St. Peter Portraits

SAINT PETER Celebrating the individuals that make St. Peter unique

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Welcome

ST. PETER PORTRAITS

PAGE 1

SAINT PETER

I

Celebrating the individuals that make St. Peter unique

nside these 12 pages you will find rich, colorful stories about people who represent our community.

Those featured in this edition come from a variety of backgrounds and hold very different, yet interesting jobs. All of them play a significant, though sometimes unseen role in making the St. Peter area a great place to live, work and play.

These stories will take you behind the scenes at their jobs, giving readers an insiders look at what it takes to be a winemaker, college groundskeeper, a city utilities worker and more. And they’ll explain why they love what they do.

This publication is a product of the St. Peter Herald and is the result of weeks of work -- photography, reporting, writing, editing, design and creative advertising efforts.

We hope you enjoy Portraits 2014 for weeks and months to come and that you, like us, rediscover what makes the St. Peter community so special.

Contents Steven Moore: Adjustments ..........................................................................................................2 Bruce Volek: A Clear Path .................................................................................................................4 Scot Peterson and Pete Moulton: Sanitary Safety ............................................................6 Eric Hendrickson and Andreas Hendrickson: Organ Origins .....................................8 Mike Drash: Wine Wonders.............................................................................................................10

Portraits 2014 A special project of the St. Peter Herald.

311 S. Minnesota Ave., St. Peter, MN 56082 www.stpeterherald.com Publisher/Editor Stephanie Hill Managing Editor Suzanne Rook Media Specialist Kathleen Davies Contributing Writers/Photographers Patrick Beck, Jessica Bies, CJ Siewert, James Stitt Cover Design Nikkie Gilmore Page Design Tony Borreson

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ST. PETER PORTRAITS

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Adjustments Steven Moore: Chiropractor

By Pat Beck • pbeck@stpeterherald.com

Steven Moore adjusts a neck brace for Elaine Leiferman on a therapy bed at Cornerstone Wellness Center. (Pat Beck/St. Peter Herald)

S

teven Moore used to be a physically active fitness trainer and chiropractor at Cornerstone Wellness Center in St. Peter.

That abruptly changed two years ago when he temporarily became paralyzed, suffering from transverse myelitis, a condition in which his spine was wearing down.

“For the first six months I was quadriplegic,” Moore said. “I had to transfer off of a chair to a big board because I couldn’t stand up. I’d slide over to get in and out of the shower.”

But since then he’s made a dramatic recovery and got back to work a year ago, although he’s still not 100 percent.

Moore went back to work in January of 2013.

In the first four months, Moore said he’d fall sometimes

while adjusting patients. But he could lift a head, hold a body, stand along side a table and adjust somebody.

Now he said he can do 95 percent of the things that he was able to do before.

“For most of my patients, no problems,” Moore said. “I have a harder time working on bigger people, and some of the movements that I have to do. I still would take them on, but I’ve had to adapt the way that I do things.”

He still needs a walker or wheelchair to do his work. But he can stand and has gotten back use of his arms and his right leg.

He still has trouble with his left leg, so he needs a walker to keep his balance.

In treating patients, he sits in a wheelchair or walks around

See MOORE on page 3

them with his hands touching something to keep his balance.

“I can stand up and get around across the table and do what I need to as long as I have something to hang on to,” Moore said.

“But for me to stand over somebody to adjust them, I can’t. I just sit in the chair. If I bend too far, my left leg is not supporting me and I’m on the floor.”

When he goes outside, he usually has two canes like he is cross-country skiing. “It’s been four months since I’ve fallen outside,” he said.

How it happened

Moore got hurt on Feb. 19, 2012 while working out, something he has been doing for years.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

ST. PETER PORTRAITS

PAGE 3

MOORE from page 2 WHAT IS TRANSVERSE MYELITIS?

Sitting in a wheelchair doesn’t stop Moor from treating his patients.

(Pat Beck/ St. Peter Herald)

In his first six weeks, his friend in a wheelchair came to St. Peter every week and worked on him with acupuncture. He also had laser treatments to help brain to bring back some of the communication to his body.

Moore also is making nutrition and diet changes.

