Inspire(d) Fall 2018

Inspire(d) DRIFTLESS MAGAZINE

11 YEARS! OF POSITIVE NEWS FROM THE DRIFTLESS REGION.

break out

NO. 55 FALL 2018

free!

OF YOUR

COMFORT ZONE

ROADSCHOOLING

FLY FISHING COMMUNITY

BUILDERS FALL ADVENTURES

and more!

Connect

with the world around you Classmates from 43 states and 70 countries Research projects with award-winning professors

Dozens of study-abroad programs (More than 67% participate.)

Rhodes, Fulbright, Goldwater, and NCAA Scholars 97% of 2017 graduates are employed, in graduate school, or engaged in service work. (It’s also our 25-year average!)

visit.luther.edu

LutherAdmission

Environmentally Sensible. You’ll Love More Miles Per Dollar!

Downtown La Crosse, WI at 4th and Cameron Streets

www.hondamotorwerks.com Phone: 877-4-A-HYBRID

FALL 2018

contents

14

what we’re loving right now

06

fly fishing #ftw

14

break out of your comfort zone

23

saving seeds for the world

26

roadschooling families

34

paper project: pumpkin surprise balls!

51

2018 Community builders: Kelly Momsen & Gaby Peterson

54

misty lown

58

katie ruff

61

festive fall fun

64

Probit: walter mcintosh

66

26

...and more!

ON THE COVER: Sterling (5), Ezra (10), and Shepard (7) Harman-Wood, of Decorah, head back toward the house the family rented for the month of March in Dana Point, CA. The Harman-Woods roadschool regularly, and are featured – along with other Driftless families – on page 34.

Photo by Arrival Arts / Lindsay Harman.

34 iloveinspired.com \ Fall 2018

03

Cousin Farmer

My Mom Newly Retired

My Dad Ready to Retire

Paternal Grandparents Wealth Management

Cousin Business Owner

My Sister New Career

Aunt & Uncle Vacation Home in Arizona

My Daughter College Student

Aunt & Uncle Building New House

Nephew Newly Married

Niece New Baby

My Brother Solar Project

Maternal Grandparents Legacy Planning

My Husband New Truck

My Son Financial Classes

Me

This is how Decorah Bank helps my family tree.

CenterStage Series

tickets.luther.edu

2018–19

Fall 2018

PUSH Physical Theatre September 8 Cristina Pato Quartet Latina September 21 Vitaly: An Evening of Wonders October 6

Spring 2019

Center Stage eries 2018–19

S

Frankenstein October 19 The Blind Boys of Alabama November 3

The Westerlies February 15 Goitse March 14 EVOLUTION April 6 The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain April 12 To learn about these performers, view our Dinner Series menus, or join Friends of Center Stage,

Lorelei Ensemble November 17

visit tickets.luther.edu.

2018–19 CSS Major Sponsors

Luther College Diversity Council

From the Editor

R

oxie and I were doing an activity in her (okay, our) Highlights Magazine the other day and it said, “Draw a picture of your happy place.” Roxie drew a picture of us, in bed, reading books. She asked me what mine would be, and I thought for a bit… “Probably sitting out on the patio. Or working in the garden,” I say, then pause...

“Or maybe on the couch, watching TV.” “Oh, yeah, I love to do that too!” Roxie says with a big smile.

These happy places – they’re basically the epicenter of our comfort zones – and to be honest, they’re not bad places to be in (of course not!). But a life spent only in the comfort zone could mean we’re missing opportunities along the way.

So this issue of Inspire(d) is all about embracing some of the leaps and bounds that take us to places we’ve never been. Occasionally getting a little “uncomfortable” will help us learn more about ourselves, and maybe discover our comfort zones are bigger than we think (check out page 23 to learn more)!

I kicked my research off by trying something totally new to me: Fly fishing! There is an amazing community of fly fishing women building up across the Driftless, and they are super excited to welcome more women to the sport (pg 14). I had a blast getting to know them... AND learning more about fly fishing!

I was then totally inspired when I read Kristine Jepsen’s story highlighting area families that have taken time to try roadschooling (pg 34). I don’t think we would ever do a whole year (or who knows?!), but a month in the winter? I could get on board with that.

I definitely would be interested in an exploration to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (even if it IS the Arctic Circle). The place sounds amazing – read Sara Friedl-Putnam’s story about Seed Saver’s executive director Lee Buttala’s trip on pg 26 to see for yourself. The work of the folks involved, and the connections they’re making, will undoubtedly help keep this world spinning for future generations.

Yes, it’s all about connections and community. This issue marks our 11th anniversary of making Inspire(d). I’m grateful for each year we’re able to bring positive news to – and about – our neighbors here in the Driftless. We’re excited to continue the Community Builders section this Fall Inspire(d), and plan to keep doing so for each Fall Anniversary issue ahead. Read about Kelly Momsen and Gaby Peterson of Yarnology in Winona, Minnesota; Misty Lown, of Misty’s Dance Unlimited in Onalaska, Wisconsin; and Katie Ruff of By the Spoonful in McGregor, Iowa. These folks are working to bring people together, and we love that so much!

We hope you have a wonderful fall (I love this season)! Maybe get out of your comfort zone a bit… plan a night out with friends, or take a road trip to explore the region, or try something totally new to you! This is a big world we live in – let’s not let anything awesome pass us by.

Looking forward,

Aryn Henning Nichols

What’s it mean?

Inspire(d) Inspire(d) – pronounced in-spy-erd... you know: inspired – stands for both inspire and be inspired. The idea is that person one inspires person two. That person is now inspired. Then that person inspires person three (or person one again), who is now inspired. Then the cycle continues! That’s what those arrows around the (d) are about!

And our mission is, ultimately, to change the world… starting with our own community!

Who are we?

Co-founders:

Aryn Henning Nichols / editor & designer Benji Nichols / writer & advertising sales (& husband, distributor, head of logistics)

We couldn’t do it without: Kristine Jepsen / contributor Sara Friedl-Putnam / contributor Maggie Sonnek / contributor Sara Walters / contributor Kelli Boylen / contributor Benjamin Friedrich / infographic design Arrival Arts / Cover Photo Inspire(d) Magazine is published quarterly

by Inspire(d) Media, LLC, 412 Oak Street, Decorah, Iowa, 52101. This issue is dated Fall 2018, issue 55 volume 12, Copyright 2018 by Inspire(d) Magazine.

support inspire(d) Although Inspire(d) is free on stands, you can have it sent to your door (or extended family!) for only $25/year.

Email aryn@iloveinspired.com for a membership or visit iloveinspired.com for more info.

Write inspire(d) Want to make a comment about something you read in the magazine?

Email aryn@iloveinspired.com.

Interested in advertising?

Contact Benji at benji@iloveinspired.com or call 563-379-6315.

Visit our website: iloveinspired.com

P.S. You know what else is totally awesome? Voting! Don’t forget to do so on or before Tuesday, November 6. XOX -A

facebook.com/iloveinspired 05

What We’re

Loving

right now

end, including a fully handicap accessible pier, as well as a hiking trail around the water, paved boat ramp (electric motors only), and a fishing jetty that works for all ages. From pan fish to northern pike and bass, Lake Meyer is a treasure trove of a spot to take young ones for a solid outing, or spend an afternoon paddling or spinning.

In winter months, Lake Meyer becomes a well-known local icefishing destination as well. Just up from the lake is a beautiful hilltop campground, complete with shower houses, basic playground, and a perfect spot to watch the night sky unfold. (Did we also mention the cost is super-reasonable?!) What are you waiting for? Lake Meyer is truly one of Winneshiek County’s gems! www.winneshiekwild.com/parks

A little list of what we think is awesome in the Drifltess Region this FALL...

Bookmobile T-Shirts!

Some of our readers may be familiar with Lake Meyer, just outside of Calmar – perhaps from a school field trip, or family outing in years past. And for those that are not, now is a great time to acquaint, or re-acquaint with this gem of a county destination in Northeast Iowa.

The 40-acre lake is manmade – and recently re-tooled to improve its water quality and “fishability”. The lake also features a dock at each

PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRITTANY

Lake Meyer

This summer, our friend Jack Sovern – a middle school student in Decorah – along with our friend Kristen Underwood, founding director of Upstart Crow Theatreworks, decided to start a Summer Bookmobile. Yep. They outfitted an old pickup truck, found / collected / were given a bunch of fun books, and started announcing when they’d be at one of three different locations throughout the summer weeks (like the John Cline School playground, Freeport Park, and the Decorah Pool). They checked out books to kids and on the last day, gave them away so they can restock the Bookmobile for next year.

Dance & Theatre

CENTER FOR THE ARTS • DECORAH, IA

SHOWS THIS FALL!

WAR of the worlds at MARTY’S OCT 31: 9 PM OR LISTEN AT HOME! LIVE RADIO BROADCAST – KDEC 1240AM

A mIdsummer NIGHT’S DREAM at JEWEL THEATRE

NOV 9: 7:30 PM NOV 10: 7:30 PM

NOV 15: 7:30 PM NOV 16: 7:30 PM NOV 17: 1:30 PM

Check out the entire 2018-19 Luther Dance & Theatre season online... and mark your calendars!

06

Fall 2018 / iloveinspired.com

There’s so much we love about this project – books, friends coming together to create something new, and promoting the age-old pastime of reading (to name just a few). This fall, they’ll be selling Bookmobile t-shirts with their cool block-print logo on them. Find them at Cardboard Robot on Winnebago Street in Decorah, a fun “maker” shop run by Jack’s family. All proceeds from t-shirt sales will go to purchasing new books for next summer’s Bookmobile route. In the meantime, check out card-bot. com for more info, sport your new Bookmobile shirt everywhere you go, and keep an eye out for posters for the next Bookmobile season!

Yay, books!

SEE YOU THIS FALL!

Wonderful, wild

WINNESHIEK COUNTY

on All-state tour

SEPT 22 – 23: Iowa Barn Foundati

Half Marathon SEPT 29: Loop de Loop – Trout Run + Live On Water Street vous Days

SEPT 29-30: Ft. Atkinson Rendez

SEPT 29-30: NE Iowa Farm Crawl!

OCT 12, 13 & 14: NE Iowa Artists’

Decorah Dog Park Sometimes a good idea comes to fruition through good old-fashioned community organizing. Decorah’s new Dog Park is exactly that. Last year, a group of community dog owners brought the concept of a dog park to the Decorah City Council.

It got the go-ahead, and the funds needed to make it a reality were raised event by event, and donation by donation. This past summer, the Decorah Dog Park opened! It is a place for dogs to freely play in a wide open, fenced in area! Three “woofs!” to that!

The Decorah Dog Park is located at 1788 Old Stage Road between Walmart and the City Wastewater Plant, with parking in the Walmart parking lot areas. The entrance is just a short walk from the designated spaces. The Decorah Dog Park is a community park, and a community funded park! It is open dawn to dusk, with a separate area for smaller dogs (under 25lbs). For more information, contact the Decorah Park Rec Department 563-382-4158, or visit parks.decorahia.org

Studio Tour coming

OCT 26-28: Luther College Home

d & Vines”

oo NOV 3-4: Iowa Wine Trail “Hollyw

NOV 22: Holiday Lights opens at Pulpit Rock Campground

Discover more at VisitDecorah.com Request a visitors guide today! 800.463.4692

What We’re

Driftless Area Art Festival Celebrating the Visual, Performing, and Culinary Arts of the Driftless Area

Loving

right now

A little list of what we think is awesome in the Drifltess Region this FALL...

