Minnesota Prairie Roots

Writing and photography by Audrey Kletscher Helbling

Touring the Minnesota in May BBQ & Cheese Festival May 19, 2012

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Grilling burgers Friday evening at the Minnesota in May BBQ & Cheese Festival.

ON THE EVENING BEFORE the big BBQ competition, the atmosphere at the Rice County Fairgrounds felt kicked back. Contestants settled into lawn chairs with bottles of beer, others clustered around campers, some tossed bean bags and yet other competitors chatted it up with the locals.

Next to the Two Little Pigs BBQ site, a bean bag toss competition was underway.

The guys from QU Smokin’ Krewe, Waukesha, Wisconsin, took time to tell me about their “pit” and show me the meat cooking inside the massive wood pellet fired grill behind them.

A pig on a vintage Ford pick-up, placed their by the team of two brothers and childhood friends originally from East Grand Forks, Minnesota.

Only a few focused on prepping for the competition at the Minnesota in May BBQ & Cheese Festival which continues today (Saturday) in Faribault.

Judging begins at 11:30 a.m. in seven competitive categories in this Kansas City Barbeque Society sanctioned event that has drawn 63 teams from all over—Appleton, Wisconsin; Rapid City, South Dakota; Storm Lake, Iowa; Delano, Minnesota…

They came with their stacks of wood and their bags and bags and bags of charcoal. They arrived pulling campers and massive grills. And they came with an attitude of fun, a sense of humor and a love of BBQ.

Many of the grills, like that of the Lone Star Smoke Rangers from Rapid City, South Dakota, are massive. But some contestants cook on ordinary backyard grills.

One of the many creative and humorous signs you’ll see at competitors’ sites.

Tami Schluter, co-owner of the historic Hutchinson House B & B in Faribault, brought her English bulldog, Butler, to the BBQ fest Friday evening.

One of the vendors at the BBQ fest.

Food vendor Hog Wild BBQ and Grill from Luck, Wisconsin, displayed its collection of trophies.

Daddy-O’s BBQ Shack, another festival food vendor.

FYI: For more details about today’s BBQ contest in Faribault, click here and follow this link to a previous blog post.

© Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Come on over to Faribault for a BBQ & more May 17, 2012

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:24 AM
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An example of the barbecued meat prepared for the 2011 Minnesota in May BBQ Contest.

MINNESOTA BARBEQUE LOVERS, this is your weekend.

The season’s first of six Kansas City Barbeque Society sanctioned competitions in our state kicks off this Friday, May 18, with the Minnesota in May BBQ & Cheese Festival at the Rice County Fairgrounds in Faribault.

And, folks, it’s free—unless you purchase food and/or beverages from vendors. And you’ll want to, once you smell the tantalizing aroma of BBQed meats. Vendors open to the public at 11 a.m. Saturday.

For the first time ever, Faribault hosted the Minnesota in May BBQ Contest at the Rice County Fairgrounds in 2011. Contestants cooked under tents during a morning downpour. By afternoon, the rain stopped.

Bubba and Sabrina’s home on wheels and traveling BBQ central parked at the 2011 Minnesota in May BBQ Festival. The couple owns Bubba-Q’s, a restaurant in Ottumwa, Iowa.

Artfully displayed bacon-wrapped pheasant prepared by a BBQ team from Appleton, Wisconsin, during the 2011 competition at the Rice County Fairgrounds in Faribault.

With $10,000 in prize money up for grabs, you can expect some top contenders vying on Saturday for awards in these divisions: turkey product, chicken, ribs, pork, beef brisket, anything butt and dessert. Contestants will be cooking all morning and into the early afternoon with judging from 11:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.

These delicious-looking apple dumplings were entered in the 2011 dessert division.

Ten cooks will also compete in a “grilling with blue cheese” contest featuring Caves of Faribault cheese. Yes, we have some savory blue cheese made right here in my community and aged in sandstone caves. That contest is set for 3 p.m. Saturday.

Award-winning Amablu Gorgonzola from Caves of Faribault.

