CENTERPIECE

Sisters use entrepreneurial upbringing to start their own store in north-central Minnesota

Hannah Ward — Sun, 06 Aug 2023 16:07:13 GMT

NISSWA, Minn. — In downtown Nisswa, two young sisters applied their years of retail experience to opening a shop of their own.

Going into business together wasn’t necessarily a lifelong dream for 25-year-old Emma Johnson and 23-year-old Grace Johnson, but everything lined up perfectly, Grace Johnson said. Simply Minnesota opened May 13, in time for fishing opener weekend.

Simply Minnesota sells everything from souvenirs like Minnesota apparel, to jams, coffee, lotion, candles, books, pickles, stuffed animals and woodwork art. Products made in Minnesota have their own labels and a little map of where they’re from.

“It’s really fun when you’re behind the counter, working up there, and someone comes up and talks about how they love the store, and then you can get into conversation with them,” Grace Johnson said.

The sisters take it as a compliment when customers are surprised that they are the owners — it means that they did such an amazing job that they thought it must be run by someone older and more experienced, Emma Johnson said.

“People don’t expect young entrepreneurs … ‘Are you covering for your parents? No, no, actually, my sister and I opened it,’” she said.

Dismantling assumptions is one of the rewards of owning a business, Grace Johnson said, as well as being your own boss.

“Being your own boss is kind of nice because you call the shots — well, I call half the shots,” Grace Johnson said.

The sisters gained retail experience working two doors down, at Meg’s Cabin, a practical gift shop owned by their parents Jeanne and Bob Johnson.

When Grace and Emma Johnson let people know their parents own the nearby business, they assume Simply Minnesota is just a sister store that they’re helping to run, but it’s completely separate, they said.

They grew up working at Meg’s Cabin and have been managers for years, letting them see the ins and outs of running a small business and learn what consumers want.

Opening their own store has brought on some “friendly competition,” Grace Johnson said, but they can still go to their parents for guidance and to determine which products would fit each store’s needs.

“We know Nisswa, we’ve grown up with Nisswa, but we’re doing it on our own now,” Grace Johnson said.

When working at Meg’s Cabin, customers would ask where items were made, but they couldn’t answer right off hand. It’s fun to be able to tell customers exactly where items are made in their own store, Emma Johnson said.

They’re hoping to expand to sell more Minnesota-made products and highlight other small businesses from the state, but they said it’s been more of a challenge than they anticipated.

“Our free time is spent researching,” Grace Johnson said. “The work never ends when you shut down at 5 p.m.”

Some products they’ve located through online wholesale websites, but some businesses have reached out to them directly, like Stoneback Soy Candles from Watertown, Minnesota.

Part of the issue is cultivating Minnesota-made items that fit what customers are looking for and will be within a reasonable price range, Grace Johnson said.

“If a family is coming up on vacation, they could afford to go out and buy some souvenirs, or even come up and stop and get a pancake mix and syrup for breakfast,” she said.

Another challenge has been learning how to balance turnaround time and order volume. There are a few sweatshirt styles they’ve sold out of, but the company can’t ship out more for weeks, after the summer season ends, Grace Johnson said.

“‘Do you have this in a size medium?' — No, we ran out five weeks ago,” Emma Johnson said.

The summer months are by far the busiest, but they hope to cool down in the fall and only have one person manning the store.

The store is closed on Sundays, but even that time off is sometimes spent finding more products or paying bills.

“We feel like we live here,” Emma Johnson said.

On some days, it probably would have been more efficient to sleep over in the store, Grace Johnson said.

The pair own and operate the store by themselves, with occasional help from their younger sister, and being able to lean on family for emotional support and advice has been a great help, Emma Johnson said.

“Simply Minnesota” is not simply a store name for the sisters. It reaches back to their past selling handmade jewelry using the name “Simplee Designs,” for their middle names, which end in -lee after their grandpa.

They originally considered spelling Simply Minnesota similarly but decided against it to avoid rampant mispronunciation.

“It still has that meaning for us… even though it’s not spelt like that,” Emma Johnson said.

“It would’ve drove me nuts. Everyone would come in and say, ‘Simple Minnesota,’ I’m like ‘No, no, Emma, what did we do?’” Grace Johnson said.

The first few weeks after opening, people would walk right past their store, unaware that it was open — so they started propping the door open.