Sat. Sept. 15, 10-5 Sun. Sept. 16, 10-4

Governor Robert Ray – A Legacy in Iowa

Soldiers Grove, WI

On July 8th, former Iowa Governor Robert Ray passed away – that’s certainly not something we “Love”, but the legacy that Robert Ray left as the 38th Governor of Iowa is something to be considered – especially in our times of partisan politics. Ray was life-long republican, chair of the Iowa Republican Party in 1963, and elected as Governor in 1969. Along the way, Ray became a nationally outspoken advocate for the Tai Dam Vietnamese refugees.

He created an agency to relocate thousands of refugees to the US, and advocated to President Jimmy Carter and many other state governors to follow suit. Ray was also key to enacting one of the first laws in the U.S. that protected American Indian graves (after much prompting from activist Maria Pearson): the Iowa Burials Protection act of 1976. And finally, it was Robert Ray who, with the leadership of Gerry Schnepf, created the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation in 1979 – an organization that our readers know we love the work of, having permanently protected over 100,000 acres of wild spaces in Iowa. However you look at politics, and whatever party lines you follow, let Governor Ray’s legacy be a lesson in what it looks like to leave a positive lasting legacy.

80 Visual Artists Live Music—Local Foods Free Admission and Parking

www.DriftlessAreaArtFestival.com

Sav 󰈩󰈩 󰈩 󰈩󰈩 󰈩󰈩󰈩󰈩 󰈩 󰈩 󰈩 󰈩 󰈩󰈩 !

October 20 th , 2018 2 performances

Pa󰉅󰉅󰉅󰉅󰉅󰉅󰉅󰉅󰉅󰉅󰉅󰉅󰉅󰉅󰉅 LI󰈐󰈐󰈐󰈐󰈐󰈐󰈐󰈐󰈐󰈐󰈐󰈐󰈐󰈐󰈐󰈐󰈐󰈐󰈐󰈐󰈐󰈐 Sing & dance with award winning children’s musician Patty Shukla, a YouTube Superstar for kids!

Free, but registration is required: www.decorah.lib.ia.us

Sponsored by Friends of Decorah Hosted by Public Library, Marion E. Jerome Decorah Community School District Foundation, with in-kind support from and Joey Headington Decorah Fairfield Memorial Inn and Suites

08

Fall 2018 / iloveinspired.com

Let’s Vote!

o f

D e c o r a h

P u b li c

Librar y

Man, do we love our right to vote here at Inspire(d) HQ! Whether it’s what we’re going to watch as a family on Friday movie nights, to, yes, who is going to represent us on a local, state, and national level.

Mid-term elections are coming right up November 6! Make sure to add it to your calendar – you can even vote early to make sure you don’t miss it.

Get educated in advance by heading to your state’s Secretary of State’s website (any search engine will guide you along) to see who is on your ballot. The decisions these people make affect our lives, so we may as well stand behind folks with our best interests in mind (whatever those may be for you).

All 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate will be contested. 39 state and territorial governorships and numerous other state and local elections will also be contested.

So we encourage you to bring your ID, head to the polls, and exercise your right to vote this fall!

Rendezvous Days, September 29-30, 2018 In the spring of 1840, a camp was made just above the Turkey River in Northeast Iowa by U.S. Army troops. The camp was named Atkinson in honor of the commanding officer in charge of the Winnebago resettlement efforts, and construction soon began on a fort.

Fort Atkinson eventually included 24 buildings and a stockade wall, and was used for a few years as an outpost for troops, helping the Winnebago Indians stay on neutral ground. As the Winnebago Indians were moved again in the late 1840s, the fort was no longer needed. Multiple groups worked over the years to preserve what was left of the outpost, and in 1977 Fort Atkinson became a state

preserve – also marking an annual Rendezvous that recreates life of the 1840s frontier in Iowa. Buck skinners, U.S. Army Dragoons, blacksmiths, hunters and trappers, and more can be seen working their trades and creating their goods of the era. Foods of the period are cooked over open fires and contests spring up which test actual skills (like skillet throwing and bullwhipping!). You may even be lucky enough to hear folk music of the frontier period or watch blacksmiths create raw beauty right in front of your eyes. This is a fantastic family event, with free admission. The annual Rendezvous is held during the last full weekend of September at Fort Atkinson State Preserve in Northeast Iowa (September 29-30, 2018). www.fortatkinsoniowa.com

Happy Fall We hope it is a bountiful season for you and yours.

Stay tuned for what's in store for 2019 at seedsavers.org: Free Catalog | Events & Farm Happenings

Seed Savers Exchange | Decorah, Iowa

This ad paid for in part by the Iowa Tourism Office.

415 W WATER ST, DECORAH, IOWA

Celebrating 5 Years!

Looking for more details about events on the calendars?

Check out these great fall activities! In chronological order, each event’s number coincides with its number on the calendar!

1. September 1: Tomato Tasting! Sample dozens of tomatoes at Seed Savers Exchange. Plus, enjoy garden and cooking demonstrations, hayrides, and a salsa contest. FREE. 12-4pm www.seedsavers.org

M-F 10-15 • Sat 10-4 • Sun 12-4

563-382-4646 | redroxyquiltco.com

PLAY. EXPLORE. GROW.

563.379.7303 kinderhausdecorah.com

OUTDOOR PRESCHOOL FOR AGES 3-6

2. September 8: Luna Valley Pizza Farm 1st Anniversary Celebration! Music from Dead Horses and Driftless Sisters. Gates open 5:45pm, Show 7pm. No BYOB. Advance tickets $15 at Oneota Co-op or lunavalley.com/events 3. September 8: Root River Trail Towns Taste of the Trail – Lanesboro, Peterson & Whalan: 10am-3pm – Pedal your way through bluff country and enjoy events at each community’s trailhead. Info: www.rootrivertrail.org

25W/ $25B

4. September 15: Root River Trail Towns ‘Taste of the Trail’ – Harmony, Preston & Fountain: 10am-3pm – Pedal your way through bluff country and enjoy events at each community’s trailhead. Info: www.rootrivertrail.org

5. September 15: TRI out Reefuel’s unique take on triathlon: Cycling, core strengthening and yoga! Class begins at 8am.

Guaranteed challenge and FUN! Limited spots: register at www. reefuel.biz 6. September 22: Root River Trail Towns Taste of the Trail Houston & Rushford Area: 10am-3pm – Pedal your way through bluff country and enjoy events at each community’s trailhead.

Info: www.rootrivertrail.org

115 Winnebago Street . Decorah, Iowa winnebago.retreat@gmail.com 563.382.6139

Take-Away Pizza

7. September 23: Upstart Crow Theatreworks presents “The Cemetery Walk” Tours leave every 15 minutes, 2-4pm, Phelps Cemetery, Decorah. $10/$5. More info: arthausdecorah.org.

Proceeds benefit Porter House Museum 8. September 29: Seeds + Cider! Join the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation for a fall prairie seed harvest at Heritage Valley (rural Waukon). RSVP – www.inhf.org/events or 515-288-1846, ext. 35 9. September 29: Live On Water Street! Enjoy a community celebration featuring music, food from the Oneota Coop, local beer, and family fun for all ages. 300 Block, downtown Decorah, 3-8pm.

THURSDAYS 5-8PM FRI & SAT 5-9PM

High, Wide & Handsome

Call 563.562.9029 to order. 117 E. Main St. Calmar, IA 10

Fall 2018 / iloveinspired.com

10. September 30: NE IA Farm Crawl – Luna Valley Pizza! As you tour the gravels, be sure to stop out for some pizza to fuel your adventure. Open 11am-3pm. Rural Decorah. wwwlunavalleyfarm.com More fun events on next page!

fun stuff to do

Monday

10

9

Modest Mouse, La Crosse Center

17

5 6

NICC Fall Fest, Calmar, 5-8pm

The Wailin Jennys, Chatfield CFA, 7:30pm

Sept 15: Takin’ It to the Limit: Tribute to The Eagles, Chatfield CFA, 7:30pm

19

Sept 22-23: Iowa Barn Foundation All-state Tour

18

Forager Brewing Harvest Dinner, 6pm, Rochester

20

Sept 15-16: Driftless Area Art Festival, Soldiers Grove, WI

13

12

7

1

22

Tomato Tasting Day, Seed Savers, 12-4pm, Free!

1

Saturday

21

6

2 8 Luna Valley Sept 8: PUSH 1st Annv. w/ Physical Dead Horses & Driftless Sisters Theatre, Center Stage, 3 Luther CFL, Taste of the Trail: Lanesboro, 7:30pm Peterson & Whalan 4 15 14 Over The Taste of the Back Fence, Trail: Harmony, St. Mane, Preston & Lanesboro Fountain 5 Chicago Farmer, Reefuel Indoor Cavalier, TRI Challenge!

La Crosse 8am, Decorah

Sept 8-9: Steam Engine Days, Hesper-Mabel, MN

Sept 1-3: La Crosse Area Bicycle Fest

“The Preview” Artists of the Sept 7-9: Villa Louis NE IA Studio Carriage Classic, Tour, ArtHaus, 7-9pm Prairie du Chien

11

Friday

Bike the Barns, Reedsburg, WI

*

Cristina Pato Taste of the Quartet: Latina, Luther Trail: Houston & CFL, 7:30pm Rushford Area Pinters The Old Pumpkin’s Fashioneds, Sept 20-23: Norman Borlaug opens for the Sept 28-30: Boats & Harvest Fest, Cresco the Root Note, season!

Bluegrass, Winona La Crosse 7pm 8 29 23 25 28 7 26 27 24 SEPT 29: Cemetery Walk w/ INHF Seeds + Keb’Mo’, • Chatfield MN Arts & Cider! Heritage Upstart Crow, Phelps, Englert, Heritage Day Valley, Rural Decorah, 2-4pm, $10/$5 Iowa City • Rotary Loop de Loop ½ Waukon – RSVP SEPT 29-30: 10 Marathon, Decorah 30 9 • Rendezvous Days, Ft. Atkinson, Iowa • ArtHaus Poetry Slam Pizza on the Farm Live On Water • NE Iowa Farm Crawl w/ David Gonzalez, Jewel (Crawl) – Luna Street, 300 Blk, • Froelich, IA Fall-Der-All Theater, Luther, 7pm Valley, 11am-3pm Decorah, 3-8pm

16

Live at the Levee Concert, Winona, 1pm

4

Thursday

SEPT 1: • Joe & Vicki Price, Pulpit Rock Brewing, 4-7pm • Luna Valley Labor Day Pizza, 4-8pm

Wednesday

Bily Clocks Museum, open daily 9-5, Sunday 12-4 through October, Spillville, IA

Sept 22: Chuck Brodsky, Chosen Bean Concert, Chatfield CFA, 7:30pm

Lake 3 Street Dive, Englert, Iowa City

2

“Annie Hejny: Waterlines” MN Marine Art Museum, Winona

Tuesday

“Reflections: Photography by Rhea Pappas” through October 14, Lanesboro Arts

“Christian Midjo: Choose Your Own Artventure” now open, Vesterheim, Decorah

Sunday

September 2

28

Oct 14: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Mayo Civic, Rochester

21

29

Thursday

11

4

Friday

12

5

*

Kamasi Washington, Englert Theater, Iowa City, 8pm

Oct 31: “War of the Worlds”, Luther Dance & Theatre, Marty’s or 1240AM! 9pm

24

26

Spoons: Carving.