The Cheese Cave is a gourmet destination along Central Avenue in historic downtown Faribault. Stop by on Friday or Saturday if you’re in town for the BBQ Festival.

The Friday events, running from 4:30 p.m. – 7 p.m. include a Kids BBQ Competition,  BBQ Cook-Off and live music.

Now I’m not promoting this BBQ fest simply because it’s the nice thing to do. I attended last year and thoroughly enjoyed the festival, including chatting with numerous contestants. You would not believe how far these people travel, how much money they spend and how passionate they are about barbecuing. Click here to link to a blog post about the 2011 Minnesota in May BBQ Festival, which did not include cheese. Click here to read a post about BBQers Bubba and Sabrina from Iowa. And click here to read a third story from the 2011 BBQ fest.

The logo for the Faribo Drag-On’s car club on a member’s vintage car.

This year a car show, hosted by the Faribo Drag-Ons from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Saturday, has been added to the festival.

Other draws include a Saturday pancake breakfast from 7 a.m. – 9 a.m. ($5 cost), live music, food and non-food vendors and more. Click here to read a promotional flier about the Minnesota in May BBQ & Cheese Festival.

Contest and festival proceeds will benefit IRIS (Infants Remembered in Silence) and The Faribo Drag-Ons. Two more good reasons to attend.

If you can’t make it to the Faribault BBQ festival, you’ll have more opportunities from June through September to attend Minnesota barbeque fests—in Owatonna, Rochester, Marshall, Albert Lea and/or Worthington. Click here to read details from the Minnesota Barbeque Society.

HAVE YOU EVER ATTENDED a barbeque festival? Please submit a comment and share your experience.

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This file photo shows the Faribault Woolen Mill days after a flash flood in September 2010 and before the mill reopened a year later. The mill had closed in 2009 and was not in operation at the time of the flood.

P.S.  If you’re in town for the BBQ fest, take time also to check out the Faribault Woolen Mill retail store across the Cannon River just south of the fairgrounds. The store, in the recently reopened and revamped historic mill, opened Tuesday. Retail store hours are 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Monday – Saturday.

© Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Faribault area auctions offer historic Native American artifacts & western memorabilia May 2, 2012

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Dakota beaded moccasins exhibited at the Rice County Historical Society Museum in Faribault, shown here only as an example of a Native American artifact and not on the auction here Saturday.

TWO HISTORIC COLLECTIONS will go on the auction block in the Faribault area this weekend during back-to-back sales that likely have collectors of High Plains Indian artifacts and western memorabilia pretty excited.

Starting at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, May 5, at the Elks Lodge, 131 Lyndale Avenue North, Faribault, a large collection of Native American artifacts from a private collector will be sold. The sale bill reads in part:

This sale consists of a complete lifetime collection of High Plains artifacts from two states and covers all time periods from Paleo to historic and everything in between. There will be more than 3,000 artifacts in frames sold by choice and complete frame, including many boxes of artifacts sold as a lot. Found on private land in North Dakota and Minnesota from 1940 to 1965, the artifacts are from the following cultures and time periods: Paleo, Archaic, Woodland, Copper Culture, Fur trade era, Civil War era, and Indian War era.

Now, before I continue, I must tell you that Helbling Auctioneers LLC of Hankinson and Kindred, North Dakota, is the auctioneer. Although my husband is a Helbling originally from the Mandan/Bismarck area of North Dakota, he is unaware of any family relationship to auctioneer Bob Helbling.

However, it was the Helbling name on an auction ad published last week in The Redwood Falls Gazette which initially attracted the attention of my mother who phoned me about the auction.  Redwood Falls is located between the Upper and Lower Sioux Indian Reservations and within the geographical area where, 150 years ago, the U.S. – Dakota War of 1862 erupted. I expect residents of that region, including New Ulm, will be especially interested in the Native American artifacts from Minnesota.

But what about Faribault area residents, museum curators, and local and state historians?

Faribault’s connection to the fur trade and Native Americans stretches back to its founding by fur trader Alexander Faribault, the son of a French-Canadian fur trader and a Dakota woman. Faribault traded with Native Americans in the area. Later he would be involved in negotiating land treaties between the government and the Dakota.

