rural life | Minnesota Prairie Roots

Iowa, rooted in rural July 16, 2015

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 5:00 AM
Tags: agriculture, Garner, Interstate 35, Iowa, rural life, small towns, thoughts, travel, Ventura

THE PEOPLE OF IOWA WELCOME YOU. Fields of Opportunities. Thus reads the sign welcoming southbound travelers crossing into Iowa from Minnesota along Interstate 35.

A farm site just across the Minnesota-Iowa border on the west side of Interstate 35.

It seems a fitting slogan for a state that’s rural in nature, that stretches fields across the landscape. Sure, larger cities like Des Moines, Dubuque, Ames and Iowa City exist. But it is the small towns and farm sites and the people who live therein which best define this agricultural based state.

I expect all too many travelers have dismissed Iowa, failed to explore her Main Streets and backroads as they zoom along the Interstate, focused only on making good time to reach a destination. I have been guilty of that myself.

Between Iowa’s northern border and Clear Lake, west side of I-35.

On a mid-May trip to Clear Lake in northern Iowa, my husband and I traveled I-35 there, but then took backroads home. We drove through small towns and through the countryside, sometimes stopping, sometimes not. Randy has reminded me if we stopped everywhere I wanted to stop, we would never get anywhere. He is right.

So here are some snapshots from northern Iowa taken through dirty and rain-spotted car windows:

The tornado shelter sign caught my eye in Ventura, a small town just west of Clear Lake.

Along U.S. Highway 18 in the Ventura/Garner area.

The Red Elevator, restored in 2009, gloriously graces the entry to Garner’s Main Street. Garner is located west of Ventura.

Just another view of the historic elevator. We should have stopped to inquire about its current usage and history.

Garner’s downtown with some lovely historic buildings. I would love to see the old corner building, and the clock hanging from it, restored.

A perfect place for an antique shop in Garner.

Iowa is known for its barn quilts and I spotted several, including this one near Garner.

A century farm marker near Forest City.

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Pedal power & princesses in small town Minnesota July 8, 2015

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 5:00 AM
Tags: competition, Elysian, Fourth of July, Kid Power Pedal Pull, Minnesota, pedal tractors, princesses, rural life, small towns, sports

Every single contestant is encouraged.

THERE’S SOMETHING SUBLIMELY SWEET about a kids’ pedal tractor pull. I think it’s an underlying sense of community pulling together, of almost physically placing your feet on the pedals and willing a toy tractor to move forward that endears me to this rural competition.

Spectators, including a reenactor from the nearby History of Trails, line the trail.

Spectators, including a reenactor from the nearby Trails of History, line the trail for the pedal tractor pull.

Sunday afternoon in small town Elysian, I first heard the encouraging roar of the crowd before I spotted folks lining a section of the Sakatah Singing Hills State Trail for the Kid Power Pedal Pull.

Trying…

The coveted trophies.

Here, along this paved path, youngsters gripped the steering wheel of a mini White tractor and powered forward, aiming to win a tractor topped trophy.

I especially delighted in the determined and dainty Second Princess of Elysian who settled onto the tractor seat in her fancy lavender dress, grasped the wheel and pedaled in sandals, all the while smiling. If ever there was a princess who owned the moment, it was this sweet little girl.

Equally as memorable was the moment a mother bent to kiss the cheek of her son who’d just received a trophy.

He came from the Trails of History to observe the pedal tractor pull with friends.

More reenactors watching.

Another reenactor at the pedal pull.

The event drew all ages.

As I watched, I observed not only the contestants but also those watching the competition. These are the moments worth noticing, worth celebrating.

Princesses and winners pose for photos.

This is what life is all about in small town Minnesota. The moments. The sense of community. The coming together of all ages for awhile on a Sunday summer afternoon to be entertained. Applause. Smiles. Princesses.

FYI: Please check back for more photos from Elysian’s weekend celebration of the Fourth of July.

Click here to learn more about Kid Power Pedal Tractor Pulls.

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Minnesota Faces: The musicians of Monroe Crossing July 3, 2015

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 5:00 AM
Tags: black-and-white photography, bluegrass, Fourth of July celebration, holiday, Minnesota, Minnesota Faces, Monroe Crossing, music, North Morristown, photography, rural life, Trinity Lutheran Church and School North Morristown

Portrait #30: Monroe Crossing

Four of five Monroe Crossing musicians photographed during a 2013 performance at North Morristown.

They’re in the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame. They’ve recorded 14 CDs to date. Twice they’ve appeared at Carnegie Hall in New York City. And in 2016, they will become the first Minnesota bluegrass band ever to perform in South Korea.

They are Monroe Crossing, a group of five musicians who rank as one of Minnesota’s favorite bluegrass bands.

