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Weblog for Tom
Isern, Great Plains historian, co-author of Plains FolkTM |
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Welcome to Travel on the Gravel, weblog of historian Tom Isern published in association with Plains FolkTM enterprises. |
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The First
Lady in Sims 28 September 2008 Thursday, October 2, will
be a big day in Sims, North Dakota. Now, it doesn’t take a whole lot to make
a big day in Sims, since other than the Sims Lutheran Church, Sims is a ghost
town. But this really is a big day coming, because First Lady Laura Bush is
coming to Sims. Really, to Sims, North Dakota, to meet the people of First
Lutheran Church who, with the help of the Save America’s Treasures
program, have restored their historic parsonage. I’ll be there, too,
representing Preservation North
Dakota, the organization that has been distributing Save America’s
Treasures funding to prairie churches across the state. I’ll let you know
later how it all goes! In the meantime, I suspect quite a few people are
searching the Internet for information about Sims and the Sims Lutheran
Church & Parsonage, and so I’ve posted a collection of images I took in
2005. You can find them by going to the NDSU Center for Heritage Renewal and
following the link for Heritage Video. Or, you can go directly to a slideshow of Sims
here. |
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28 September 2008 The folks in Langdon were wonderfully hospitable—many
thanks! All best wishes to Randy, Barb, and all the movers and shakers in the
chamber. While there I had the opportunity, too, to meet Karen Ring, who was
honored as Teacher of the Year. Karen is a teacher of History, Government,
and Geography at Langdon High School. She’s well spoken—delivered some
wonderful extemporaneous remarks at the banquet—and obviously a conscientious
professional. I asked if we could snap a photo of her, and the result is the
one of her and me here published. Thanks, Karen, for the photo op, but more
so for your good work at Langdon High. By the way, I’ll be back in Langdon
this Saturday the 4th, doing a bit for the Langdon Harvest &
Heritage Festival. More specifically, I’ll be teaching kids to play recess
games from the old country school. Dare base, New York & Boston, games
like that. |
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Upcoming: Langdon C Of C 11 September 2008 Looking forward to this: speaking to the Langdon Chamber of Commerce Thursday night the 25th. Randy Mehlhoff, of the Langdon Research Extension Center, called about doing the date, and I said I’d drive down from Brandon, where I’ll be attending a conference, to be with the chamber in Langdon that night. I’ll deliver some remarks entitled, “North Dakota: A Work in Progress.” Judging from what I’ve seen and read, they know a fair bit about progress in Langdon these days. |
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Cleaning Out the Garden 9 September 2008 Quite a few things are playing out in the garden. The green beans and cucumbers are losing it, the tomatoes look sad—it feels like a freeze is not far away. So this puts us in the mode of cleaning out the garden, trying to make use of piles of produce. Tomorrow is the college picnic, where we’ll lay out about a square (speaking in roofing terms) of sliced tomatoes. Tonight’s project is bison minestrone, destined to feed the graduate assistants tomorrow midday. This started with about a pound and a half of ground bison, along with some olive oil, in the bottom of a big stock pot. Next came the herbs: oregano and basil and parsley cut in handfuls from the garden, some cracked black pepper, and a bit of cayenne. On top this browning mixture went a little minced garlic, a can of garbanzos, a can of chicken broth, and some additional water. After that, the following veggies from the garden: · A turnip, diced · Four sweet banana peppers, sliced · A zucchini, diced · A handful of whole shallots · A couple of cups of sliced green beans · A couple of big tomatoes, seeded and wedged · Must have been some other stuff that I’m forgetting now After tasting and adjusting the broth with garlic salt and vegetable bouillon, we threw in a half-bag of pasta, that swirly kind I can’t remember what to call. I just tasted the final result and took it off the burner. What do you think? Right. |
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Missing Raptors 7 September 2008 Changing land use in the Red River valley has effects both obvious and subtle. The most obvious effect is, it looks like Iowa around here, corn and beans everywhere. A subtle effect of this new cropping pattern is the lack of raptors in the valley in late summer. When small grains occupied a larger proportion of croplands around here, there was a regular migration of field hawks—redtails and other big ones—into the area in August. This took place shortly after combining of small grains, as farmers commenced tillage of stubblefields. The hawks came to prey on rodents exposed by the field operations. This year, though, the hawks are not with us. This change is neither good nor bad, I suppose, but I miss them. |
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