Indian artifacts found on-site and displayed at Indian Island Winery near Janesville. This photo is published here for illustration purposes only. These items are not on the weekend auctions.

So I would think, and I’m no historian, that the trade beads, arrowheads, stone tools, copper spears, knives and much more being auctioned Saturday would be of great interest to Minnesota historians. I don’t consider it a coincidence that this auction is occurring during the 150th anniversary year of the U.S. – Dakota War of 1862 when interest in that event, and Native American artifacts, is particularly high.

If it works into my schedule, I’m going to check out the auction—to see all that history, how much these artifacts sell for and who those buyers will be.

On Sunday, May 6, another auction, this one beginning at 11 a.m. at 10230 40th Street West, Webster, which is to the northwest of Faribault nearer to New Prague, features a collection of western memorabilia and antiques offered by Tom Doroff, aka “Tom Horn” – “Buffalo Bill Cody,” according to the Winter Auction Service bill. Those nicknames alone are enough to attract my attention to this auction.

Among the more interesting items (in my opinion) up for sale: 20-foot Teepee poles with Teepee liner, Thunderbird Hotel Indian artifacts, handmade Old West grave markers, wooden saddle rack, helmet with horse hair tail and steer horns, very old cactus skeleton and the upper half of a bison skull (8,000 BC) verified by the University of Minnesota/Bell Museum of Natural History.

So there you go. If you’re interested in Native American artifacts, western memorabilia, antiques/collectibles and/or history, you may want to head over to Faribault on Saturday and then over to Webster on Sunday for these two particularly unique auctions.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW the listing for the Native American artifact auction by Helbling Auctioneers on Saturday in Faribault.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW the listing for the western memorabilia and antique auction on Sunday by Winter Auction Service in Webster.

The Loyal Indian Monument at Birch Coulee Monument near Morton honors Native Americans and features strong words like humanity, patriotism, fidelity and courage.

© Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Minnesota Museums Month: The Minnesota Machinery Museum, on the prairie May 1, 2012

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:43 AM
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THINK OF MUSEUMS in Minnesota, and what pops into your mind?

Probably the Science Museum of Minnesota or the Minnesota Children’s Museum or the SPAM Museum in Austin or any other such notable museum.

During May, “Minnesota Museums Month,” I challenge you to think beyond the obvious to those small town museums that are tucked away in nondescript buildings or along back roads or are mostly unknown except to those living within a region.

The Minnesota Machinery Museum in a 1939 WPA school building in Hanley Falls.

That leads me directly to Hanley Falls, home of the Minnesota Machinery Museum.

I expect already most of you are asking, “Where the heck is Hanley Falls?”

Hanley Falls, a small farming community, sits along State Highway 23 in southeastern Yellow Medicine County, nine miles south of Granite Falls on the southwestern Minnesota prairie.

It is one of those “blink and you miss it” type towns all too often dismissed by travelers simply flying by on the highway. Let me tell you, Hanley Falls is worth several hours of your time to tour this rural life museum which opened as the Yellow Medicine County Agricultural and Transportation Museum in 1980 and in 1994 became the Minnesota Machinery Museum.

For anyone who appreciates our state’s rich agricultural heritage, this museum rates as a must-see in the heart of our state’s richest farmland. I grew up in this strong agricultural region, in Redwood County next door to the east, and toured the museum for the first time in 2009. Yes, even I was unaware of its presence, having left the prairie in 1974 for college and subsequent employment.

You'll see plenty of old tractors and farm machinery, along with vintage cars and trucks.

The Minnesota Machinery Museum, which is somewhat of a misleading name because it’s not all about farm machinery, reconnected me to my rural roots and educated me on the area’s agricultural history. During my 2009 visit, I learned that visitors will discover “the things you would find on a typical farm before the 1950s” with thousands of artifacts primarily from surrounding communities in a several-county area.

An old-style farm kitchen on the second floor of the museum.

All of those artifacts are housed in five buildings, including a sprawling two-story 1939 Works Project Administration school, on six acres. The first floor of that former school, during my visit, was packed with mostly farm-related equipment while the second floor housed the domestic side of rural life.

