36 Square Miles of Generosity

Within a few weeks of moving to Big Stone County I was visiting a neighbor when another neighbor stopped by.  He was an elderly gentleman with a happy disposition and let my neighbor know he was there for the Combined Township Drive.

My neighbors chatted for a while and the gentleman left with one check for a variety of community charities- the library, firefighters, hospice, cancer society, disability services and more.  

Now you might be familiar with Township Combined Fund Drives, but I was not.  But it warms my heart to seeing neighbors encouraging and enabling neighbors to give back to the community.  How it works is that every year someone in the township pulls together the list of about 20 charities and contacts everyone in their township to contribute- in person or by mail.  People chose which charities and how much to contribute.  Then wrote one check to the Township Combined Fund.  The person collecting the funds then sends the various charities the money.  And let's the newspaper know how.much their township raised.

And people give - year in and year out.  There are less than 100 residents in our 36 square mile township.  And it's not just our township that has this practice, it happens in every rural township in our county.  Our newspaper then shares the results of each Township Combined Fund.

There are some spirits and traditions that are worth preserving and sharing.  I count this neighbor to neighbor encouragement to give one of those cultural practices we should applaud.

Thank you to everyone who labors with the combined funds in our townships.

Have you heard of this before?  I'm interested in hearing if Combined Fund Drives happens elsewhere.

China, Tariffs, Deglobalization - All Rolled up in Last Night’s Dinner

The news of the week included a trade war with China, tariffs, and a Tweeted presidential “order” for United States companies to get out of China.  Listening to the news, I’m standing in my kitchen with a bit of China in my hands – wild caught Alaskan Salmon, no less. 

Schwans Alaskan caught salmon

Our global economy is complex and driven by consumer goods.  You can find Stuff made in China everywhere you look and a person might buy enough to make their lives cluttered while taking a toll on the environment.  I’m curious what a tariff on China would do to the supply and cost of stuff that fills the shelves of dollar stores? Much of it is replaceable – in small towns through Minnesota you can find thrift shop storefronts filled with used items that could replace most everything you need from a dollar store or Walmart (and sometimes the used Stuff is more durable and higher quality than the new).  And little more use of things like real plates and less foam disposable plates would do the world a bit of good.   I’m grateful to take the 35 seconds to wash a few plates and eat off of a real plate than disposable – it feels respectful to the food and my family.  But I digress!!

 

Back to the salmon.  Between our farm and neighboring farms, I don’t buy meat from a store. We raise our own grassfed beef and free range chicken on our farm and I buy pork and lamb from neighboring farmers. Seafood is, obviously, one of the foods that we cannot grow or buy from neighbors out in the Tallgrass Prairie.  So I turn to my friendly Schwan’s person – a young woman of color – who comes to my farm every other week with her yellow truck.  That’s where I get my seafood – like the Salmon pictured above. 

What a trip that salmon has been on!!

The label says “WILD CAUGHT IN ALASKA, FILLETED AND PACKAGED IN CHINA  PRODUCT OF CHINA”

What is the impetus for having wild caught Alaskan salmon transported to China processed and then delivered to my farm in Big Stone County?  Why is it economically efficient for that salmon to travel that distance? What makes this supply chain profitable?

What makes this supply chain profitable?

• Outsourced Pollution:  Cooling, flash freezing, and maintaining the salmon in a deep freeze takes a lot of electricity.  Fewer environmental regulations, like air quality, keeps the cost of Chinese power lower, thereby saving money on electricity for an energy intensive food product.  Cheap, dirty power is readily available in China.
• Cheap labor: Please see the fine print on the label below. It says, “THIS PRODUCT HAS BEEN DEBONED BY SKILLED CRAFTSMEN.”

Are there no “SKILLED CRAFTSMEN” in Alaska?  What is the difference between a skilled craftsman in China vs Alaska.  I’m guessing the difference is: 1) the cost of labor 2) worker protection and 3) the resulting availability of labor.  If the wages and worker protection for salmon deboning “skilled craftsmen” had living wages in the US, I maintain that people would take those jobs.

It is our US need for cheap food that forces skilled jobs, like salmon deboning, to place where the workers have little choice or protection, i.e. China.  This is called global wage arbitrage – a situation whereby globalization has allowed corporations the world over to search out the absolute lowest wages and meanest working conditions on earth, for their and their shareowners profits.  My guess is that there is a fair amount of worker misery in every bite of my salmon.