“But, you keep the door open and Minnesotans come and close it for you,” Emma Johnson said.

People closing the door has been their biggest issue so far, Grace Johnson said, and they haven’t had many other unhappy customers.

Hannah Ward can be reached at hannah.ward@brainerddispatch.com or 218-855-5851.]]>

'It'll never work': Nisswa turtle-racing tradition spans 60 years

Travis G. Grimler — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 11:57:00 GMT

NISSWA — Sixty years ago, Nisswa business owners gave a new town attraction a chance, even though they had serious doubts.

Boy, were they wrong.

"They started with a gentleman going to Florida on vacation, seeing them racing turtles," said Nisswa Chamber President Pam Dorion. "He came back to Nisswa and met with the downtowners. He brought up the idea and they said it would never work. Here we are, 60 years later, still racing turtles."

When the program started, it was very different. Racers at the time had to bring their own turtles if they wanted skin in the game, and they sometimes painted or decorated the armored steeds before the main event.

Eventually, turtle wranglers were used to collect a pool of turtles for newcomers to pick.

"Some local kids would go out and get them," Dorion said. "They still tell stories all the time. They would rent the turtles out and you could decorate them. They were quite the colorful turtle races back in the day."

Now all the turtles come from Mounted Eagles Therapeutic Horsemanship of Brainerd.

"They care for the turtles all year long," Dorion said. "They take a portion of the entrance fee to supplement their fundraising for their therapeutic horsemanship program, which helps disabled kids and adults learn to work through equine services."

They said it would never work. Here we are, 60 years later, still racing turtles.

Throughout the summer the turtles are cared for and watched carefully. The pavement at the downtown racetrack is kept wet for them, and participants are coached to bring their bucket to their turtle at the end of the race, so that none of the racers are accidentally dropped and injured.

Dorion doesn't know when, but a permanent track was painted in town at some point, and the city had a year-long reminder of a favorite local activity.

This year's first race to kick off the 60th season was Wednesday, June 7. This time around, 270 racers vied for first place. The top winner was a little girl named Charlie, from Illinois.

Dorion said races in the past often attracted approximately 800 racers, and over 5,000 racers over the course of the entire summer. This year she is expecting more.

"I'm thinking more because it's the 60th anniversary and we have celebrity judges every week, cupcakes the first day and cupcakes the last day," Dorion said. "I'm thinking big numbers."

This could be the year the races beat their all-time high attendance. They once had 1,100 racers on the third of July during particularly pleasant weather.

The tradition has attracted racers from all over the globe. Dorion recalled some racers from Japan and Sweden in past years, with a visitor from Australia making an appearance for the start of the 60th year.

Some think the races are for youngsters only, but Dorion said that is a misconception.

"It's for every age," she said. "We had a lady come last year who was 99 years old. Turtle racing was on her bucket list. She raced a turtle and she won. We have littles, because parents can help put the turtle down. It's really for any age. I think that's really important because I waited to have kids and I didn't have to. It's just as much fun for the adults."

This year's races have some special features. During the first race, Father Matthew Miller, priest with the Our Lady of the Lakes Catholic Parish, blessed the track and the turtles.

In addition, there will be celebrity judges each week.

"I think Joe Haeg will probably take the cake for celebrity judges," Dorion said of the local NFL player. "We're looking forward to his visit."

I'm thinking more because it's the 60th anniversary and we have celebrity judges every week, cupcakes the first day and cupcakes the last day. I'm thinking big numbers.

The first races featured mini cupcakes for racers the first day. There will be special, vintage looking shirts for sale all summer and giveaways.

Turtle races take place every Wednesday with registration starting at 1 p.m. and racing at 2 p.m. The final race of the year will be Wednesday, Aug. 16, when there will again be cupcakes.

Travis Grimler is a staff writer for the Pineandlakes Echo Journal weekly newspaper in Pequot Lakes/Pine River. He may be reached at 218-855-5853 or travis.grimler@pineandlakes.com.]]>

A lesson in kindness: Minnesota school board member teaches kids about acceptance, self-confidence

Theresa Bourke — Sun, 30 Apr 2023 17:49:07 GMT

BRAINERD — Always believe in yourself; always work hard; always do your best; never give up.

Kindergartners at Harrison Elementary �� learned those lessons Monday, April 24, repeating them after John Ward.

