

I will read my “In which Autumn searches for Water.”

My poetic expression about water traces back to my farm roots, to that constant and undeniable link between the land and the sky.

That connection is so much a part of my fiber that I cannot think about water in recreational terms—I can’t swim, don’t like being on the water and grew up in a Minnesota county without a natural lake. Rather, for me, water has always been about sustaining life, about growing a crop, about watering the cows or watering plants or measuring rainfall.

So when I learned of the “It’s All One Water” poetry competition shortly after an autumn walk at the River Bend Nature Center in Faribault, where I found dry ponds, I knew exactly what I would write. I personified Autumn, creating a thirsty woman in search of an also personified Water. It works and I think well, especially given the current historic drought conditions throughout our country.

About a third of Minnesota is suffering from extreme drought. On Thursday the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources issued a news release urging Minnesotans to adopt water conservation measures (no washing vehicles, watering lawns and trees, etc.) as drought conditions are straining our state’s water resources.

Here’s a snippet of my drought-related water poem, verse three of five:

But she finds there, at the pond site, the absence of Water,
only thin reeds of cattails and defiant weeds in the cracked soil,
deep varicose veins crisscrossing Earth.

You can hear me read “In which Autumn searches for Water” this evening or view the entire exhibit from now until the end of October at Crossings. Hours are 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday; 10 a.m. – 8 p.m. Thursdays; or from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Saturdays. A limited number of chapbooks are available. Monies from Minnesota’s Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund helped to fund the “It’s All One Water” exhibit.

CLICK HERE to reach the Crossings at Carnegie website.

CLICK HERE to link to the Zumbro Watershed Partnership website.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW drought conditions in the U.S.

 

The corner bar in Canton October 17, 2012

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 7:35 AM
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If you can take your eyes off the vintage phone booth, you’ll notice a beer sign suspended from ZZs Tap (bar) along Canton’s Main Street.

PEER DOWN THE ONE-BLOCK Main Street of Small Town, USA, and your eyes likely will land on a bar or two anchoring a business district comprised of primarily vacant and crumbling buildings.

That’s an over-generalization, of course, but sadly all too true for many once-thriving small towns.

That’s the Canton Pub on the left and the Canton Municipal Liquor Store on the right with an unknown business sandwiched in between.

While hardware stores and grocery stores, even hometown cafes and barber shops, have closed, the corner bar typically endures.

I’ve never been a frequent bar customer and honestly can’t remember the last time I stepped into a small town bar where heads swivel when a stranger enters. You know what I mean, right?

Food and drink and Tuesday night bar bingo can be found at the Canton Pub.

On a recent stop in Canton, a town of 328 nudging the Iowa border in southeastern Minnesota, I spotted the Canton Pub. I didn’t even try the pub door to see if I might slip inside for a cold one on an autumn afternoon.

I was too busy photographing the beer signs.

I photographed this sign at the Canton Pub for my oldest daughter’s boyfriend, Marc Schmidt, who recently relocated to the Twin Cities from LA.

Another beer sign on the Canton Pub.

I almost missed the classic “land of sky blue waters” Hamm’s sign until my husband pointed it out at the Canton Pub.

CHECK BACK FOR ANOTHER post from Canton. There’s more to see in this small town than the bars.

© Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Food and (some) photos October 14, 2012

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 2:42 PM
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DURING THE PAST 24 HOURS, I have eaten perhaps more food than I would consume in two days.

But three delicious food events fell on the same weekend and I was not about to skip any in the trio.

What I did skip, however, was photographing two of the three, forcing myself to leave my camera at home for one and in the van for the third, just in case. Anyone who knows me understands just how challenging camera abandonment is for me. But I did it, people, I did it.

Four of the 13 chilis/soups served at Lanae and Dale’s annual soup party.

So, instead of seeing photos from Saturday’s Fall Festival in downtown Faribault, which included a buffet of chili along Central Avenue, you will see photos only from my sister Lanae and her husband Dale’s ninth annual soup party Saturday evening.

You also will not see photos from the fall dinner I attended today at Trinity Lutheran Church, North Morristown. I hadn’t even entered the sanctuary when I was asked, “Do you have your camera?” Yesterday I heard the same question several times while strolling Central.