On Saturday the performers, as they have many times in the past, take the stage at the oldest Fourth of July celebration in Minnesota, now in its 123rd year. That would be in North Morristown, a country church and school and a few homes clustered west of Faribault in the middle of farm fields.

The Trinity Lutheran Church and School festival grounds is the perfect setting for these musicians who present foot-stomping down-to-earth songs. They perform at 1:30 p.m. and then again at 4 p.m. And it’s free, although donations are accepted in on-grounds donation boxes.

Plan to arrive well in advance of Monroe Crossings’ concerts. The July Fourth celebration begins at 9 a.m., when food stands and games open. Yes, there’s plenty of great food including homemade pies, barbecued pork sandwiches, burgers and more. You can play bingo, hunt for a medallion, observe a flag-raising, bid on auction items, throw horseshoes, attend a parade (at 10 a.m.), listen to other musicians (The Jolly Huntsmen Polka Band, Sawtooth Brothers, Benson Family Singers and Downtown Sound), drink beer and more.

There’s also plenty of visiting. Old-fashioned handcrafted rides are available for the kids. This rural celebration is about as Americana grassroots wholesome goodness as you’ll find anywhere in Minnesota on the Fourth of July.

Ending it all is a 10 p.m. fireworks display.

FYI: Click here to reach the North Morristown Fourth of July website page for a schedule of events and directions.

You can also check out the event Facebook page by clicking here.

Click here to view a photo essay from the 2013 celebration.

The Minnesota Faces series is featured every Friday on Minnesota Prairie Roots.

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Minnesota Faces: A church basement gentleman June 26, 2015

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 5:00 AM
Tags: black-and-white portraits, Church Basement Ladies, country churches, food, George Derscheid, Kenyon, Lutherans, Minnesota, Minnesota Faces, Moland Lutheran Church, Moland Lutheran Church Strawberry Festival, rural life, strawberries

Portrait #29: George Derscheid

As a life-long Minnesotan, I appreciate the church basement ladies. You know, the women who labor in service to the Lord by brewing coffee, buttering buns for ham sandwiches, stirring together a hamburger-noodle-cream soup based hotdish for a funeral and more to feed the hungry.

These women are held in such high esteem in our state that musical comedies have been performed about them at the noted Plymouth Playhouse. Devoted followers have delighted in plays such as “The Church Basement Ladies in A Mighty Fortress Is Our Basement” and “The Church Basement Ladies in The Last (Potluck) Supper.”

But what about the men?

They, too, hold roles of importance in Lutheran and other church basements. I’ve attended a lot of church dinners in southeastern Minnesota in recent years and noticed many a man quietly volunteering his time in service to the Lord.

Take George Derscheid. I photographed the retired Kenyon area farmer two years ago as he tallied the number of people attending the annual Moland Lutheran Church Strawberry Festival. While on the surface his job may not seem as important as working in the kitchen, it certainly is. Numbers are necessary in food planning. Plus, Lutherans like their stats and reports.

George was more than the numbers guy, though. He was also a smiling face, an unofficial greeter, an engaging man whose whole persona exudes optimism. He simply looks happy. And every Lutheran church basement needs a Lutheran who breaks the mold of stoic and unemotional.

FYI: Moland Lutheran Church, 7618 N.E. 84th Ave., rural Kenyon, celebrates its annual Strawberry Festival from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. this Sunday, June 28. It’s a must-attend event with the following foods available for purchase: pulled pork sandwiches, potato salad, chocolate cake, angel food cake and fresh strawberries, ice cream, coffee and fruit flavored drinks. There’s also a bake sale.

The country church is located southwest of Kenyon or east of Medford or northeast of Owatonna.

Click here to read my June 2013 post about the Strawberry Festival. I highly recommend it for the food, the people and the beautiful old church in a rural setting.

Minnesota Faces is part of a series featured every Friday on Minnesota Prairie Roots.

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Honoring rural life at Heritage Park of North Iowa May 20, 2015

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 5:00 AM
Tags: Forest City, Heritage Park of North Iowa, Iowa, museums, rural history, rural life, steam engines, travel, Tree Town Music Festival

“COME BACK ON SATURDAY,” Monte Topp advised. “There’ll be 25,000 people here.”

“No, thanks,” I said.

Heritage Park of North Iowa is hosting Tree Town Music Festival opening this Thursday.

And that is how I learned about the May 21 – 24 Tree Town Music Festival in Forest City, Iowa, with Saturday headliner Blake Shelton. Yes, the Blake Shelton, whom even I, not a fan of country western music, know as a judge from The Voice.

