Bluestem Prairie

The Emo Senator: Mike Parry declares "I have no obligation to this leadership"

Governor Dayton and titular Senate Majority Amy Koch agree that some committees will need "adult supervision," but Emo Senator Mike Parry told the Mankato Free Press that he has "no obiligation to [Koch's] leadership."

In a interview on Almanac last night, Governor Dayton said that some committees might need "adult supervision" to get their work done. Late last night, the Star Tribune included the remark in its wrap-up coverage of the day, but didn't note that later in the show, titular Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch had agreed with Dayton's assessment:

Our committees are working, and as the governor said, perhaps some of them need a little more adult supervision-- is that what he used?-- and that's very likely to finish our work.

Koch's answer came in response to a question that specifically referenced the Emo Senator from Waseca.

Parry is having none of it, and running buddy Al Dekruif (R-Elysian) is getting his back. In Warning: Budget deal no shoo-in, Mankato Free Press political reporter Mark Fischenich reports:

One of the distinctions [Rep. Tony] Cornish sees between the House and the Senate is that Zellers got a commitment in advance from rank-and-file House Republicans to back him up if he reached agreement with the governor.

“I think the difference is we gave our leadership the OK and the trust to cut the deal,” Cornish said. “I don’t think in the Senate they have that trust level.”

DeKruif and Parry were asked if they felt any obligation, after electing Koch as their majority leader, to support the deal she negotiated even if they don’t agree with it.

“I don’t think there’s been any agreement reached, first of all,” DeKruif said. “Second, when the governor said he’s agreed to an offer that we made (in late June). ... Well, part of that offer had some policy attached.”

Parry said his only responsibility is to vote in the way that he feels best represents the interests of his constituents.

“I have no obligation to this leadership,” he said.

Parry flounced out of a budget committee meeting yesterday afternoon, but flashes of his pique had appeared on the horizon a day earlier in a district newspaper.

On Thursday, following Republican Senate Majority Caucus conference calls, Parry told the Owatonna People's Press that he wasn't pleased about the deal. In Governor, Republicans reach common ground, Ashley Peterson reports:

Sen. Mike Parry, R-Waseca, said he spent Thursday afternoon in conference calls with other Republican leaders to discuss the governor’s supposed agreement and added that is he not happy with Dayton’s response.

“The governor says he agrees with our June 30 proposal. However, for him to accept that, he has put in three different options or things he needs in order to accept our offer. He hasn’t accepted our offer — he’s just saying if we agree to three items he wants in there, then he will consider,” Parry said. . . .

Yesterday, that pique opened in a deluge that threatens the agreement to end the shutdown, without the adult supervision Parry rejects.

Today's Mankato Free Press article suggests the reason that Parry is able to act out like a temperamental Southern Minnesota belle: because he can.  Titular Senate Majority Leader Koch's apparent inability to sell the compromise to her caucus creates enormous leverage for Parry.  Fischenich writes:

Senate Republican leaders, who hold a 37-29 majority, can’t afford many defectors if they want to get the budget passed. If no Democrats support the deal, something Parry said the Senate GOP has been told is likely, the defection of four Republicans would block passage.

After talking to Senate colleagues on Friday, DeKruif wouldn’t put odds on getting a budget passed and putting and end to the shutdown — something Dayton, Zellers and Koch predicted would happen Monday or Tuesday.

“I’m not sure,” DeKruif said. “I’d just suggest: Stay tuned.”

Who brought Flouncett O-Parry to the cotillion?: Bluestem's assessment 

Mike Parry, belle of the ball, is a creature spawned by Koch's ceding power to Senate Majority Leader Mike Brodkorb, as well as by the passionate embraces extended by some of the press corps. Brodkorb has nurtured Parry's inner child, and the legislative process is not better for the Emo Senator's public self-actualization.

Despite a history of disruptive behavior going back to his days on the Waseca City Council, Parry was plucked by Brodkorb to be a committee head, then given a weekly radio show that raised his profile among the capital press corps. Now Parry defies the titular leader.

The situation reminds Bluestem of the relationship that evolved between Senate Minority Leader Dick Day and then Senator Michele Bachmann. Although given a leadership role in 2004 (Assistant Minority Leader in charge of policy), Bachmann pushed her own agenda in order to hate the gay, thereby raising her own profile  while paving a career path to the national spotlight. Day dumped Bachmann from the leadership post around the time of the 2005 shutdown. Parry now uses the limelight in a similar way, with rumors of a congressional bid against Walz in the First. Perhaps he wants to mow the lawn on Summit Avenue.

Seen in this light, the Republican majority that swept Koch to power is both her blessing and her curse. For while on paper Koch has the ability to set the agenda that Day never enjoyed, unlike Day, she must contend with not one Bachmann, but multiple manifestations of that political personality, none of whom is as attractive or charismatic (in either secular or sacred connotations) as the Gentlewoman from Minnesota's Sixth. And while Day is said to have given Brodkorb his first job in the Senate, in her own inexperience, Koch gave Brodkorb the Senate.

That Mike Parry replaced Day in Senate District 26? Ripples of  "Après moi, le déluge."

Image: The Emo Senator as a cross-dressing artist--Flouncett O'Parra, the belle of Southern Minnesota. Via Tild's Emo Senator Mike Parry, AKA Flouncett O’Parra.

Related posts:Was Senator Parry's single term on Waseca City Council predictive of today's budget flouncing?

Emo Senator flounces out of budget meeting; will Parry's mood swings derail special session?

When a newspaper loves a Republican, he can do no wrong (and the FDN can't factcheck Parry)

Emo senator Mike Parry pats self on back for compassion, reveals another income source

MNGOP's class warfare for dummies: Waseca voter tells Mike Parry he's wrong about Dayton

Emo tweeting senator Mike Parry can see Governor's mansion lawn from Waseca

The Emo Senator cont'd: rocking chairs, resignations, and a retreat to retweets

Thumbs down, Emo senator: "Parry commentary wasn’t helpful"; turn off phone, go count trees

Emo senator, part 3: Mike Parry collecting paycheck and per diem during shutdown

The Emo Senator, part 2: Mike Parry cries crocodile tears over laid-off state workers

The Emo Senator: Mike Parry calls for Governor Dayton's resignation, cites feelings, trust fund

Suddenly socialist Mike Parry demands pay according to his needs

 

Trees and branches block Luce Line Trail after Minnesota's July 1 "shutdown storm"

A line of storms that whipped up violent straight-line winds across much of Southern and Central Minnesota hit Hutchinson's city forest hard Friday night.

By yesterday afternoon, most of the debris had been removed from city streets and the Luce Line Trail in town. Once joggers and bicyclists using the trail reach city limits, it's a different story.

West of Hutchinson, the state trail was blocked by toppled branches and trees.

The Hutchinson Leader reported in Storm blows through Hutchinson Friday night city helping with tree damage clean up:

High winds in Hutchinson Friday night downed many trees, broke off thousands of branches, tipped a semi-truck over along State Highway 15 north of the city and rip much of the roof off of the Hutchinson Animal Hospital at the corner of State Highway 7 West and California Street.

City workers will be helping residents with the extensive clean-up, Mayor Steve Cook told the Leader Friday night. Residents may place downed branches and limbs in the boulevard along the street (not in the street) and crews will begin picking them up Tuesday.

I live in the northwest part of town, not far from that corner, and biked down to the community gardens to check my plot after the early evening storm passed. It was tough going on the Luce Line Trail in town, since dozens of large branches covered the trail. I saw quite a few trees down as well.

Yesterday, the trail was cleared--until I reached the edge of town, curious to see how the shutdown might affect the hundreds of people who jog, dog-walk and bike the path. I didn't get far, since just west of town, branches and trees had fallen across the trail. While I was snapping photos, one muscular runner with a Marine buzzcut and smile roughed it, picking his way through the obstacle course. No one else tried.

No saying when storm damage on other state parks and recreation areas will be cleaned up. Before the storm on Friday, the Marshall Independent reported in Area state parks: open … but not:

Camden State Park closed down on Thursday in anticipation of a state government shutdown, but will still be available for day use this Fourth of July weekend. . . .

If the shutdown continues throughout the weekend, day use will be permitted until 9 p.m. but law enforcement personnel will enforce closing hour.

"Day use is OK, but you can't rent anything and you'll have to hike in," Dinesen said. . . .

The storm damage changed all that in the area an hour and a half southwest of Hutchinson. The St. Paul Pioneer Press reported yesterday in DNR: Fallen trees make Camden, St. Croix parks unsafe:

Minnesota wardens are urging residents to stay out of two state parks that sustained severe tree damage in a recent thunderstorm.

Chris Niskanen of the state Department of Natural Resources said it's unsafe to enter Camden State Park and St. Croix State Park. He said hundreds of trees were toppled in Friday's storm, leaving roads impassable and other trees unstable.

He said the parks were closed anyway because of the state government's shutdown. But he said it's extra-urgent to stay out because of safety issues.

Niskanen said once the shutdown ends, it could take several days before crews can clean the damage and reopen the parks.

The trail and parks have me wondering: how would greater Minnesota cities' budgets been affected by the cost of the storm clean-up had LGA payments not been deemed essential by the court?  As Bluestem posted in A win in an ugly war: LGA payments deemed essential to cities and counties:

That's a victory of sorts, the Marshall Independent reports in LGA call a win for cities, counties:

Cities and counties across the state of Minnesota won a battle in the midst of an ugly war this week when Ramsey County District Court Judge Kathleen Gearin ordered that Local Government Aid must be paid regardless of a government shutdown.

While Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton and top Republican lawmakers continued their clandestine-like negotiations Thursday to come to terms over the state's $5 billion deficit, cities and counties breathed a little sigh of relief over Gearin's decision.

"We certainly welcome the court's decision," Marshall Mayor Bob Byrnes said. "Most people agree that it makes sense. The intent of Local Government Aid is to be sure that basic essential services are provided in communities." . .

On Friday night, I heard fire trucks and other emergency vehicles  at least  a half a dozen times. Good to know they were running. Now, who will clear the trails outside of town for runners and bicyclists?

Photo: Luce Line Trail west of Hutchinson on Saturday. City crews had clean the trail inside city limits.

Brian Lambert: "the horse [bleep] weather is not your imagination"

  In late April, Minnesota Farm Bureau President Kevin Paap posted on  Facebook that he had driven 302 miles from his farm in Blue Earth County to Fargo, and not seen a single farmer working the fields in between.

That observation is amplified in today's Morning Glean at MinnPost. Brian Lambert writes:

Three percent. That’s all of Minnesota’s farm acreage that has been planted. Mike Hughlett’s Strib story says: “As of Sunday, only 3 percent of the state's spring wheat crop had been planted, compared with 96 percent at the same time last year and 41 percent on average by that date, according to a report Monday from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Minnesota field office. Only 1 percent of the corn crop had been planted. By May 1, 2010, 84 percent of the state's corn was in the ground, and the crop's five-year planting average by that date is 46 percent.” Put another way, the horse[bleep] weather is NOT your imagination.

It's sunny today here on the wind-swept and very damp prairies of McLeod County.

Photo: Some unplowed fields below a cloud-filled sky in Kandiyohi County, May 1.

Cold comfort tea party: someone needs a weatherman to tell him which way the wind blows

Earlier today, Politics in Minnesota's Morning Report "Best of the Blogs" recommended Apparently the GLBT movement is dead, too, a post at the site kept by Michael Brodkorb's pet blogger. The entertaining piece illustrates the writer's rhetorical virtues as clearly as anything he's written of late.

Indeed, the short entry pulls together most of the blogger's stylistic graces. Read this post at Shot in the Dark, and you probably never need read another word the radio and social media personality commits to the ether.

The post compares Saturday's tea party rally with the OutFront Minnesota rally on Thursday.

First, it describes Saturday's event. Both the blogger and the press center on the excuses for a poorly-attended rally. Fox News 9's St. Paul Tea Party Rally Draws Smaller Crowd, describes the crowd as a "vocal group of dozens." As the screenshot above shows, the station named the lack of a keynote speaker and the weather as dampening attendance.

About that weather? The sunshine patriot writes:

It was 33 degrees at noon, when I spoke, and there was snow on the ground, and a cold wet wind was howling from the north giving wind chills in the teens.  Not prime rallying weather.  More like Valley Forge. 

That's the writer in the screenshot to the right, bundled up against the snow on the ground behind him (larger, long shot of Saturday's rally itself in the top screenshot).

Given the blogger's heroic prose, it's surprising that the dozens gathered weren't building little huts and drilling with their own Baron von Steuben.

Weather Underground's historical records for Saturday show that the high temperature was 42 degrees, the low 31, and the mean 37. The wind averaged 13 mph. A total of .02 inches of precipitation fell.

The impetus for the blogger's hyperbole and self-pity is a Star Tribune article, Attendance down at Capitol Tax Day rally. He doesn't link to the article, which also touches on rallies elsewhere in the country. Reading the Strib piece, one wonders what purpose the umbrage at the reporter serves, save to set up the hit on another rally earlier in the week, for GLBT equality.

Weather Underground's records for Thursday, the day of the earlier rally, show that high temperature was 48, the low 35, and the mean 42. The wind averaged 12 mph. A trace of rain fell (it was mixed sleet and snow at times during the rally).  In short, Saturday was five-to-six degrees colder than Thursday, but both were well below the average high for this time in April, the mid-fifties.

But in the creative nonfiction at Shot in the Dark, Thursday was one of those average April days:

By the way, an observer at the Capitol told me that attendance at the annual LGBT rally with Governor Dayton was “way down” from previous years.

Is it because the gay rights movement is dead?

Or is it because it’s an off-year, and the weather was  in the fifties and “wind-swept?”

The blogger shares an unnamed observer's thought that attendance at the OutFront Rally was "way down."

How big was the  weekday crowd? Dozens, like that on the weekend? Fox News 9 doesn't have a clip up of Thursday's rally that I could find, but a short article on the station's website puts attendance at "about 1000."

In Soldier's father, Gov. Dayton rally for gay equality, KARE-11 reported on Friday:

Gov. Mark Dayton Thursday became the first sitting Minnesota governor to speak at Outfront Minnesota's annual gay equality rally.  The event, for gay persons and their straight supporters, drew nearly 1,000 persons to the Capitol on a cold and blustery day.

The Star Tribune's item, in the Hot Dish blog, reported the same crowd numbers: about 1000. No online article for Outfront!

I attended Thursday's rally, and the numbers seem about right, though I was taping speeches and didn't do my own count. I haven't been at earlier rallies, so I don't know if the turnout is "way down" from earlier efforts. Last year, the Minnesota Independent reported "several hundred" rallied.

The conservative blogger's crowd estimate, much like his assessment of the weather on both days, shows a certain poetic flourish. Indeed, had the Tea Party Tax Day rally attendance only been that "way down" (to 1000) on Saturday, I suspect that his description of the weather would have prompted comparisons with the winter of 1941 or 1942 during the Siege of Leningrad rather than the sojourn at Valley Forge during a moderate Pennyslvania winter.

But Berg may be right. Weather might explain it all. Our own long cruel winter may have thinned the Tea Party ranks in Minnesota, and though that faction may have turned down government aid to make it through, certainly they are as resourceful as those Russians were once the cats and dogs were gone.

Selfishness is, after all, a virtue.

On the other hand, perhaps if the St. Paul Tax Day Tea Party had cancelled their rally like the fair-weather patriots in Rochester, the Twin Cities media could have devoted feature after feature to the non-event, following the lead of the Post Bulletin, which published three articles about the group after it was a no-show because of a little rain. Perhaps the metro Tea Party can learn from their experience.

Update: Fibonacci Blue, who photographs nearly every protest action in the Cities, left an interesting comment contrast the Tea Party Tax Day event with a February union action on the same spot in February:

Here are some similar thoughts about crowd sizes and weather with some pictures.

http://fibonacciblue.tumblr.com/post/4672654524/the-ups-and-downs-of-crowds-in-public-activism

There was a pro-union rally in February where a larger crowd fought through unshoveled steps and snowbanks to see the speakers. If people are motivated, weather is less of a factor.

Related post: Out-foxed: Rochester Post Bulletin wins Stickster Award for ultimate pander to Tea Party

Rep. Andrew Falk: Helpful resources for flood preparedness (and flood insurance)

As Bluestem noted yesterday in Flood worries spill out across state; overflow crowd greets Dayton in Montevideo, the western reaches of the Minnesota River Valley are expected to experience some of the worst flooding this spring.

It's not surprising, that Rep. Andrew Falk, who represents HD 20A on the river (Lyle Koenen, 20B, has Montevideo) sent out a press release about flood preparedness. It's importance for property owners to obtan flood insurance ASAP.

From Falk's office:

State Representative Andrew Falk today warned Western Minnesotans to prepare for spring flooding across the region.

“Minnesota’s state government has been preparing for various flooding scenarios,” said Falk, noting Governor Dayton and his administration have held meetings across the state. “I encourage residents in Western Minnesota to be prepared for the spring thaw and take action to protect their assets. If your property is at risk of flooding, I encourage you to look into a flood insurance policy immediately.”

Flood insurance policies are not activated until 30 days after the premium is paid in full.

The Minnesota Department of Commerce has prepared the following flood preparation tips in advance of flood season:

Is My Home or Business At Risk?
The best way to know if your home or business is at risk for flooding this spring is by logging on to www.floodsmart.gov. By inputting your address into the Flood Risk Profile, you can find out if your property is in a low, moderate, or high risk flood area. The Flood Risk Profile will also estimate your annual premium cost and suggest local insurance agents serving your area.

What Should I Do Next?
If you already have flood insurance for your home or business, contact your insurance agent to discuss your policy and ensure you are prepared for any possible flooding. Then, take a photo inventory of your building and its contents to properly document your assets. This will save you time and headaches after a flood. You can find out more about home inventory checklists on the Department of Commerce website.

If you do not have flood insurance, use the Flood Risk Profile to determine the threat of flooding in your area and identify local insurance agents who can help you purchase flood coverage.

When Should I Start Preparing?
It is important to act now, and take easy, affordable, preventive measures to avoid devastating losses in the upcoming flood season. Flood coverage doesn’t become active until 30 days after your premium is paid in full. It may be better to pay a few hundred dollars for an affordable flood policy now than pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages after it is too late. Remember, even if your property has never flooded before, 25 percent of all flood insurance claims are in areas where residents and business owners never expected a flood to occur.

Who Do I Contact With Questions?
You may call the Commerce Department consumer helpline with any questions you have regarding flood insurance at (651) 296-2488. You can also find more information about residential and commercial flood insurance on our website at www.commerce.state.mn.us.

 Photo: State Rep. Andrew Falk.

Flood worries spill out across state; overflow crowd greets Dayton in Montevideo

Today, another inch or so of snow fell in these parts today, and more snow is predicted to be on the way in the next couple of weeks, after one of the snowiest winters on record.

Everywhere across Minnesota, papers report about the probable threat of spring flooding. The Mankato Free Press reports in Firefighters train for flood work:

. . .Every major river in the state is at risk of surpassing flood stage. Locally, the Minnesota River at Henderson has a nearly 50 percent chance of exceeding the river’s record crest from last fall while the river in New Ulm and Mankato has a better than 90-percent chance of exceeding flood stage, according to the National Weather Service. . . .

Cities and counties from Owatonna to Brown County to Houston County discuss buying sandbags. The Fargo Forum cautions pet owners to have a plan for their pets in case of flooding.

On Facebook, a friend active in student government at the University of Minnesota posts his status as going to Moorhead to build an ark, putting an entirely new spin on the old, divine instructions to shipbuild with gopherwood. Moorhead had called for volunteers to fill 1 million sandbags.

Montevideo is predicted to be one of the hardest hit cities in the state, so it's no wonder that over 200 people packed the Montevideo American Legion when Governor Dayton traveled to the Minnesota River Valley town. the West Central Tribune reports in Flood preparation taking shape in western Minn:

Amid warnings to prepare for major flooding, more than 200 people on Friday filled the American Legion Club in Montevideo to hear Gov. Mark Dayton and public safety officials say they are ready to do all they can to help.

“We’re ready to respond to whatever occurs,” Dayton said.

The governor said the state is preparing for widespread flooding.

Adjutant General Rick Nash of the Minnesota National Guard said roughly three battalions and ample supplies of heavy equipment are ready to respond to flooding needs in the Red, Minnesota, Mississippi and St. Croix river basins.

The National Weather Service is “absolutely sure” that major flooding will be experienced in the upper Minnesota River Valley, according to Dan Luna, director of the Chanhassen office.

Luna said the most recent flood forecast projects a 90 percent probability of reaching last year’s flood levels in the Montevideo area, and a 30 percent probability for exceeding 2001 levels.

Staffers in the Walz and Franken offices tell me that "everything is flood preparation now," as one source put it.

The details are shaping up. The Tribune article noted:

Area communities and counties are already actively preparing for what’s coming. Montevideo has plans to erect a clay dike to raise the U.S. Highway 212 levee and the 1969 levee to meet the expected flood levels, according to Steve Jones, city manager.

Communities along tributaries to the Minnesota River are likewise preparing. On Hawk Creek, both Maynard and Clara City have plans to begin filling sandbags in anticipation of flooding. Mayor Richard Groothuis of Maynard noted that last year’s flooding on Hawk Creek saw waters cover the 125-year-old city cemetery, the first time that occurred.

State Reps. Lyle Koenen, DFL-Clara City, and Chris Swedzinski, R-Ghent, said there have already been discussions in the Legislature about reserving state funds for both flood mitigation and recovery needs after the flooding.

In a phone interview in late February, Congressman Walz assured me that FEMA's plans would not be affected by a shutdown of the federal government.

Here's hoping that Koenen and Swedzinski are right about the state legislature using foresight in funding flood mitigation and recovery efforts. From the sounds of the reports, Montvideo and other cities along the state's many rivers will need all sides to come together in the looming emergency.

Photo:  Past ice jam on the Little Minnesota River. Photo via MNDOT.

Did Chip Cravaack ghostwrite for the Onion in 2002?

My earnest friend Jacob Grippen, who keeps a diary at the Minnesota Progressive Project, posted an oldie but a goodie from the Onion on my Facebook page when he read that Representative Cravaack's favorite president is Calvin Coolidge. In the brief, History Teacher Has Unusual Favorite President, we read:

GROVEDALE, MN—Paul Loftus, an 11th-grade history teacher at Grovedale High School, proudly touts his unconventional choice for favorite U.S. president, Calvin Coolidge. "People fail to appreciate how Coolidge essentially rebuilt the presidency after the Harding scandals," said Loftus, who enjoys announcing and discussing his surprise pick whenever possible. "He was also a great diplomat who did much to foster world peace, all despite the tragic death of his son in his first term." Loftus went on to counter the widely held misconception that Coolidge, sometimes known as "Silent Cal," was a serious, humorless man.

Did Cravaack ghost write for the Onion in 2002? What else is he hiding from his past?

Related post: The Coolidge effect: New congressman Chip Cravaack is hot for Silent Cal

 

Spring flooding report update: Schell's brewery owner relieves risk to sacred local beer reserves

Last week, Bluestem raised an alarm based on a story in the New Ulm Journal in Spring flooding report: New Ulm budget woes jeopardize sacred local beer reserves.

Josh Moniz, the NUJ reporter who covered the city council meeting during which flood relief efforts were discussed, has emailed some welcome news:

I've talked w/ Ted Marti since the meeting and it sounds like he has found a back-up warehouse to ship the beer if the flooding gets too bad. So, no need to worry.

Moniz notes that a more thorough update will be published in the Journal's Progress section, out on Friday.

I will sleep soundly through tonight's blizzard, secure in the knowledge that New Ulm's exquisite brewery products won't be exposed to the whims of Minnesota River flood waters.

One way lovers of the wonderful old establishment and other Minnesota breweries can aid our native beer--now that sandbagging isn't a priority--is to ask legislators to support a law which will allow larger breweries to . The Star Tribune editorial board urged passage in Brewing up 'jobs, jobs, jobs':

A bill likely to be introduced in the Legislature next week would amend a state statute on brewery operations.

If it's adopted, the Surly Brewing Co. plans to build a new brewery and event center that would house a 250-seat restaurant, bar and roof deck. Surly's beer would only be sold on tap, and the brewer would not sell liquor or wine.

Unlike with smaller brewpubs such as Rock Bottom in Minneapolis, current state laws don't allow a brewer of Surly's size to offer on-site drinking. The outdated limitation also impacts other Minnesota breweries in the same size classification, including Summit in St. Paul and Schell's in New Ulm.

While Schell's hasn't announced any plans related to this proposed change in the state's law, it certainly would be wonderful to buy a tap of good New Ulm beer at the historic brewery.

Update: Two of Minnesota's mayors agree that the bill should pass. On Facebook, Minneapolis mayor RT Rybak and Duluth mayor Don Ness engaged in a friendly rivalry:

R.T. Rybak

Here's why I am in favor of changing the state laws so we can have more local beer made and sold in Minnesota. I would love a Surly or Fulton brewhouse in Minneapolis and love to go to a brewery in New Ulm, Duluth, the Range, Lucan or other parts of the state . If Grain Belt could transform Minneapolis and Schmidt transform St. Paul a generation ago, we can do that again. . . .

Don Ness Nice work RT - you have our support in Duluth on this one! This change also would allow places like Duluth's Brewhouse to wholesale. I love Surly, but the Starfire Ale at the Brewhouse is Minnesota's best beer. I'm getting thirsty - time for a Furious!

Image: Schell's Snowstorm. Mmm, beer.

Spring flooding report: New Ulm budget woes jeopardize sacred local beer reserves

Like the humble prairie pasqueflowers that wait beneath snowdrifts, one small town news item has been buried beneath a blizzard of coverage of partisan state budget bickering, Wisconsin workers walking (and sleeping) like Egyptians, and spring flood predictions.

Lack of resources to construct a temporary berm puts a warehouse full of Schell's "brewery products" at risk from those floods, the New Ulm Journal reports.

The funding woes are laid out in New Ulm Council debates flood response:

. . . The Council discussed the construction of a clay berm to protect at-risk properties along the Minnesota River. The berm was estimated to cost $350,000.

Gramentz explained that the City was in an unique situation regarding the funding of a berm.

Previously, the City was reimbursed for emergency procedures in the '97 and '01 floods by FEMA.

However, Gramentz explained that the City only received the funding because the berms protected infrastructure and only coincidently protected properties. Since that time, the City has improved protection of infrastructure, like making the sewer water-tight, to the point that it is no longer at risk. He said the City wouldn't be able to make a strong case that the berm was protecting infrastructure. He said that it was unlikely that FEMA would reimburse the City for only protecting property. . . .

. . .The consensus was that it was unlikely the berm would be built, especially with budget restrictions and a lack of FEMA funds.

Councilor Les Schultz said the City's challenge was it couldn't afford to build a berm if the flooding was light, but it needed it if the flood was catastrophic. He said that the uncertainty over the flood levels made the City unable to build.

One property owner outlined his issues with this approach:

Ted Marti, owner of Schell's Brewery, addressed the Council, stating he need a definitive decision about the berm.

"My problem isn't that I can just find another warehouse if I flood. I need to know now what the City will do so I can prepare," said Marti.

After the meeting, Marti said that the Council's decision put him in a difficult position. He said that he would have to look for another location to store brewery products or he would need to construct his own berm. He said both would be difficult.

And there we have it. It's come to this. If that beer, lying vulnerable in the path of a rising river's torrents, doesn't make the case for adequately funding LGA by the barrelful, I simply don't know what does.

Moreover, one would think that we could readily tap the imagination of the most disaster-hardened FEMA bureaucrat to make the case that Mr. Marti's brewery operation, the second oldest family brewery in America, is a crucial part of our nation's infrastructure.

Listed on the U.S. National Registry of Historic Places, the brewery opened in 1860 by August Schell, to came to the Minnesota River Valley with a group of socialist gymnasts. It's one of the few outlying buildings left standing in New Ulm by Dakota warriors during the 1862 U.S-Dakota War. (The brewery history says that Mrs. Schell's habit before the war of inviting her visiting Dakota neighbors in for a little lunch prompted indigenous soldiers to spare the property).

The brewery survived Prohibition and the years when the nation's tastes in suds dictated the production of "deer piss."

Now known for its splendid seasonal and craft beers, Schell's has become a beacon for both enterprise and beer drinkers--especially given the many beerfests staged on the brewery grounds. Recently named Minnesota's Family Business of the Year:

Schell’s Brewing Company currently employs 49 full time employees, three family members, and 19 part time employees.  Five extended family members hold titled board positions and the remainder of the shareholders is made up of descendents of August Schell.  The Brewery has been 100% owned and operated by the same family since its inception in 1860. . . .

There's a party coming up, Bockfest:

Date: March 5th, 2011
Time: 11am - 4:30pm
Where: Schell's Brewery
Admission: $10  - Please note that part of the Bock Fest proceeds will go to benefit the Beyond the Yellow Ribbon Program in support of the New Ulm National Guard Unit and their families who are to be deployed this year.  Also, some proceeds will go to benefit the New Ulm Area Food Shelf. 

For the love of all that is sacred and tasty, FEMA, pay for that berm! Senators and Representatives! Fund LGA! Save our strategic beer reserves--the Grain Belt Nordeast you spare may be your own.

Governor Dayton, build that wall!

Image: The label for Schell's Bock Beer. When our beer supply is under attack, stand up and fight back.

The politics of floods: predictions for Southern Minnesota and Roseau

Mankato Free Press staff writer Tim Krohn reports in Flood walls a sight for sore, dry eyes:

. . .The nearly three miles of concrete flood walls and rip-rap down the banks makes ours the ugliest stretch of river along its 335-mile route.

But for anyone who’s lived in the two cities since the flood-control project was officially completed in 1987, the unsightly levees look pretty sweet when the river rages. . . .

. . .Turning to Congress, the cities got flood-control funding approved, but the bill was vetoed by President Eisenhower. Funding was finally approved in 1958 — but construction would not come in time for the 1965 flood.

North Mankato enlisted thousands of volunteers who built an earthen dike and piled 1 million sandbags — an effort that worked and spared the city the devastation it had seen 14 years earlier. Mankato wasn’t as fortunate, as water flooded the low-lying area around Mankato (West) High School and the Sibley Park area. 

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which, if nothing else, thinks big, originally proposed building a major dam on the river to control the crest through Mankato. Farmers and residents of small towns that would have been behind the dam — and under water — were not impressed with the idea.

The Corps finally settled on the current design and began work in the ’70s.

As a blogger of a certain age, I remember that flood in 1965, climbing to the highest bluff near St. Peter to look down at the waters surging through the broad flood plain. To my childish imagination, it seemed like the glacial River Warren that first carved the broad, high-bluff Minnesota River Valley had returned with the spring snow melt. Unlike this year, the frost in the ground was deep and tenacious, and a prolonged downpour that followed the famous St. Pat's Day blizzard were the flood disaster trifecta for Southern Minnesota.

And that dam? It was actually proposed for the Blue Earth River--and would have been an environmental disaster, given the geology of the area and the complicated watershed. Because of the presence of the Blue Earth River system, Blue Earth County has the most miles of rivers and streams of any county in Minnesota. There were plenty of us downstream who objected to the Corps' plan; for me, organizing against it was my first exposure to citizen activism.

Krohn is right about the flood project changing the face of the river in Mankato. And the concern this year isn't abstract. A Pioneer Press headline from late last month is typical: Minnesota's spring flood forecast growing more dire:

Think all this snow is a hassle? Wait until it melts.

Emergency management officials are preparing for significant flooding across Minnesota this spring — a result of fall rains and heavy winter snowfall — and advising at-risk homeowners to buy flood insurance.

"Every river in the state of Minnesota is at risk this year, and that's not something we normally see," Dan Luna of the National Weather Service office in Chanhassen said Thursday.

Luna said water levels along the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers are expected to rise as high as last year or higher. He added there is a possibility of flooding as severe as the spring of 2001.

That spring, the Mississippi crested twice above 23 feet in St. Paul — the highest levels since the 1960s.

Turning north, the Grand Forks Herald reports that Roseau will have to wait to secure flood migration from Congress. Like Mankato, which sought migration after a flood in 1951, Roseau will be held hostage by politics, Ryan Bakken reports in Roseau, Minn., to wait for flood protection:

Residents of Roseau, Minn., knew they would have two more years of fretting during flood season.

But, with gridlock in the U.S. Congress, they may have more. Even under the best scenario, their wait for protection after flood catastrophe will be 10 years. . . .

Residents hoped that the flood control project, with a diversion as its centerpiece, would be finished in late 2012. It still could be, if Congress passes an appropriations bill this year and next.

Roseau was scheduled to receive $5 million this year and $10 million next year, which would have been enough to complete the work.

But Congress may not pass an appropriations bill this year. If it doesn’t, Roseau would receive less than $2 million, which would delay the completion by at least a year.

A finished project is expected to cost $36 million, with the federal government supplying $19 million, the state $16 million and the city of Roseau $1 million.

The diversion is about one-fourth done. Until it’s completed, it won’t offer any flood relief to the city.

And with the earmark ban in place, the city can't ask for help from its congressman.

On the state level, funding for flood-related matters may get into an even deeper hole. In GOP tries to take first bite out of state deficit, Don Davis reported:

The bill even puts disaster relief money approved in a special October legislative session, for 2010 floods and tornadoes, in peril Rep. Kory Kath, DFL-Owatonna, warned. Holberg did not argue.

More from MPR here.

The Associated Press reported:

The GOP bills don’t say what they would cut. But The Associated Press got information Tuesday from six state agencies with nearly $70 million in unspent money set aside for programs including disaster aid to communities ravaged by floods and tornadoes last year, emergency grants for veterans and financial aid for college students, including National Guard members, already starting their spring semesters.

Yes, the Republicans now in power are considering reneging on relief for 2010 flood and tornadoes. The relief measures were passed unanimously by both houses in last fall's special session. Kath was the chief author of the legislation in the House, since his district was particularly hard hit by the floods.

 Kath's remarks in the January 27 House floor debate begin at the 1:35:23 mark.

Photo: An aerial view of the Mankato area during the Flood of 1965, via the Minnesota River Basin Data Center.

Can geography advocate Tim Walz teach Bachmann staff lesson by example?

Over at Ripple in Stillwater, Karl Bremer points out that Michele Bachmann is in Hawaii today--not her subzero district, as her staff claimed:

When Bloomberg reporter and former Time magazine White House correspondent Margaret Carlson called Michele Bachmann for a comment on the people’s uprising in Egypt, Carlson wrote that Bachmann’s office told her the Minnesota congresswoman “wouldn’t be giving any interviews this week while she concentrates on district work.”

But according to the Grassroot Institute Hawaii, Bachmann is scheduled to give a luncheon talk at the Ala Moana Hotel in Honolulu today—4,476 miles and 80 degrees F. from the subzero temperatures her constituents in Minnesota’s 6th District woke up to this morning.

According to the Grassroot Institute website, Bachmann’s $35-a-head luncheon is sold out. The Grassroot Institute Hawaii was founded in 2001 and says its mission is “to promote individual liberty, the free market and limited accountable government.” The Institute promises the speech from the “potential 2012 presidential candidate” will offer “great insight into the 2011 congressional session."

Bremer has updated the post:

Bachmann is speaking at the Lewis and Clark Lincoln/Reagan Dinner in Helena, M, later this week on Feb. 5--also a long way from her constituents. It's not clear whether she'll squeeze in a visit to the district between Honolulu and Helena.

Perhaps Congressman Tim Walz could give Bachmann a lesson in how to find one's own district. Walz is in Albert Lea today, visiting with students at the local high school. Contacted via email about the visit, Walz press secretary Sara Sever noted his activities:

He spoke in three government classes for seniors. He talks to them a little bit about what is going on in Washington, what he’s working on and then takes questions from students. Sometimes, it’s a larger assembly, but it was three specific classes that he attended today.

The Albert Lea Tribune now notes the temperature is -2 in the Freeborn County metropolis, where school started two hours late today because of the bad weather and multiple rollovers were caused by poor road conditions. It's what a rural Minnesota congressional district is like in early February; perhaps when the House reconvenes, Bachmann will ask Walz about congressional working conditions in Greater Minnesota.

Walz held a Congress on Your Corner day in Worthington on Tuesday, accompanied by double-digit below zero windchills, and will hold another in the Hyvee grocery store in Owatonna tomorrow. Severs told the Owatonna People's Press:

The congressman’s spokesperson Sara Severs said Walz has no set topic in mind.

“There is no specific agenda. We’re just asking people to come and chat with him and share concerns or ideas they have,” Sever said.  . . .

It is the latest in a chain of grocery store appearances Walz has made in the last couple of weeks, a tour entitled “Congress on your Corner.” These meeting come close on the heels of the tragic shootings at a supermarket in Tucson on Jan. 8, where Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot and six were killed, including a 9-year-old girl and a federal judge. Giffords was shot during a “Congress on your Corner” event.

Walz is apparently undeterred by the violence. Severs said the DFLer has made these appearances since he first took office in 2006.

So far, the tour has taken Walz to Mankato and Worthington, a meeting that occurred on Tuesday.

“A couple different topics came up. We chatted about immigration, the economy, veterans and transportation,” Sever said. “All of those came up in addition to constituent services.”

The meeting begins at noon Thursday and runs until 1:30. Walz will be located near the floral department in Hy-Vee, which is at 1620 S. Cedar Avenue.

Perhaps it's indicative of  "Minnesota Nice" that some readers in the comment section are planning to greet Walz with a video camera rather than a Glock. A couple of commenters at the newspaper's website do seem to be troubled by the notion that seniors and veterans might get an opportunity to speak with their congressman at the local grocery store. But one writes:

Ac I'll take a video, could be worth the u tube hits. lol

In another comment, though, the same reader isn't happy about the Sixth's absentee representative, however:

and how about Bachman wanting to chop Vet benefits! need someone to protect the ones that protect your free speech!I'm a vet and I don't use any vet services. We have a lot of messed up War vets That need to be taken care of!!!

Illustrations: Hawaii for Bachmann, via Ripple in Stillwater (above). The streets of Worthington on Tuesday (below). Photo by Brian Korthals/ Daily Globe.

