April 23, 2024

‘The Bohemian Palace of the South Side’ Slifkas build their unique forever home

By Denise Lana

When salon owner Jenn Slifka and her husband, Alex, bought their first home just shy of a decade ago, they chose an old farmhouse that was situated on 10 acres south of Spring Valley, Minn. Over the next nine years, the couple juggled spending family time with their three sons, owning/operating numerous businesses in downtown Spring Valley, and completing projects to fix up their aging homestead. “It had been remodeled a few times and had different additions,” Jenn said. “There wasn’t anything about it that offered a lot of character or seemed orig-

inal to the house.” Alex, a woodworker by trade, and Jenn decided that the old farmhouse needed so much work, it would be easier to raze the structure and start fresh. Realizing a pre-planned house design might be too generic for what they wanted in their dream home, Jenn and Alex designed their house together and drew up the floor plans from scratch. They explained, “Once we got the plan drawn up and sized, we sent it to an architect to get actual blueprints to work off of. We wanted a simple

Slifka home continued on page 4

The

growing business:

Plantpeddler owners reflect on 43 years of success

By

The Driftless region is home to many headline-making companies and businesses, but one stands out as having earned regional, national and international acclaim. With the help of 100 loyal and hardworking employees and a few robots, this once-momand-pop retail store has set dozens of world records for its horticulture business. As part of their mission, the company helps schools around the United States and has recently earned recognition from Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig for its contributions to agricultural education.

The Plantpeddler Administration Team is pictured in the young plants facility part of the 14 acres of growing space the company owns in Cresco.

RIGHT- It’s illegal to import most rooted plants into the United States due to the potential to spread diseases and pests. As a result, Plantpeddler imports “slips” or “cuttings” from premium and hybrid plants from breeders around the world. The slips are subsequently grown into flowers and plants which are sold to retailers across the country.

Mike and Rachel Gooder founded Plantpeddler nearly 44 years ago in Cresco and have been “growing” their business ever since.

The beginning

“From 1980 to today, the company has averaged 8 to 10 percent growth every year,” said co-owner Mike Gooder. “We always strive to build a better plant, and that mission is what Plantpeddler is all about, and it’s been fun. We started as a mom-andpop store, and now we’re global. We work internationally with plant breeders and offshore production to bring plant material into the country. We do a lot of exciting stuff.”

High School FFA instructor, Glen Dillon, who changed his life. After learning the basics from Mr. Dillon, all Mike needed was a little more “kick” to get motivated to build his dream.

“For one of my classes in horticulture at Iowa State (ISU), I had a project to design a greenhouse operation and create a business plan,” Mike remembered. “For mine, I was going to propagate Poinsettias, begonias, geraniums, mums and other crops in the greenhouse range. The instructor gave me an A on the project but wrote on it, very clearly, ‘Whatever you do, don’t try this, because you will likely fail.’ That made it the ultimate challenge, so I had to do it. That was the motivation I needed.”

floral operations. “That’s when we decided to pursue expansion into young plant production,” Rachel said. “In the year 2000 we started propagating young plants, and that’s when we started shipping nationally, instead of just regionally.”

Plantpeddler partnered with Dummen of Germany to produce rooted Hiemalis Begonia, and other major crop liners, for the North American market. Subsequently, this helped establish Plantpeddler as a greenhouse young plant supplier.

Plantpeddler Sales Manager Stacy Bryant said Dummen had a line of begonias, and Mike was looking for inputs of begonias.

“We keep growing our wholesale and young plant divisions,” added Rachel Gooder. “In the beginning, retail was 100 percent of our business, but now, we’re about two percent retail, and the rest is wholesale and young plants.”

The largest portion of Plantpeddler’s business stems from the company’s young plant division where they provide starters for about 3,000 greenhouses throughout the country.

While at ISU, Mike met Rachel, who was studying turf management at the university to become a golf course superintendent.

“We met in a turf class and decided to date,” Rachel said, “and we worked at a golf course one summer to see which way we wanted to go. It was a great job, and we loved the work, but it just wasn’t for us. So, we decided to buy a greenhouse and had an opportunity in Mike’s hometown of Cresco.”

“The young plant liners that Plantpeddler sells now are something specific that we originally couldn’t find: Good quality liners,” Bryant said. “So, Mike was rooting for Dummen, and by doing that, we had access to the best liners in the United States.”