A vintage embroidered dish towel and old wash tubs, both familiar to me. My mother used a wringer washer with wash tubs during the early years of my life on a southwestern Minnesota dairy and crop farm.

It is the mission of the museum, according to its website, “to recapture a century of stories about farm life. Implements, tools, tractors and gas engines in mint condition along with rural art help you look back to an era when neighbors worked together to harvest their crops, raise barns and build a better life for their families.”

Read those words again. They are the essence of this place—the feeling of community, the sense of neighborliness, the embodiment of that which defined rural life at one time. Yes, that life has changed. Neighbors don’t always know neighbors. Oversized farm machinery has, for the most part, replaced the need for neighbors to work together. Barns are falling into heaps of rotting wood. This museum preserves a way of life that exists mostly in stories now.

This bushel basket in the museum brought back memories of feeding cows.

The Minnesota Machinery Museum is as impressive as any you’ll visit in Minnesota. Take time to seek it out, to turn off the highway into Hanley Falls rather than driving by without even a thought of the historical treasure that lies within this small southwestern Minnesota prairie community.

FYI: The Minnesota Machinery Museum is open May – September from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Monday – Saturday and from 1 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. on Sunday and is closed on holidays. Click here for more information about the museum.

© Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Embracing the arts at a former Carnegie library April 27, 2012

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 7:37 AM
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Crossings at Carnegie, an art center located in Zumbrota sits across the street from Quality Siding and Window Inc. and ACE Hardware and just down the block from the State Theatre and a picturesque white-steepled church.

IT’S TYPICAL Carnegie library with steep front steps and double columns and a gracious, arched doorway fronting a brick building.

But today in Zumbrota (and since 2001), the 1908 Classical Revival style building houses an art center. Crossings at Carnegie, with a gallery and gift shop, with a clay studio and with classes in theater, writing, art and more, and with an array of concerts, centers culture in this southeastern Minnesota community of 3,200.

Colorful yarn wraps a front exterior stairway railing.

Saturday evening I climbed the steps into this privately-owned art center for the first time, into a space that visually overwhelmed me. With elbow-to-elbow people squeezed into the former library and with art crammed everywhere, I admittedly escaped twice—down stairs to the basement and down stairs to the outdoors.

The charming exterior front door leading into Crossings.

An estimated 1,500 visitors walk through the art center doors each month, according to the Crossings website, rating this as one popular spot for shoppers, art lovers, students of the arts and more. Saturday night drew a crowd as Crossings celebrated its 11th annual Poet Artist Collaboration. I was among the 26 participating poets. Click here and here to read two previous blog posts about this event.

I noticed art leaning on the piano as musician Matthew Rivera played the piano at Saturday evening's Poet Artist Collaboration XI gala reception. He also strummed the ukulele later.

In the midst of mingling and weaving and escaping, I tried to notice details like the yarn wrapped around a railing post, the colorful exterior signage, art propped upon the piano, the misspelled sign welcoming dogs…

In the end, I decided to return in the solace of a non-event day to this place which celebrates the arts with such exuberance.

A welcoming misspelled sign on a front window at Crossings.

Vivid colors and outdoor art define Crossings as an art center.

FYI: Click here to learn more about Crossings at Carnegie, 320 East Avenue, Zumbrota.

© Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Prairie lines April 26, 2012

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:31 AM
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Crisp, straight roof lines define buildings on this farm site along U.S. Highway 14 just minutes west of Springfield in southwestern Minnesota.

I NEVER TIRE of the crisp lines that cut across the southwestern Minnesota countryside. The razor sharp edge of a barn roof. The thick, defined rails of train tracks. The precise spacing of orderly crop rows.

This rich farmland, more familiar to me than any place on this earth, has always been defined by lines. It is the visual perspective I hold of this land that holds my heart.

Crop lines along U.S. Highway 14 west of Springfield in a field that awaits planting.

I cannot view this prairie place without seeing those strong, bold and definitive horizontal lines.

It is the expanse of the sky and of the land in this visually uncluttered place that naturally draws my eyes to rest upon the lines, to lock onto a spot that connects me to a concrete object or to the earth.