Community.

Closes November 4, Vesterheim, Decorah

Oct 26-28: Luther College Mike Mcabee, Homecoming Hideaway, Chaseburg

Cockburn, Englert, Iowa City

Bruce 25

*

13 Oct 12-14: NE Iowa Artists’ Studio Tour

13 2nd Saturday, MN Marine Art Museum - $1 admission!

Saturday

27

15 19 20 Bettye 18 Carl Homstad Hornucopia, LaVette, Reception, Chatfield CSPS, Cedar Arthaus, CFA, 7:30pm Rapids, 8pm Decorah, 7pm Aquila Theater: Joe & Vicki Oct 18-21: Haunted Price, JR’s, Frankenstein, 14 Harmony MN Parade Farmersburg Luther CFL, & Monster Bash!

7:30pm

17

31

23

16

10

3

12 6 Oct 5-7 Forager Julian Lage Oct 6-7: & 11-14: Brewing Trio, CSPS, Harvest Dinner, Elkader Opera October Jewels Cedar Rapids, 6pm, Rochester House Players Quilt Show, 7pm Present Mary MFL Mar-Mac High, Monona “Welcome to Poppins HBD Night Vale”, 11 Oct 5-7: Fall Foliage Inspire(d)!

Englert, IA City Weekend in Harmony MN

Wednesday

30

Ken Reif “Renewable Energy” Art Exhibit, opened October 20, Lanesboro Arts

22

15

9

Lyle Lovett, Orpheum, Madison

“This is New York” opens October 2, MMAM, Winona

Tuesday

OCT 6: • Stanton West, Driftless Makers Exchange, La Crosse • Breakfast in a Victorian Kitchen, Villa Louis, Prairie du Chien • Vitaly: An Evening of Wonders, Center Stage, Luther CFL, 7:30pm

Caroline Smith, Over The Cavalier, La Back Fence Crosse, 8pm Radio Show, OCT 13: St. Mane, • Pert Near 20 Mtn. Bike Race, Viroqua Lanesboro, • Johnsmith, Chosen Bean Concert, Chatfield CFA, 7:30pm 7:30pm • Arts Off Campus: Ben Moore, ArtHaus, Decorah, 4pm

8

1

Scott Bradlee’s The Capitol Society of Postmodern Steps, Broken Souls Jukebox, Englert, Iowa w/ Stanton Paramount, City, 7pm West, Driftless Cedar Rapids Books & Oct 20: Decorah Public Library Music, presents Patty Shulka, Carrie Lee Viroqua Auditorium. Registration required

14

7

Jelly Bean Concert w/ Stanton West, Chatfield CFA, 7:30pm

“Dracula: Prince of Blood” runs through Nov. 11, Commonweal Theatre, Lanesboro

Monday

October

Sunday

fun stuff to do

Tuesday

Nov 9: David Huckfeldt, Driftless Books & Music, Viroqua, 7pm

Wednesday

*

Friday

2 I am, He 1 Said: Music of Neal ArtHaus Diamond, Cringe Night, Chatfield Courtyard & CFA, 7:30pm Cellar, 8pm Snap Judgment Live, Englert, IA City

Thursday

3

Lanesboro Arts Fall Gala

Blind Boys of Alabama, Center Stage, Luther CFL, 7:30pm

Saturday

26

25

27

20

The Floozies, w/ Sodown, Cavalier Theater, La Crosse, 8pm

13

14

15

28

Nov 22: Happy Thanksgiving!

21 22

29

Holiday Lights Drive-through display, daily 5-9pm through Dec. 25, Pulpit Rock Campground, Decorah

17

Nov 10: “It’s a Wonderful “Breakfast in Life: A Live a Victorian Radio Play” Kitchen”, Villa opens Nov. 16, Louis, Prairie du Commonweal, Chien Lanesboro

COMING UP: December 1: Friction Farm, Chosen Bean Concert, Chatfield CFA, 7:30pm December 8-9: Bluff Country Christmas w/ Brad Boice, Chatfield CFA

19

12

18

Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Cavalier Theater, La Crosse, 8:15pm

11

ArtHAus “Wreck it Ralph 2” Screening Party

30

The Trouble Notes, The Root Note, La Crosse, 8:30pm

23

ArtHaus Pecha Kucha, Decorah, 8pm

* 16

16

17

“Rocks and Hard Places: Knud Knudsen” Closes December 31, Vesterheim, Decorah

24

Small Business Saturday!

Harmony MN Holiday Fest & Expo, Fillmore Central High, 10am-3pm

*

8 Over The 9 4 5 6 Marc Cohn, 7 10 2nd Saturday, Oneota Englert, Iowa Back Fence, MN Marine Valley Comm. Nov 4: Daylight City, 8pm St. Mane, Art Museum savings time Orchestra, Lanesboro, Nov 9-10 & 15-17: “A Midsummer Night’s $1 admission! ends Melodies of 7:30pm Dream” Luther Dance & Theatre, Jewel Theatre “I Am, He Said”, the Macabre, NOV 17: Brian Regan, Neil Diamond • Lorelei Ensemble, Center Stage, Luther CFL, 7:30pm Decorah HS Mayo Civic, • Sara Routh, Chosen Bean Concert, Chatfield CFA, 7:30pm Tribute, 2:30pm Rochester • Celeste Barber, Englert, IA City Chatfield CFA

Nov 3-4: Iowa Wine Trail “Hollywood & Vines”

Craig Blacklock: St. Croix & Namekagon Rivers through January, MMAM, Winona

Monday

November

Sunday

fun stuff to do

25W/ $25B

1

1

2

Tuesday

3

Wednesday

4

Thursday

5

6

1

Inspire(d) World’s Greatest Party

Friday

Date (not included in word count): Worlds Greatest Party! 7-10 pm.

Inspire(d) invites you to the greatest party ever! We’ll have amazing amounts of fun! See you there! www.website.com

Monday

Saturday

Questions? Email benji@iloveinspired.com

(Direct link: iloveinspired.com/25-words-25-bucks/)

See - we told you about our amazing fictional party in less than 25 words! On the visual calendar (like the one at left), your event will be listed along with a number that corresponds. People can just scan on over to the following pages to get the details!

Sunday

Simple! We get an email with all your details exactly as you’d like to see them in the listing, and then we add it to the calendar!

It works like this: 1. Go to iloveinspired.com and click on the 25W/$25B sidebar box 2. Enter your information in our online form 3. Click through to PayPal to complete the transaction

Thus we’ve implemented a simple, expandable list of events for the pages following our regular calendars. Those who are planning “fun stuff to do” get a guaranteed spot on the calendar and in that event listing by purchasing “25 Words/$25 Bucks.”

We know it’s a tough racket to put on live music, activities, and special events, so we want to give you a chance to get the word out without breaking the bank.

Calendar time is always an exciting time at Inspire(d) Headquarters. “Just how much can we fit on there this month?!?” In recent years, what we had chosen for these lovely pages had been entirely editorial and subjective. We figured, hey, you like our magazine, so you’ll probably like the fun stuff to do that we pick out from around our region. But we’re running out of space and want you, our lovely readers, friends, and fellow event planners, to be able to tell us a little more about your fun.

25 Words/$25 Bucks

7

Looking for more details about events on the calendars?

WHAT WILL YOU MAKE TODAY?

Check out these great fall activities! In chronological order, each event’s number coincides with its number on the calendar!

Come see us!

Art Supplies STEM Projects Nice Paper Coding & Electronics Bits

11. October 5-7: Fall Foliage Weekend in Harmony, MN – Enjoy beautiful colors in bluff country, tours of Niagara Cave, Amish Community & more. www.exploreharmony.com

Maker Stuff

25W/ $25B

13. October 12-14: Northeast Iowa Artists’ Studio Tour! Get a behindthe-scenes studio view at this annual event. It is free of charge and sites – 51 artists at 37 locations – are all within 40 miles of Decorah.

Workspaces are open from 10 am to 5 pm. www.iowaarttour.com 14. October 18-21: Haunted Harmony! Celebrate all things Halloween over MEA weekend! Enjoy Monster Bash Haunted House all weekend – Saturday lineup includes pumpkin decorating, movies, a Grand Parade & more. www.exploreharmony.com 15. October 19: ArtHaus welcomes Decorah muralist/ photographer, Carl Homstad in an opening reception at 7 pm in the ArtHaus gallery.

Sponsored by Decorah Bank and Trust. arthausdecorah.org 16. November 17: Harmony Holiday Fest – Art, Craft & Gift Expo.

10am-3pm Start your holiday gift shopping at Fillmore Central High School! Over 50 vendors selling crafts, direct marketing items & more.

17. November 22: Holiday Lights Magical Nights Open through Dec. 25! 5 – 9 pm at Pulpit Rock Campground in Decorah for Northeast Iowa’s largest drive-through holiday light display. Goodwill donations benefit Helping Services for Youth & Families.

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Photo by Angie Lemar

Fly Fishing

A

car brakes hard as a fish flies across Main Street in Viroqua, Wisconsin. A crowd of women cheer as the rubber fish zips through a hula hoop, and someone calls out, “Don’t worry, it’s fly fishing!”

Or in this case, it’s flying fish, but that’s not really the point.

What’s most important tonight is the boisterous community of laughing women, all brought together by fly fishing.

Fly fishing is the sport of catching fish with a fly rod, hook, and artificial flies – ones that look like different bugs and lures that you can tie and make yourself (if you want). On this evening, it’s fly fishing Ladies Night at Driftless Angler, and I am, realistically, at least a couple of clicks past my comfort zone. My fly fishing experience – so far – has been isolated to my backyard and a softball outfield.

14

For The Win!

BY ARYN HENNING NICHOLS

A community of women is forming around this popular Driftless sport – it is rad and welcoming... and just waiting for you to join!

I (Aryn) attempt to apply my newly-learned fly fishing skills on the water (I didn’t catch a single fish, but it was fun to try)! Photo by Benji Nichols

iloveinspired.com \ Fall 2018

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S

o how did I end up at Ladies Night in Viroqua? Let’s start back at the beginning, with Decorah fly fishing guide and casting instructor Liz Siepker.

Liz arrives to our backyard armed with two orange pool noodles, a long measuring tape, two fly fishing rods, and lots of analogies. Pies, shelves, metronomes…whatever it takes to get the basic casting steps to stick (see sidebar for those). We spent more than two (fun) hours fishing for dandelions and laughing at our mutual love for puns.

She’s a great teacher, which is not surprising, as Liz’s day job is as an educator as well. But fishing is one of her first true loves. She grew up in Pennsylvania, regularly getting on the water to fish with her dad and sister.

She started out with a Snoopy pole, and then graduated to a fly rod once her dad, along with members of Gem City Fly Tiers Club, taught her how to fly fish.