Walz statement on federal disaster assistance; Pawlenty calls special session

Last night, I posted about the federal disaster declaration issued yesterday by President Obama.  Congressman Walz's office released the following statement:

"I am pleased that the President issued this declaration, opening the gateway to federal funding for our communities recovering from flooding.  This declaration relieves cities, counties and the state of a significant portion of the financial burden caused by the flooding.  For residents of these communities, this means that local officials will not be forced to hike taxes to cover repairs.  Additional portions of this declaration are still under review and I’ve encouraged FEMA to move quickly to finalize their review of the additional materials submitted by the State of Minnesota.”

The Star Tribune reports this morning that Pawlenty has called the special session for Monday:

Total state-federal funding for the disaster relief is expected to top $100 million.

The state's portion would rely mostly on $32.5 million from the state general fund and $26.7 million in general obligation bonds.

The special session is scheduled for 1 p.m. Monday. Pawlenty and lawmakers had previously predicted it would take less than a day.

Photo: Rochester floodwaters. Photo by Laura Askeli; used by permission.

Press release: President Obama signs Minnesota disaster declaration

This morning, Politics in Minnesota reported in Pawlenty and lawmakers agree on flood-relief package for damage caused by the prolonged rains in Southern Minnesota:

The package will be the start of a plan to aid southern Minnesota areas hit by recent flooding and other communities struck by tornadoes earlier this year. The Legislature will consider the package in a special session that has yet to be set. Pawlenty is waiting for a federal disaster declaration before setting a date.

Today, President Obama signed a disaster declaration for Minnesota. The press release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 13, 2010

President Obama Signs Minnesota Disaster Declaration

The President today declared a major disaster exists in the State of Minnesota and ordered Federal aid to supplement State and local recovery efforts in the area struck by severe storms and flooding beginning on September 22, 2010, and continuing.

Federal funding is available to State and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the severe storms and flooding in the counties of Blue Earth, Cottonwood, Dodge, Faribault, Freeborn, Goodhue, Jackson, Lincoln, Lyon, Martin, Mower, Murray, Olmsted, Pipestone, Rice, Rock, Steele, Wabasha, Waseca, Watonwan, and Winona.

Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide.

W. Craig Fugate, Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Homeland Security, named Lawrence Sommers as the Federal Coordinating Officer for Federal recovery operations in the affected area. FEMA said additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the State and warranted by the results of further damage assessments.

Photo: Flood waters in Rochester. Photo by Laura Askelin.

Obama declares federal disaster for Minnesota counties hit by June tornadoes

No FEMA trailers involved, since the relief is to state and local agencies, along with some nonprofits, rather than to individuals--and most tornado victims have private insurance.

A press release from the White House:

The President today declared a major disaster exists in the State of Minnesota and ordered Federal aid to supplement State and local recovery efforts in the area struck by severe storms, tornadoes, and flooding during the period of June 17-26, 2010.

Federal funding is available to State and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the severe storms, tornadoes, and flooding in Faribault, Freeborn, Olmsted, Otter Tail, Polk, Steele, and Wadena Counties.

Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide.

W. Craig Fugate, Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Homeland Security, named Lawrence Sommers as the Federal Coordinating Officer for Federal recovery operations in the affected area.

FEMA said additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the State and warranted by the results of further damage assessments.

More stormy weather: "If it's gonna pick you up...."

Last night more stormy weather hit southern Minnesota.  Channel 12 in Mankato was knocked off the air, and so I had to follow the storm in my hometown via friends' posts to twitter and Facebook. The Mankato Free Press reports in Severe weather sweeps through region:

Becky Portner and a friend were driving back from Mankato to New Ulm, where Portner lives, when they found themselves in the middle of torrential rains, wind and hail.

Unable to see the road, they pulled off into the parking lot of a Cenex station in Lafayette, which was closed. About 10 other vehicles around them had the same idea, two of which were motorcyclists getting pelted with hail.

Portner invited the two bikers into her Chevy Suburban, and the four of them watched as two funnel clouds dipped down toward the ground a couple of miles away.

“Then the truck starts shaking, and at one point it got picked up off the ground and set back down,” said Portner, who says she stayed fairly calm throughout the experience. “At that moment, it’s like, what are you gonna do? If it’s gonna pick you up, (you can’t do anything about it).”

Read the rest at the MFP. Storms earlier in the month caused enormous damage, and Minnesota's elected officials have appealed for federal disaster relief. Minnpost reports:

Minnesota lawmakers are seeking a federal disaster declaration for seven counties ravaged by a tornado and high winds, a declaration that could bring with it up to $35 million in federal aid.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty sent a letter to President Obama today requesting the funds for the seven counties — Faribault, Freeborn, Olmsted, Otter Tail, Polk, Steele and Wadena. It was followed by a similar appeal signed by Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken and Reps. Jim Oberstar, Collin Peterson and Tim Walz.

Eighteen tornados reportedly touched down during the storms, which killed three people.

Photo: The sky in my world last night. Not so bad in this neck of the woods.

Stopping by New Hampshire On A Snowy Evening

Stopping by New Hampshire On A Snowy Evening

    by Sally Jo Sorensen and Robin Marty*

Whose state this is I think I know
He's going to New Hampshire, though
He will not see me struggling here
Or clear his roads now packed with snow

The GOP must find it queer
To act without a leader near
Between the Range and frozen lakes
The darkest forecast of the year.

Bloggers give his handlers a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the steep
Decline in what our families make.

The pothole's looming, dark and deep
And Tim has promises to keep,
And miles to go until he's Veep
And miles to go until he's Veep.

Adapted from a poem by New Hampshire poet Robert Frost.

Outposts from The Small of America: Early Warning

Elegy for Samoans and Sumatrans.

By Tom Driscoll

Cold wind shreds the upper branches of a thick-waisted oak. The woods, the more dark with wet black bark, whispers loudly, “No secrets here.”

Underbrush up and evaporated weeks ago. Leaves rain brown. Cinch up my hood, hunch a shoulder into the blow and head dead north on a trail of stooped-over grass where once, as heedless dogs approached, a possum woke up with a warning hiss and bared a currycomb of teeth filed down to puncturous steel points. Should have recognized then the harbinger, but hate to admit to naturalistic superstitions.

Then, at the bifurcation of purpose near the river where the first settlers must have peeled back redheaded reeds and peered down narrow native Indian trails, one doglegging you back to where you come from, the other a point vanishing forever far into their future, I heard the foreboding crack of an overhead limb.