Mike and Rachel married on June 20, 1980, and just eight days later, they bought the Cresco Greenhouse from Arnie and Pauline Kubalsky and began Plantpeddler.

“We support greenhouse growers large to small,” said Mike. “They might buy a few products from us, or they might buy almost everything they need. We’re most known for our production of begonias, but we’re also one of the biggest propagators of Poinsettias in the country. We produce several million of each of those crops every year. In total, we propagate 15 to 18 million young plants per year.”

But, like most successful businesses, Plantpeddler comes from humble beginnings. In fact, Mike’s inspiration for the business was fostered by his Crestwood

“We knew two college graduates couldn’t make a living off a small greenhouse and store,” Rachel said. “So, in 1984 we opened the second retail location in Decorah, and said we’d grow as much as we can for both locations, and if we had anything extra, we’d wholesale it.”

In 1995, the Gooders big box stores started selling plants during holidays, a staple of

“The Young Plant facility (opening in 2002) was an important jump forward for us as a company,” Mike said. “Through the Dummen relationship, we built our international company and got to know the global market. We started chasing genetics, and through our focused efforts, we’ve built partnerships with leading ornamental plant breeders around the world.”

Because of the potential for foreign pests and diseases, most rooted plants can’t be imported from other countries into the U.S. To facilitate this, Plantpeddler imports small pieces of plant material,

Alex and Jenn Slifka recently moved into their new home south of Spring Valley. (submitted)

ments and ruling regarding his request for change of venue for his pending murder trial. Kingsbury disappeared March 31, 2023. Her body was discovered in a culvert north of Mabel, Minn., on June 7, 2023. Fravel was arrested June 8 and indicted in October of first-de-

e-mail neicommunityconnectors@gmail.com or text 563-379-3619 with the number attending to aid organizers with food preparation. For more information, find “NEIACommunityConnectors” on Facebook. To receive updates on future events, e-mail neiacommunityconnectors@ gmail.com.

Disaster proclamation for Allamakee, Fayette counties

Gov. Reynolds issued a disaster proclamation Thursday, April 18, for Allamakee and Fayette counties in response to severe weather including hair and high winds that occurred Tuesday, April 16. The governor’s proclamation activated the Iowa Individual Assistance Grant Program and the Iowa Disaster Case Advocacy program for those counties.

Individuals suffering losses of personal property or structural damage to their personal residence can contact Northeast Iowa Community Action Corporation (NEICAC) online at www.neicac.org. Applications can be downloaded on the Disaster Assistance page under “Programs”. Select “Chat with an Expert” on the website for more information. Customers may also contact the Allamakee County Family Services Office in Waukon at 563-568-4224 or Postville at 563-380-2780; Fayette County Family Services Office in Oelwein at 319-2832510 or West Union at 563-4223354; or the Corporate Office in Decorah at 563-382-8436.

The Iowa Individual Assistance Grant Program (IIAGP) may provide up to $5,000 of assistance, reimbursement and/ or vendor voucher, for covered items to households with income at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. Households may be eligible for home or car repairs, replacement of clothing or food, and repair or replacement of person-

Family Dance at Waterville Community Center

It’s a Barbie world! Grab favorite Barbie-inspired attire for the Waterville Community Development Group’s second annual Daddy-Daughter Dance Saturday, April 27. Doors will open at 5 p.m., with grand march at 6 p.m. All ages welcome. A fun night of dancing, crafts, snacks and fun is planned.

For more information and to register, visit https://tinyurl. com/27ya3kj4.

al items damaged by the severe weather. Applications must be made through the local community action office and must be received within 45 days of the date of the proclamation. The final day to apply is June 3.

Additionally, residents of Allamakee and Fayette counties who have been impacted by the recent severe weather are asked to report damage to help local and state officials better understand the damage sustained. Damage to property, roads, utilities and other severe weather-related information may be reported to the Allamakee County Emergency Management Office at 563568-4233 or allamakeecountyema@allamakeecounty.iowa. gov, or to the Fayette County Emergency Management Office at 563-412-9200 or lroberts@ co.fayette.ia.us.

Upper Iowa Conference denies Decorah request

tral. In recent months, UIC officials approved membership for Crestwood, New Hampton and Waukon.