A Brainerd �� Board member and retired teacher, Ward is taking time to visit students in the district and teach them about kindness and acceptance. He journeyed from classroom to classroom at Harrison Monday, reading the children’s book “Big Al” by Andrew Clements and talking to students about the themes of the book.

“My hope would be that … kids in general are more kind, more respectful, more inclusive with each other and don’t judge people,” Ward said.

The book tells the story of Big Al, a fish in the ocean who looks different from every other fish and has no friends as a result. The other fish are afraid of Al because of his bulging eyes, many barnacles and off-putting color. But when he goes out of his way to save a bunch of little fish, his ocean peers realize there’s more to him than his appearance.

Ward used his own life story to hit the lesson home.

One of the first questions that left a student’s mouth as Ward started speaking to them Monday was “what happened to your arm?”

It’s a question Ward has fielded his whole life and planned to answer for the kids, too.

“They’re so intrigued when I walk in with that arm, right?” he said. “That’s obviously the first thing they focus on, and obviously I’m gonna talk about that, but I’m gonna hook, line and sinker them first before I talk about that.”

When Ward was born, his right arm had four fingers a deformed radius bone and an underdeveloped ulna that never turned to bone and remained cartilage.

He had no feeling in one of the fingers, so it was amputated when he was in fifth grade to allow him better use of his hand.

He spent the entirety of his freshman year of high school in a hospital, where doctors removed his ulna and most of his radius, inserted a rod to help the arm grow straighter and reconstructed the elbow.

When asked what looked different about him, the kids were quick to point out the three fingers on his right hand, the small size of his arm and what looked like a bump near his elbow.

“I do have a bump, you’re right, and we’re going to talk about that,” he said.

After talking about what made his arm different, Ward asked the kids if they thought he was teased, called names or bullied because of his arm.

They all said yes.

And they were right.

“I was. And let me tell you about that,” he said. “When we see people that are different or act different, we need to get to know them. And we need to accept them. And we need to respect them. We can become friends with them just like Big Al became friends, right?”

Earlier in his life, between teaching, coaching and being in the Minnesota House of Representatives, Ward gave motivational speeches, talking about body image vs. self-esteem and the trials and tribulations he encountered because of his arm. When asked by a teacher to come read the “Big Al” book to students, Ward decided to take his motivational speeches into the schools, offering his time up to every building in the district. He saw it as the perfect opportunity to engage with students and be visible in the schools, as he said he would during last year’s �� Board campaign.

And the response to his story has been unbelievable.

“And the kids are just so awesome,” he said. “They’re so respectful.”

Even the youngest students listened intently as Ward told them how he overcame the childhood bullies and the assumptions about what he would never be able to do.

“But you know what? I’ve had a great life,” he told the kids. “... When I was growing up, I played baseball, I played football, I played basketball, I golfed. I did everything. I learned how to tie my shoes when people didn’t think I could tie my shoes. I’ve accomplished a lot of things. I’ve had a lot of good things in life. I’ve had a really successful life, and I’m humbly proud of that.”

He told the kids about learning to catch a baseball with his left hand, quickly remove his glove and throw the ball with the same hand.

“You can accomplish anything you put your mind to,” he said, before having the students repeat the four lessons he wanted them to remember and reminding them their teachers and school staff will always be there to help them.

THERESA BOURKE may be reached at theresa.bourke@brainerddispatch.com or 218-855-5860. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/DispatchTheresa.

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The Great Loop: A north-central Minnesota man’s 6,000-mile journey

Tim Speier — Sat, 24 Dec 2022 19:23:37 GMT

BRAINERD — Purchasing a boat only three weeks prior and attempting to follow the warm weather as the Brainerd lakes area started to chill, Craig Lida headed down the Mississippi river on a 360 day, 6,000-mile journey, America’s Great Loop.

“In the past, I used to do a lot of trips with my father, sailing all over the western hemisphere,” said Lida, a 51-year-old Pillager resident. “And years ago, I kind of started looking for my own trip and heard about this trip, The Great Loop.”

America's Great Loop Cruisers' Association website states the Great Loop is a circumnavigation of the eastern U.S., and part of Canada. The route includes the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, the New York State Canals, the Canadian Canals, the Great Lakes, the inland rivers, and the Gulf of Mexico.

“You're kind of ‘chasing 70,’ that's what they call it,” Lida said. “You're chasing 70 degrees the whole time. So if you dress right, you've just got shorts and a T-shirt on.”