“But I learned how to tie flies before that,” she says. “For me, it was an expression of art. ‘Oh, that’s a cool bug, let’s see if I can make it!’”

Liz loves fishing so much, when she and her husband moved to Decorah in 2015, she decided to launch a guiding business, Driftless Fishers.

“I don’t want it to feel like work, so I intentionally don’t make it feel like work,” she says. “I love meeting new people and having them experience Northeast Iowa or experience fly fishing for the first time… or catch a fish on a fly rod for the first time…I love that,” she says. “My favorite is the total newbie that’s never done it, or maybe done it once, and that was years ago.”

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Fall 2018 / iloveinspired.com

submitted photo

“So you’re way excited to teach me?” I ask.

“Oh yeah,” Liz replies, a big grin on her face.

Indeed, I’m a total newbie – before this fly fishing adventure, I had only fished – traditional rod and reel, mind you – about four times as a kid. I’d never even gotten a fishing license before.

And that’s okay. It’s all the same for the fish.

“My very first fly rod was $100…you can spend over a $1000,” Liz says.

“But I still have that first rod to this day. Fish don’t LIZ SIEPKER care what you’re fishing with. If you know how to find fish, and know what they’re eating, and you can reasonably present a fly on the water, you’re gonna catch fish.”

Liz is newly certified as a Fly Fishers International casting instructor – the only one in Iowa. She was mentored by Marlene Huston – one of two FFI certified women in Minnesota.

Liz affectionately calls her “MarMar” as we drive to Lanesboro for a casting class. A group of “newbies” booked the session through an online network called Adventure Mamas, and I was joining them.

T

LIZ & MARLENE HUSTON

he Adventure Mamas on this trip are in good company – many people come to Lanesboro, a quaint Southeastern Minnesota town, explicitly to fish. And Lanesboro is just one of many towns in the region that can say the same. The economic impact of trout fishing is massive in the Driftless.

The area – 24,000 square miles within Southeast Minnesota, Western Wisconsin, and Northeast Iowa, (plus a section of Northeast Illinois) – was missed by the last glaciers that flattened much

of the Midwest, so it is filled with bluffs, coulees, rivers, and, of course, creeks. Trout love the super cold water in the more than 600 spring-fed creeks – flowing 6,000+ miles throughout the Driftless – and trout fishers love the idyllic scenery around every bend.

According to “The Economic Impact of Recreational Trout Angling in the Driftless Area,” a 2017 study commissioned by Trout Unlimited, trout angling Above, Liz uses her orange pool noodles to demonstrate the casting arc. brought $1.6 billion Below, the group of Adventure Mamas poses in front of Root River Rod Co. dollars to the Driftless in angler shop in Lanesboro, Minnesota. Photos by Aryn Henning Nichols.

2016 alone. Folks come to the area and spend money on lodging, gas, food, gear, and more.

And amongst the anglers surveyed in the study, fly fishing was preferred by more than half.

Root River Rod Co. in Lanesboro opened in 2017 with hopes to help supply that fly fishing demand.

“Adventure Mamas!” Marlene says enthusiastically as she walks into the shop. “I love it!” Owner Steve Sobieniak smiles, as does his daughter, Alayna, who helped organize this particular adventure for the mamas present.

Adventure Mamas Initiative is a nonprofit organization that supports women’s health and wellness through adventure. “By surrounding ourselves with a supportive community of tenacious, likeminded women, women can dream bigger than ever.”

Adventure Mamas is split up by region, and women can join their own regional group, under the “join a collab” tab at adventuremamas.org, to learn more about upcoming adventures nearby. On this trip, we learned basic casting techniques (in that outfield I mentioned!) and then got to take it to the Root River to try out our new skills.

“It’s supposed to be fun,” Marlene says. “I started with a regular rod and reel and thought that was too boring. So someone gave me a fly rod and I thought, ‘That’s more like it!’”

Marlene is funny, and great at what she does. Ask anyone in the region for leads on a fly fishing guide or casting instructor, and they’ll likely recommend Marlene. She’s one of the best, and it has nothing to do with her gender. The Winona, Minnesota, fisherwoman is a self-purported water bug.

She and her husband, Tom Huston, have a cabin on Trout Run Creek near Chatfield, Minnesota – not far from Lanesboro. There’s an eagles nest above, the stream bubbles nearby… it’s clearly one of Marlene’s most favorite places. She’s been fly fishing in the Driftless and beyond for 28 years.

“Standing with nature in a stream is very energizing,” she says. “I get ‘lost’ in the beauty of my surroundings, the fish, the cast. I can breathe.”

Marlene founded Core Fly Fishing – Beyond the Cast in 2005, and over the last 13 years has spent countless hours teaching, mentoring, and guiding folks interested in fly fishing. It sometimes keeps her from finding her own time to fish, but for her, that’s just one more part of the fun.

Continued on next page

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submitted photo

“It’s not all about fly fishing,” she says. “It’s about sharing this sport to enhance another’s life, a way to explore ourselves. You have to do dumb stuff, laugh with yourself, make mistakes, and keep on keeping on, and hang out with amazing folks. Fly fishing will humble you. And if that doesn’t work, ask your fly fishing pals!”

Her fishing pals were happy to humble her as she led a short casting lesson during Ladies Night in Viroqua. In the back alley, behind Driftless Angler, Marlene dead pans like a stand up comedian as she hooks the phone line above not once, but twice.

“Be a tree!” she then requests of Geri Meyer, co-owner of Driftless Angler. Geri good-naturedly pokes her arms out as Marlene attempts to cast around her, but instead hooks the fire escape above.

“See, this is just like fly fishing – you don’t always have the space to cast,” Marlene says with a laugh. She skillfully tugs the fly loose, and casts around Geri with ease, adapting to her back alley surroundings just as she would in any fishing scenario. Marlene takes it all in stride, casting lovely loops as she talks, teaching us as many tips as possible in the 20 minutes she’s allotted.

Inside, Geri simultaneously acts the role of good Midwestern host, encouraging people to “eat, eat” her homemade food, and fly fishing instructor, helping folks pick the right gear for the job as novices and seasoned fisherwomen mingle throughout the shotgun-long shop.

It’s filled with women from across the spectrum of age, manner of dress, physique – there definitely wasn’t a “type” that needed to be met.

G

eri and her husband, Mat Wagner, moved to Viroqua specifically to start a fly fishing shop. When they were first searching for their future “somewhere”, a friend from Minnesota recommended they check out the Driftless Region.

work too well. I guess I got lucky often enough “We looked at a map and started to keep me interested. If I did it over I would investigating. Viroqua was right definitely get professional instruction, and in the middle of the Driftless, and probably a lot of it!” it looked like a cute town, so we It’s likely one of the reasons she enjoys hopped on a plane (with our twoguiding the 40-50 trips she does each season. month-old baby and nine-year-old), She takes trips by request, and because of and within hours we had completely that, generally fishes with more women than fallen in love with this little farm men. “I fish with wives and husbands, and town,” she says. daughters and fathers, so the fellas are still on So they packed up their stuff and a fair amount of my trips, though,” she says. kids in Taos, New Mexico, where According to Wisconsin, Minnesota, and they had lived for many years, and Iowa DNR offices, of all the fishing licenses headed to rural Wisconsin. Driftless purchased in 2017, only about a quarter to a Angler opened its doors in 2007, third were obtained by women. and it’s been a hub for the fishing “I selfishly started out wanting more women community ever since. in the sport because I wanted girl friends “My first impression of the to fish with. In my first 10 years fishing, I Driftless was one of slack-jawed had never fished with another girl,” Geri amazement,” Geri says. “I thought says. “Then I started hearing stories – and that the area was stunning, and that remembering my own – of intimidation and was even before I’d seen a Driftless trout stream.” the ‘boys club’ mentality. That was when I Geri’s been fly fishing for more than Geri Meyer acts as a tree as Marlene demonstrates a roll decided that I just wanted to do something cast in the alley behind Driftless Angler in Viroqua, WI. to make it more comfortable for women to 20 years. She originally got started access the sport.” in the Pacific Northwest, where she One of those somethings was launching Athena and Artemis, an grew up. She had a quick casting lesson, but it didn’t really stick, she online shop dedicated to gear and clothing for female fly anglers. “I says…so like many newbies, casting was the most frustrating part. was tired of walking into shops and seeing either NO products for “In the beginning, I just I flogged the crap out of the water,” she women, or maybe one or two items,” she says. says. “I would try to throw the fly around, and of course it didn’t Continued on next page

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19

learned throughout the day. The whole time she was talking, her husband was smiling but shaking his head,” Geri says.

“I asked why he was shaking his head, and he replied that he had tried teaching her ‘ALL of that stuff for years,’ to which she promptly responded ‘But Geri said it so I could understand it!’ We very well could have said the exact same things, but for whatever reason, she heard it differently from me.”

“W

GERI MEYER

submitted photo

There’s no pressure to do or say anything at Athena and Artemis, Geri writes on the website. No tests, no questions, just great quality stuff. The efforts of Geri and other fly fishing women across the world are paying off – there’s a real community of women growing around the sport. Bigger companies are realizing that too, and launching products and projects – like national fishing company, Orvis. They announced “50/50 On The Water”, an aggressive initiative to introduce more women to fly fishing and to promote those already making a mark in that world.

It makes sense. There’s something that just clicks when women connect with other women.

“A favorite guide memory is, after having gone out with a husband and wife, the wife starts talking about all of the things that she’d

omen are really good listeners,” Heather Above, Heather Hodson (R) and Jen Hodson says as she holds Ripple demonstrate proper catch and up that rubber fish from release handling. Right, Driftless Angler the beginning of this story. is filled with women at Ladies Night.

“So I know you’ll remember where the heart would be if this were a real fish.”

Heather, founder of United Women on the Fly, an online community of fly fishing women, and Jen Ripple, editor and publisher of DUN Magazine – a publication that showcases female anglers from around the globe – were getting ready to give a short presentation at Ladies Night at Driftless Angler.

Heather points to the area under the fish’s fin, and explains why we shouldn’t squeeze there when posing for a fish photo – the fish can’t breathe – and then demonstrates proper handling techniques for catch and release. Heather’s big goal: “Keep ‘em wet while fishing!” I.e. keep the fish in or near the water, so when you release it, it’s more likely to live to chomp another fly.

“I’m a cardiac nurse, so I know what I’m talking about,” she jokes.

Heather’s smile is one that makes you instantly more comfortable, especially, say, in a crowd of strangers at a fly fishing Ladies Night.

In 2016, she founded United Women on the Fly to help anglers (specifically women) connect with other fly fishing women and groups throughout the world (see sidebar for details).

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Fall 2018 / iloveinspired.com

welcoming each other,” she says.

“Rather than bringing each other down, let’s be the women who support each other to become united!”

The Driftless Angler Ladies Night was organized around Jen and Heather’s massive fly fishing road trip – “Rip and Hopper’s Adventure: 2 Fly Girls, 19 Days, 13 States, 3350 miles.” Viroqua was one of their four stops on the way to Craig, Montana for the United Women on the Fly’s 2nd Annual Fly Fishing Weekend (featured July 2018 on NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt).

“We’re picking up women as we go,” Jen Ripple says with a laugh.