So I find myself in the awkward position, as a farmer with many fellow farmers suffering from the tariffs, to wonder if the tariffs may have some benefit to workers in the United States.  Maybe Alaskans will get safe and well paying, skilled labor jobs deboning the salmon that is caught in their waters.  Maybe the environment will be a bit cleaner without the cheap, dirty power used to freeze the salmon and eliminated a global circumnavigation of the fish on my dinner plate last night.

So hang onto your hats folks.  What happens in de-globalization?  Your food will be more expensive, but maybe the global environment (think CO2) will improve and maybe US worker wages will improve, since they have been stagnant for 40 years.

Ok – Now I need to reconsider eating China imported salmon.

Still Here

Until a few weeks ago this road was under water for the better part of a month. It was a long winter and a wet spring.  Doesn't make for good farming or gardening.  

But summer has arrived and fresh loads of gravel to restore the road after weeks under water. And fresh clayey gravel makes a nice palette for some words of inspiration.  

It's going on 12 years since we moved our family from St. Paul to the farm in Big Stone County.  I read somewhere that the average back to the land folks lasted about 7 years and then moved on.  We've passed that milestone.

Lots of experiences, lessons learned, hopes, dreams, disappointments, and a few heartbreaks here and there.  But we're still here.  And I'm setting an intent to share more stores from rural Big Stone County and my View from Here.

Just say NO!

"Let them eat cake" said Marie Antoinette when told that the peasant had no bread.  And now there is a bipartisan effort to have Sunday sale in Minnesota.  And who does it benefit?  The small town liquor stores - NO.  This law would spread the same amount of sales over more day, increasing their operating costs.  Does it help service workers? NO - service workers now have to add a Sunday shift and take time away from families.

And for what?  So that people who don't have to work on Sundays and who forgot to buy their champagne for the Sunday brunch Mimosas can shop conveniently.  And let the service workers eat cake while you enjoy your Sunday with guests properly libated.

Just say NO.  The DFL used to care about working people.  Now both Republicans and Democrats want service workers to work on Sundays so that they can be served on Sunday.  Do you remember how great an achievement it was to have a 5 day work week?  Of course not, that was 1908.  And for most of us, the salary class, the five day work weeks still exists (kinda sorta if you can turn off the phone).  Those of us in the salary class don't have to be on our feet all day on a Sunday selling alcohol for the convenience of people who don't have to work on Sunday.

Hey! DFL Senators.  Do a rural DFLer a favor and VOTE NO to Sunday Sales.  Show rural service sector workers that the DFL still cares about them. The Sunday Sales lobbyists say we should be like our surrounding neighbors and forget about small town businesses and service workers having a day off.  But what is one thing all those neighboring states have in common?  They've all turned red.  Do you think that our disregard of rural working class Americans had anything to do with that?  Maybe the reason Minnesota clung to some remaining "blue" in the sea of "red" was because we still had some vestiges of Labor left in DFL.

And rural Republicans VOTE no for all the reasons of keeping small town businesses competitive and viable and remembering the Sabbath. Keeping the Sabbath is Common Sense, no matter what the lobbyists say.

Come on people.  Do you really need to make others work so that you can buy alcohol on Sunday.?  Really.  Seriously - just give it a rest already.  It's only helping big box stores, large corporations.  Stand up for the little guys.  Just say NO to Sunday Sales.

The Real Happiest Place on Earth

Gallup poll results came out this week ranking the Happiest States in America. And despite the endless days of subzero weather and blizzards Minnesota ranked among the top Happiest States in America.

Big Stone County, the bump on the western edge of the MN, is kinda in the middle of the cluster of Happiest States in America- in green. Why do you think that is? Wide open spaces, 4-H, bowling leagues, highest per capita farmers, a "could be worse!" culture? Maybe it's our pleasant winters.

One small thing that makes me happy living in Clinton, MN is that my grocery bags are colored by the elementary kids- most of who I know. With messages about reduce, reuse and recycle. And the kids (Kindergarten through 6th grade) put a lot of effort into these bags, which turn out both beautiful and artsy!

I just love the children's art put into useful everyday items and then spread throughout the community-- again and again. And these bags can be and are used over again because they are too special to toss and you feel like you need to handle this child's art with care. I'm bringing all these bags back to the store for the next lucky customers. And frankly, that's something you might not be able to do in a large city. The grocery store might not take bags from some random person wanting them to be restacked at the checkout line and reused.

There was one bag I liked in particular--a watercolor with fall leaves and a message "Don't Litter. It Makes the world bitter." Imagine my delight when I found out that it was painted by one of my own sons. And it's no coincidence that I got that bag--Bonnie and Holly at the grocery store tucked that one away to make sure that my groceries would end up in it.

Let me tell you a little story about a Kindergartener whose name was on the bottom of one of the grocery bags. I make it a point to meet the bus every afternoon when it pulls up to the end of my ½ mile long driveway. One afternoon the bus pulled up and off jumped my two little boys and one of their friends, for a planned Friday sleepover. And then off of the bus comes the sweetest, cutest little 5 year old girl. I looked at the bus driver quizzically and he said she was to get off at our house.
Now, it was a completely blameless situation. The little boy was her brother and they had gotten on and off the bus at our house before. So when the bus driver saw the note giving the brother permission to get off at our farm, it made sense when the little girl, we'll call her Izzi, said she was to stick with her brother. And Izzi herself was quite convincing to the bus driver that she was to go to our farm with her brother.

But what an unexpected treat for me! My own Alma and I got to walk down the driveway with little Izzi - "1, 2, 3! SWINGing" Izzi up into the sunny sky. And once at home it was "Raise High the Roof Beams! Break out the Candy Land and Dust off the Barbies!" Can you imagine such luck and fun on a Friday afternoon out on the wide open prairie? Now Izzi's home is the absolute other side of the 40+ mile wide school district, so we had a nice block of time to play before someone came to pick her up.

So I invite you to try living in a world where the little things, the bag you get your groceries in, can bring such simple pleasure and invoke such sweet memories. A place where a child's hand crafted artful bag can make its way into your home and your life--occasionally accompanied by the child themselves (both on purpose and on 'accident'). To experience the delight of reading the names of each precious child on the bottom of your bag can bring smiles and a cry of delight.
And remember these messages from the children of Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley Elementary
• Recycle or your ecosystem will fall apart (reduce, reuse, recycle. Save me for Christmas)
• Recycle- Batman does
• When you toss out paper, you're killing trees. DO NOT toss out paper.... RECYCLE
• Go Green, Recycle, Recycle, Recycle

Maybe the Happiest Place on Earth isn't a place, or if it is a place, it might be a place that is small enough to care about. But wherever it is, it is about noticing and appreciating the small things.

Rising from the Praire- Abbey of the Hills

Stained glass window in the small chapel
Last weekend the kids and I went to the open house at the former Blue Cloud Abbey, now Abbey of the Hills, near Marvin South Dakota. This place is a gem upon the prairie. It somehow captures so much about this place and its prairie beauty and foreshadows some of the past century of this place.
Abbey of the Hills rises up out of the Prairie Coteau. You can see the Prairie Coteau rising up out of the prairie from where we live, on a crisp clear day. The first time I drove west from our farm, with my mom and kids to buy vegetable from the Hutterite Colony, my mom said "what's that rising up out of the prairie." "Must be a bank of clouds," I said, because I hadn't heard of any hills or mountains on the other side of Big Stone County, MN. But I was wrong. The Prairie Coteau is hauntingly lovely "Alps of prairie" as described by the early 1800's explorer Joseph Nicollet.
It is in these hills that a group of Benedictine monks built their Blue Cloud Abbey in 1950. This place is just 40-some miles from our farm. A refuge.

I'm not Catholic and so won't claim to know the heart and spirit that went into these monks, whose stained glass window says "Pray, Read, Work", finding and building this place. There's a good story (click here) about how they found this piece of land on their way from one place to the next.

And they built this place both simple and glorious. An Abbey in the Prairie Coteau- a place of subtle and astounding beauty in which to seek G-d under blue skies. They built it, really, at the peak of its population and maybe hopefulness. Or before we even knew we needed to be hopeful. Because family farming was still thriving all around them out on the prairie and there were still young men and women inspired to live lives of "Pray, Read, and Work."

But things have changed since 1950, haven't they? The independent farms that dotted every section of land have been consolidated and the homesteads are coming down. The number of young people going into full time religious life has plummeted. And both of those demographics meet out here on the prairie.

And so it was exciting news that after more than a year and a half of looking for people to buy the Abbey, that a group of 6 local families decided to buy it. It was bitter sweet news to learn that our inspiring grape growing and biodynamic farming neighbors were among the visionaries stepping up for this great adventure. They have relocated there are applying their skills and innovation to this place.

Here's the kayak that Dan built as a fundraiser for the Abbey. Now imagine that kind of craftsmanship and heart going into a place.