But Monte wasn’t talking much music when I met him at Heritage Park of North Iowa last Saturday morning. He was focused instead on the weekend Steam School which drew folks from around the country to learn the ins and outs of operating steam engines.

Gathered to learn about steam engines.

Steam engine tractors. It takes a full day to move all of the steam engine tractors out of a massive building on-site.

Checking out a steam engine tractor during Steam School.

A sampling of steam engine tractors were lined up across the road from the historic church.

A sampling of steam engine tractors lined up across the road from the historic Beaver Creek Church.

Yet, he found time to take my husband and me inside two expansive buildings to view massive steam engine and vintage tractors. This member of the Heritage Park board knows his stuff. Names and dates. A quarter of a million dollars to purchase that steam engine tractor and another $250,000 invested in its restoration. One-of-a-kind. Only one left. If you want to know anything about anything steam engine, ask Monte.

A Wallis tractor was among the many tractors stored in a massive building.

A tractor seat.

Monte Topp, who hails from Fertile to the east of Forest City, is a John Deere guy.

We threaded our way around hulks of machinery in spaces so dark I could only take a few photos. Heavy scent of oil overwhelmed as did thoughts of yesteryear at this 91-acre site dedicated to preserving America’s rural history.

Several log cabins are on site, including this trapper’s cabin.

I peered inside a partially open door to see that this building is appropriately dubbed the doll house. It's filled with dolls.

I peered in a window to see that this building is appropriately dubbed the doll house. It’s filled with dolls.

There are even, to my automotive machinist husband’s amazement, two buildings devoted to flywheels.

One of my favorite buildings, a corn crib.

A rural heritage park would not be complete without a barn and windmill.

A rural heritage park would not be complete without a red barn and creaky windmill.

A sampling of smaller steam engine tractors were lined up across the road from the park's historic church.

An overview of the grounds. I was about to open the door on the grey house when I realized someone lives here.

Buildings—ranging from a church to log cabins to barn, barbershop, jail, school, farmstead house and much more—create this impressive park. As luck would have it, we were not there when the park was open to the public and had to settle for an exterior walk-around.

“Come back this afternoon,” Monte advised as his phone rang.

We couldn’t. But that doesn’t mean we won’t return another time.

FYI: Click here to read my first post from Heritage Park. And check back for one more photo story, this one from downtown Forest City.

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Minnesota Faces: Allis Chalmers devotee May 1, 2015

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 5:00 AM
Tags: Allis-Chalmers, black-and-white portraits, Minnesota, Minnesota Faces, North Morristown, photography, photos, portraits, Rice County Steam & Gas Engines Show, rural life

Portrait #19: Juanita

I love how natural light from an open doorway provided the perfect lighting for this portrait of Juanita. This was an impromptu photo snapped in a blacksmith shop at the 2012 Rice County Steam & Gas Engines Show, rural Dundas. To this day, it remains one of my favorite portraits.

I love the image not only because of its great lighting and composition, but because it truly captures the spirit of Juanita. Look at how her eyes sparkle, how her genuine smile dimples her cheeks, creases the corners of her eyes and spreads across her freckled face. I’ve always found Juanita, whom I met some five years ago at her dad’s Allis Chalmers tractor auction at his North Morristown farm, a people-person.

She’s also very much her own woman, one who unabashedly wears orange (here around her hat and neck) to honor her love of the Allis Chalmers brand. Juanita dresses practically and sensibly, usually with a rural fashion touch of orange.

This is part of a series, Minnesota Faces, featured every Friday on Minnesota Prairie Roots.

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A photo documentary of Minnesota barns & thoughts on their demise April 16, 2015

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 5:00 AM
Tags: agriculture, barn photos, barns, farming, memories, Oronoco, photography, Pine Island, rural life, southeastern Minnesota, thoughts, travel

BARNS ONCE SHELTERED cows, pigs, sheep, a farmer’s livelihood. Some still do. But most don’t.

Today all too many barns stand empty of animals and are used instead for storage of recreational vehicles and other possessions. Others are simply slumping into heaps, like rotting carcasses with backbones exposed.

I fear barns will soon become memories rather than strongholds, symbols, anchors of farm sites. Their demise has been steady, sure. I see it every time I drive through the Minnesota countryside. Empty barns. Weathered siding. Curling shingles. Boarded windows. Weeds overtaking former cow yards.

I understand the financial burden of keeping up these massive structures. Sometimes it just is not in the budget to maintain a barn that provides zero income.

Back in the day when I rolled a wheelbarrow brimming with ground feed down the barn aisle, forked straw onto cement for cow’s bedding, shoved manure into the gutter, dodged streams of hot cow pee, shoveled pungent silage before stanchions, the barn and associated source of revenue were more important than the house. Long before my childhood home had an indoor bathroom, the barn had a gutter cleaner.