This barn stands strong and sturdy between Sleepy Eye and Springfield along U.S. Highway 14.

Consider this perspective the next time you travel through western Minnesota. Forget your preconceived notion of this as a place you simply must pass through to get from point A to point B. View the land and the sky, the small towns and the farm sites, the endless vistas with your eyes wide open, appreciating all that unfolds before you.

A farm site with a smiley face on the barn, between Sleepy Eye and Springfield.

Just west of Springfield off U.S. Highway 14, a gravel road and an orange snow fence cut horizontal lines across the prairie as do the low-slung farm buildings.

A pastoral hillside scene on the edge of Courtland along U.S. Highway 14.

Railroad tracks edge past this farm site along U.S. Highway 14 between Essig and Sleepy Eye. To the right in the photo, a tractor awaits the planting season.

© Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Celebrating poetry and art in Zumbrota on a Saturday evening April 22, 2012

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 2:05 PM
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Artist Connie Ludwig's "Pantry Jewels," inspired by my poem, "Her Treasure." (Please excuse the glare on the glass; there was no way to avoid it while photographing the painting.)

Her Treasure

In the dark, dank depths of the dirt-floored cellar
she stocks a treasure-trove of jewels
in jars upon slivered planks—
golden corn nuggets,
amber chunks of ample beef,
ruby red tomatoes,
peas like unstrung pearls,
jade shards of dill pickles,
amethyst beets,
clusters of topaz apples
and an abundance of sauerkraut,
diamond of this hard-working German farm wife,
dweller of the Minnesota prairie,
tender of the earth,
keeper of the pantry
and guardian of the garden gems
that will adorn her dinner table
during the long winter months ahead.

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I MET “MY ARTIST” Saturday evening and saw the art she created, inspired by my poem (above).

And I use those words, “my artist,” because I feel connected to Connie Ludwig of Goodhue. She, like 25 other artists participating in Poet Artist Collaboration XI at Crossings at Carnegie in Zumbrota, took words of poetry and shaped them into art.

“Her Treasure,” under Connie’s paintbrush, became “Pantry Jewels.” The earthy watercolor painting of canned beets, pickles and peaches glows with the perfect balance of light and darkness, with sunlight filtering through glass and glinting off the golden rings that lock in garden goodness.

Connie understands my poem—the memories of my mother canning fruits and vegetables in her southwestern Minnesota farmhouse kitchen. She understands the dark dirt-floored cellar in which these preserves were stored upon rough boards. She understands the importance of honoring the women who honored the land by feeding their families with the fruits of their labors.

In the chapbook published for Crossings’ Poet Artist Collaboration XI, Connie writes:

My mother and aunts loved gardening and canning. They considered those “squirreling skills an essential part of themselves. I have wonderful memories of the ladies showing off, trading and sharing their canned jewels. And, of course, feeding them to us. The models for this painting came from the pantry of my husband’s cousin.

Connie, right, and I pose for a photo after a 90-minute presentation in which 26 poets read their poems and 26 artists talked about how the poems inspired their art. Note Connie's "Pantry Jewels" painting just above my head to the left. If I could buy this $490 watercolor on aqua board, I would in a snap. I love it that much and how it honors my rural roots. But I can't... If you're interested, contact Crossings.

Connie, thank you for transforming my poem into such down-to-earth, beautiful art that touches my soul. Your painting was all I hoped for in this process of poetry inspiring art.

A snippet shot of the crowd at Crossings at Carnegie, including Marie Marvin, center in blue. This place was elbow-to-elbow people during the hour-long gala reception before and after the poetry readings and artist talks held at the next door historic State Theatre. There were 26 poems selected from around 180 submissions for this juried Poet Artist Collaboration, now in its 11th year.

Thank you also to the artists and poets and guests who took the time to thank me for writing “Her Treasure.”

Thank you to my husband, Randy, for always supporting me in my writing.

To Crossings at Carnegie, and specifically Marie Marvin who opened the art center in 2001, thank you for acting as the driving force behind this collaboration. The phenomenal (or as I would say, overwhelming) turn-out is a tribute to the hard work of your team. I’d like to see more events like this through-out Minnesota that pair words and art.