People have come to expect that I will always have my camera around my neck. It was time for me to break free of the camera. Besides, I’ve photographed both the Chili Contest and the Trinity dinner in the past and felt uninspired and maybe a bit lazy. (If you want to see photos from the 2011 church dinner, click here. For past images of the Fall Festival, click here.)

My floral designer sister always has her yard and house seasonally and beautifully decorated.

But, prior to scooping up soup in my sister’s garage, I shot a few photos inside and out and then put away my camera.

I hope you will be inspired by these photos to host an autumn soup party. Guests brought 13 soups/chilis like split pea, potato, Gunflint chili, white chili, minestrone, tomato and more in crockpots. Paired with homemade breads and sweetened with sweet treats, the soups and chilis presented a perfect meal for a fun-filled fall evening with family and friends.

The soup party started and ended with a backyard campfire. Here a few guests and host Dale gathered before we ate.

I was distracted from the food by this gigantic toad in my sister’s backyard.

Then 7-month-old Mychel and her mom arrived and I invited them for a quick photo shoot on the front steps because, well, how could I resist that sweet baby face?

And then I noticed the sweet baby shoes and how could I resist photographing the feet of mom and daughter?

The sweet baby shoot continued as Mychel walked with her mom toward the garage.

In the garage Mychel’s grandpa, Scott, left, and other guests eventually started filing through the soup line.

My niece Cortney and guest Sheila scoop up soup. Casual and warm attire are necessary for this event which is staged in the garage, driveway and backyard. Layers are added as the evening progresses and cold settles in.

© Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Two delicious Minnesota food events & that Wisconsin barn October 12, 2012

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 7:20 AM
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Diners dish up at last year’s fall dinner at Trinity Lutheran Church, North Morristown.

IN RECENT YEARS I’VE become an enthusiastic church dinner foodie.

And this Sunday, October 14, my favorite of all church dinners will be served at Trinity Lutheran Church, North Morristown, in western Rice County.

Let me tell you, these parishioners can cook. You’ll get real homecooked food from potatoes that have been peeled and mashed to garden grown squash to fresh-baked bread to ham that’s not pressed.

This is the meal you’ll get at Trinity Lutheran Church, North Morristown’s, fall dinner and more. Delicious.

The full menu includes turkey, ham, potatoes and gravy, dressing, squash, corn, cranberries, bread and cake. If you pile all of that onto your plate, you won’t need another meal on Sunday.

And, get this: This generous fall dinner will cost you only $10 (ages 13 and older), $5 for 6-12-year-olds and free for those five and under.

Serving is from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. Be prepared to wait upstairs in the sanctuary for tables to empty in the church basement.

You might want to attend the 9:30 a.m. church service so you can be among the first in line.

Participants in last year’s Chili Contest dish up chili at a business along Central Avenue during the Fall Festival.

ANOTHER AREA FOOD EVENT actually happens a day earlier during the Fall Festival in downtown Faribault from 10:30 a.m. – 3 p.m. Saturday. In addition to an 11 a.m. costume parade, pumpkin painting and other activities for the kids, a Chili Contest is part of the celebration.

You can eat your way down historic Central Avenue sampling about 30 chilis between 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. I’d advise arriving earlier rather than later as in the past some competitors have run out of chili. I believe the cost is $3, a real deal considering you will have your fill of chili.

Be sure to vote for your favorite because the winning chili will be featured every Friday from October through February at Boston’s The Gourmet Pizza.

Seriously, people, two days of no cooking and eating great homecooked food on the cheap works for me.

FINALLY…REMEMBER that Wisconsin barn I featured here earlier this week? You know the one with the message “#12 is #1G.” I wanted you to guess if the barn was painted green, gold or red.

Well, dear readers, here is the true barn color:

Yes, the barn is red.

I know some of you are perhaps disappointed that the barn is not Green Bay Packers green or gold.

But, I must tell you that, while shopping at Festival Foods in Appleton, Wisconsin, last Saturday, my husband and I found green and gold brat and hamburger buns on a special Green Bay Packers food display.

I could have kicked myself for not bringing my camera into the grocery store. Randy photographed the buns with his cell phone. So if we ever figure out how to get that photo onto my computer, I will show you those green and gold buns.

I am not making this up.

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MY APOLOGIES, READERS, for the over-sized images here. But I’ve tried to reduce them without success; apparently some technical issues going on here with WordPress.

© Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling