Electric Fetus: Puzzlers Will Love This New Item – Minneapolis, MN
…
MNspin: Minnesota has been a player in the international music scene since the Andrews Sisters stole music lovers’ hearts in the 1940s. From Atmosphere to Spider John Koerner, Bob Dylan to Prince, Cantus to Semisonic, Cloud Cult to Trampled by Turtles, the Minnesota Orchestra, Bobby Vee, the Replacements, Maria Jette, The Steeles, Robert Robinson, Owl City, and so many others have made their mark on the world, but they also had their start in Minnesota.
Now Minnesota musicians can connect with new audiences through MNspin, an online collection of Minnesota music curated by local experts that launched winter 2017. The collection features a curated selection of works by Minnesota artists of all genres. Anyone may stream music from MNspin. A library card registered with Hennepin County Library is required to download music.Minnesota artists gain exposure, and music lovers can explore the rich diversity of the local scene and find new favorite local artists and bands.
…
…
Marvel at the aurora in this artistic, spiritual, and scientific masterwork by Indigenous collaborators. An exploration of human connection to the aurora, the Milky Way, and the wonder of the universe above us, with gorgeous photographs by a master photographer.
For millennia, humans have marveled at the night sky: the wonder of the aurora, the glory of the Milky Way, and the peace that comes with stargazing. In this remarkable book, Travis Novitsky’s photographs portray these marvels, while astrophysicist Annette S. Lee discusses how Western science and Indigenous knowledge can work together to provide a deeper understanding of our place in the universe.
Novitsky has been photographing the night sky for decades, and his vibrant images reflect and transmit the experiences he has had under the night sky. Astrophysicist and artist Annette S. Lee has been teaching about the stars and creating art that shows them for more than 30 years. She provides a brief but thorough overview of how Western science explains the aurora, from the 17th-century astronomers who first studied sunspots to the 21st-century acoustic scientist who recorded their sounds. Lee also presents examples of the ways Indigenous skywatchers have seen the sky and our place in it.
Both authors write of the wonders of starbathing: sitting quietly under the stars, knowing that humans have always done this, knowing that we literally come from the stars. Working together in this remarkable book, they bring the aurora to readers.
…
…
160 pages, Color and B&W photos
…
…
Black Fashion Week MN & W Minneapolis: Holiday Dress Showcase!
…
…
Or, maybe you came to appreciate a more subdued season, and want to carry on (quietly). Either way, the Store at Mia has you covered with artful objects for celebration and contemplation, festing and nesting.
…
2400 Third Avenue South
Minneapolis, Minnesota
…
Minneapolis Institute of Art, Glass Ball Christmas Ornament
…
Groveland Gallery’s Annual Winter Salon: “Time Taken” by Joshua Cunningham – Minneapolis, MN
CBS News Minnesota: “You are in the boonies. There is nothing else really out here,” Kim Englund said. “It’s really quiet and we have great neighbors everywhere so it’s a whole, big community that supports each other.”
Lund Township is six miles by six miles. And Kim will be the first to tell you that it’s chock full of Scandinavians.
“A lot of Norwegians. A lot of Swedes. We all kind of landed here from Norway — from here to Grand Forks. And we all like lefse,” said Kim.
And that is good for business. During the pandemic, Kim decided to make lemonade out of lemons. Or in this case, lefse out of potatoes.
“When COVID hit you could see all the drive-thrus were still open. Because that was considered ‘no contact,'” said Kim.
So, she made her own drive-thru out of a deer stand and began selling lefse out of it. It’s about as Minnesotan as it gets.
“Everybody comes and drives through here. They can drive right up to the window. And then we have our menu here and they order. I even have Venmo. That’s new to me,” she said.
“I was like, you guys are crazy,” said Willow Englund, Kim’s daughter.
Those were Wilow’s thoughts when the drive-thru first opened. She still thinks it’s crazy, but Willow brings a lot to the table. In fact, the entire family spends seven nights a week making this Nordic dessert.
“We all mainly have our different jobs,” said Willow. “Peel potatoes or put ingredients in the bowl.”
They make 20 pounds of lefse a night and then sell it between 10 a.m. and noon on Saturdays.
It’s $6 for three lefse rounds and it’s safe to say that business has been on a roll.
…
John House is a customer from nearby Melby. “Population 39 and holding,” said John, who has become a regular on Saturdays. “I bought from her for years, before she had this. This was, pretty smart.”
“It’s very unique. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anything like this before,” said Sue Englund, a customer.
It’s a Scandinavian tradition Kim’s family is helping to drive forward. And she’s hoping other families do the same.
“You have to step up. Everybody tells me grandma made the lefse and it’s time for everybody to step up and learn to make the lefse,” said Kim. “So this is kind of my battle cry. We need lefse makers in all the areas.”
The little, red lefse shack is located a mile north of Evansville on County Road 1. The Englunds are open Saturday mornings in November and December. They say their busiest days are the Saturdays before Thanksgiving and Christmas, and they’ll get customers from the Twin Cities, South Dakota, and everywhere in between.
…
View full-feature here.
…
…
…
…
Wilson unhitched his trailer and hopped into his work truck. Driving through the property, he points out the nearby Minnesota River. The trees stand in orderly rows, stretching across the gentle hillsides. He says they sometimes have problems with deer, munching on the low branches “like candy.”
When Wilson and his father started the farm in 1981, it was all cropland. Back then, they planted Scotch pines during the early start of their Christmas tree venture.
“Now, hardly anybody wants a pine,” he said. “So, that’s how you gotta remember. It’s eight years to a harvest. So you plant something that nobody’s gonna want. That’s kind of a wasted eight years.”
…
Young saplings are especially vulnerable to disease and extreme weather conditions, including drought.
But, Wilson embraces the climate’s unpredictability and challenge as he works his family’s farm.
“It’s all about nature, it’s all about life,” he said. “And you get to enjoy that natural resource as long as you can, while you can. And, it gives back some wealth of income along the way.”
The six inches of rainfall in September helped their trees recover from the most recent drought. Wilson said they experienced much worse during the severe droughts in 1988 and 1989.
“I lost everything,” he said. “Everything died in those years. So, the last two years have been bad, but not as bad as they could be. As far as our trees that we have, and you can see them out here in the lot, the colors are beautiful.”
…
While Minnesota is slowly recovering, the accumulated rain deficits are between eight to 15 inches below normal in the southern parts of the state over the last three years.
Trees take two to four years to recover from droughts. Luigi Romolo, state climatologist with the Minnesota DNR, said it’s unclear why droughts are developing more often and more severely. He also said that a slow spring melt in March and April will be needed in order to recharge soils for planting season.
“We’ve just had a little bit of bad luck these last few years,” Romolo said. “We’re hoping that things will turn around and we’ll get back into a normal pattern. But, until that happens, we’re just going to have to endure with what we’re experiencing.”
The drought hit the agricultural industry especially hard. Farmers spent more on irrigation. Romolo said it’s possible that Christmas tree prices might increase and inventory might vary.
…
“Drought is a natural part of our climate,” he said. “But, there’s nothing natural about what we’ve been experiencing in the last three years.”
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for live Christmas trees outpaced the supply. Ben Wolcyn, president of the Minnesota Christmas Tree Association, said he and many other farms dipped into their inventories during those years.
He said Wolcyn Tree Farms and Nursery in Cambridge, Minn., plants two to three trees for every tree they harvest. Wolcyn said in order to restock they’re ramping up production. This season, they’ll harvest around 25,000 Christmas trees, and next spring, they’ll plant about 80,000.
“We had to do a lot of managing, but it’s been a good thing for our industry,” Wolcyn said. “For a lot of families to experience having a real tree for the first time, hopefully it’s a tradition that they’ll continue going into the future.”
Woclyn said people wanting to buy a live tree should do some planning and know the tree they pick out at a lot might be a different size or species depending on when and where they go.
…
“Just be adaptable,” he said. “There’s plenty of trees for everyone. We are very humbled by the fact that we get to provide the centerpiece to a lot of families’ Christmas celebrations. It’s not something we take lightly.”
This demand for live Christmas trees also means the industry also continues to adapt to the changing climate. Whether that’s planting more drought-resilient trees, planting cover crops in between rows, or running programs that rent out trees for a week and replanting them in the spring.
There’s a lot of dialogue happening in the holiday greenery industry, Wolcyn said. Drought is a challenge, but he doesn’t see it entirely as a negative.
“I actually get excited when I hear about drought because that means we’re growing a real product,” he said. “We’re not in a lab or in a manufacturing plant. We’re producing something. We’re out in God’s creation, and experiencing the challenges of that. But with that comes something that’s real. That’s what we have.”
…
Christmas tree farms are often operated by generations of families. That’s how it is at Brewery Hill Christmas Tree Farm in Le Sueur.
Scott Wilson stopped by his late wife Mary’s grave underneath a big oak tree on the property, now called “The Proposal Tree.”
It’s the same spot where Wilson asked her to marry him on her birthday decades ago. It’s become a popular spot for other couple’s proposals in the years since.
Wilson said had no idea the farm would grow into the operation that it is today, with new generations of his family helping during the holidays.
…
“All my kids are part of the process and without them, I couldn’t do it,” Wilson said. “They give up their time and they have jobs, yet where’s the family? Our family comes together here big time and we’re doing things together … my heart is full with that.”
Meanwhile, it’s business as usual for Brewery Hill. Wilson’s already opening up for business this weekend.
He’s ready for another season of welcoming families into his farm for the holidays and keeping traditions alive.
“Sometimes I have to actually tell myself just how fortunate I am, in the end to grow things and stuff like that and have the beauty of it,” Wilson said. “I am pretty blessed when it comes to a lot of stuff, and I don’t take that for granted.”
…
…
MPR News is supported by Members. Gifts from individuals power everything you find here. Make a gift of any amount today to become a Member!