Lida said he grew up around the water and would go on “a lot of adventures” with his father when he was younger.

“First time I was on a bigger boat, a sailboat, was with my father,” Lida said. “I was 21 years old and we sailed across the Atlantic Ocean from Port Canaveral, Florida to Lisbon, Portugal.”

Jokingly, Lida said most of his trips with his father involved at least 1,800 miles and a tropical storm, as he mentioned another trip where they traveled from Bayfield, Wisconsin, through the Caribbean to the Panama Canal, before heading up to San Diego.

Always bringing along two friends for each leg of his journey, Lida said he took off from St. Paul on Oct. 7, 2021, headed down the Mississippi, chasing that 70-degree weather.

At a speed of around 10 mph, Lida said he completed the trip in multiple legs, ranging from 1,000 to 1,900 miles each leg at around four to six weeks each. He left his boat, a Viking Convertible Sport Fish 47 powerboat named “Son of a Sailor,” docked for a few months as he visited with family and enjoyed his first warm winter in Fort Myers, Florida.

Photos from the lock

Craig Lida aboard his boat, a Viking Convertible Sport Fish 47 powerboat “Son of a Sailor,” which he took on a 360-day, 6,000-mile journey called America’s Great Loop.

Craig Lida, right, and friends aboard his boat, a Viking Convertible Sport Fish 47 powerboat “Son of a Sailor,” which he took on a 360-day, 6,000-mile journey called America’s Great Loop.

Before making it to Fort Myers, Lida said he was waiting for his turn to go through Coffeeville Lock and Dam on the Tombigbee River in Choctaw County, Alabama, when the boat in the lock sank.

Finding himself stuck in Alabama for a week as a salvage crew, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency all worked to clear the wreck, Lida rented a car and headed down to Bourbon Street in New Orleans, making lemonade out of lemons.

One of the biggest changes from sailing around the world as a young adult compared to now was Lida’s ability to get food, he said.

“Between Instacart, DoorDash. Amazon and Walmart, you can actually have anything delivered,” Lida said. “At one point, actually, on the Erie Canal, we had a couple of gallons of milk and Slurpees delivered to the boat.”

Along with deliveries to the boat and being a big fan of Thielen Meats, Lida said one benefit of doing the trip in legs was his ability to fly back to his boat with around 20 pounds of pre-cooked meat and bacon. Though he did receive some comical looks from Transportation Security Administration when he was running late to make one of his flights back.

all

Craig Lida stops on his 360-day, 6,000-mile journey called America’s Great Loop.

Craig Lida aboard his boat, a Viking Convertible Sport Fish 47 powerboat “Son of a Sailor,” which he took on a 360-day, 6,000-mile journey called America’s Great Loop.

Craig Lida, right, and friends aboard his boat, a Viking Convertible Sport Fish 47 powerboat “Son of a Sailor,” which he took on a 360-day, 6,000-mile journey called America’s Great Loop.

Craig Lida aboard his boat, a Viking Convertible Sport Fish 47 powerboat “Son of a Sailor,” which he took on a 360-day, 6,000-mile journey called America’s Great Loop.

Craig Lida, left, and friends aboard his boat, a Viking Convertible Sport Fish 47 powerboat “Son of a Sailor,” which he took on a 360-day, 6,000-mile journey called America’s Great Loop.

The view out of Craig Lida's boat, a Viking Convertible Sport Fish 47 powerboat “Son of a Sailor,” on Oct 7, 2021, in St. Paul, as he started a 360-day, 6,000-mile journey called America’s Great Loop.

Anchored out, Ashtabula, Ohio, Craig Lida enjoyed some beautiful views aboard his boat, a Viking Convertible Sport Fish 47 powerboat “Son of a Sailor,” which he took on a 360-day, 6,000-mile journey called America’s Great Loop.

Craig Lida aboard his boat, a Viking Convertible Sport Fish 47 powerboat “Son of a Sailor,” which he took on a 360-day, 6,000-mile journey called America’s Great Loop.

One of the things he did not expect was the amount of planning he had to put in to complete his trip safely, Lida said. And between watching for marinas and learning the tides, his biggest takeaway was learning patience — at 10 mph.

Headed back up the coast after a nice Florida winter, Lida said one of his fondest memories was making sure he had his boat in Baltimore, Maryland, in time for his niece’s graduation.

Lida completed his 6,000-plus mile journey on Oct. 2, 2022.

Though he has no future trips planned at this time, in the spring, Lida said he will head down to grab his boat from a dock in Nashville and “decide where to go from there.”

Lida’s trip stats

Duration: Oct 7, 2021 - Oct 2, 2022

Total trip: 6,300 miles

States visited: 22

Number of locks and dams: 97

Paid marinas: 51

Anchorages and free docks: 51

TIM SPEIER, staff writer, can be reached on Twitter @timmy2thyme, call 218-855-5859 or email tim.speier@brainerddispatch.com.

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What's the attraction for birding? For some, its a spiritual experience

Bill Marchel — Fri, 18 Feb 2022 22:05:00 GMT

BRAINERD — They once were called "bird watchers" but now prefer the term "birders." And "bird watching" is now called "birding."

"Bird watchers" were once stereotypically thought of as the gray-haired lady that lived down the ally, who each day filled her backyard bird feeders and watched for her feathered friends out the kitchen window. Or, a person who drove a gas conservative foreign car, wore a tan vest, fancy pants, a fedora, and bearing $1,000 plus binoculars around his or her neck.

No longer.

Birders now come from all walks of life, and each has a reason for pursuing birds. And the hobby is fast becoming a popular pastime for many Americans.

Some are very serious, oftentimes traveling great distances at the drop of hat, sometimes across the state, oftentimes across the U.S., or even the world, to add bird sightings to their "life lists."

Others are happy just to watch the various species of birds seen only in their yards.

So, what is the attraction? After all, birds have forever been a part of our lives, even if you live in the bowels of a metropolitan area, there have always been "city" birds to watch — pigeons, starlings, house sparrows to name a few.

"I got into birding 55 years ago,” said Butch Ukura, a diehard birder who lives near Deerwood.

Ukura, age 72, has seen an extremely impressive Minnesota life list of 380 species of birds. That’s not 380 birds, but 380 different species of birds.

Ukura has chased (a birder’s term for traveling to see a bird) birds from the Iowa border to the furthest reaches of northern Minnesota, and nearly every place in between.

One winter day Ukura drove north to Warren in northwestern Minnesota to see a lesser goldfinch, an extremely rare find in the state.

“It was 14 below zero when I left,” said Ukura, “and likely near 20 below when I got there. But it was worth it. I got to see the lesser goldfinch. When I returned home my wife jokingly suggested I see a psychologist.”

Ukura told me one his favorite aspects of birding is the chance to meet other birders.

“A sighting is posted on Facebook and people show up at that location,” said Ukura. “I have a chance to meet some birding friends who I’ve followed on the site but had never met.”

Ukura said he feels very fortunate to have had three master birders as mentors. He claims it’s a real benefit to beginning birders to bird with the experts.

For some birders, just being in nature is the allure, taking note not just of birds but also mammals, insects and flowers. Each outing becomes a new adventure. For some, birding is a spiritual experience.

Other birders find satisfaction in attempting to figure out what bird species they actually see, or hear. Various species of gulls and shore birds can be particularly challenging to identify, especially during fall when they are typically not sporting their springtime breeding plumage.

Some birders like to confirm their sightings by photographing the birds they see. Image quality is not necessarily important so cellphones and relatively cheap optics often suffice, as long as the bird species is identifiable.

Birding oftentimes combines exploring new places with comrades. What better than to share with friends the sighting of a brilliant male indigo bunting in spring, or a stately great gray owl hunting from an old spruce snag prior to sunset on a winter day.

Serious birders usually keep a list of all the species of bird they see. There are backyard lists, county lists, state lists, daily lists, yearly lists and even life lists.

Birders, in general, are generous people, willing to share rare sightings with anyone, which nowadays is virtually instantaneous because of social media, cellphones, and GPS. And birders frequently know the best local restaurants where they gather for noontime pie and coffee, or at day's end for a steak and cocktail.

One fellow describes birding as a "social partying with binoculars."

BILL MARCHEL is a wildlife and outdoors photographer and writer whose work appears in many regional and national publications as well as the Brainerd Dispatch. He may be reached at bill@billmarchel.com. You also can visit his website at BillMARCHEL.com.]]>

Minnesota craft breweries lean on community to weather COVID-19 storm

Gabriel D. Lagarde — Sat, 06 Mar 2021 13:23:00 GMT

BRAINERD, Minn. -- Craft breweries, much like any industry founded on or tied to hospitality and kicking back with friends, have taken a beating during COVID-19.

