2011 May Tree Planting Weekends
Gunflint Trail Green-Up

Join us for one of two Tree Planting weekends during the- Gunflint Green-Up

Gunflint Green Up – May 6-8. Over this weekend trees will be planted on the upper end of the Gunflint Trail and near the east end of the Banadad Ski Trail. Other events include dinners on Friday and a dinner/dance Saturday night in the Big Tent at Gunflint Lodge. Sign-up for lodging at Poplar Creek Guesthouse B&B- 800-322-8327.  To register for the dinners and other events go to registration fee.

The Banadad Trail Green Up- May 13-15. The Banadad Trail Association is sponsoring this weekends tree planting.  For the past four years the carbon produced by the equipment used to maintain and groom the Banadad Ski Trail has been sequestered in tree planting.  According to the Association- tree planting is our way to insure that the maintenance and grooming of the trail remains carbon neutral.

If you would like help in the tree planting, give us a call at 218-388-4487. The Banadad Tree Planting is scheduled for 10:00 AM, Saturday, May 14. Meet at the Poplar Creek Guesthouse, 11 Poplar Creek Drive. Tools and supervision provided.

During both Green-Up weekends lodging is available at Poplar Creek Guesthouse B&B and Cabins. Included are Barbara’s famous breakfasts, tree-planting instruction, and planting equipment and tree seedlings. One day planting trees with a trail lunch. Also included during your stay, Ted will make a presentation on the area’s “Fire history, and Reforestation.” Rate for two nights is $89/person/plus taxes, double occupancy.  If you need overnight accommodations, go lodging or call 800-388-4487

March 6: Tim Spitzak, editor & publisher of the “St. Paul Voice” has written a book called The Messenger. Spitzak, who holds a B.A. in journalism from UW – River Falls, and has been in the journalism business for over 20 years, says of his book, “It tells the story of a young journalist, John Jenkins, as a dull obituary assignment opens his eyes to just how remarkable a small town life can be… It’s about a guy whose life is transformed by the life of another… I wanted to write something about a real human experience… Community journalism has always been a passion for me… Everyone has a story to tell.”

Bill Wittenbreer, Public Service Librarian at Augsburg College and scholar of 19th Century Art in Minnesota has written a chapter in The State We’re in: Reflections on Minnesota History. Wittenbreer’s chapter is about how people in early Minnesota made predictions about the future. The predictions are interesting and sometimes humorous. Bill Wittenbreer is a graduate of the University of Minnesota with a B.A. in history and holds a M.A. in history from St. Cloud State University and a M.A. in library science from Dominican University. He is a member of the board of trustees of the Minnesota Museum of American Art and is the author of several articles on Minnesota painting and painters.

April 10: Gunda Davis, a resident of Bettendorf, Iowa, tells her story in Pumpkin Soup and Shrapnel – Growing up Under the Third Reich. She studied at the Universities of Berlin and Heidelberg and West Virginia Institute of Technology. She is an avid gardener and volunteers in community service, especially for the Quad City Symphony Orchestra. The Quad City Times says of Gunda’s book, “In clear, concise prose rich with detail, Gunda Davis writes of the conditions that spawned the rise of Hitler, the hold that he had on people and the pain and suffering that his dictatorship ultimately brought. The riveting narrative takes readers into Davis’ comfortable, cultured world as it turns into hell marked by gas mask drills, bombings, starvation and frequent moves to escape the chaos.”

Eric Dregni, Assistant Professor of English at Concordia University, St. Paul, and a Fulbright Scholar to Norway has told of his adventures in his book, In Cod We Trust. In this cross- cultural memoir, Dregni tells the hair-raising, hilarious, and sometimes poignant stories of his family’s yearlong Norwegian experiment. Among the exploits he details are staying warm in a remote grass-roofed hytte (hut), surviving a dinner of fermented fish thanks to 80 – proof aquavit, and identifying his great grandfather’s house in the Lusterfjord only to find out it had been crushed by a boulder and then swept away by a river.

May 15: Cindy Thury Smith and Shirley Dalaska have spent countless hours doing research on their just-published book, Civil War Veterans: Hastings, MN: A Documented List with Selected Biographies. Hastings at the Mississippi River was the point of embarkation for thousands of Minnesota men who enlisted in the Union Army. These men were sometimes mere children who insisted on becoming drummer boys while others were professional people who left wives and children back home so that they could fight for a cause that was a passion for them. There are fascinating, warm, and sometimes heart-wrenching biographies composed by other historians from Hastings. All these stories put the Civil War into perspective and add such human interest to one of the nastiest wars of all time.

David P. Page is Chair of the Journalism Department at Inver Hills Community College and possesses an impressive and extensive knowledge on the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald. He will speak and do a power point presentation on Fitzgerald and the Civil War. He has co-authored The St. Paul Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald and F. Scott Fitzgerald in Minnesota. Mr. Page comes to us with a rich background in teaching at all grade levels and with Masters’ Degrees of Arts in the Professional Writing Program from the University of Minnesota and in public Affairs from the University of Iowa. His presentation at the LeDuc Historic Estate is co-sponsored by the Hastings/Prescott Area Arts Council.

The LeDuc Historic Estate is owned by the City of Hastings and managed by Dakota County Historical Society along with help from a local group called Friends of LeDuc.
Classic Rosewood Inn in Hastings is a member of the Friends and would like to encourage attendance at these events by offering a 20% discount for guests staying at the inn either the Saturday night before the event or the Sunday eve of the event. Just mention Authors’ Sunday at the LeDuc when making your reservation.

Should you want to emulate Minnesota innkeepers’ cooking for breakfast or dinner,  a fine book for “grazing” is The Minnesota Homegrown Cookbook published and organized by the creative inspriring nonprofit Renewing the Countryside. They have specialized in promoting small sustainable operations way before it became popular.     

Local food, local restaruants, local inns, local recipes

Try to imagine a meal (AM or PM ) more comforting than Featherbed Eggs, maple syrup glazed ham and rhubarb muffins and then finished off with Minnesota Chocolate Cake. Why is it called Minnesota Chocolate cake? Because one of the ingredients is a cup of good strong Minnesota roasted coffee (leftover from breakfast perhaps)  This menu from Ellery House in Duluth uses nearby Joel Rosen’s Park Lake Farm products.

Then imagine Maple Pecan French Toast slathered with local berries and syrup from the maple tree just outside the window of the Loghouse and Homestead in Vergas Minnesota. Sausages might be a potato sausage or a smoked country sausage also made and obtained locally or Suzanne Tweton’s own wild rice sausage. Hungry for another culinary adventure , try the seclections from Dancing Winds Farmstay (Asparagus with goat cheese and morels on fettuccine and yes the morels are from nearby forests and the the goat cheese from of course the goats at Dancing Winds); or how about an entree from Scandinavian Inn in Lanesboro (vegetarian quiche) ; or Classic Rosewood Inn in Hastings (wild rice zucchini pancakes with roasted green beans with sun dried tomatoes, goat cheese and olives on the side).      

Hungry yet? You have a few options: Buy the book and get cooking OR buy the book and simply enjoy a good read. Another couple options: tour the MBBA website for your next getaway. You might search for the inns with the Green Journey labels who at very least have a Green policy in place and visit their individual sites to see what that means to them and for you. Know that all the MBBA inns serve a wonderful breakfast and many innkeepers would share their “secrets” so you can emulate for breakfast or dinner at home. Another nice option and a really fun cookbook is the one produced by the Minnesota B & B Association and avaialable from this website. It is More Minnesota Mornings and Beyond.

Purchase online from this website

Ambiance at the romantic gothic LeDuc estate in Hastings will be complimented for the next few weeks by works of more than a dozen talented painters, potters, photographers and carvers.Beginning November 6th and continuing to November 14th, the show will run from 10 AM to 5 PM. This annual tradition has become the opportunity for many to begin holiday shopping or to drop hints for family in that regard. 

Participating artists include: Mel Agen, Anita Bahls, Audrey Ceran, Donna Christianson, Amy Deaver, Lisa Dolezal, Andy Hill, Emily & Dodi Hogstad, Pauline Johanik, Diana Langenfeld, Mecca & George Manz, Art Nordstrom, Al Peterson, and Al Todnem.

Holiday shoppping receipts valued at $50 or more at the LeDuc Estate from the Art Show or the Gift Shop or membership in Dakota County Historical Society will be rewarded with a $50 voucher to spend at the Classic Rosewood Inn in the future. Contact the Inn for more information.

On Sunday, December 12^th, 2010 from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm, the Duluth Historic Bed & Breakfast Inns will be opening their doors to share their history and beauty, while adorned for the holiday season.  Each Inn will offer visitors a unique and festive décor, along with holiday music and light refreshments.  Tickets to view all seven Inns are $20 in advance; $25 at the door.  Tickets are available by calling (218) 724-3464 or by contacting any Duluth Bed and Breakfast. Each member Inns can be viewed and are listed at www.duluthbandb.com 

Duluth has some of the finest Inns in the state of Minnesota, so seize this opportunity to experience the grandeur of the season! Indulge yourself in the historic and timeless beauty of Duluth’s elegant Inns dressed in their seasons finest. Gather your friends, family, or co-workers; take pleasure and joy in this holiday season. 

The LeDuc Estate in Hastings

in Hastings Tuesday October 12 at 7 pm. Enjoy readings, conversation and signed books for sale. Pam Thorsen of Classic Rosewood Inn holds special regard for these authors not just because she is a fan of their writing and has their books in the libary at the Inn for guests to enjoy but also because they are neighbors, Amy living in a sweet Queen Anne right across the street from the Rosewood and Tony and Mary Jane’s victorian abode just one block down toward downtown. So as a special gift, any guest of the reading at the LeDuc who purchases a book will receive a $50 voucher for a future stay at the Rosewood.