Who would’ve believed it from an introverted and quiet farm boy? For quite some years, I’ve been holding wine tasting events. Please understand these events are not world class wine tasting happenings They are meant to be fun. I’ve tasted a rather hefty number of wines, read a bunch ...

I recently felt a pressing need to own a drill press. No farm shop is complete without one and a man isn’t any kind of man if he doesn’t have a drill press. An internet search yielded a perplexing panoply of choices. There are big ones, small ones, short ones, and tall ones. I was ...

While browsing through books at the Avera Thrift Store, I came across a book titled, “Growing Up In Minnesota: Ten Writers Remember Their Child- hoods”, edited by Chester G. Anderson, copyright 1976. On a blustery Minnesota day, I opened the book, and to my surprise, opposite the ...

This much is true. I hit a home run. For years, Kevin Sweeney, the retired editor of The New Ulm Journal, wrote up New Ulm’s St. Patrick’s Day celebration. It was his way of poking fun at the dour Germans who surrounded him.  Kevin reported on true events, like New Ulm’s few Irish ...

Memoir writing is something most people don’t think about, but maybe they should. It’s always surprised me that writing isn’t popular. I remember back in junior high when writing was sometimes used as a punishment. It was often effective because classmates didn’t like it. I’ve ...

We have been learning about Mike Lamfers, who grew up east of Amiret and, after graduating from Tracy High School in 1965, served with the Marines in Vietnam. Mike deployed to Vietnam in October 1966, joining the Commo Platoon of 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment near the demilitarized zone ...