COUNTRY
Serving Marine on St. Croix, Scandia, May Township
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2018 VOL. 34 NO. 51 www.countrymessenger.com $.75
RIVER GROVE ELEMENTARY : Seeking nominations. PAGE 2
Lessons from the creatures at Scout Camp
Nursery celebrates milestone anniversary BY JACKIE BUSSJAEGER LOWDOWN EDITOR
Sometimes people come into Abrahamson Nursery to reconnect with the rich scent of the earth, said Joie Nielson. In the long Minnesota winters, it's something that she and the other employees of Abrahamson appreciate deeply. It all started in 1928, when the Abrahamson family established a farm store along St. Croix Trail N. in Scandia. Dan Sandager began working there as a teenager in 1960s. His father was an agriculture teacher in the Forest Lake school district, and he found his way to the Abrahamson farm through the FFA program. He worked there during high school and then college, when he began attending the University of Minnesota to study agriculture. Sandager remem-
bered that produce was a large part of the early business, and said that the Abrahamson family even did some on-the-road sales. “I was just a worker guy,” Sandager said. “The first job I ever had was potting roses in the greenhouse.” He also remembers doing a lot of fieldwork in his early days at Abrahamson. “They were more growers than they were retailers,” he said. “Although the sold what they grew. It was a much smaller business; very labor intensive.” In 1972, the Abrahamsons felt they could no longer run the family business. Sandager and his wife Sue bought the nursery, and expanded it into the business it is today. The nursery's 90-year legacy continues to grow. Today, landscape design is the business's primary specialty,
BY JIM MORTWEDT REPORTER
The tack room is clean and orderly and the stables and pens for the ponies, sheep and goats are clean under thick bedding. The Shetlands and Welsh ponies and maybe the mule are a bit rotund at the end of winter—they’ll slim down when under a saddle for a while—but the feet, eyes and coats JIM MORTWEDT | COUNTRY MESSENGER of the creatures all say Coming face to face with a good health. goat is unforgettable and it The Little K Ranch happens all the time at Kiat the Kiwanis Scout wanis Scout Camp managed Camp south of Marine on St. Croix nears read- by Dave Denn and assistant Scott Franzmeier. iness as a new season approaches. Longtime camp manager Dave Denn shows a reporter around while providing some commentary. “What’s the word?” he asks, then answers himself, SUBMITTED
90 years after its humble beginning as a farm and garden, Abrahamson Nurseries is a thriving grower, garden center and landscape design business.
supplemented by the garden center and greenhouse facets of the business. A Stillwa-
ter location was added on Tower Drive, and a SEE NURSERY, PAGE 2
Summer day camp offerings New ‘Art in Action’ camp Although the weather doesn’t look it, summer break is just around the corner. Registration is now open for the City of Scandia’s summer recreation programs. Activities are offered in partnership with Camp Lakamaga, including full-day and half-day camps. New this year is the "Art in Action" program offered through St. Croix Festival Theatre for children ages 7-13. At the SEE DAY CAMP, PAGE 2
SUBMITTED
2017 Art In Action campers with their teachers; Apprentice Company members Emily Garst and Erika Kuhn
JAMESON IRISH WHISKEY Plus a FREE 6 pack of Goslings Ginger Beer
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SEE SCOUT CAMP, PAGE 6
Artists-in-Residence selected for 2018 season Four artists have been selected to live and work at the St. Croix Watershed Research Station’s historic Pine Needles cabin this summer. They will each spend two to four weeks on the banks of the St. Croix River, studying their surroundings, interacting with water scientists, and creating new work. This year’s residents represent a broad spectrum of career experience, from emerging to established artists. The 2018 artists-in-residence are: Leigha Meredith (Iowa City, IA), Moira Bateman (Minneapolis, MN), Greg Lecker (Minneapolis, MN), and
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