“So Geri, we’re taking you with us!”

“Oh, gee, that sounds terrible,” Geri says sarcastically. She fits right in with the crew, although, honestly, so would anyone. The community really is that accepting.

“I think reassurance is the main thing that I offer women who are considering fly fishing,” Geri says. “I try to be a voice that makes women feel welcome, and hopefully helps them find confidence and ownership in the sport. Fly fishing is so well suited for women. I just want all women to know that.”

Aryn Henning Nichols had so much fun learning about fly fishing and connecting with the amazing community of fly fishing women for this story. Plus, she got to bring another newbie friend along to Ladies Night – thanks, Angie, for making going out of my comfort zone a little more comfortable! <3

September 13 Tribute to the

Let’s go fishing!

Shhhh….try be quiet. Listen to the sound of the river bubbling underfoot as you tiptoe up to the bank – no need to announce your arrival. The birds will sing your praises for Marlene in the Root River in Lanesboro, MN. ditching work and getting outside! It’s time to put your newly learned skills to the test: Roll, flick, flick, flick, go.

Of course, it’s easier said than done. Like Geri (and me), you’ll likely flog the water for some time before you get your cast down.

But practicing is a big part of the fun – in fact, besides landing a couple of sweet fossils on the bank, I came home empty handed from my first try on the river. But it won’t keep me from trying again!

Here are the 5 fly fishing essentials to remember as you practice: 1. Eliminate slack – you want your line to smooth out across the water so you can control your line and fly.

2. Casting Arc – imagine that metronome, ticking from one side to the other. That’s like your arc. The distance of your cast is directly tied to the length of your arc.

3. Power – the bigger the arc, the more power you must apply to your cast.

4. Pause – don’t go too fast (like I always do)! Make sure to pause at the back of your arc before shooting forward.

5. Follow a straight-line path – That path can be low to the ground (like if there are trees behind you or you’re trying to get around an object) or above your head (like you’re probably imagining a typical fly fishing cast). If you move your rod on a straight-line path, you form those loops (like ribbon dancing!) that, in the inverse, help your line straighten out over the water.

Note: Remember – safety first! Wear glasses or sunglasses and a hat to protect yourself from flying flies!

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How to get your fishing license:

LEARN MORE! Check out these great resources: Driftless Fishers - Liz Siepker’s guiding business: driftlessfishers.com

You’ll need a different fishing license for every state you’re fishing in – it’s super easy to do online, but if you’ve never done it (like me), you might have some questions.

You’ll just head to the DNR website for whichever state you’re fishing in and look for the correct page. It might be under a “Licenses” or “Fishing” or even “hunting/fishing” tab.

Photo by Benji Nichols The tabs will lead you in the right direction for resident or non-resident options, and they generally have options for short-term and longer (i.e. one-year) licenses. If you’re fishing for trout, you’ll have to make sure you add a trout stamp. The pictorial option just means you’ll get the stamp in the mail, which can look pretty cool – historically, artists have submitted entries and one wins the pictorial design for the year. Iowa no longer does this, and submissions declined for a bit in Wisconsin, but they revived the tradition in 2017! Minnesota has continued trout stamp contests without pause since 1977. Purchasing the pictorial isn’t required, though (you can print the info saying you purchased it instead).

You can also do a search for a license retailer near you if you’d rather get what you need in person or don’t have access to a printer (or a way of storing the license PDFs on your phone).

Adventure Mamas – Connect with other adventurous mothers through this group. Join your region today! AdventureMamas.org Root River Rod Co. – fly fishing / angler shop in Lanesboro, Minnesota. rootriverrodco.com Core Fly Fishing – Marlene Huston’s guiding business: coreflyfishing.com Fly Fishers International – An international non-profit headquartered in Livingston, Montana. Mission: Ensure the legacy of fly fishing for all fish in all waters. flyfishersinternational.org Driftless Angler – Fly fishing / angler shop in Viroqua, Wisconsin. You can connect with Geri there for guided trips if you’d like! www.driftlessangler.com Athena & Artemis – Founded by Geri Meyer of Driftless Angler, this is your for-women-by-women fly shop and community. Featuring women’s products from all the major brands. womensflyshop.com United Women on the Fly – connect with other groups, clubs, and organizations throughout the world within a few clicks at unitedwomenonthefly.com. If you don’t see anything located in an area near you, email info@unitedwomeonthefly.com for information and mentorship on how to get started in your region. unitedwomenonthefly.com DUN Magazine – A women’s fly fishing magazine run by Jen Ripple. All DUN articles are written by women, but the magazine’s mantra is “empowering women not ignoring men.” Inside DUN you will find articles focusing on education, conservation, international destinations, and fun. dunmagazine.com Trout Unlimited – “To conserve, protect and restore North America’s coldwater fisheries and their watersheds.” Their vision: “By the next generation, Trout Unlimited will ensure that robust populations of native and wild coldwater fish once again thrive within their North American range, so that our children can enjoy healthy fisheries in their home waters.” www.tu.org National Trout Center – Preston, Minnesota, Center offers courses designed to engage participants in life-long learning about trout and their cold-water habitats, exhibits, events, and more. nationaltroutcenter.org Driftless Flyathalon – Annual event held in the fall at Yellow River State Forest near Harpers Ferry, Iowa. www.facebook.com/driftlessflyathlon

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Fall 2018 / iloveinspired.com

TEXT BY ARYN HENNING NICHOLS

Y

DESIGN BY BENJAMIN FRIEDRICH

ou know the feeling: You’re on the couch, in your comfiest pjs. There’s a pizza on order and you’re about to start your favorite show.

Under Wikipedia, THIS should be the definition of comfort zone.

In reality, it says this: The comfort zone is “a psychological state in which things feel familiar to a person and they are at ease and in control of their environment, experiencing low levels of anxiety and stress. In this zone, a steady level of performance is possible.”

It can be tough to get out of your comfort zone. And you may be thinking, why do it, anyway? Well, “steady level of performance” doesn’t mean best performance…the comfort zone is holding you back.

It’s time to take the highway to the Optimal Anxiety Zone!

“Say what,” you may ask? 110 years ago – in 1908 – two psychologists named Robert M. Yerkes and John D.

FYI: A comfort zone isn’t ALL bad! It’s good to have a space where you feel totally calm and comfortable, just remember you’ll be happier if you don’t stay there ALL the time.

Dodson explained that in order to maximize performance, we need mild amounts of anxiety. Just enough pressure to get you excited and engaged, but not so much that you feel immobilized – that’s where performance levels drop off big time. Get to that sweet spot of Optimal Anxiety to find peak productivity and success. This is referred to as the Yerkes–Dodson law or curve.

Plus, trying new things not only upsets the day-to-day monotony, it actually expands your comfort zone, so the next time you go to do that new thing you tried today, it doesn’t feel quite so uncomfortable. You become a more rounded – and accomplished – person.

And that’s a very good thing. Intimidating things no longer strike fear and anxiety. You become more confident in yourself and thus happier in life!

Seriously, friends, let’s do this! Turn the page to get started!

With risk comes potential failure, and that’s okay. Failing more makes you more comfortable with failing, and will help you to let go of perfection. Perfection is not reality, and fear of failure holds us back.

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Bo

Level of Stress

om

d re

ee w S

po tS

t

ic

n Pa

This is the state where you’re feeling just enough pressure/ anxiety to get you excited and engaged.

But not so much that you feel immobilized. This sweet spot is where you’ll find peak productivity and success.

(Say what?!)

Find your Optimal Anxiety!

1 2 You’ll become more productive & fullfilled 3 You’ll inspire the people around you You’ll learn more about what you love

Why break out of your comfort zone?

Ahhh...you know the feeling: everything is familiar, easy, and under control. But our comfort zones might be fencing us in.

Perfection is not reality. Fear of failure holds us back.

Quality of Work

Fall 2018 / iloveinspired.com

New York Times (tinyurl.com/y6ugzmnx) Psychology Today (tinyurl.com/y7ft3u5q)

References:

Forbes (tinyurl.com/yacprtcx) Lifehacker (tinyurl.com/yd75xhds) Wikipeadia (tinyurl.com/oxqr2p9)

Celebrate even the smallest wins – they’re the stepping-stones to your next big thing.

Don’t think you have to do it all the time. If it’s especially hard for you, try scheduling something new! Shoot for once a month, or once a quarter.

Try doing daily tasks differently – a new route to work (or ride your bike!), a different lunch, exercising in the morning instead of evening.

Go easy on yourself – pushing too hard can backfire, making you think trying new things is too hard. It’s a comfort breakout, not breakdown.

Try these tips!

! e v a r b e r a u o Y

Graphic Design & Illustration: Benjamin Friedrich Copywriting & Editorial Direction: Aryn Henning Nichols

4 Think of any negative outcomes.

How would you handle them? Could you? Just having a plan can make doing an unfamiliar thing feel a lot easier.

3 Think of three positive outcomes you could get from facing your fears/anxiety/excuses and trying that thing.

2 Observe what about that thing makes you uncomfortable, and why.

1 Think of something you’ve always talked about doing.

Stepping out of the comfort zone is different for everyone. Try this exercise – grab a pen and write it out:

Failure

Both okay!

Success

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Saving the Seeds that Connect the World

BY SARA FRIEDL-PUTNAM

C

elebrating a decade of collaboration with Svalbard Global Seed Vault, the Driftless Regionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own Seed Savers Exchange helps bring widespread attention to the importance of saving our rare, open-pollinated, and heirloom seeds for future generations.

iloveinspired.com \ Fall 2018

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G

iven the palpable excitement in his voice, one might reasonably assume that Lee Buttala, Seed Savers Exchange (SSE) executive director, is describing a trip to Paris, Rome, Banff, or any other often ravedabout vacation destination.

“It was so unique, so exhilarating that I could barely sleep,” he says. “I am not even sure I have the words to fully convey how I felt once I arrived there.” (And, it should be noted, Lee – an articulate, accomplished, and thoughtful speaker and writer – rarely lacks for the perfect words.)

But in this case, the struggle to convey his thoughts was real (and quite understandable).

In February 2018, Lee hopped on five flights (yes, five) that transported him from Minneapolis to Oslo to Tromsø to Svalbard, a magical, frontier-like group of islands midway between continental Norway and the North Pole that welcomes just one flight a day. In addition to what Lee calls the “unimaginatively beautiful” landscape – with pristine white snow, freezing temperatures, glaciers, and, yes, warnings not to venture beyond Svalbard without “appropriate means of chasing off polar bears” – Svalbard (pronounced SVAHL-bard) also boasts one of the most architecturally interesting and functionally important buildings in the world: the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.

Opened in 2008, the Global Seed Vault today contains more than a million deposits of rare, heirloom, and open-pollinated seeds from countries around the world. Lee’s trip was part of a celebration of the vault’s millionth deposit – a feat that could hardly be envisioned when Cary Fowler, a former SSE board member, spearheaded an effort to build the steel-encased seed-storage facility. It is described by the Global Crop Diversity Trust, one of the organizations involved with the building’s maintenance, as “a long-term seed-storage

facility, built to stand the test of time – and the challenge of natural or man-made disasters.”

It is built some 364 feet inside a mountain on Spitsbergen, one of four remote islands that compose the Svalbard archipelago, Cary explained to BBC News in an interview in 2006. “We looked very far into the future – we looked at radiation levels inside the mountain, and we looked at the area’s geological structure,” he continues in the interview. “And by building the vault deep inside the mountain, the surrounding permafrost would continue to provide natural refrigeration if the mechanical system were ever to fail.”

So what is the long and short of this all? The Svalbard Global Seed Vault represents the world’s largest collection of crop diversity, and Seed Savers Exchange, based in Decorah, Iowa, has been a part of its success since its inception, having deposited a back-up selection of

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Left, Lee Buttala Seed Savers Exchange executive directory stands in front of Svalbard Global Seed Vault.

Below, the frozen door of the vault shows just how cold it is. (Photos courtesy Lee Buttala / SSE).

Above, you can see how the vault is built more than 300 feet inside the mountain (Miksu, by Wikimedia).

rare, open-pollinated, and heirloom seeds every year for the past decade. SSE is the only nongovernmental institution backing up seed at Svalbard, and also the only one that gives equal attention to the stories and traditions behind the seeds it is preserving.

“Who in the world would pass up the opportunity to go to the Arctic Circle, let alone the chance to see firsthand a vault containing seeds from dozens of countries that are working together to save our food supply for the future,” says Lee. “I felt like making that trip to this very-off-the-beatenpath site was essential to understanding what Seed Savers Exchange is all about and why our work is so valuable.”

While many have tried – including a dignitary or two – very few individuals actually get to pass beyond the frozen door of the Global Seed Vault to see firsthand what’s inside. As a representative of a depositor to the vault, Lee was granted access – as were the representatives of the approximately 70 other organizations who traveled to Svalbard to take part in the special 10th-anniversary celebration.

So what did they see?

Not everything, says Lee, noting some parts of the vault are off-limits: “When you enter, you have an expectation of seeing an otherworldly landscape, but what you really see is just a storage facility, though granted one that has been drilled deep into the earth. There are a series of paths, and rows of shelves that are probably 100 feet deep and 22 feet tall.” (In case one is worried about the safety of this priceless collection, airlocks, steel-reinforced doors, and a video-monitoring system operated from Sweden hundreds of miles away are designed to protect the multi-million dollar vault.)

Perhaps more remarkably, the boxes on those shelves speak volumes about how, in a world divided in so many ways, countries – North Korea and South Korea, for example – have found at least one way to put aside their differences to work together for a greater, global cause.

Continued on next page

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‘Norwegian Pencil’ bean seed Photo courtesy Lee Buttala / SSE

“All of these countries that fight over things like oil rights, tariffs, trade agreements, immigration policies – you name it – came together and developed a platform where they could work together to hold on to something they value,” says Lee. “My walk through the vault reinforced the symbolism of that, and I suspect it is probably going to be one of the most memorable experiences of my life.”

Additional Seed Savers Exchange members accompanied Lee on the trip, including Cary Fowler (remember – he helped bring the Seed Vault to fruition) and his wife, Amy Goldman Fowler, also a former member of the SSE board and a current adviser to the organization. “Walking side by side with Cary made me realize what it took to get this vault built,” Lee says. “Cary is amazing because he is strong yet humble and soft-spoken, and somebody who knows how to make people see what they have in common. Spending that time with him and Amy made me realize not only what it might take to save the world but also that there are thankfully people who might just be able to do that.”

Indeed, there were many things that made the trip to Svalbard so amazing. In what can only be described as an “it’s a small world” moment, Lee made a deep connection with Åsmund Asdal – a Norwegian agronomist who serves as coordinator of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Lee poured out a sample of the ‘Norwegian Pencil’ bean seed that SSE had carefully selected to contribute. They chose the seeds to represent the uniqueness of the work at SSE and the varieties in their collection… plus, they are beautiful.

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Fall 2018 / iloveinspired.com

Continued on next page

Left, Molly Thompson, SSE’s former curatorial technician, packing seeds to send to Svalbard. (Photo courtesy SSE) Right, boxes from different countries, all having found at least one way to put aside their differences to work together for a global cause. (Photo courtesy Lee Buttala / SSE)

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Åsmund Asdal, Lee Buttala, and Cary Fowler pose in front of rows and rows of seeds saved inside Svalbard Global Seed Vault situated on a remote island in the Arctic Circle. (Photo courtesy Lee Buttala / SSE)

The seeds would be added – amongst others from different countries – to a large glass cylinder that would permanently mark the vault’s tenth anniversary. Åsmund, as Lee recalls, obviously admired the beans. He told Lee the variety was once common in Norway, or at least within his family, and that he still had some of the seeds, but they were no longer viable and capable of germinating.

“These beans were cooked by his family for generations, and he remembered their unique markings from the food of his childhood,” Lee says. “So I took a handful of the beans that were supposed to go into the glass cylinder and put them somewhere else where they belonged, into the hands of a man who would care for them and ensure that they moved into the future as well, by growing them and sharing them with those he loves.”

And as these special ‘Norwegian Pencil’ beans (hopefully) thrive in Norway, many other rare, heirloom, and open-pollinated varieties

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points out, is fond of calling are flourishing at Heritage Svalbard the “Doomsday Farm, the Seed Savers Vault,” but he is adamant headquarters established by that the term is a misnomer.

Diane Ott Whealy and Kent “When I was there, no one was Whealy in Decorah in the late planning for the apocalypse; 1980s. Lee raves about the they were doing what sensible importance of Seed Savers people have done throughout Exchange being located in time – saving seeds and caring the Driftless Region, where for them in the best manner – in the midst of fields, hills, possible,” he says. “The vault cliffs, and karst topography is not there for the end of the – a hardworking, skilled world, but rather as a backup staff is playing a significant for the hard work that these role in the maintenance of seed bank managers, farmers, the global ecosystem and and scientists from around the the genetic diversity of our globe have been doing for years plants. “One of the things – preserving what you and I that people in the Driftless value.” should feel excited and proud about is that we have an To learn more about Seed Savers Exchange or saving seeds at home, institution in our midst that check out seedsavers.org. Photo courtesy Seed Savers Exchange is doing significant, perhaps world-saving, work known Sara Friedl-Putnam (shown here with her both at Svalbard and around the globe,” he says. daughter, Maddie, holding a heritage-breed Seed Savers works hard to put the seeds they grow into the hands chicken at Heritage Farm) might just have to of people who can save them – by growing and sharing them with add visiting the Svalbard Global Seed Vault to others – and also saves them in its own seed bank at Heritage Farm. her bucket list, though she will first have to The deposits at Svalbard provide an added layer of insurance that overcome her fear of flying. But hope springs these rare varieties will be here long into the future. The media, Lee eternal, and where there is a will, there’s a way.

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Learning to roll with it Driftless families take education on the road

Ezra (10), Sterling (5) and Shepard (7) Harman-Wood take in the geology and wildlife of Colorado Springs, Colorado. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We try to make intergenerational and asynchronous learning our daily intention,â&#x20AC;? their mother, Lindsey Harman, says. (Family photos courtesy Harman-Woods)

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Read on to learn how the Harman Wood, Awad, Sandhorst Jensen, & Zahasky families make the world their school.

BY

SEN

E JEP

TIN KRIS

School.

What springs to mind?

The metal-on-metal squeak of the A brick facade? Lumpy backpacks? playground swingset? your lockermate about your crush, Maybe it’s the thrill of whispering to r a ball catching securely against you a few lockers down. Or the rush of ? sun r bright Indian summe chest, as you suck in fall-crisp air, in sticker, applied by your favorite What if it’s seeing a hard-earned star test? teacher, at the top of your last spelling nostalgia – the challenges, the of on ecti If you look closely at this coll k most of it is possible without the bric camaraderie, the ah-ha moments – on wheels under you and jumped facade. Or any facade at all. If you put ’d dhood teachers – your family – you board with your most influential chil . Say, what? be well on your way to roadschooling

Continued on next page

Meet the Harman-Wood travel school: A 19-foot Airstream B190 they call the Starship.

Lindsey’s tip? Drive a vehicle you can park easily so you don’t miss a stellar learning opportunity for lack of space.

iloveinspired.com \ Fall 2018

35

R

oadschooling is the commitment to packing up a few belongings and finding real-life learning opportunities by visiting natural and historic sites, meeting new people, and creating a family culture of discovery.

If you’re thinking, “That’s impossible. What about my job/house/geraniums/goldfish?” you’re not alone.

Change is hard, and switching up a lifestyle that’s geared for staying put takes time and effort. Maybe it’s negotiating the ability to work remotely for a short time, or a family-wide yard sale to actively pare down the “stuff” you feel accountable for. Maybe it’s looking ahead a year, or even two, to a point where one or both parents could work on location, with kids prepared to participate in the local school options.

Meet four families in the Driftless – or with Driftless roots – who’ve done just that, forging a roadmap for lifelong adventure. Excursion by excursion, experiment by messy experiment, they’ve tried out a different direction.

The first mile-marker for roadschooling, or “travel schooling,” is assuming responsibility for your kids’ formal education. At the top of that list: Meeting state The Awad family – Peter, Melissa, Wyndsor (10), Summit (9), Brighton (6) and Ayers requirements. In Iowa, children ages 6 to 16 are required to (4) say roadschooling starts with “less stuff.” Each child travels with a single bag of clothes and a backpack of school and art supplies. (Family photos courtesy Awads) be enrolled in public or private school. Homeschooling in Iowa is called “private instruction” and requires a curriculum of competent private instruction for a minimum of 148 days. entrepreneur, something he’d been angling toward for a few This competent instructor may be a parent, and documentation of study years, and the kids could get outside without winter-wear every can be a combination of materials and metrics: a portfolio of student day, often to the beach. work, completed courses that demonstrate levels of skill, and state They were hooked when they realized how much freedom standardized testing, for example. In any case, warming up a philosophy they found in living with less “stuff.” Traveling in their current for alternative schooling is the first step toward taking it on the road.

RV, a Sprinter camper van that converts to Peter’s mobile

Lesson 1: You don’t need “stuff” to get an education.

“For us, travel came about to escape winter,” says Melissa Awad with a laugh. She and her husband, Peter, have always homeschooled their children – Wyndsor (now 10), Summit (9), Brighton (6) and Ayers (4) – and have been roadschooling since their youngest spent most of his time in a sling carrier. They first ventured out for a month, in their minivan, one January, then 10 consecutive months the year following – by upgrading to a camper van, renting their Decorah home and sweettalking a family member into caring for their aging Labrador. They spent time beforehand researching neighborhoods and church communities that would allow their family to plug in and play, settling on a home base in southern California. There, Peter could work remotely as an

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office, each child has a single bag of clothes, a small backpack of personal school and art supplies, and a favorite blanket or stuffed animal. For her part, Melissa packs one Rubbermaid bin of books and another basket of hands-on car games.

“Here’s the thing: with six moods and energies in a vehicle, on the road, every day, one of us is going to be less than thrilled about what we’re doing, pretty much at any given time,” Melissa says. “But, on the other hand, we really have no choice but to get along. Eventually, getting on each other’s nerves turns into really meaningful conversation. And there are no messes! We don’t carry enough of anything to leave a mess behind.”

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National parks, which offer a Junior Ranger program, digital tours, educational movies at visitor centers, and plaque after roadside plaque of historical information, take priority on the Awad family’s itinerary. Also, having enough healthy snacks.

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Melissa Awad keeps a running list of Questions Kids Ask on her phone and incorporates the finding of answers into everyday excursions.

Because their kids range from pre-readers to bookworms, the Awads have built recent travel around national parks, including the Junior Ranger Program.

Students learn etiquette for protecting American wildlands (picking up litter, staying on established trails, keeping distance from wildlife) while exploring the history and features of parks from Yosemite in California to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C.. “We learn from reading ALL the plaques in the parks and furthering investigation later when kids’ interest is piqued. Also, we always purchase the car tours and watch the in-park movies.”

The Awads prioritize literature-based learning in the tradition of educator Charlotte Mason (“education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life”), with lots of acclaimed books, like the 2017 best-seller Wonder, read aloud. “I’m sure I’ll find a need sometime, but to date, I haven’t printed a single ‘worksheet’ for roadschooling,” Melissa says. “Kids are natural leaders in finding and exploring what’s most interesting about a place, and that’s usually arranging hermit crabs by size in tide pools or making up games designed to get each other wet.”

Continued on next page

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Fall 2018 / iloveinspired.com

or Lindsey Harman, a birth doula and founder of Arrival Arts in Decorah, the choice to homeschool, then roadschool, felt like the most natural way to help her boys – Ezra (10), Shepard (7) and Sterling (5) – pursue their changing interests and passions with immersive, hands-on learning. (Right now, they’re into: British history, prehistoric art and…any activity encouraging one’s body to wiggle.)

She and her husband, Andrew Wood, set out to visit family in Arizona and other friends in the Southwest on their first road adventure in winter 2015-16, with Andrew joining the family on weekends and time off from his position as a vice president at Decorah Bank & Trust. In spring 2019, they will travel internationally for the first time, living April through June in a Swedish schlektgård – a historic family home – belonging to beloved friends Lindsey met as a foreign exchange student in high school. Again, Lindsey and the boys will forge ahead, with Andrew joining them as his career allows.

Planning workable logistics – like affordable plane tickets and a stopover in England to stoke Ezra’s keen interest in everything Great Britain – makes it easier to live in the moment once you get there, Lindsey explains. The key is to remember that they are plans, not strict itineraries, and that the best learning might happen in spontaneous immersion, even if it’s in, say, how to make replica medieval weaponry.

“Between college and grad school, I studied Spanish, Italian, German, French, Norwegian and Swedish,” she says of her formal vocal performance degree from Luther College and further theater training. “And guess which one I have working knowledge of today?

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The family (Andrew Wood, Lindsey Harman, Ezra, Shepard and Sterling) emphasizes following each members’ interests as they relate to new places and the natural environment. “I really hesitate to suggest by taking a picture of my kids reading in a cave, for example, that this is just ‘normal school’ outside the building,” Lindsey says. “In the end, we want to support learning as our family culture – something we do together, wherever we are.” Photos courtesy Harman-Woods.

Swedish – the only one I was truly immersed in. It’s the language I’ve used to navigate public transportation and make polite conversation when I committed some cultural gaffe!”

“We feel like we are lifelong learners,” she concludes, adding that Andrew’s first career was in elementary education, teaching first grade in Phoenix. “It’s as essential as breathing or food or exercise.” Their family also believes that “learning” holds broader opportunity when parents and children undertake it together. It’s intimidating at first, she says, to step out of the role of “teacher,” or the one who purportedly holds all the answers, but in the end, it relieves pressure she hadn’t known was there. “Many, many of our trip photos could bear the caption, ‘Let’s look at the world together,’” she says, “and we’ve found that’s really the truest experience. If none of us knows or is expert in a subject or activity beforehand, it levels the playing field and frees everyone up to be playful and confident in their discoveries.”

iloveinspired.com \ Fall 2018

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Rachel Sandhorst, Jon Jensen, and their middle-schoolers Sylvia and Lily took their homeschooling to Malta for a semester when Jon, professor of environmental studies, led the Luther College study abroad program there. For them, it works best to set up a home base in their remote location, then travel evenings and weekends to explore the area.

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Lesson 3: Be mindful of the tide.

“T

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Rachel Sandhorst, her husband, Jon Jensen, professor of environmental studies at Luther College, and their junior-high schoolers, Sylvia and Lily, find their limit for time away from the area is about five months – or the length of the semester-long study abroad programs Jon has taught in Malta and Tanzania. The family has been homeschooling since the girls graduated from Decorah’s Kinderhaus preschool, and they got started traveling on monthlong trips, accompanying Jon and Luther College students on J-term courses to Holden Village in the Northern Cascade Mountains of Washington State. In 2019, they’ll host a J-term group on Roatan, an island off the coast of Honduras.

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The Sandhorst Jensen family. (Family photos courtesy Sandhorst Jensens)

The Sandhorst Jensens’ favorite ritual on these trips is establishing a hub-and-spoke model for exploring their new region. Most of their belongings – and homeschooling supplies – stay in a small rented house, often in a city center, then they take evening and weekend excursions to immerse themselves in the local food, history, and culture. And sometimes the culture comes right in the front door, as was common in Tanzania’s Dar es Salaam, where their young neighbors would walk in without knocking.

“As a parent, one thing I like is that you get away from all your commitments, even the good or obvious ones, like cleaning your house, and find yourself with a lot more family time,” Rachel says.

(The family has had good luck finding long-term housesitters to tend their rural home and homestead animals.) “You learn a lot more intimately about what kind of learner each person is and what their strengths are in your ‘travel tribe.’” Sylvia, for example, is the group cheerleader with can-do spirit. Lily is the question-asker, unafraid of approaching locals for directions or recommendations when, say, you’re looking for shampoo that works on Caucasian hair in rural Tanzania. And both girls have a habit of assuming the kid-sister role among the college students they’re hosting. “We have been really lucky that way,” Jon says of Luther’s study-abroad philosophy. “The Continued on next page

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multi-generational learning/living atmosphere is supported and encouraged by the college, and I think we’re all the better for it.”

Time away from peers, though, becomes increasingly hard for junior-high and high-schoolers, Rachel says. “It became pretty clear that we couldn’t do a whole year away, at this time anyway. There’s just too much to miss in school activities and friend relationships that change and strengthen as kids become more independent.”

One compromise between home and away, Melissa Awad says, is to find immersive experiences at home that are concentrated: an 8-hour seminar on horseback riding, for example, rather than eight weeks of one-hour classes. It can make you feel like the “odd family out,” she says, to not commit to whole seasons of soccer league or a semester-long preparation for a school concert, but that doesn’t mean those skills go missing from a family’s experience. “It just means you have to look harder for activities that fit in the time you’ll be in a certain place.” In fall 2017, for example, Wyndsor (10) played a lead role in Decorah’s New Minowa Players children’s show, “What to Do?”

Lesson 4: Learning is a lifestyle.

F

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Fall 2018 / iloveinspired.com

More than 60 years of great food!

or years, Juneau, Alaska, residents Melissa and Paul Zahasky organized their homeschooling schedule for their three children, Laura, Quinn and Abigail, around the seasonal incomes available in their coastal city, which is accessible only by boat or plane. Paul, who grew up in Decorah, worked for Alaska’s Department of Natural Resources and would take the kids camping whenever his duties sent him by boat or backpack out into the Alaska wilderness. It worked: the Zahasky kids are all proficient in a variety of backcountry skills, from tying good knots to paddling in high winds. But they cultivated another talent, too: music, based on Melissa’s classical training in voice and violin, and Paul’s interest in American folk, songwriting, and arranging. When Abigail was 8, they started booking gigs in the Lower 48 as a family band during the Alaskan winters.

Known as the Alaska String Band, the family travels in a 40-foot bus they call Lazarus, a dinosaur that requires “care, maintenance, and feeding,” Paul explains. To date, they’ve crossed the Continental U.S. at least five times, staying with host families, other musicians, community leaders, and their expanding network of friends of friends of friends. “I think we went a decade in the bus before we got through a tour season without it breaking down,” Paul says, a pattern that required the family to MacGuyver their way out of several scrapes. “My advice? Don’t buy a bus!” he says with a laugh.

Over the years, Laura mastered violin/fiddle, guitar, mandolin

Paul, Melissa, Laura, Quinn and Abigail Zahasky of Juneau, Alaska, have been roadschooling since Abigail joined the family band. In their 40-foot bus, Lazarus, The Alaska String Band (alaskastringband.com) plays music full-time across the Lower 48 and abroad during the Alaskan winters.

(Family photos courtesy Zahaskys)

45

and vocals; Quinn became parts of the country and legendary on standing abroad, from ranches in bass, and Abigail took Texas to tight apartments the helm of the band’s in big cities. “Most promotion, in addition to kids, especially in rural singing vocals and learning communities, go through every instrument missing some phase where they from the orchestration at can’t wait to grow up the time (including violinand move away,” Melissa fiddle, mandolin, guitar, says, “but our kids banjo, pickin’ stick, piano, decided, based on their and drums). The family time on the road, that roadschooled with a few they already knew what hours of bookwork here and was out there, and they several hours of outdoor stayed. Alaska really is Paul Zahasky, a Decorah native, met Melissa when he made his way to Alaska in activity there, under the where they want to be.” direction of Paul, the proclaimed the employ of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources. Their children grew Quinn has since married, up homeschooling with Melissa and in the Alaskan wilderness on de facto takefunmeister. Alaska’s public and his wife, Emily, also your-kids-to-work trips with Paul. (Family photos courtesy Zahaskys) programming provides vast plays mandolin and sings support for homeschooling with the ensemble. The because it’s the only option for its many rural families, which meant, Alaska String Band completed a 10-day tour of Vladivostok, Russia, for example, when the family booked gigs one winter in Hawaii, Juneau’s sister city, in summer 2018, at the request of the Russian they could subsidize equipment and lessons to learn to surf. “Having consulate general, and they continue to expand their tour schedule funding for supplies and experiences was huge for us,” Melissa to provide a living for each member as a working artist. explains. As with any system, the process required some paperwork “I tell people we’re into the ‘bonus years’ with our kids,” Paul and ingenuity, she adds, but the opportunity to take full advantage explains. “It’s not an easy transition, I will say, as your roles shift of their locations proved priceless. from parent-child to being peers and friends, but we wouldn’t trade The result, now that the kids have “aged out” of homeschooling – it for anything. Our kids involve us in their lives, beyond our music, in they’re 27, 24 and 20 – is that they have nearly 14 years’ experience ways that we know are rare and valuable, and we attribute it to the seeing how people live and work, across all walks of life and in all bonds we forged all those years in close proximity, on the road.”

A Chloe Ellefson Mystery From bestselling author Kathleen Ernst and Midnight Ink comes the ninth Chloe Ellefson historic sites mystery.

Museum curator Chloe Ellefson hopes her latest consulting job, helping restore a 100-year-old Belgian-American farmhouse at Green Bay’s Heritage Hill Historical Park, will be a relaxing escape from the unsettling family secret she’s just learned— and whatever is troubling her boyfriend, cop Roelke McKenna.

Instead she discovers a body inside a century-old bake oven while exploring an abandoned farm in nearby Door County.