“I did everything imaginable to try and get all the nutrients back in,” Moore said. “And anything new that comes up I grab it. The more you can work those pathways that were damaged, the more you can get some of that action back.”

The work has paid off.

“Six months ago, I couldn’t Recovery process tap my toe,” Moore said. “I Moore has had to go through couldn’t get my leg up without using my arms. In the last six a lot of work to recover. months, I’m able to go up a He did physical therapy flight of steps now, which I and and brought everything couldn’t (before). he learned back to the fitness Moore tried getting back center building where he lives to leading group fitness classes and works. once he was able to stand behind Moore sees three friends a his walker, but he fell and now week who treat him, including a chiropractic neurologist, he is only doing personal training. a chiropractor friend in the “I couldn’t give an extra hour Twin Cities and a friend in a to exercise,” Moore said. “Once wheelchair.

“I was an accident waiting to happen is what they told me,” Moore said. “I did an eight-hour workout course where I was learning to become a trainer with kettle bells. They found transverse myelitis which is the condition of my spine where it was wearing down, and this course was enough to throw me over the edge.

“It’s sort of like MS (multiple sclerosis). It’s a neurological disease where something is wearing it out. It was probably a combination of everything I overdid. It was wearing out through time.”

I started being a chiropractor, I needed that extra sleep to get some repair going on. I was doing my patients, and it was exhausting me.”

Patient testimonial

Elaine Leiferman, a patient of Moore’s for more than 20 years, said she hasn’t noticed a difference in her care after his injury.

“He could always get up out of a wheelchair and stand, so that he could work on you,” Leiferman said. “Now he walks with a walker. He’s got such a good attitude. A lot of people would give up.”

Leiferman, 89, who suffered back and head injuries falling while ice fishing on Lake Washington, keeps coming back to Moore even though she moved to Mankato.

“He finds places that I hurt that I don’t know I hurt,” Leiferman said. “He’s honest. And if he can’t help you, he would tell you.”

Loves his work

Moore still loves his job

even though it’s difficult.

A chiropractor for 28 years, Moore said he never missed a day of work.

“That was the hardest part of being down,” Moore said. “I couldn’t do what I was good at and what I loved to do.”

Moore said putting his hands on people, adjusting and working them is the best thing to help him get better faster and over the hump.

“I felt like I had some value again with something that I could do.”

Transverse myelitis is a neurological disorder caused by inflammation across both sides of one level, or segment, of the spinal cord. The term myelitis refers to inflammation of the spinal cord; transverse simply describes the position of the inflammation, that is, across the width of the spinal cord. Attacks of inflammation can damage or destroy myelin, the fatty insulating substance that covers nerve cell fibers. This damage causes nervous system scars that interrupt communications between the nerves in the spinal cord and the rest of the body.

Symptoms of transverse myelitis include a loss of spinal cord function over several hours to several weeks. What usually begins as a sudden onset of lower back pain, muscle weakness, or abnormal sensations in the toes and feet can rapidly progress to more severe symptoms, including paralysis, urinary retention, and loss of bowel control. Although some patients recover from transverse myelitis with minor or no residual problems, others suffer permanent impairments that affect their ability to perform ordinary tasks of daily living. Most patients will have only one episode of transverse myelitis; a small percentage may have a recurrence.

The segment of the spinal cord at which the damage occurs determines which parts of the body are affected. it is estimated that about 1,400 new cases of transverse myelitis are diagnosed each year in the United States, and approximately 33,000 Americans have some type of disability resulting from the disorder. Researchers are uncertain of the exact causes of transverse myelitis. Recovery from transverse myelitis usually begins within 2 to 12 weeks of the onset of symptoms and may continue for up to 2 years (and in some cases longer).

Source: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

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ST. PETER PORTRAITS

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Bruce Volek has helped keep the grounds at Gustavus Adolphus College in pristine shape for the past 22 years as the grounds shop supervisor. During the winter months, snow removal takes up the majority of the time for the physical plant employees. (CJ Siewert/Le Sueur News-Herald)

Bruce Volek: Groundskeeper

A Clear Path

By CJ SIEWERT • csiewert@lesueurnews-herald.com

T

he past two decades have brought several changes to Gustavus Adolphus College — both as an institution and in its physical appearance.