To be one of the 26 poets selected for inclusion truly brought me joy. To mingle with so many poets and artists for an evening inspired and validated for me the importance of the arts in our lives.

Crossings at Carnegie, housed in a former Carnegie library, is a privately-owned cultural, visual and performing arts center in Zumbrota. I love the rural atmosphere with the hardware store and grain elevator just down the street. I need to return to Crossings as I was overwhelmed (crowd-wise and visually) on this busy evening.

I’d encourage you, if you have not seen this exhibit at Crossings, 320 East Avenue, to take it in before the April 26 closing date. Click here for more information.

Also check back here for an additional post from Poet Artist Collaboration XI.

© Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Elephant poop paper and other discoveries at a Wisconsin museum April 18, 2012

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:56 AM
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ELEPHANT DUNG PAPER: The elephant’s high-fibrous diet makes for excellent paper!

If I had not read the above words at The Paper Discovery Center in Appleton, Wisconsin, I would have thought this to be a bunch of crap.

But would the creators of a paper discovery center spread untruths? I think not. After my recent visit to this museum, I followed up with online research. That led me to elephantdungpaper.com and more information about the elephant poop paper making process. Click here for details.

The Paper Discovery Center in Appleton, Wisconsin, with an attached coffee shop on the right, located along the banks of the Fox River. These brick buildings are stunning.

There’s no elephant dung paper making happening in the 1878 former Atlas Mill along the banks of the raging Fox River in Appleton. But visit this hands-on discovery center and you can make paper by recycling newspapers and other paper into “new” paper.

Two volunteers from the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints staffed the paper making station on a recent Saturday afternoon. Visitors can make new paper here from recycled paper.

And if you have more than an hour of time—which is all my family had—you can learn lots about paper via child-friendly interactive displays. Kids would totally love this place.

A motion-activated sensor above the model's head triggers a sneeze.

I was amused by the motion-activated sneeze that sounded in the health and hygiene kiosk next to an oversized hand clutching a tissue.

Reading an informational display about diapers, I was not amused to learn that pioneers sometimes changed their babies’ diapers only once a day and did not always wash diapers between uses.

My 26-year-old daughter was a bit startled to learn that, before toilet paper, corn cobs were used in outhouses. She even suggested that I seat myself in the mini outhouse for a photo opp. I declined, assuring her I’d spent enough time in an outhouse having lived the first dozen years of my life in a farmhouse without a bathroom.

In the “From Tree to Tissue” exhibit, visitors can follow the process of producing tissue paper, no corn cobs involved. You’ll find plenty to entertain and enlighten you at this former mill operated by Kimberly-Clark Corporation until 2000, according to the museum attendee.

Sit down at a table, choose a color crayon, a mold and a piece of paper and create a leaf rubbing.

Authentic wood type is on display at a station where visitors can solve a crossword puzzle.

Assume the role of someone in the papermaking industry at this interactive exhibit.

Learn how watermarks, like this one, are printed onto paper.

Study the history of the Atlas Mill originally housed in this building which served as a Kimberly-Clark Corporation paper research center prior to its closing about a decade ago.

FYI: For more information about The Paper Discovery Center, 425 W. Water Street, Appleton, Wisconsin, click here. If you visit the museum, allow yourself plenty of time. We arrived only an hour before closing, leaving us only enough time to make paper and rush through the exhibits.

Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

In search of genuine pearls in Sciota Township April 10, 2012

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 7:25 AM
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IT IS THE ROAD less traveled that often leads to the best discoveries even, if at first, the journey doesn’t appear all that promising.

Recently, my husband and I followed back gravel roads from Randolph to Northfield. We were expecting bucolic farm sites complete with grand red barns and white wood-frame farmhouses wrapped in inviting country porches. Instead, we found mostly ramblers and split levels and other modern homes that, if clumped along a cul-de-sac, could have been in suburbia.

It was disappointing to find all these houses strung, like so many imitation pearls, along the smooth neckline of a wide gravel road. I wanted the real thing—pearls spilling across grandma’s bosom.