But their answer to the pandemic is a microcosm of how small businesses, great and small, are finding ways to hang on.

Judging by the brewery operators in the Brainerd lakes area, this is, in no small part, due to the loyalty of local communities: a veritable army of customers, regulars and out-of-towners alike, who have rallied around their neighbors during one of the most troubled and unusual periods in modern American history.

“I wasn’t expecting how much support the community gave us, because a lot of people showed up for us, just like we’ve showed up for them in the past. People really care about their little community that we have here,” said Jeremy Hodges, the lead bartender at Big Axe Brewing Co. in Nisswa. “Yeah, we had our ups, and we had our downs, but we’re still here and we’re feeling really blessed about that.”

“It’s not only the public support for the business, but compliance has been really high,” observed Patrick Sundberg, owner of Jack Pine Brewery in Baxter. “People have really been gracious to us and that’s been wonderful for our staff. That’s my biggest thing, if I could give a big public thank you to the people coming into the tap room.”

“It’s just been one of those things where you get a really good gauge for the group of people that are around you,” said Suli Furman, the taproom manager at Roundhouse Brewery in Nisswa. “I think the community has been super. You see people, even over the holidays, supporting local business."

Adapting during roughly a year of COVID-19 restrictions has been something of an art of taking chances and snatching opportunities when and where they come, Furman said. Roundhouse Brewery had to reorient itself, from a face-to-face business grounded in the ambiance and sociability of a taproom, to a brewery comfortable in the digital cybersphere where the bulk of hospitality, orders and transactions now take place.

“It catapulted us into the digital side of things,” Furman said with a chuckle. “We’ve had to think outside of the box, for sure.”

Hodges said operating Big Axe Brewing Co. has been a roller coaster experience, where the brewery had to ride the highs to make up for the lows, eeking out sales whenever or however they may materialize, even if that’s by setting up heaters and bonfire pits during single-digit temperatures to snag a few ice anglers or a couple snowmobilers.

“We’ve had to adjust multiple times over the past year. There were six months with indoor dining not being available,” Hodges said. “Every week it seemed like we were adjusting to something different. It’s up and down, but it’s stronger now, becoming more stable, because people are more willing to go out and people are getting more comfortable being inside with the restrictions getting lifted. We have some struggles here and there, we’re anxious, but we are definitely still holding on.”

Sundberg noted so long as these restrictions are necessary or in place, there’s only so much breweries can do to make up for the losses of 2020 rolling into 2021.

“I’d like to say we’re back to normal, but we’re definitely not,” Sundberg said.

The growler cap

Speaking of restrictions, the coronavirus pandemic highlighted a limitation on Minnesota breweries that long predated 2020, though the matter gained considerable urgency as the state scrambles to prop up its slumping local economies.

The primary issue is a cap on growlers imposed on any Minnesota brewery that surpasses 20,000 barrels a year in production — of which, there are six currently. These breweries are barred from selling growlers and it represents the only law of its kind in the Upper Midwest. Larger breweries in the Dakotas or Wisconsin, for example, are not restricted from selling growlers.

It’s been a long-standing sore spot for breweries represented by the Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild, which supported efforts by lawmakers to pass legislation to lift this cap. This cap doesn’t make practical sense, they argue, and now the growler cap is hamstringing a potential source of revenue for Minnesota breweries during a period of economic upheaval. It also hampers their ability to compete with craft breweries in neighboring states, or larger, more corporate entities like Samuel Adams, which produces 4 million barrels a year, bipartisan advocates for repealing the cap argued.

According to proponents, like the Teamsters Union of delivery drivers, the growler cap protects local restaurants and liquor stores.

“The pandemic has highlighted the need, even more, to allow breweries in our state to sell growlers,” state Sen. Sandy Pappas, DFL-St. Paul, stated in a February news release. “Breweries that have been allowed to sell growlers were able to keep their business from going under amid all the pandemic-related closures. These breweries that were open for pick-up orders kept workers employed, kept revenue up, and moved product off their brewery floor."