That’s the question facing administrators and athletic department staffers after the Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) denied the district’s formal request for conference membership for the 2025-26 school year during a meeting last week. The UIC officials met Wednesday, April 10, to vote on the Decorah District’s application. Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) member-schools are currently Central, Clayton Ridge, Eastern Allamakee, MFL MarMac, North Fayette Valley, Postville, South Winneshiek, Turkey Valley and West Cen-

The shrinking Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) dates back to 1920. The NEIC will continue with five members for the immediate 2024-25 school year.

Current member schools are in Decorah, Cresco, Waukon, New Hampton and Charles City. Waverly Shell-Rock is leaving the conference after the current academic year and will be independent for the 2024-25 school year; the Charles City District has also indicated interest in moving to another conference.

Under Iowa law, all school districts are guaranteed membership in an athletic conference.

Full article can be found in the April 18 Public Opinion Newspaper.

Extending our deepest gratitude to our WinnMed volunteers. Your commitment has truly made a significant impact. We couldn’t do it without you!

a big square house.”

The plan was for Alex, his friend and fellow carpenter DJ Lloyd, and Alex’s father, retired carpenter Jeff Slifka, to build the house together. Once the house plans were finalized, fire departments from Spring Valley and Wykoff gathered in late April 2023 to undertake the controlled burning of the old farmhouse.

Alex stepped away from running their family-owned restaurant, Stellar 181 Taphouse in Spring Valley, to begin construction on the family’s new home. Meanwhile, the family lived in two campers on their property from the latter half of spring until Thanksgiving.

They utilized their separate workshop as a kitchen and laundry area, and as the weather turned cold, celebrated Thanksgiving by moving into the newly-completed garage.

In March 2024, the family was able to move into their house, despite much of the interior being incomplete. Alex, Jeff and Lloyd did all of sheetrock, taping, mudwork, window and door installation, and all finish work including painting, flooring, tile, trim and countertops. Framing was completed by Alex, Jeff and Lloyd, with all three Slifka sons helping frame along the way.

continued from front siding, roof, trim — everything but the front door — is Amish-constructed white oak. The entire downstairs is made up of sealed concrete with heated floors, with high ceilings and large windows throughout to let light in.

With three growing boys who are avid fans of all things outdoors, the property is perfect for them. A large “hangout area” for the boys was constructed above the garage, complete with a huge living room area, three bedrooms, built-in queen size bunkbeds for visiting friends, a laundry room and a bathroom with three sinks. “There’s even a urinal!” exclaimed Jenn. Inside

“All of the trim was crafted from logs that came from trees cut down in Spring Valley,” said Jenn. “The one thing we saved from the farmhouse was a set of French doors that went into the master bedroom upstairs — we do plan to use them in the new house.”

The countertops in the kitchen are crafted from walnut wood collected from the trees on the land where Alex hunts deer. They ensured the wood used was the same type of wood also used in the Stellar 181 taproom. The exterior of the house is all black, and the custom-made

ous plants

the open-concept living area reflects Jenn’s passion for gardening. Even the kitchen is geared towards her love of plants.

“Our kitchen is huge, but I don’t really cook,” Jenn disclosed. “We secretly set it up as a planting space for me, as I love my plants more than cooking. But I do hope to cook more once we have a more functional kitchen!”

doing something for their family. Every penny we have ever earned we have reinvested in our businesses … this is our first time doing something for us — a home we can enjoy for the rest of our lives … enjoy with our kids while they are still at home. It is definitely set up to be our forever home.”

Jenn Slifka’s boho flair and love of antiques carries over in the interior’s black walls and unique light fixtures. (submitted photos)

Building their dream home was a family affair, including the three Slifka sons assisting with the framing of the structure.

Plantpeddler uses three robots like this one to handle delicate work very quickly. Co-owner Mike Gooder said some plant material is half an inch long, and “the smaller it is, that’s when the robots really do an outstanding job.” Sales Manager Stacy Bryant added that there are different types of cuttings that need to be stuck at different depths to root properly and that the robots can be programmed to always stick at exactly that depth. (submitted)

Plantpeddler

known as “unrooted cuttings”, from greenhouses around the world, and develops roots that turn the “slip” or “cutting” into a plant that the company’s customers can transplant and grow into finished retail plants.

continued from front

The selection of varieties takes place globally by the breeders. “We import from throughout Central America, Brazil, Africa, Turkey, Israel, Vietnam, Portugal and other areas.” Mike said. “There’s a long list of farms around the world that we import cuttings from. The process is similar to the modern hog industry. The sows (mother plants) are located along the equator, the cuttings come to us, and we create the feeder pig (rooted cuttings), which ship to growers across the country.

“We do not germinate seed at all,” he added. “Everything is asexually propagated - clones. Ninety percent of varieties we offer are patented - the elite plants of our industry.” What’s really important in the industry right now is “inter-species crosses” in which breeders are creating new sub-species within a genus.

“For example, the most popular bedding plant in the world right now is calibrachoa, which is man-made,” he explained. “It’s a cross between calibrachoa with some petunia background, so it’s a man-made cross. The traditional geranium has been upgraded to an inter-species cross between the zonal and ivy

geraniums. We do these crosses to get the most-desirable traits from both plants. Once that happens, an asexual cross is made, because that seed won’t fully mature. Once the cross occurs, the embryo is put into a testtube and the new plant is created. It may take five to seven years to develop that product into a commercial variety. Once it goes down that path, the elite stock is maintained by a breeder, who sends cuttings to offshore farms. From these cutting big blocks of those mother plants are established, which are constantly maintained, and those farms harvest cuttings of those plants. Those cuttings are then super-cooled, boxed and shipped to Cresco as fast as humanly possible — 48 to 72 hours.”

Rachel added that changes can happen in crossing plants, “A lot of plants don’t have fragrances now, because it’s been bred out of them. Roses used to smell wonderful and really beautiful, but they had weak stems and would die early. So, they started breeding them to get a stronger stem and longer-lasting flower, less thorns and larger heads. But all that breeding removed the fragrance. Now, they’re trying to get more fragrance back. We have a begonia that smells like a peach for that same reason.”

Plantpeddler

continued on page 8

The Persian shield, also known as Strobilanthes dyerianus, is a tropical foliage plant with iridescent, multicolored leaves that can be purple, green, and silver.

Turning art into science “Old-school greenhouses made production an art,” Mike said. “Growing plants was an art. Plantpeddler is taking that art form, and we’ve trans-

formed it into the technological production of plants; uniform, consistent, mechanized and automated plant production that gives us a very consistent output.

programmed to always stick at that depth.”

“We produce Begonias 52 weeks of the year,” he continued. “The ones we ship in July need to look like the ones we ship in January, and that’s super challenging. When we’re producing any crop in the facility, we’re always focused on uniformity. It’s the steps in process to be consistent. The best media, the pots are filled by the most advanced equipment on the market, making sure the compaction is the same in every pot, and we plant the highest quality liner in them, and then utilize advanced growing cultures. We’ve really taken that art and turned it into science, and we turned that science into a manufacturing process.”

The Plantpeddler “Garden Trio” brand features three plants that will grow into a mixed color combination.

The Garden Trio was designed and exclusively offered by Plantpeddler.

There is continual movement in Plantpeddler facilities. While the most greenhouse might average 1.5 “turns” or crop-cycles per year, Plantpeddler does at least five turns per year. “The crop cycle on the young plant side is typically four to six weeks, which means every month, we’re turning over the capacity of the facility,” Mike said. “It’s very fast-paced and very intense.”

The result of all that hard work and technology, however, is that today, Plantpeddler offers more than 3,000 varieties of plants and as an example, sells about two million mums every year.

“The first Poinsettia crop I grew was 400 plants, and now we’re putting roots on over 2 million Poinsettias every year,” said Mike. “That has required a lot of dynamic change.”

Mike said there’s also a lot of handwork in the business, especially in the young plant division. Employees and robots need to carefully place the small plant cuttings Plantpeddler receives from the production farms into a special peat-based growing media (soil), a process termed “sticking”.

And, that dynamic change has meant that several times in the last decade, Plantpeddler has grown its business by approximately 30 percent per year.

“I’m not a fan of 30 percent per year,” he said. “That’s a little too crazy, and it gets hard to maintain.”

Mike added that capacity is becoming an issue again, so Plantpeddler is once more considering expanding the young plants site.

“Putting that into context, we’ll stick a million cuttings in a week,” he said. “A really, really good human will stick 1,000 an hour. So, a million divided by a thousand is a thousand manhours on any given week. At the same time, we’re sticking, we’re also shipping. If we stick a million, we need to ship a million. It’s very, very fast-paced.”

Mike explained that the company relies on robots to support humans. “The robots handle smaller plant material easier. Some plant material is half an inch long. The smaller it is, that’s when the robots really do an outstanding job. There are different types of cuttings that need to be stuck at different depths to root properly,” added Bryant, “and the robots can be

Another upcoming change is that Mike and Rachel’s son, John, will soon take over leadership of Plantpeddler, but that doesn’t mean his parents will stray away from the business.

“It’s been crazy and fun,” said Rachel. “It’s a lot of work, but we really enjoy it.”

“People ask me if I’m going to retire someday, but what am I going to do then? My life is plants,” Mike said. “We have a great team of people, and we’re very fortunate that we’ve become very successful. We all feel blessed to be here.”

Postville Job Fair April 25 Auditions set for ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ summer production

The Decorah IowaWORKS Center and Iowa Vocational Rehabilitation Services will offer job seekers an opportunity to connect with area employers and community resources April 25. The Postville Job and Resource Fair will be held from

2-6 p.m. at the NEIA Wellness & Recreation Center and will feature over 30 employers/organizations seeking individuals who are motivated to come in and talk with them and seek employment. The event is open to the public.

Celebrate World Migratory Bird Day with birding walks

In celebration of World Migratory Bird Day on May 11, Winneshiek County Conservation will host two birding walks. Join naturalist Larry Reis at one or both of these programs to see migrating birds that pass through Winneshiek County each spring.

The second event is a shorebird viewing walk at Cardinal Marsh on Sunday, May 12, at 2 p.m. Meet at the marsh’s south parking lot, approximately 3.5 miles south of Highway 9 on Madison Road.

These events are free and no registration is required. Bring binoculars if you have them.

For more information, call 563534-7145 or visit www.winneshiekwild.com.

The first event is a spring migration birding walk at Walden Pond on Sunday, May 5, at 2 p.m. Walden Pond, a reservation-only park, is located at 1432 130th Ave., Castalia. Follow the driveway to the parking lot to meet the group for the start of the walk. Walden Pond is open to the public for special events only.

The Rushford Area Society of the Arts in Rushford, Minn., will hold auditions for their 2024 summer production “Arsenic and Old Lace”, one of the best-loved dark comedy mysteries in the history of Broadway. Auditions will be held at the Rushford-Peterson High School Theatre on Friday, May 3, at 6:30 p.m. and Saturday, May 4, at 9:30 a.m. The script calls for three women and eight men, although several of the men’s rolls could be played by women. Ideally, the cast would be an adult cast. Rehearsals will begin June 3 with performances July 17-20 during Rushford Days.

The R-P High School is located at 1000 Pine Meadows Lane, Rushford. Contact Burton Svendsen at 507-459-6162 or svendsencb@gmail.com with questions.

provide an adjustment to the production history for dairy operations with less than 5 million pounds of production. In previous years, smaller dairy operations could establish a supplemental production history and receive Supplemental Dairy Margin Coverage.

For 2024, dairy producers can establish one adjusted base production history through DMC for each participating dairy operation to better reflect the operation’s current production. For more information on DMC, visit the DMC webpage or contact your local USDA Service Center.

and

&

Fraud,” as part of its

enriching lives through monthly learning series on Thursday, April 25, at 5:30 p.m. in the RML lower level Community Room.

program is designed to raise awareness among older adults and their caregivers on how to prevent financial exploitation and fraud,” said Jeannette Mukayisire, Family Wellbeing Specialist with ISU Extension and Outreach. “We update the curriculum often to reflect new information on frauds and scams, and how to prevent them.” Attendance is free but registration is required. Contact the RML front desk at 563-5684424 or reserve a spot online at www.waukon.lib.ia.us.

Spring Grove teams

The Spring Grove softball team hosted Mabel-Canton Monday, April 15, claiming a 17-2 win.

Friday’s baseball and softball games between Spring Grove and Lyle-Pacelli were postponed to Friday, May 3, at 4:30 p.m. The Lions’ softball game at PEM (Plainview-Elgin-Millville) Saturday was also postponed due to weather with no make-up date set as of press time.