Times have changed. Many farmers no longer raise cattle or hogs or milk cows. They plant cash crops and work off the farm.

And so days and weeks and months and years pass and the empty barns, without the humid warmth of animals, without the daily care of the farmer, without the heartbeat of life, begin to die.

Except for those that are saved.

FYI: All of these barns were photographed in southeastern Minnesota, mostly around Pine Island and Oronoco.

Click here to learn about Friends of Minnesota Barns, a non-profit dedicated to celebrating and preserving Minnesota’s rural heritage.

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The pick-up truck March 23, 2015

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 5:00 AM
Tags: agriculture, farming, memories, Minnesota, pick-up truck, rural life, small towns, thoughts, transportation, West Concord

The pick-up truck that inspired this most, photographed Saturday afternoon in West Concord.

The pick-up truck that inspired this post, photographed Saturday afternoon in West Concord, Minnesota.

IT’S ICONIC SMALL TOWN. The pick-up truck parked along Main Street within view of the grain elevator.

By my definition, a pick-up serves as a farmer’s all-purpose vehicle. Bags of seed corn piled in the back. Squealing pigs penned for market. Fence posts slid across the bed. Must-have auction purchases tossed in the back.

My image is based upon memory. Yesteryear. My Dad’s red-and-white 1960s vintage pick-up, replaced later by a newer one.

This is a late 1960s Chevy.

You can have your shiny new hulking pick-up trucks. I’ll take those aged by history—by the weight of a farmer sliding onto a cracked seat, springs groaning, his seed corn cap nearly brushing the cab interior.

Farmer or not, I don't know. But I told this guy I liked his truck. He bellowed out a big, "Thank you" before firing up the truck.

Farmer or not, I don’t know. But I told this guy I liked his truck. He bellowed out a big, “Thank you” before firing up his unmuffled truck. And just as I shot this frame, a much newer pick-up truck rounded the corner behind him.

I’ll take muddy Red Wings planted on floorboards, grease-stained fingers gripping the steering wheel, smell of cows lingering.

Roll down the windows to the wind. Crank the radio to ‘CCO. Bounce along the gravel road, dust rolling behind in a cloud.

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A photographic journey through rural western Wisconsin November 5, 2014

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:00 AM
Tags: agriculture, farm sites, farming, photo essay, photography, rural landscape, rural life, rural Wisconsin, travel

SHADOWS AND CURVES AND LIGHT.

Sky.

Land.

Farm buildings.

All draw my eyes to the landscape, my hand to the camera, eye to the viewfinder, finger to shutter button.

Flash of color: A red barn.

Rural scenes unfold before me on this drive through western Wisconsin, from Nelson north to St. Croix Falls in early October.

I am linked to the land by my past, daughter of a southwestern Minnesota crop and dairy farmer. Even after 40 years away from the farm, fields and farm sites hold my heart more than any grid of city blocks or cluster of homes or urban anything.

If I could, I would live in the country again, close to the scent of dried corn stalks and fertile black soil.

I would live under a sky that overwhelms, inside a white farmhouse with a welcoming front porch. That was always my dream.

But dreams cost money. Instead, I have lived in an old house along an arterial street in a town of some 23,000 for 30 years. I am grateful to have a house, to live in a community I love among dear friends.

Still, a part of my soul yearns, aches for the land I left.

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Historic Winona drive-in hosts Farm Tractor Night & I was there September 4, 2014

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:00 AM
Tags: drive-in, Farm Tractor Night, food, Lakeview Drive Inn, Minnesota, photo essay, rural life, tractor show, travel, vintage tractors, Winona, yesteryear

A John Deere rounds the corner onto the 600 block of East Sarnia Street where the drive-in is located.

TRACTORS RUMBLED INTO WINONA’S Lakeview Drive Inn parking lot on a perfect Minnesota evening in late August. Ideal temps. Sun edging behind the bluffs in this Mississippi River town of nearly 28,000.

Drive-in fare served in a paper lined basket.

Folks reminisced and downed burgers, onion rings and more served in red plastic baskets lined with checkered paper.

A few cars, some vintage, managed to sneak into the drive-in among all the tractors.

Just like the old days. Root beer crafted on-site at the 1938 drive-in and served in frosty mugs by car hops.

Rows of tractors ringed Lakeview Drive Inn.

My husband and I happened upon historic Lakeview’s annual Farm Tractor Night while returning from a vacation to Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin. What a delight.

One view of Farm Tractor Night.

We were first introduced to Lakeview when our eldest daughter attended Winona State University, several blocks away, 10 years ago. I even wrote a magazine feature article on this vintage drive-in.