Sundberg said the growler cap on breweries that produce 20,000 barrels or more isn’t likely to affect local breweries anytime soon — pointing out, as he did, that Jack Pine produces roughly 1,600 barrels a year — but it’s the flagship issue in a comprehensive package of legislation that breweries are pushing to modernize the industry.

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Make a table centerpiece from backyard evergreens

Don Kinzler — Sat, 05 Dec 2020 12:00:00 GMT

The fragrance of fresh-cut evergreens in December reminds me of the Christmas trees we had as a kid, purchased by Dad from the corner Texaco station that sold fresh firs. The trees weren’t always classically beautiful, but oh the scent!

That same fragrance can be captured in a table centerpiece made from evergreens located in our own backyards. It’s a fun and easy project that makes a great holiday decoration for the center of the dinner table or any other surface.

Evergreens commonly found in our home landscapes include pine, spruce, arborvitae, yew and juniper. Any can be used, and combinations of two or more types create interest.

Pruning a few sprigs in December is harmless, and the most useful parts are the outer 6 to 12-inch tip segments.

If you don’t have landscape evergreens, boughs can be purchased at garden centers and Christmas tree lots. Centerpieces made in early December will stay fresh until New Year’s Day if water is supplied as needed.

The centerpiece is constructed in a shallow bowl, and the mechanism that holds all the branches together is a block of water-absorbing floral foam, available at florist shops and craft stores, with Oasis being the most common brand. Although it resembles Styrofoam, floral foam absorbs water, keeping evergreen branches fresh, which Styrofoam doesn’t.

Required materials: A block of water-absorbing floral foam; shallow bowl or low-sided container; taper-type candle, if desired; several types of evergreens; pruning shears; and Christmas decorations, such as ornaments, pine cones, candy canes and ribbon.

Step-by-step instructions Cover the workspace with newspaper or plastic to catch needles and sap. Cut the foam block to fit the container so the block extends about 2 inches above the container’s rim. Corners of the square foam can be shaved with a knife to fit round containers, if needed. Thoroughly soak the foam in water until completely saturated. Place the foam block into the container. If you’ve chosen a taper-type candle, insert it into the foam’s surface about an inch. Decide the desired shape of the centerpiece, whether round or oblong-oval. Determine the desired size, both width and length. Round centerpieces are commonly 8 to 12 inches in diameter. Oblong table centerpieces might be 12 to 24 inches long and 8 to 12 inches wide. With the pruning shears, cut two evergreen branches to equal the centerpiece’s length, and two to make the width. These four branches will be the lowest and longest used in the centerpiece. Before any branches are inserted into the foam in the following steps, first strip needles from the end, so the branch will hold more securely when inserted. Begin by inserting the four evergreen branches you selected in Step 8 horizontally into the foam block just above the container’s rim, radiating out in four directions to establish the centerpiece’s length and width.

After installing the lowest, longest branches, add increasingly shorter branches to the foam in stair-step layers as you reach the foam’s top surface. Continue inserting evergreens into the foam’s top surface, moving toward the center. Angle the small pieces increasingly vertical. The small branchlets at the top center will be only 3 or 4 inches long. If you’ve used mostly one type of evergreen so far, tuck a few sprigs of an evergreen with contrasting color, needle length or texture between the others. The foam should now be concealed, and all evergreens should appear to radiate out from the center of the arrangement. Branches can be repositioned slightly, but if done too aggressively the foam might break apart. The most common mistakes are not cutting the branches into small, usable pieces, and not visually radiating everything from the center focal point. When you’re pleased with the appearance of the evergreens, it’s time to add decorations. Instead of polka-dotting ornaments around the arrangement, create an eye-catching focal point by grouping most toward the center. Add water to the container, always maintaining a reservoir of plentiful moisture to keep evergreens fresh. Candles used in evergreen centerpieces should not be lit for fire safety. Enjoy the centerpiece, and Happy Holidays! Don Kinzler, a lifelong gardener, is the horticulturist with North Dakota State University Extension for Cass County. Readers can reach him at donald.kinzler@ndsu.edu.

Make a table centerpiece from backyard evergreens

Don Kinzler, "Growing Together" and "Fielding Questions" columnist.

A finished holiday evergreen centerpiece with decorations. David Samson / The Forum

Make a table centerpiece from backyard evergreens

Don Kinzler, "Growing Together" and "Fielding Questions" columnist.

A finished holiday evergreen centerpiece with decorations. David Samson / The Forum

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