What's remarkable to me is that Abbey of the Hills is being remastered, in part, on a hope for this place that is a palpable hope for so many rural and family farm advocates--that we can find a way to thrive out in the country. What is that way? Well, for one thing, that is by having a healthy and local food system that nourishes our bodies, souls, and communities. Because when we lost those family farms, we lost the small town creameries, butcher shops, as well as the kids who attended schools, and the Masons who built sturdy and lovely brick buildings on Main Street. So those folks at Abbey of the Hills are looking at their sustainable farming operations, their greenhouse, their wood shop, art lofts. They are baking bread in their commercial kitchen and selling it in local grocery stores. They are hoping for a rural renaissance that includes a people landscape with good food and satisfied souls.

I found this butterfly on one corner of a wall of stained glass. It spoke to me of that transformation that I hope for our rural places and prayers for the success of Abbey of the Hills. The chapel was completely full of well-wishers for last Sunday's prayers and hymn.

On the way out, I had to wait for my kids. They'd met up with their friends and were having a great time catching up and exploring. I was standing in the concrete hall, the working part of the Abbey, between the greenhouse and the mechanic shop. I lingered there wondering where the heck my kids were. And then I looked up at the ceiling with the exposed pipes. And what did I see?

Even this 'industrial' corridor of the Abbey was touched by the spirit, where some Brother had discreetly put Leonardo da Vinci's Creation of Adam and the hand of G-d reaching towards humanity in between the electrical conduit. 

Big Stone County Agri-Tourism

On Saturday, September 28th, a group of 30 people from Fargo-Moorhead area toured some of the small farms and local foods highlights of northern Big Stone County, thanks in part to a mini-grant from Minnesota's Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program of the USDA. I think that this might be a first for our county. Even some local folks were surprised that the roads go both ways from Fargo and that a busload of people would spend an entire day checking out our small farms and local foods. It was a great day- organized by the tireless farmer Noreen Thomas from Doubting Thomas Farms in the Moorhead area.

The tour began at the Russ and Theresa Swenson farm just east of the Big Stone County line. The Swenson's grow garlic on a market scale as well as raising both milk and meat goats. They make a variety of goat cheeses on their farm including mozzarella, garlic and chive flavored hard cheeses, and soft ricotta type cheese. In Minnesota you can produce and sell cheese from your farm, but the only way to purchase it is to take a trip to the Swenson's farm. From our experience, it is worth the drive!
From there the tour went to The Cabin Café where Doreen Winston provide a lunch of homemade barbeque pork sandwiches and salads made from local produce- cabbage for coleslaw, fruit, local tomatoes, zucchini, and peppers. The lunch was served as a picnic at The Apple Ranch on Big Stone Lake, where the group had the opportunity to tour the orchard and buy locally grown apples, namely the Honeycrisps and Haralsons that are currently ripe.

From there the tour went to the Dan and Michelle Moberg vineyard, named Juanita's Vineyard after Dan's mother the late Nita Moberg. The delicious and cold-hardy Marquette grapes (from the University of Minnesota) are at perfect ripeness and the group had the opportunity to spend time walking in the vineyard and harvesting grapes to eat on the spot and to take back home with them. In addition, the Mobergs had samples of the wines they have made as well as grape jellies.
The final stop was the Mike Jorgenson family farm. The Jorgenson's have put a portion of their farm into pasture and are raising grass-fed beef, both Irish Dexters and Lowline Angus. They also have a University of Minnesota organic edible bean variety trial on their farm that includes both market classes like kidney and pinto beans, and specialty beans like cranberry and eagle's eye. Two U of M graduate students were there to both explain the field experiment and to begin harvesting some of the plots. The trial is to help select heirloom bean varieties that grow well in Minnesota conditions.

One aside from this trip, noted by this author, is the role of the University of Minnesota in the crops on these farms. Bette Johnson, owner of the apple ranch, made a point of telling the crowd that all of the nine varieties of apples in her orchard were developed by the University of Minnesota (though she did note that the more recent varieties that the U has released are not as accessible as past varieties). Likewise, the Moberg's noted in describing their vineyard operation that the three grape varieties they grow were develop at the U of M. The Jogenson's demonstrated first hand how the U of M continues to work with farmers to develop new crop and hopefully new markets.


Overall, the day was a success and many in the group hope to return. Already some have asked the Moberg's to invite them to help harvest grapes next year. They found the vineyard peaceful and the work "therapeutic" and would like to volunteer. Upon leaving, the group asked if there were places in Big Stone County where they could hold retreats and stay for more than a day. With places like the Beardsley Lodge open, it is hoped that more tourists will discover the hidden and not hidden treasures of Big Stone County. It is gratifying to see outsiders appreciate the beauty and the local foods that our area has to offer.