The change in its appearance, for the better, has been influenced in large part to Bruce Volek, the college’s grounds shop supervisor.

Volek came to the grounds crew at Gustavus in 1992 after working seven years at Canterbury Park, a horse racing track, in Shakopee. Volek said that was a wild job to begin with, so making the move to Gustavus was a nice transition.

His interest in working grounds crew stems from his childhood growing up on a farm.

“I run a couple hundred acres and I work with the dirt, soil and raise a few head of beef cattle,” Volek said. “I’ve been doing that since I’ve been in eighth grade. That’s what I really enjoy. I like working outside and I love running equipment.”

Volek’s many years of experience working on a farm coincides well with his job at Gustavus. But having to manage 340 acres on campus is not a one-man job — it takes a whole team to keep the grounds in shape.

See VOLEK on page 5

The grounds crew at Gustavus includes a gardener, turf builder, special project coordinators, arboretum groundsperson, irrigation specialist, waste and recycling collector and mechanic. During the summer months, the grounds crew hires 15 students to help mow, trim and water plants on campus.

“We are busy,” Volek said. “There are a lot of moving parts to it.”

In the winter months, Volek and his crew are kept busy with snow removal, along with the everyday duties of collecting trash and recycling. The crew also spends a lot of time preparing for the busy summer.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

ST. PETER PORTRAITS

VOLEK from page 4 “We just have a whole lot of things that we have to take care of in the winter,” Volek said. “And we have to maintain our equipment for the summer. We recondition all our equipment to make sure they are all ready to go.

“Everybody helps. I give them a lot of credit. Our carpenters, plumbers and electricians do the snow shovel removal by the steps because we can’t get out of the machines.”

During the summer with added help from student workers, Volek divides the campus into multiple sections in order to have his crew take care of everything. The campus is mowed every weekday, while the athletic fields get even more attention with special events and camps happening just about every week.

“The question everybody asks me is, ‘When the kids leave and graduate, what do you do in the summer time?’” Volek said. “We are just as busy if not busier in the summer because of all those camps and special events. It could be soccer, golf, tennis, football or track.”

While the grounds crew maintains a busy day-to-day schedule throughout the year, nothing compares to the arduous schedule imposed by the March 1998 tornado. The F3 tornado ripped the campus and much of St. Peter apart, leaving everything in its path in ruins.

The physical plant had to work out of a tent while community members and volunteers did their best to clean up the pieces. The hours spent clearing the campus was

a challenge.

“Instead of putting in 40 hours a week, I may have put in 80 to 100 hours in and it was very stressful for everybody,” Volek said. “The guys who lived around here had to go home and clean up their mess and then try to come here and help out everyday. It was challenging. That was the hardest to get the school back up and running again and getting the grounds somewhat presentable.”

Nearly 16 years after the devastating tornado, Gustavus appears as if it never happened. About 2,000 trees were planted after the tornado and have now matured.

Warren Wunderlich, director of physical plant, who started just two weeks before Volek in 1992, says Volek has been a great asset to the

PAGE 5

MEET BRUCE VOLEK campus over the past two decades and that Volek’s care for grounds has not diminished over the years.

“Bruce has been absolutely wonderful through all those years and especially in the years after the tornado,” Wunderlich said. “He did a lot of stuff and even now, they are building and creating a lot of these landscapes with a lot of our staff rather than having outside contractors handle that. He’s doing more than just maintenance.”

Having started at about the same time 22 years ago, Wunderlich and Volek have been able to grow into their roles together.

“He’s been a friend and a sounding board for all the things on the grounds for me,” Wunderlich said.

FAMILY: Wife, Suzan and children Sara, Kristin and Adam.

Sara and Kristin are teachers, while Adam is a deputy sheriff OCCUPATION: Gustavus grounds shop supervisor HOBBIES: “I love to go fishing and hunting, and travelling with the wife.”

FUTURE PLANS: “I’m getting up to age where I am probably going to retire in the next five years.

I’ve been here for over 20 years. I don’t want to stay too long. Things change all the time here.

Everything has grown and we stay quite busy. I just hope to make that transition easy for the next person.”

FOCUS Depend on quick, thorough transactions and possible revolving loan when dealing with the City of Saint Peter. Starting, relocating or expanding business will be your focus, not chasing the details.

LOCATION Businesses benefit from Saint Peter’s location and proximity to interstate transportation networks, meaning lower costs, short commutes, ease of movement, a network of support services and suppliers.

HOUSING

A range of housing costs is represented in Saint Peter; apartments, townhomes and single family housing are available. The river bluff provides spectacular homesites nestled in wooded lots.

COMMUNITY Saint Peter has over 40 sites on the National Register of Historic Places. Quality faculty, specialized programs and a supportive learning environment distinguish Saint Peter Schools.

An Old-Fashioned Fourth of July Celebration, Rock Bend Folk Festival, and the annual Nobel Conference at Gustavus Adolphus College are a handful of events enjoyed in Saint Peter.

WORKFORCE Plants bloom at Gustavus Adolphus College’s Arboretum. Bruce Volek, the college’s grounds shop supervisor, oversees crews that maintain the arboretum and mow, trim and water plants all over the campus.

Our labor force is one of experience and dependability. Ninety percent of persons age 25 and over are high school graduates, and over 29% hold bachelors degrees. Workers enjoy an average travel time to work of just 15 minutes.

Municipal Building 227 South Front Street, Saint Peter, MN 56082 507-934-0661 • Fax: 507-934-4917 saintpetermn.gov

PAGE 6

ST. PETER PORTRAITS

Scot Peterson and Pete Moulton: Wastewater Utility Pat Beck • pbeck@stpeterherald.com

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Sanitary Safety

City of St. Peter Wastewater Foreman Scot Peterson holds the big camera that is used to check the bigger sewer lines in St. Peter. The cable of the left sends it down the line. (Pat Beck/St. Peter Herald)

T

he city of St. Peter is keeping a close watch over what’s going on underground.

Wastewater utility workers televise the city’s sanitary sewer and storm sewer by regularly sending a remote operated camera down to check for blockages and damages to the pipes.

The foreman of the wastewater utility, Scot Peterson, leads the six-person crew which handles the treatment and collection of sewage.

Dividing the city up into four sections, the crews clean and televise one quadrant a year, so

about every five years the main pipes below the streets in the city rights-of-way are thoroughly inspected and maintained. The city also televises newly installed sewer lines to have a record to compare if they run into trouble later.

“We try to protect the homeowner,” Water Utilities Superintendent Pete Moulton said.

“They’re paying for a product with the contractor. They’re not water and sewer experts. Scot and our staff are experts. They make sure it’s installed right and will serve that customer for the next 30 years.”

The service pipes from the street to homes are televised when a homeowner registers a complaint, such as a sewer line backing up.

“There are two things involved with the sewer system, one is the customer service side that they own, the other is city side that’s put together to serve all of the customers,” Moulton said. “Scot and his crew take care of both sides of that.”

The city has 4,000 service connections, and the televising crew monitors underground piping ranging from 4 to 36 inches in diameter.

“You’ve got a variety of different sizes, 1,100

See SANITARY on page 7

manholes and a variety of different infrastructure pieces that pull all this together,” Moulton said. “This is called a collection system.”

“If you live in a house, you have a 4-inch line that carries your sewage out into an 8-inch line that carries it to a 12-inch line to a 24-inch line where they combine to flow to the Main Lift Station which is located at Union and Highway 169 by the Dairy Queen. The main lift is about 50 feet deep and collects all of the wastewater in St. Peter and pumps it up to the waste water plant on St. Julien Street to be treated.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

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PAGE 7

SANITARY from page 6 “So the collection and the treatment of sewage along with the disposal of sewage to the river is all intertwined. Basically we can identify it from the time it leaves the house to the time it enters the river.”

Peterson, who worked his way up to foreman, has been televising underground piping since he started with the city 14 years ago. He previously worked 12 years on the underground crew that installed water and sewer mains for a road construction contractor, so he’s been in the trenches for a quarter of a century.

It can be a dirty, stinky job, but Peterson has gotten used to it.

“I was used to the smell when I started here because I worked 12 years in construction, and I was installing

sanitary sewer,” Peterson said.

“When you’re installing it, it’s running right next to you.

You’re standing in it all day long. It still isn’t that bad. We have to change clothes during the day sometimes, and we have a washer and dryer here to wash up.”

Peterson enjoys dealing with and helping the public.

“It’s not a pretty job,” he said. “But when you know that you can help somebody, it makes you feel good.”

This winter, Peterson helped a resident fix a frozen sewer line by using the camera to find where to fix the problem.

“Scot was able to identify where the problem was, and we were able to get the service back in operating condition in an hour,” Moulton said.

Other problems include tree roots breaking through the old clay pipes, though most have been replaced by PVC (plastic) since the 1980s.

“We find a few problems every year, where there’s an old clay line where one part of it is cracked,” Peterson said. “Nothing ever too major. Roots go through clay pipes, not PVC. When it’s been so dry these last few years, tree roots go wherever there is water. They go right to the pipe and get right into those joints.

“Some areas worse than others, “hot spots” where we know there tree root problems, we hit those areas more often.”

The city has video of about 80 percent of the sewer and water system on its computer data system.

Moulton has nothing but

praise for Peterson and his staff.

“He does an excellent job.

I think our crew does a really good job of solving problems that homeowners may not be aware how to solve. We’re here to help. They’re counting on us. We take the waste from their home, treat it and make it a useable product and we turn it back into a natural resource — all for a small monthly fee.

It’s treated and discharged into the Minnesota River. Our effluent is really clean compared to the Minnesota River.

“We’re customer service oriented. We have to explain what the purpose is. A majority of the homeowners in town don’t know where their sewer goes.”

Peterson agrees: “No one City of St. Peter Wastewater Foreman Scot Peterson operwould have ever thought that ates a line locator that can detect the location of the camera there was a camera that went underground. (Pat Beck/St. Peter Herald) down the sewer line.”

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PAGE 8

ST. PETER PORTRAITS

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Organ Origins

Eric Hendrickson and Andreas Hendrickson: Organ Builders

F

By JESSICA BIES • jbies@stpeterherald.com

or second-generation organ builders Andreas and Eric Hendrickson, combining a love for architecture, music, art, business, woodworking and travel, has been more than just a pipe dream, it’s been a career.

Part of an organ-making duo, 43-year-old Andreas Hendrickson and 46-year-old Eric Hendrickson are the sons of Charles Hendrickson, owner and founder of the Hendrickson Organ Company in St. Peter.

In recent years, his sons, Andreas and Eric Hendrikson have begun play a bigger role in the business, taking over as their father moves into retirement — Eric Hendrickson is head of installations, tuning and service and Andreas Hendrickson is in charge of design.

“They’re actually doing the work and running the factory,” their father, Charles Hendrickson, said, adding that he’s been unofficially retired for about a year now.

The firm designs and builds about two or three new pipe organs a year, spending several months on each.

In between jobs, it provides maintenance, tuning and restoration work.

Charles Hendrickson said his sons, both introduced to the craft as children, are pulling out all the stops, designing and building organs more intricate and modern than he ever imagined.

Each instrument is one-of-a-kind — custom made for the buyer — and takes an incredible amount of workmanship to produce.

And it’s workmanship his sons have proven they’re more than capable of.

“It’s such a relief to have my sons

take over,” Charles Hendrickson said with a laugh. “They sort of grew up in the business and helped me from quite young, actually. They learned everything and were very competent.

And now they’re doing it all.”

Creative design

Andreas Hendrickson did not always want to become an organ designer, but joined the family business after he graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in architecture.

“I guess I just fell back into it after I left school,” he said. “I didn’t find a lot of intrigue in being an architect …

I guess everything else, I’ve really just picked up over the years.”

He said he’s learned almost everything he knows about the craft from his father, who has designed organs for many of the area’s churches, including the family’s home church, First Lutheran in St. Peter.

But his architectural background kicks in often — because organs are made to fit specific spaces, they must often emulate the design of the room they are being built for and fit the space perfectly.

And because the organ is more than just the console holding the keyboard — it is the pipes, the chests in which the pipes sit, the valves that open to let air flow through the pipes and the mechanical or electric linkage that connects them all — getting all the different components to work together and fit into a pre-designated space can be a challenge.

“You have to tap into your imagination,” Andreas Hendrikson said.

See ORGANS on page 9

Andreas Hendrickson designed the large organ that resides at the Church of St. Peter. (Jessica Bies/St. Peter Herald)

Thursday, March 27, 2014

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PAGE 9

ORGANS from page 8 What a new organ ultimately looks like depends on a number of factors including the number and types of pipes included, the size of the room where the organ will be placed and also the client’s budget, Andreas Hendrickson said.

Organs designed by Hendrickson Organ can be incredibly ornate, artistic and in some cases, sleek and contemporary, Andreas Hendrickson said.

“There are a lot of builders out there that rely on traditional organ designs,” Hendrickson said. “But we’ve never been held captive by that.”

An example of the firm’s recent work can be seen at the Church of St. Peter — there an organ designed by Andreas Hendrickson was installed in 2001, as the new facade was being completed.

It incorporates pipes from the church’s original organ, badly damaged in the 1998 St. Peter tornado, but it is also fairly modern looking, Andreas Hendrickson said.

“There was a lot of freedom artistically to get to that design,” Andreas Hendrickson said. “And as far as the woodworking is concerned, it was difficult design to execute.”

His father, Charles Hendrickson, called the design brilliant, saying it was a good example of how his son, in

HOW A PIPE ORGAN WORKS Simply stated, the pipe organ is a big box of whistles. Each pipe sits on top of a hollow wind chest that is filled with compressed air provided by a bellows or blower.

Each ‘stop’ at the organ console represents a set of pipes (a rank) of a particular tone color, with a different pipe for every note on the keyboard.

Pulling the stop activates a slider under that specific set of pipes on the windchest, making them available as a sound-source.

The wind chest also contains a series of valves (pallets) connected to the keyboard by a mechanical linkage. These pallets govern the flow of air to each pipe, and even though a stop may be on, no pipes will sound until a key is depressed and its respective pallet opens. This allows the compressed air to pass up through the pipe for that note, creating sound.

(Source: American Public Media)

many ways, has surpassed him as an organ designer.

“Some of the things I would have never done, never envisioned, never even tried to do, he’s doing,” Charles Hendrickson said. “I was always a a traditional designer. I did things in a classical manner, but he’s getting into more modern and contemporary design.”

Taking business on the road

While Andreas Hendrickson handles design, Eric Hendrickson takes care of installation, tuning and service work, often heading out on the

road to do so.

“Clients call and say ‘The organ’s broke. Come fix it,’” Eric Hendrickson said. “Or ‘It needs to be tuned.’”

Eric Hendrickson said service work often takes him to South Dakota, Wisconsin or Iowa. Many organs, he has maintained for years and visits on a regular basis.

“I get to revisit the towns I’ve been visiting for the last 20 years,” Eric Hendrickson said. “I get to see how the towns have changed, the local cuisine. I try never to take the same way to a job and come back a different route.”

Because each organ is unique, tuning or servicing

Eric Hendrickson adjusts the clamps holding together a recently glued organ chest. (Jessica Bies/St. Peter Herald)

them takes know-how, Eric Hendrickson said. The firm maintains not only organs built by the Hendrickson Organ Companies, but by firms that no longer even exist — if properly maintained, an organ can survive for hundreds of years, Eric Hendrickson said.

“Organ building has been going on for a couple hundred years,” Eric Hendrickson said.

“A lot of parts wear out after 50, 60, 100 years.”

Before working on an instrument, you have to get familiar with it, he said.

“They open up a door under the instrument, sometimes you get under the instrument and crawl around,” Eric Hendrick-

son said. “You spend a little bit of time exploring the instrument, trying to decide how to tackle a restoration or tuning.”

In addition to service work, Eric Hendrickson helps build organs from the ground up, executing his father and brother’s designs.

Some of the work involves intricate wood carving or other complicated woodworking, he said. Like his brother, he has learned most of what he knows about organ building from his father and around the shop, though he also has degrees in German and earth science.

“We grew up in the shop,” he said. “It was our day care.”

Eric Hendrickson said he

knows an organ has been designed and built well if 100 years later, its pipes still stand straight.

While maintaining organs, he often finds bugs, bats and mice, but also solid woodworking. Organ making is a complex craft and the mechanics of each instrument can seem bewildering to the outsider, he said.

But once you crawl inside and look around, you can find out a lot about their designers and builders — in many ways, crawling into an organ to tune or restore it is an adventure.

“A lot of organs look a little intimidating,” he said. “I guess I’ve got the guts to go in and look at stuff. To fix them.”

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Andreas Hendrickson blows air through an organ pipe, demonstrating how it works and sounds. (Jessica Bies/St. Peter Herald)

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PAGE 10

ST. PETER PORTRAITS

Wine Wonders

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Mike Drash: Winemaker

By JAMES STITT • jstitt@lecenter.com

Mike Drash takes out a sample from one of the barrels. A little bit spills out, and Drash says that the joke among winemakers is that you spend more time cleaning than anything else.

(James Stitt/Le Center Leader)

B

eing a winemaker is a job that requires a very diverse skill set — part chemistry, part agriculture, part sales and much more. So for those looking to get into the business, winemaker Mike Drash has one suggestion — find a winery and work a harvest.

“You’re getting dirty, sticky and wet,” said Drash. “You get for hours of sleep and go back again.”

Drash said that while there are many skills needed to be a

good winemaker, the most important thing is a love for the job.

After all, it is more than simply tasting wine.

The harvest is the busiest time for a winemaker, and Drash said that it usually means working 100 or more hours a week, seven days a week. The harvest is an important time for a winery, because once the fruit is plucked from its vine, it needs to be used or it’s lost.

“It’s a critical time,” said Drash. “Once you pick the fruit, you

See WINE on page 11

can’t put it back on.”

During the harvest, the hard work put in isn’t the only difficult part, as a winemaker may go for a couple months without much time for family. And for Drash, one harvest was particularly tough, as his daughter had been born just before the harvest. So for a couple months, his wife was at home with a newborn. Drash had to be out in the field, and was only able to really see his family at dinner.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

ST. PETER PORTRAITS

PAGE 11

WINE from page 10 That’s why a winemaker needs passion for the job, he said.

Drash got the winemaking bug just after college and made a trip cross country to pursue a winemaking career.

Drash packed up his things, and traveled from Tennessee to California. He showed up at a winery with nothing but enthusiasm, and was hired on the spot.

He’s been making wine ever since.

After working 21 years in Napa Valley and Sonoma County making wines, Drash has come to Minnesota, and is now the Winemaker at the Chankaska Winery in Kasota. He made a name for himself in the winemaking business, working at several establishments and even purchasing his own winery, which he named after his daughter, Tallulah.

His reputation even earned him a spot as an elected board member of the Napa Valley Farm Bureau.

But now he has come to the Midwest, where his wife is from. He’s settled into the area, and is excited to be working at the Chankaska Winery. And they are happy to have him.

“We are really excited to have him,” said Chankaska Winery General Manager Jane Schwickert, “to work his magic.”

During the winter months, Winemakers like Drash get to spend their time in the lab, working with the wines. It is the time of year where they get to make the hard work from the harvest pay off.

Drash and Assistant Winemaker Josie Boyle spend their days testing the wine, looking for different combinations. They pull out

Drash sniffs the wine while testing it. Tastetesting and other measurements are a big part of what a winemaker does between the harvests.

(James Stitt/Le Center Leader)

samples from the barrels and mix them, taste-testing each mixture to find just the right one.

Not only do they use their taste buds to test the wine, but they also use lab equipment. A winemaker tests the pH levels, the sugar levels and various other factors when inspecting a wine.

Because there are so many skills needed to be a winemaker, there isn’t only one way to get into the business. Drash packed up his things and moved across country with little background in winemaking, and is now a successful winemaker.

Others go to school and study the field, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they will succeed in it.

Because there are so many things to learn, it takes a lot to get good at winemaking.

“It is a lot of on the job training,” said Boyle.

And though the snow has covered the fields, a winemaker is always busy.

Mixing the blends, working on labels and meetings keep Drash busy. As a winemaker, he is always doing something, and keeping an eye on the harvest.

As a winemaker, Drash is the face of the business, which means he’s often out promoting the winery.

Whether he is traveling to a food and wine expo or talking with local growers about the harvest, he is always front and center, meeting new people.

And that is part of what the loves about the job.

Everyday is something new. One day he will be out getting dirty in the field, another day he is in the lab poring over beakers, the next he’s entertaining a group of people.

“It is definitely a lifestyle,” said Drash.

Reporter James Stitt can be reached at 931-8572 or follow him on Twitter @LCL_j_stitt.

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PAGE 12

ST. PETER PORTRAITS

Making life better in St. Peter

Thursday, March 27, 2014

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For 130 years the St. Peter Herald has been right here, covering all the news, sports and community events that mean the most to you. And we plan to be here tomorrow, sharing your stories, recording more of St. Peter’s history.

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311 S. Minnesota Ave. • St. Peter, MN 56082 507-931-4520 • Fax: 507-931-4522 or visit us at

stpeterherald.com

Lager’s St. Pet er

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Lager’s St. Peter

910 Old Minnesota Ave.

507-931-4070 • 800-657-4802 HOURS: Mon - Fri 8-6 | Sat 8-4

Jeep Mike Chmiel

Dan Wegscheid

Jeff Brand

Jared Skala

Jake Peymann

®

Nicollet County Bank Employees Give Back to their Community!

The Nicollet County Bank encourages its officers and employees to participate in community functions. During the year of 2013, the officers and employees have been involved with the following boards, committees, clubs and organizations.

Member of St. Peter Lions Club Member of St. Peter American Legion Club Member of Masonic Lodge Member of Osman Shrine Member of VFW Post 1220 Member of Linneaus Arboretum GAC Member of Masonic Lodge #54 Director of Shoreland Country Club Member of St. Peter Ambassadors Member of Rotary Club Treasurer of Greenlawn Cemetery St. Peter Lions Club Board Member St. Peter Area Hospice Committee Member St. Peter Regional Treatment Center (SPRTC) Volunteer Council Secretary & Gluek Memorial Park Admin.

Board Member Member of St. Peter Retail Promotions Committee Member of Gustavus Library Associates Member of St. Peter Chamber Public Affairs Committee Member of Shoreland Country Club Board Member of St. Peter Basketball Booster Club/Treasurer Volunteer SPHS Basketball Statistician Treasurer of SPHS Golf Booster Treasurer/Member of the Echos Big Band Member of St. Peter Rotary Club Member of Nicollet County Farm Bureau

Member of Nicollet County Soybean Growers Assn.

Member Nicollet County Corn Growers Association Nicollet County Planning & Zoning Advisory Committee Nicollet County 4H Adult Volunteer Director and Treasurer of Kiwanis Club of St. Peter Director and Treasurer of St. Peter Sons of the American Legion Treasurer of St. Peter School Board Member of Lake Washington Club Member of St. Peter Chamber of Commerce President of Nicollet County Holstein Association Member of RIM (Nicollet County) Advisory Committee for NRCS Member of Nicollet County Farm Bureau Chairman of U of M Southern Research & Outreach Center Advisory Committee Member of MN Holstein Association Member of St. Peter Chamber Public Affairs Committee Member of St. Peter Chamber Business/Education Committee Vice Chairman Member of South Central Technical College Farm Business Management Advisory Committee Member of Sioux Trails Mental Health Service Advisory Committee Member of South Central College Center of Agriculture Advisory Committee Member of H.S. Agri-Science Advisory Committee

www.nicolletcountybank.com

Member of St. Peter High School Co-Curricular Committee Member of St. Peter Economic Development Agency Board Member St. Peter Chamber-2nd Vice Chair Region 9 Development Loan Committee Board Member Troop 58 Boy Scouts Committee Member Member of St. Peter Catholic Women Member of MN Emergency Medical Services Assn.

Volunteer Religion Education teacherChurch of St. Peter Licensed foster care provider thru Lutheran Social Services Member of Nicollet County Farm Bureau Member of Norseland Lutheran Church Ladies Aid Member of St. Peter's Catholic Church Women Member of Nicollet County Corn & Soybean Growers Member of Nicollet County Pork Producers Alter Care & Funeral Committee of Trinity Lutheran Church St. Peter High School Gymnastics Concession Coordinator Salvation Army Red Kettle Bell Ringer since 2011 First Choice Pregnancy Center Volunteer Member of United Way Committee

we’re just a small-town community bank, but...

we’re big on 220 South Third Street • Telephone 931-3310 • St. Peter