Wind’s ablowin’ thorns about like ice. Frozen there at the exact center of What Happens Next thinking, “October,” in a protracted, breathless instant falls faster than light an oak limb still swelling with weather heavy in its million green sails. Boom. Far enough into the future by just this much, it missed me and the dogs with unintentionally beautiful claws that could rip the hide off a deer.

Well, heh heh heh, should have seen the sign. When I was little, in the early fall when the first cold winds rattled the windows, my Dad liked to drink a cup-or-two of green tea and then read the leaves for me. But augury didn’t save him when the roar of the last big wave sat him up straight in the middle of the night, then fell him like an elm.

Whistled-here the dogs and sent them ahead around the fallen limb to reconnoiter least resistance. Thinking back, the dialogue between wind and leaves, the possum trail, and pausing where past and future part ways just long enough to let the oak talk to me, the oracle had clearly spoken. The dogs, as if in response to a forecast for more thunder, high-tailed it up the hill toward Nothing Happens while I squirmed through knotty fingers and a snaggle of raspberry fiddle bound for Safely Home.

A few minutes later, somewhere between here-and-there, a whimpering one-handed clap shivered through the forest as the great oak sprawled across possum trail, sparing nothing where once its opaque early morning shadow fell.

Minnesota writer Tom Driscoll reports on politics, economic development and life in rural America at The Small of America. He can be reached at smallofamerica@aol.com.

Outposts from the Small of America: Plum Tree

By Tom Driscoll

Cool gray late-summer rain sounds like a proletariat piano solo. All that indulgent, melancholy plink-a-plinking. The morning is overcast with memory. Almost expect to look out the window and find bare trees standing in piles of wet potato peelings, bark dark black from cold-cold rain-rain-rain. But it’s not the end of the world yet. It’s too early. It’s only August. (And Congress is on recess.)

Still, the mind is easier to trick than a little dog. It feels like Fall. So maybe it is the Fall. Maybe it’ll keep on raining for a couple days straight like it did here in southeast Minnesota two-years-ago and flood green valleys with mud, roadoil and pesticide. If not here, someplace else.

It’s raining. It’s August. The sky is falling.

That’s how gloom and doom works.

Gets in your head.

Tangles up your wires.

Been so much gummy blather and bilious gunk belching from all the windbags blowing-bare the branches of the historic health care reform debate in America. Almost forget how vigorous and fresh the young plum tree looked last spring. Fat new buds sprouting blood blue rose petals infused with green. Bark the color of red cabbage. Nothing quite like the young plum in spring.

But spring is gone again, a sanguine mood that’s fast-passed, or fog condensing into rain as the dark sun rises. Then it starts to pizzle and grumble. Got to fight the urge to crawl back into bed, pull the covers up over the ears, damp that mournful-damn drip-drip-drip of pessimism and fear. Still summer. Pick plums instead.

Got to look a fat ripe plum right in the eye. Don’t be afraid. Shovel it into your mouth like you’re kissing a trout. Take a bite.

Congressman Tim Walz lobbed plums into a cloudy DFL fundraiser last weekend, “We’re gonna get there,” he said. “We’re gonna get healthcare reform. Is it gonna be everything you want? Probably not. But we’ve got to do something.”

Minnesota writer Tom Driscoll reports on politics, economic development and life in rural America at The Small of America.

Outposts from The Small of America

by Tom Driscoll

Air’s heavy here with all the little stinks secreted in drier times. Old oak woodwork’s sticky patina’s encoded with dog burps & cat splashes & mouse bones & the last bird feathers lost in the attic.

Not a crisp time, humid early summer. Rattlesnakes pancake in tall, stoop-shouldered grasses, perfectly satisfied after last night’s meal to lie-about to store more day’s heat. A twilight wind storm obscured by the milky blue sky.

Except for of course firm fresh lettuce stems that pop when pinched off. Or Swiss chard, the snap the sound of lightning too far over the horizon to see. But smells stray ions, the sweat, the ocean of sniffs surrounds summer outside the city.

Consider then, the permanently starched self-congratulations and coolly conditioned airs at the Mall of America on 18-June when Mayo Clinic CEO Genn Forbes pronounced partnership between what is arguably the definitive symbol of consumer over-indulgence with what is definitively the symbolic argument for health care reform in rural America. Coming soon to nowhere near you, double-cheese Wellness Central at the MOA, and real Mayo.

Minnesota writer Tom Driscoll reports on politics, economic development and life in rural America at The Small of America.

This article is crossposted at TSOM.

Local food: aiming for the soul, reaching our stomachs

Yesterday, I took advantage of a break in the rain to weed my plot in the local community garden. I'd broadcast lettuce, kale and quick-growing greens between my tomato plants, and it's time to separate the domestic edible from the unwanted.

An older fellow gardener stopped by and furrowed his brow.

"Your weeds look sick," he said, then paused as he got a closer look at the pale plants dotting the ground between the tomato cages. "Oh, that's lettuce."

I took a moment from rooting out ragweed, crab grass, and lambs quarters to explain the method in my madness. The green crops provide cover for the loose soil, as well as being mostly played out by the time the tomato plants elbow out everything near them. In community garden, it's an effective strategy for boosting yields and variety on the small plot.

My neighbor considered this. "Well," he finally concluded, "I don't know how you tell the weeds from the seeds you planted."  We said our good-byes, leaving me to make that distinction as I continued my garden chore.

I'm pretty sure he's been gardening longer than I have; that he knew little of the weeds nor the small space gardening technique wasn't surprising. It's not just urban dwellers who lack knowledge about raising food. A former colleague once related the sad tale of outreach education she conducted in public schools in nearby Kandiyohi County for the Soybean Growers Association. Over half the students in each class didn't know what soybean plants looked like, though the town was surrounded by thousands of acres of bean fields.

Earlier in May, I had good reason to be happy that I'd secured the soil in my little piece of heaven. For the first time in my life--most of which has been set in the Midwest--I saw dust storms rip through town and field. Taking the photograph below the fold left my face and eyes gritty, while my next shower helped create micro-mud puddles in my ears that took four Qtips to remove. I'm all for getting close to the soil, but it was a bit much.

Both the dust storms and my garden conservation were underscored by a recent re-reading of 1980s exploration of the ethics and spirituality of land stewardship, as well as more recent news from the Land Stewardship Project and The Minnesota Farmers Union. Both organizations' commentary hit my inbox as I was taking a look back at "Soil and Survival," a book by the late Carol Bly and local (for me at least) writers Joe and Nancy Paddock.