Minnesota Prairie Roots

Writing and photography by Audrey Kletscher Helbling

Go local when viewing fall colors October 26, 2025

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Autumn beauty at Valley Grove October 23, 2025

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Immersed in summer at River Bend July 8, 2025

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A black-eyed Susan at River Bend Nature Center, Faribault. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2025)

SUMMER, EVEN WITH ITS SOMETIMES excessive heat, humidity and storms, is a glorious season. Especially in Minnesota, when many months of the year are cold and colorless.

A view of and from the prairie at River Bend. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2025)

This time of year brings a natural world teeming with life in a landscape flush with color. It takes a walk into the woods and onto the prairie—for me at River Bend Nature Center in Faribault—to fully immerse myself in the delights of these July days.

Ripe and ripening black raspberries. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2025)

During a recent hike on River Bend’s north side, I paused early on to sample black raspberries plucked from trailside bushes. I spotted the first ripe ones as Randy and I were about to cross a walkway bridge leading to a trail edging the Minnesota Correctional Facility, Faribault. But before I could get there, two guys on fat tire bikes barreled over the bridge, scaring me. I didn’t see them, so focused was I on picking berries.

Fat tire bikers head for a trail on River Bend’s north side. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2025)

On the other side of the bridge, a deer stood, trapped between the double fencing of the prison. While many deer at the nature center show no concern for hikers, this one was skittish, bounding away before I could even lift my camera to shoot a picture.

Dragonflies, all in the same hue, flitted about. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2025)

Instead, I focused on the brownish dragonfly flitting, then landing, upon a twig. Later I would spot numerous of these same-hued insects among blades of tall grasses. I find them fascinating with their gossamer wings hearkening of fairies and magic and a child’s imagination.

Sunlight plays on leaves in light and shadows. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2025)

Backtracking across the road and into the woods, I observed unidentifiable slimy white fungi lining fallen limbs and trees. I’m always hopeful I will find an intensely bright yellow or orange mushroom like the vivid ones I saw several years ago in the woods of north central Minnesota. But I don’t think those grow in southern Minnesota. I know little about mushrooms except that I like them and buy eight ounces of baby bellas every week at the grocery store. I also know that a fairly-new business, Forest to Fork, grows a variety of mushrooms inside a former Faribault Foods plant on the north side of town.

A textured tree trunk up close. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2025)

Also in the woods, I noticed the texture of tree trunks. Natural art. At least to me.

There, among the weave of grasses, a butterfly. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2025)

As we looped back to a main trail, the woods began to open to swampland and then to prairie. Birds raised raucous sound, although I failed to see many. That was until I noticed and attempted to photograph a lone bird on a bush. And failed. The bird took flight. “It’s a bluebird,” Randy exclaimed. He was right given the flash of blue, the smallish size and the nearby bluebird houses. It was my first bluebird sighting. Ever. Rice County is a haven for bluebirds thanks to the efforts of Keith Radel, known as Mr. Bluebird. Keith hails from my hometown of Vesta on the southwestern Minnesota prairie. He’s placed and tended houses throughout the county for 40-plus years, tracking, counting and caring for bluebirds. On this afternoon, numerous bluebirds swooped and danced across the summer sky.

Coneflowers on the prairie. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2025)

Nowhere does summer appear more like summer to me than in the tall grasses of swampland or among prairie wildflowers. I love the messiness of flowers tangled among grasses. I love the wide sky.

A Monarch, with parts of its wings missing, flies among leaves. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2025)

And I love, too, the flitting of butterflies and moths. A flash of orange. Antenna and spindly legs. And on this afternoon, a Monarch with wings partially-eaten by a predator.

A milkweed flower beginning to open. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2025)

All of this I discovered on a July afternoon at River Bend. Here I dipped my nose into deeply-scented, dusty pink milkweed flowers. Here I tasted sunshine and rain in berries. And here I honored summer in southern Minnesota. Glorious and beautiful.

© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

© Copyright 2024 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Foliage, fields & fun in this season of autumn October 23, 2023

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Stunning fall colors along Farwell Avenue north of Warsaw. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2023)

AUTUMN BECKONED US RECENTLY to forgo the yard work, the half-finished interior paint job, the anything that would keep us at home. Rather, we hit the backroads, taking in the glorious fall colors which finally exploded. I can’t recall leaves ever turning this late in the season here.

One of my favorite old barns in Rice County, located along Farwell Avenue north of Warsaw. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2023)

This region of Minnesota seems vastly undiscovered as an autumn leaf-peeping destination. But I learned years ago that the Faribault area offers stunning fall foliage, especially along our many area lakes and in stands of trees among rural rolling hills.

This gravel road, Farwell Avenue, took us past beautiful fall foliage. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2023)

I like nothing better than to follow gravel roads that twist through the countryside. The slower pace connects me to the land, to the lovely scenes unfolding before me. Dust clouds trail vehicles rumbling along sometimes washboard surfaces. Combines kick up dust, too, as farmers harvest corn and soybeans, grain trucks parked nearby to hold the bounty.

A rare find, a vintage corn crib packed with field corn in northwestern Rice County, in the Lonsdale area. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2023)

Even inside our van, I can smell the scent of earth rising from freshly-tilled fields. Some acreage lies bare while others still hold endless rows of ripened crops awaiting harvest.

The Theis family has created a welcoming outdoor space for Apple Creek Orchard visitors to gather beside a fireplace against a wooded backdrop. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2023)

At Apple Creek Orchard west of Faribault, families gathered on a sunny weekend afternoon to enjoy fun on-site activities like apple picking, bean bag toss, apple slinging, wagon rides, jump pad, corn maze and more. We wandered the grounds, admiring the improvements and expansions made by the Theis family to grow their orchard in to an agri-entertainment destination. They’ve also added an event center to host weddings and other gatherings.

Autumn-themed pillows are propped on the sitting area next to the outdoor fireplace at Apple Creek Orchard. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2023)

As Randy paid for a half-peck of my favorite Minnesota-developed SweeTango pulled from a store cooler, I greeted Tami Theis, congratulated her on their upgrades. She inquired about my family. I got to know Tami and her daughter Amber sometime back while at the orchard. They are a delight— friendly, caring and, oh, so welcoming to everyone. Amber was running the concession stand on this busy afternoon and I gave her a hard time after learning the donut machine wasn’t working and I would get none of the mini donuts I craved.

Dudley Lake, one of my favorite places to see colorful lakeside trees in Rice County. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2023)

No matter my disappointment in the lack of a sweet treat, nothing else about our afternoon outing disappointed. Onward Randy and I went. He turned the van left out of Apple Creek Orchard onto the paved roadway. Eventually we took gravel roads again, meandering past lakes and fields and farm sites, stopping occasionally so I could snap photos.

My next-door neighbor’s flaming maple. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2023)

I love this time of year. The scent of decaying leaves. The sight of trees flaming red, yellow, orange. The muted fields that define the landscape. The apples and pumpkins and gourds. The bold blue sky. The bringing in of the harvest.

Looking up at our backyard maple, the wooded hillside and at our neighbor’s trees on a recent afternoon. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2023)

Back home, the down side of autumn awaited us in outdoor chores—removing leaves from rain gutters, raking/mulching layers of maple leaves in the backyard, washing windows… To everything there is a season. And the season of autumn means taking time to view the colorful fall foliage when the trees are turning. The work can wait.

© Copyright 2023 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

The greening of spring in southern Minnesota May 9, 2023

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Buds begin to open on my backyard maple. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2023)

AS A WRITER AND PHOTOGRAPHER, I view the natural world through a creative lens. I appreciate the nuances that comprise the whole. And right now those details are sharp, vivid and nearly visually overwhelming (in a good way) after living for too many months in a monochromatic environment.

The maple flush in unfurling leaves. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2023)

I need only step into my yard to take in the greening of spring. Buds forming and then unfurling on the maple.

Bleeding hearts dangle, preparing to open. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2023)

Clumped, clamped buds about to open into fuchsia bleeding hearts.

A tightly-clasped fiddlehead. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2023)

Curled fiddleheads stretching, soon to unfold into fronds of ferns that wave in the wind.

My tulips are in full bloom. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2023)

Within the perimeters of my property, spring bursts in new growth. Tiny green buds line the thick wood stalks of old-fashioned hydrangea that will soon fill the spaces flanking my front steps. Red and yellow tulips jolt color into flowerbeds, among a jumbo of irises that will eventually blossom in yellow and purple, their sweet scent a reminder of my mother. Iris was her favorite flower.

Tiger lilies grow wild on my backyard hillside, here emerging from winter dormancy. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2023)

Oh, how I love these early days of May. These days when everything appears lush and intensely green. Spring green. Vibrant. It’s as if every bright green in a box of Crayola crayons colors the landscape. And when the sky is intensely blue, the greens seem even more intense.

Even my rake is green. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2023)

These are the days when dandelions pop and grass seemingly grows as you watch. These are the days, too, of raking away the leaf remnants of last fall and cutting back dead flower stems and mentally transitioning into this season we’ve been awaiting since the first snow fell.

My neighbor’s unidentified flowers grow just around the corner of my fence, jolting color into the landscape. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2023)

It was an undeniably long winter in Minnesota with near-record snowfall, with teases of spring (even summer) before snow fell again. We are now only finally beginning to believe that we can put away the snow shovels, shove the snowblowers into the corners of our garages, banish winter coats to the back of the closet.

The wooded hillside behind my garage and house is just beginning to fill in with green. We own the open part of this hillside. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2023)

Every day of warm temps and blue skies and new greens convinces me that this is for real. Spring has finally arrived in southern Minnesota in her poetically beautiful way. I hear it in birdsong, in the piercing whistle of a cardinal flashing red in the wooded hillside behind my house. I hear it in the rhythmic raking of dried leaves. I hear it in the roar of motorcycles flying down my street.

A raspberry vine shadows across the limestone wall Randy built many years ago from the foundation of a fallen barn. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2023)

But mostly I see the shift of seasons in the greening of spring, of trees no longer bare, but spreading in a canopy of green. Of wild raspberries stretching across limestone wall to latch into the earth. Of hostas erupting.

My neighbor’s lovely low-lying flowers, up close. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2023)

This marks a time of renewal, of hope, of emerging from the cocooning quiet and oppressiveness of winter into a world that feels, looks, sounds utterly and joyfully alive.

© Copyright 2023 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Winter photography along the Cannon River January 10, 2023

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Randy follows the winding trail along the Cannon River through North Alexander Park in Faribault. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo January 2023)

ON THE FIRST DAY of the new year, before Minnesota’s first big winter storm of 2023, Randy and I followed the paved trail along the Cannon River in North Alexander Park. It’s one of my favorite walking paths, if the wind isn’t blowing biting cold off the frozen river.

I appreciate that the City of Faribault keeps the trail free of snow and ice. That’s always a concern for me. I don’t want to risk falling and breaking a bone.

On this first afternoon in January, I pulled my Canon EOS 60D from the camera bag with hopes of getting some interesting shots. Photographing in winter always proves challenging in a landscape mostly devoid of color. But on this day, blue skies accented with puffs of white clouds provided a backdrop contrast.

Dried milkweed pods rise from the riverbank. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo January 2023)

Still, finding scenes to photograph takes effort and an eye for detail. I zoomed in on dried weeds along the shoreline, where the riverbank is nearly indistinguishable from the snow-layered Cannon.

Person-made sculpture or random chunk of icy snow? (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo January 2023)

And then I noticed, on a riverside picnic table, an icy sculpture. It appeared intentionally placed there, although it could have been thrown onto the tabletop by a snowblower and simply have been a chunk of snow that happened to resemble an animal. Whatever, I found the art interesting, worthy of my pause.

Oak leaves cling to branches. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo January 2023)

Pausing seems a necessity of January photography in Minnesota. I stopped to study trees, noting stubborn oak leaves clinging to branches as if defying winter.

Treetops against a textured sky. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo January 2023)

I saw, too, how barren branches curve in graceful bends unseen in the fullness of other seasons. Trees possess a certain sculptural beauty when posed in winter nakedness.

I’ve always loved this “BLANKETS” ghost sign on the Faribault Mill. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo January 2023)

Across the river, the iconic 1892 Faribault Mill (formerly the Faribault Woolen Mill; it recently acquired a cotton mill in Maine) stands as a symbol of endurance and history. Inside the mill, craftspeople create quality woolen blankets and more that are acclaimed world-wide. I never tire of focusing on this local landmark which merges with the Cannon.

Walking the dogs before the Vikings-Packers game. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo January 2023)

My walk with Randy, who was well ahead of me given all my photographic lagging, proved a much-needed break to stretch my muscles, to breathe in the crisp air of January. As we aimed back toward the van, my fingers numbing from the cold exposure, we met a Green Bay Packers fan walking his dogs. His green and gold attire tipped me to his football allegiance. I greeted him, but, with head phones clamped on, he didn’t reply. Maybe that was for the best given the Packers 41-17 win over the Minnesota Vikings hours later.

The snow-chunked river bank meets frozen Cannon River meets Faribault Mill in the distance. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo January 2023)

I missed the game kick-off, not that I care given my general lack of interest in football. But occasionally I pause to take in the scene, to see the fans in their Vikings attire, to listen to their rising SKOL chant, to appreciate the details, just as I do with my Canon along the Cannon.

© Copyright 2023 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Before winter settles in…savor these autumn days October 21, 2022

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My next door neighbor’s maple tree. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2022)

IN THE FLEETING DAYS of autumn here in Minnesota, there’s an urgency to get things done before winter. Hurry and rake the leaves. Tune up the snowblower. Wash the windows. Prepare, prepare, prepare.

Almost like seeing summer, autumn and winter in the trees viewed from my backyard. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2022)

But in the haste of all that preparation, there’s also a need to slow down and delight in autumn. Simply stepping outside my home to view the backyard maple and neighbors’ trees fills my soul. I love the contrast of orange, red, yellow against the bold October sky. Sometimes when I look skyward, I see a mix of seasons from green leaves, to autumnal leaves to bare branches.

Sunshine filters through a branch on my backyard maple tree. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2022)

Every single day calls for pausing to appreciate the beautiful natural world of October in southern Minnesota. I know this won’t last and I need to savor these scenes.

The countryside near Nerstrand. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2022)

Last Saturday morning, instead of pursuing yard work, Randy and I headed on one more drive through the countryside to view the diminishing fall colors. Leaf raking, although started, could wait. As we followed back county paved roads and township gravel roads through open farmland and through woods, I felt embraced and connected to the local landscape and scenes unfolding before me.

Farmer Trail twists through woods of primarily maple. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2022)

Sunshine dappled through trees.

To the north across cornfields and treelines, a cloud deck revealed the weather ahead. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2022)

To the north, a cloud deck drew a nearly straight horizontal line across the sky, a hint of the cold weather to come. And it blew in later that day with a raw wind and a drop in temps.

Still some color along Crystal Lake at Cannon City. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2022)

Colors were well past their peak in Rice County. Still the occasional oak or maple dropped red or russet into muted tree clusters.

A grain truck holds the corn harvest. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2022)

Harvested and unharvested fields of corn and soybeans spread before us. Grain trucks, some brimming with the yield, anchored fields. Former farm kids that we are, we discussed the crops. Always have, always will. It’s something we learned early on, me from Sunday afternoon drives with my parents and siblings to view the crops and during dinner table discussions.

A stately, well-kept barn along Coe Trail northwest of Cannon City. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2022)

We passed farm sites, one with a well-kept signature red barn. There’s something about a barn…

A farm site in the colors of November. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2022)

Another farm place was all grey. Grey bin. Grey machine shed. Grey silo. Grey outbuilding. Grey garage. Weathered grey barn.

Driving through autumn on a rural Rice County road last Saturday. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2022)

Soon the weather will shift to the grey of November, the month when winter creeps in. Already we’ve felt the bite of unseasonably cold October days that are giving way, this weekend, to unseasonable warmth. These mark bonus days. Days to drive the countryside, visit an orchard, take a hike…days for anything but raking leaves, washing windows or tuning the snowblower.