But then, when I’d nearly given up hope of finding anything genuine, we came across the old Sciota Town Hall at the corner of Alta Avenue and Sciota Trail/310th Street East in the southeastern hem of Dakota County.

The former Sciota Town Hall and, before, that, the Lewiston School, built in 1860

I couldn’t tumble from the van fast enough to photograph this former hall, originally the Lewiston School District 69 schoolhouse built in 1860. It is one of Dakota County’s oldest remaining schoolhouses and originally sat on the north side of the Cannon River in Lewiston, a town long gone (not to be confused with the still-existing Lewiston in Winona County).

In the fall of 1879—and I don’t know the reason—the 18-foot by 30-foot school building was moved to the south side of the Cannon, to its current site atop a hill at the intersection of two gravel roads.

Two stout block outhouses still buffet the school as does an aged water pump minus its handle.

A water pump behind the old schoolhouse.

One of two outhouses on the property. Over the barbed wire fence, in the distance, a farm site, not all that common anymore in Sciota Township.

It’s easy to imagine this place once teeming with children from neighboring farms as they pushed out the schoolhouse doors, legs flailing, into the schoolyard.

It’s easy to imagine, too, the rhythmic thrust of the pump gushing cold well water into their cupped hands, droplets splashing upon their worn leather shoes.

Had the doors of this former schoolhouse been unlocked, I could have imagined more, much more.

FYI: The Sciota Town Hall is no longer housed in the historic building, but in a modern pole shed style structure. Click here to see a photo of the 2005 town hall and to learn more about Sciota Township. Does anyone know whether the former town hall/school ever is opened for any type of historic celebrations or other events?

© Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

In which we travel to Wisconsin and make paper April 9, 2012

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 3:20 PM
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WHO WOULD HAVE thought that making paper could be so much fun for a bunch of grown-ups?

Not me.

But making paper at The Paper Discovery Center in Appleton, Wisconsin, on Saturday proved so much fun for our family that I declared, “I could really get into this paper making.”

At that moment my 18-year-old son, Mr. Logical Scientist-Math Guy, clarified: “Technically we did not make paper.”

He would be right. We did not transform a tree into paper. Rather, we recycled the Sunday comics and other paper into new paper.

And here is how we did it with the assistance of two patient and friendly young missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who volunteer at the discovery center.

First, peruse the paper samples to determine what type of paper you would like to make. Ideally, you (your daughter) should drink your (her) coffee before coming to The Paper Discovery Center. But, if you (your daughter) are (is) fortunate enough, the nice lady at the front desk will allow you (your daughter) inside with your (her) coffee as long as you (she) promise (s) to keep a lid on it (the coffee cup, that is).

After you have torn your selected papers into postage stamp size pieces, drop the paper into the blender and add water, about three-fourths of the blue cup shown here.

Here you can add condiments (that's what I call them) like glitter and pressed flowers to the mix before blending in an ancient blender. A garage sale blender would work great for this part of the paper making. On the left is one of the patient paper making volunteer instructors. That's my husband waiting his turn.

Next, pour the blended paper pulp into a screen inside a wooden form and immerse in water. Here's where you get to dip your fingers into the pulpy water and swish everything together.

Evenly ease the forms from the water to reveal your paper. Remove the forms and sponge excess moisture off.

Move to the next table and lay an absorbent sheet of paper (can't recall the name, but it starts with a "c") on top of your paper. Put a board on top and press. The idea is too absorb even more water. Repeat several times.

Pull back the absorbent paper to reveal the recycled paper you've made. But you're not done yet. Next, move to a contraption that exerts 2,000 pounds of pressure onto the paper, binding the fibers. After that, move to a machine that applies heat to the paper. Keep your fingers out of both.

Finally, pose for a photo with the paper you've just created.

HAVE YOU EVER MADE paper like this? I’d like to hear, especially if you’ve made your own forms, etc. This may just be an art I’d like to try at home.

PLEASE CHECK BACK for another post from The Paper Discovery Center in Appleton, Wisconsin.

© Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling