column
By Brenda Winter, columnistSeptember 20, 2021Our homeschool, 1994-2012, was not without its shortcomings. We had a school shooting the day a rabid raccoon climbed a tree outside our son’s bedroom during math class. Blam. We had a stabbing the day one student became so blazing furious with her brother that she plunged the tip of her pencil into his arm. Strife among the staff (Mom), the administration (Dad), and the student body (the…
By Lori Sorenson, editorSeptember 14, 2021Don’t tell anyone, but I miss our old sports guy. By old, I mean he was the only one left there who’d been there longer than I had. I’ve been at the paper for 28 years if that tells you how old he is. I used to tell people we were like an old married couple. Our desks were next to each other with a short divider wall between us. He could hear me munching on snacks, and I could smell cigarettes…- By Pastor Walt Moser, First Baptist Church, LuverneSeptember 14, 2021Thankful thoughts and godly thoughts will change your day. “Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon His name; make know his deeds among the peoples.” 1 Chronicles 16:8 “Complaining not only ruins everybody else’s day, it ruins the complainer’s day, too. The more we complain, the more unhappy we get.” (Dennis Prager) The focus of our thoughts will affect our day and those around us. When you slip…
By Mavis Fodness, reporterSeptember 07, 2021Poultry roaming around our farm is a common sight. Over the years there have been ducks, geese, chickens and guineas. Of all the poultry, guineas by far exhibit the strangest behavior. They scamper silently from location to location. Frequently they come up behind you in the yard or in the barn and utter a noise that I can only describe as a well pump in need of oil. If you’re not prepared, the…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistAugust 31, 2021It is mid-August and the past several free days and evenings have been spent doing public lands habitat improvements. These improvements have been in the way of spraying a leaf application brush killer on volunteer trees that for all practical purposes pollute grassland ecosystems. One tree here or one shrub there provides no wildlife value. In fact, they actually reduce the habitat quality and…
By Esther Frakes, copy editorAugust 24, 2021Well, I had another birthday last week … not a significant one, though. At St. John, a birthday is significant if it can be divided by five. Significant birthdays are announced and prayers are offered. (Wouldn’t it be great if we only needed to count those birthdays!) I’m getting too close to the birthday numbers that often lead to an open house … and serious birthday cards. At our August coffee…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistAugust 24, 2021The first fall gunning season is only two weeks away. The fall hunting season starts with the mourning dove opener on Sept. 1. The mourning dove is the most numerous game bird in North America, and states have been hunting them for decades. When the season started in Minnesota more than a decade ago, it was a pretty big controversy. A segment of the population thought they should be left alone,…
By Lori Sorenson, editorAugust 17, 2021As a first-year gardener I’ve made plenty of rookie mistakes this growing season. … Planting too late in the spring, spacing plants too closely together, and not reading the directions on the seed labels. Actually, the garden wasn’t intended to be a garden in the first place. It started as a swath of dirt our neighbor turned over for us with his tiller. “How big do you want it your garden?” he…- By Mavis Fodness, reporterAugust 10, 2021Perched atop the old hog house roof on our farm east of Hardwick, I called my husband, Bryan, on my cell phone. As the phone rang through, I pondered my predicament — I had climbed on the roof to fetch the dog’s frisbee and now I was stuck. My errant throw landed Lucy’s favorite toy out of reach, and her eyes darted eagerly between me and the direction the toy was thrown. I knew she’d pester me…
By Rick Peterson, Tollefson Publishing general managerAugust 10, 2021I was having somewhat of a frustrating day a week or so ago. It was late in the afternoon and I was driving back to the office sulking a bit more than I should have. Nevertheless, it was a bummer of a day. I was listening to the Dan Barreiro radio show, and he was doing a segment on how important the arts really are. He was trying to convey the message that we never really can comprehend the…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistAugust 10, 2021Now is the time to grab a few boxes of shells and get your shooting eye tuned up for the dove season that starts on Sept. 1. Not everyone hunts doves, but a keen shooting eye will benefit every hunter, whether it’s ducks, pheasants, grouse or any other game on the wing. When I finally got serious about hunting winged birds, I was already about 25 years old, and now this outdoor activity has…
By Jason Berghorst, reporterAugust 03, 2021A few weeks ago our church hosted a “Christmas in July” Sunday just for fun. Adrian’s town celebration is known as “Christmas in July.” Of course, there’s Christmas in July on the Hallmark Channel. And, not surprisingly, more stores are offering “Christmas in July” sales. All of this Christmas talk caused me to think of a wish list. I’ve written about my personal wish list for Luverne in…
By Betty Mann, president, Rock County Historical SocietyAugust 03, 2021The following appeared in The Rock County Star-Herald on Jan. 17, 1946. Rock County’s New Extension Agent and Soil Conservationist Are Named George Golla, 27, Shevlin, Minn., arrived this week to begin his duties as Rock county’s new extension agent. A native Minnesotan, he was graduated from Mahnomen high school in 1936, and from the College of Agriculture, University of Minnesota in 1942. He…
By George Bonnema, Luverne HorticulturalistAugust 03, 2021August is the month to thin or transplant German bearded iris and peonies. Dividing fern leaf peonies is a bit more complicated than regular peonies in that they have a “neck” between the eye of next year’s growth and the tuber. Just cutting into the clump with a spade will often ruin a lot of the potential new divisions because of the way they intertwine. The safest way to divide fern peonies is…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistAugust 03, 2021The headline of the Star Herald a few weeks back announced that a nearby community’s drinking water had levels of magnesium that were five times higher than what was safe for infants. It really doesn’t matter where in the state you live, this is becoming a far too frequent headline. There is a very old saying that “whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting,” and water issues are now one…
By Brenda Winter, columnistJuly 27, 2021My husband, Jim, has been telling people that we celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary last week by “getting a room” in Orange City, Iowa. Then he slyly adds, “a hospital room.” (Long story. Sanford and Avera are “out of network” for our insurance.) It all started two weeks ago with what I thought was heartburn. A week later, the “heartburn” returned with a vengeance. I was hot. I was cold. I…
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