© Copyright 2022 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

A country drive to see fall colors northwest of Faribault October 6, 2022

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A view of the colorful foliage along Seventh Street in Faribault. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2022)

ON THE THIRD CONSECUTIVE DAY of viewing fall colors in southern Minnesota, Randy and I headed northwest of Faribault to area lakes. But even before we got out of town, we drove along two city streets—Second Avenue by Bethlehem Academy north to Seventh Street and then Seventh Street—which are particularly beautiful in autumn. There’s no need to leave Faribault to see stunning trees of orange, red and yellow mixed with brown and green.

A sweeping view of Kelly Lake and the colorful treeline. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2022)

Yet, there’s something about a colorful lakeshore treeline against the October sky that is particularly lovely. Thus I suggest a country drive. Perhaps my favorite area autumn color viewing spot is at the public boat landing on Kelly Lake. We return there each fall and Randy joked that I could just use the same photos taken last year. I didn’t.

Belview Trail just outside Faribault winds past farm sites. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2022)

Hay bales line a hillside along CR 64. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2022)
A well-kept barn near Roberds Lake. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2022)

We edged Roberds Lake after trailing a winding gravel road past farm sites. Country drives are, by definition, about immersing ourselves in the country. Appreciating ripening corn and soybean fields, stately barns, ginormous round hay bales staged in a field… And then hugging the side of the road upon meeting a massive combine.

Sun and clouds mix over colorful woods near Roberds Lake. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2022)

Mostly, I take in the landscape, this October day set against moody clouds on blue sky. Clouds create interest, depth, interesting patterns to backdrop fields and trees.

Shoreline and lake merge to create a “painting” of Kelly Lake. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2022)

I see curves and lines and the way everything flows, first with my eyes, then through the viewfinder of my aged Canon EOS 20-D camera. Water flows into trees, trees into sky. It all comes together to create this scene, this autumn.

A view of Lake Mazaska through the shoreline grasses. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2022)

At the west-side boat landing in Shieldsville, Randy noted the low water level of Lake Mazaska. It would be impossible to launch a boat here. I photographed the lake through a stand of grass, perhaps bulrushes. A peeling, aged sign a block away landmarked Bulrush Bay.

Brilliant sumac by Kelly Lake. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2022)

Individual leaves and stems of grass don’t go unnoticed. The singleness merges into the whole. This whole of autumn in Rice County.

A picturesque creek along County Road 64/Irwin Trail. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2022)

We lunched at McCullough County Park on Shields Lake, swatting bees and beetles, before continuing our drive along County Road 64/Irwin Trail. An especially picturesque creek cutting through the land called for a stop, a photo.

One of many winding gravel roads we followed through the countryside, around lakes… (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2022)

And then onward we drove, up and down and all around on gravel roads, the van kicking dust.

Among the many wooded hillside ablaze in color. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2022)

Traveling at a slower pace allows for taking in the unfolding landscape. Cornfield nudging a clump of colored trees. So much to see if only we look.

The historic Czech church and surrounding cemetery in Shieldsville Township. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2022)

And then a stop, an opportunity to stretch our legs and explore Trebon Cemetery surrounding an historic Czech church, the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, established in 1886. We discovered this sacred place at the intersection of County Road 63/Kanabec Avenue and County Road 37/160th Street West several years ago. Like last visit, I wished I could get inside the church, but had to settle for peering through windows. The view of the countryside from the cemetery grounds is stunning.

This smiley face is a local landmark along Roberds Lake Boulevard. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2022)

Aiming back toward Faribault, we passed the smiley face painted on the side of a building at the intersection of Roberds Lake Boulevard and County Road 37/West 185th Street. It’s been there forever, a rural landmark that makes me smile every time I see that happiness icon.

I appreciate homemade signage, including this well-worn sign by Lake Mazaska. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2022)

Several hours in the rural Rice County countryside filled my spirit with happiness. Autumn has a way of weaving joy into my life with her color, her last hurrah before winter arrives. So I say, get out there. Take a country drive. Slow down. Pause. Delight in these October days.

© Copyright 2022 Audrey Kletscher Helbling