Mabel-Canton happenings

It was a 6-5 home win for the Mabel-Canton baseball team Friday night over Grand Meadow/LeRoy-Ostrander/Kingsland.

Kee athletics

The Kee girls’ won their home track meet Thursday, with 96 points and seven gold-medal performances. The boys finished with 74 points in second as a team with four events taking first.

MFL MarMac

Thursday at Kee, the MFL Mar Mac girls track and field team claimed fourth with 32 points. The Bulldog boys rose above the rest with 125 points to win the team title, along with nine events. The Bulldog girls track team finished seventh with 33 points Friday night at North Fayette Valley, while the boys earned 25 points to finish eighth, claiming one event win.

South Winn action

After Thursday’s meet was

rained out with Turkey Valley, the Warrior golf teams joined the Trojans and Tripoli at Jackson Heights Golf Course for a triangular Friday. The Warrior boys edged the Trojans with a 182 to 188. Tripoli was third with a 195. The SW girls also won the meet with a 237, followed by TV’s 251. Tripoli did not have enough female golfers to field a score.

Saturday, the Warrior boys’ golf team was back on the course at the New Hampton quad, finishing the 18-hole day in second with a 342. New Hampton won the meet with a 329.

Garnering 79 points and one gold medal performance, the Warrior girls’ track and field team took home third from the North Fayette Valley meet Friday night. The SW boys finished sixth in the team standings with 58 points.

Waukon events

In a close team race at Kee Thursday, the split Waukon girls track and field team finished runner-up to the hosts with 93 points, winning five gold medals. The other half of the Indian track team traveled to West Delaware and finished 11th with 30 points and one individual title.

The Indians girls’ golf team finished third at a triangular Thursday in New Hampton.

Scores for the meet were Oelwein, 350; New Hampton, 351; and Waukon, 485.

The Waukon boys’ track and field team hosted the Indian Relays Friday, picking up six golds on the way to a second-place

team finish with 147 points.

Turkey Valley events

At the Kee track meet Thursday, the Trojan girls finished with 66 points in third place, claiming five titles. The TV boys garnered third with 58 points.

On the links at Jackson Heights Friday, the Turkey Valley golf teams hosted a triangular with South Winn and Tripoli after Thursday’s dual with the Warriors was rained out. The TV boys came through with a 188, six strokes behind the Warriors and seven ahead of Tripoli. For the girls’ the Trojans carded a 251 total behind the Warriors’ 237.

Decorah events

After the rain Thursday, the Decorah girls’ golf team dropped an 18-hole dual against Winona Senior at Oneota Golf and Country Club, 397 to 415.

Winona Senior edged the Viking boys’ golf team at the Winona Bridges Golf Club Thursday, 335 to 344.

The Viking girls’ track and field team finished third at the 15-team Waterloo West Invite Thursday with 102 points behind Cedar Falls and Cedar Rapids Prairie. Decorah finished the night with three golds. Friday, the Decorah boys’ track and field team picked up the team title at the Waukon Indian Relays, tallying 200 points with seven gold medal performances.

On the road Friday, the Viking boys’ soccer team dropped a contest 4-0 to Dubuque Hempstead.

The Decorah girls’ soccer game versus Clear Lake was postponed with no make-up date set.

In an 18-hole tournament at West Delaware Friday, the Viking boys’ golf team finished with 347 points in a tie for sixth-place. The event was won by Waverly-Shell Rock with a 327.

The Class 1A No. 5, 6, 7-ranked boys’ tennis teams of Decorah, Waverly-Shell Rock and Boone converged on the courts in Waverly to compete. W-SR narrowly edged the Vikings 5-4, while Boone came out on top 6-3.

Saturday, the Decorah girls’ tennis team competed in a tournament at Clinton. Team scores were unavailable at press time; however, the Vikes had a runner-up at No. 4 singles and a third-place at No. 6 singles, as well as a bronze finish at No. 3 doubles.

Peter Essa keeps the ball in Decorah’s possession. (Photo courtesy of Heather Benzing)

Below average temps and gusty winds made for a cold night on the course for golfers (l-r) TV’s Oliver Schmitt, SW’s Braiden Todd and TV’s Caleb Kurtenbach. (Driftless Multimedia photo by Becky Walz)