Chloe’s research uncovers a courageous immigrant woman, a Belgian lacemaker who survived cholera, famine, and the devastating Peshtigo fire. Inspired, Chloe races to untangle secrets old and new . . . before the killer strikes again.

By Kathleen Ernst 46

Fall 2018 / iloveinspired.com

Coming October 8, 2018 in trade paperback and multiple ebook formats.

Pre-order now from Independent bookstores, B&N, BAM and Amazon.

Christian Midjo Choose Your Own Artventure

Exhibit open Aug. 25, 2018 - April 21, 2019 History Lovers • Art Lovers • Curious Minds Explore the life and work of this Norwegian portrait and landscape painter through different themed tours.

Vesterheim

The National Norwegian-American Museum & Heritage Center Decorah, Iowa • vesterheim.org • 563-382-9681

Vesterheim’s Folk Art School

Find a full schedule and register online at vesterheim.org.

Handspinning from Sheep to Yarn

Rogaland Rosemaling - Acrylics

Chipping Away for Christmas

Sept. 28-Oct. 1, 2018, with Kate Martinson

Oct. 18-21, 2018 with Lois Mueller

Nov. 10-11, 2018, with Ellen Macdonald

Find everything Scandinavian at . . .

Vesterheim’s Museum Store Heart-shaped waffle makers Norwegian Sweaters, books, folk-art supplies, plus much more!

502 W. Water St., Decorah, Iowa • store.vesterheim.org • 563-382-9682

FM 100.5 listeners are a lot of different things...

Republicans . Democrats . Libertarians . Non Voters

Stock Car Racers Retirees Tree Huggers Dog Lovers . Cat Lovers Bacon Obsessors . Vegans

MUSIC LOVERS

. Students

Folders . Crumplers

There’s one thing they all agree on: FM 100.5 is THEIR station.

For people who love music, sports, news, emergency weather information.........

kdecradio.com

DECORAH, IOWA

ajpetersburg.com

563-382-3627

Purl Up & Knit for a Spell Yarn, Knitting & Fiber Art Supplies, Classes, & More!

Mon– Wed : 10 am – 5 pm Fri -Sat: 10 am – 5 pm Thurs: 10 am – 8 pm Sun: 12 – 4 pm

563-517-1059 • store@blueheronknittery.com

blueheronknittery.com

Artistry in Cabinetry since 1983

Kitchens Home offices Bars Entertainment centers Fireplace mantles Cabinets & shelving Remodeling Finished carpentry

Visit my new website!

paulbauhs.com 563-382-4750

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Fall 2018 / iloveinspired.com

Kites they saw in California sparked discussion of aerodynamics, says Lindsey Harman. (Photo courtesy Harman-Woods)

Lessons Learned

Find your family rhythm for schooling and traveling, and don’t be surprised if it takes an unexpected direction.

Some families, like the Sandhorst Jensens and Zahasky crew, would sit down to “book work” for a few hours every morning.

Others, like the Awad and Harman-Wood families, spend their more formal time together reading aloud from a novel or biography, with each child pursuing an interest or independent work while keeping an ear tuned to the story.

Drive a vehicle you can park reliably.

“There’s nothing worse than having to drive by something that catches your eye or the perfect overnight stop because there’s no room to park,” says Lindsey Harman. She considers their 19-foot Airstream B190 the right size: big enough to be self-contained in bad weather, but not so big that the kids are tempted to hole up inside.

“Plus, I feel good about driving and maintaining it by myself,” she says, important for when she and the boys travel ahead of Andrew, who builds roadschooling into his work schedule.

Get a library card.

With books, storytelling and history at the heart of many homeschool practices, nothing beats having access to both the books and the knowledgeable local staff at public libraries. If you know you’ll be spending more than a few days in a location, mail yourself something ahead of time to establish the “residency” your chosen library may require to issue you a patron card –even if your

“address” is in a campground or state park. “Yes, you can look up ‘how holograms work,’ on the Internet,” says Melissa Awad, “but there’s just something about looking something up in the library and taking an actual book with you – out into the ‘wilds’ where your data signal ends – that makes an experience stick.”

Connect with locals – and other roadschoolers.

“When you’re settling into a new culture and trying unconsciously to do things the way you would do them if you were still at home, you’re missing what locals will teach you about a place,” Jon Jensen explains. The fastest way to meet people, he says, is to take public transit: buses, trains, shared taxis. “As a rule, people are welcoming and well-meaning, even with a language barrier,” he concludes.

“One person leads to another, to another, and soon you’re getting invited to outings and local events you would have completely missed inside your own bubble.” Putting themselves out there to meet people in new communities also makes them more welcoming of newcomers to their home community, Rachel adds.

One way to meet other travelers, even roadschoolers, is through the route-mapping app RoadTrippers. When you pull into a new town, park, or campground, find out what other campers know, Peter Awad suggests – where they’ve stayed, and who they’ve met. In many parts of the world, chances are good that families, especially ‘Westerners’ or Americans, will frequent the same areas and attractions known to be safe and kid-friendly. Another tip?

Search Instagram, Twitter, or FaceBook for hashtags of attractions and destinations, then contact the authors for recommendations.

This works especially well for landmarks, such as national parks or historic sites.

Sylvia and Lily Sandhorst Jensen’s self-styled Malta Sea and Volcano Museum, featuring live hermit crabs. Photo by Sandhorst Jensens.

Stay flexible and always, always pack snacks.

“Don’t expect everything to work out as you planned it,” counsels 13-year-old Sylvia Sandhorst Jensen. “And don’t assume maps are correct,” adds her younger sister, Lily. “Just bring a book – or have one downloaded to your e-reader [the Decorah Public Library loans audio and e-books through Kindle and other apps] for when the bus is three hours late.”

Nabotunet

50+ senior living neighborhood nestled in the bluffs of Decorah, IA.

Beautiful vistas & peaceful rural living can be yours! Your dream home and your dream lifestyle awaits!

Decorah, Iowa

563-382-3603 • info@aasehaugen.com www.aasehaugen.com/active-50-nabotunet-homes

Aase Haugen Patio Homes Decorah, Iowa

Custom built duplex homes to suit your needs and style, with no worries as we maintain the property and give you a great return on investment!

• Aase Haugen Senior Services Ranked 5th Top Performer by U.S. News & World Report

Choose from three floor plans:

• Forbes Magazine votes Decorah one of “America’s Prettiest Towns.”

• Kos: 1,690 finished sq. ft.

• Skäl: 1,949 finished sq. ft.

• Marka: 2,018 finished sq. ft.

• USA Today lists

Decorah as Iowa’s most Many lots have lower levels with picturesque town.

1400-1800 sq.ft. of added space!

Duplex 3 Dormers iloveinspired.com \ Fall 2018

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NEED BUSINESS HELP?

Check out

Small Business Development + Business Coaching Services Consultantants specializing in marketing, small business start-ups, agricultural businesses, succession planning, & more. This service is provided to Winneshiek County businesses/entrepreneurs at no cost!

Call Stephanie to set up an appointment: 563-382-6061 or director@winneshiekdevelopment.org

winneshiekdevelopment.org • 507 W Water St, Decorah

The Harman-Woods enjoy returning to beloved destinations, like the Washington Island Stavkirke in WIsconsin, as much as they enjoy returning home.

• No fee, one-on-one consulting Reading and Listening Resources: • Advice from experts in finance, start-ups, marketing, “An Introduction to Roadschooling” Wandrly Magazine social media, non-profits and ag-related businesses

article, written by a family of six, on the road for five years. wandrlymagazine.com/article/roadschooling-101/ The New Global Student, book by Maya Frost A Brave Writer’s Life in Brief (podcast) – bravewriter.libsyn.com Season 3: Episode 3 | World Schooling: How to Take Your Homeschool Abroad | with Christina Celebi Season 2: Episode 10 | Tidal Homeschooling: The Ebb & Flow of Home Education | with Melissa Wiley

A THRIFT STORE FOR EVERYONE!

MON-FRI 9-6 • SAT 9-3 563-382-2700 • 510 MONTGOMERY ST, DECORAH, IA www.depotoutlet.org or find us on Facebook

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Useful Apps: Roadtrippers (mapping, networking) TripAdvisor (facility and attraction reviews) Lyft (getting around once your camper-vehicle is parked) Yelp (restaurant reviews) AllTrails (outdoor guides for hiking, camping and more) RV Parky (facility reviews) HomeAway (rental accomodations) AllStays (campground and RV park reviews) Scanbot (for scanning and saving documents – permits, licenses, reservations, tickets, contracts) Rural Decor-ian Kristine Jepsen sometimes travel-schools with her 10-year-old in the midst of winter and can attest to a) the need for healthy comfort foods to keep everyone on an even keel; and b) the magic of learning a new place as a family. She writes for magazines, literary journals and the Web – more at kristinejepsen.com.

MAKE IT: PUMPKIN SURPRISE BALLS!

Surprise someone with a pumpkin filled with fun!

MANY TINY PRESENTS INSIDE!

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a whole new level of wrapping...

step-by-step instructions at

ILOVEINSPIRED.COM

Paper Project!

51

anesboro THE HEART OF BLUFF COUNTRY

Visitors Center  100 Milwaukee Rd, Lanesboro, MN lanesboro.com  507-467-2696

Eat

The Lanesboro area is known for its great restaurants and fresh locally grown food!

Whether it’s a romantic dinner with wine and candlelight or a down-home local experience, we’ve got your tastes covered.

Outdoor dining, gourmet cuisine, coffee, scrumptious breakfasts, pie and ice cream.

Play

Home to the Root River Bike Trail and the Root River, this quaint town offers outdoor recreation, breathtaking views, rich artistic and cultural experiences, tours, unique shopping, locally grown foods and fine dining.

Lanesboro has cultivated the art of living well. Come and experience small town life at its best!

GET CONNECTED 507-467-2696 www.lanesboro.com

Shop

Local merchants sell everything from outdoor gear to fine art, women’s clothing to unique souvenirs. From the practical to the atypical, you’ll find furniture, apparel, and even treats for your backyard birds.

Each store is Indepently owned and offers a truly unique shopping experience.

Stay

Lanesboro offers superb hospitality! Travel to a place of arts, culture, recreation and romance and relaxation, all in a historic setting located in the bluff country region of southeastern Minnesota.

You’ll find cozy, comfortable and nationally recognized bed & breakfasts, historic & privately-owned hotels, resorts, whole house rentals and apartments as well as an assortment of campgrounds.

“We LOVE it here, we’ve made it our home and can’t wait to welcome you!”

#lanesboromn

Create your own

#LanesboroMN story!

View the Visitors

Guide online at lanesboro.com or call 507-467-2696 to get your copy today!

2018 Community Builders:

COMMUNITY

BUILDERS

Kelly Momsen & Gaby Peterson

Misty Lown Katie Ruff

A

community is defined as a unified body of individuals. It can be built up in a neighborhood, a city, a region, a state, a nation, a world. Building community can be done at any level – it doesn’t have to be big to have a big impact. It is the most important thing we can do as humans on this planet. Connecting with others helps us connect with our humanity, and realize we’re all in this life together.

Last year, to celebrate our 10 year anniversary of making Inspire(d) Magazine, we featured 10 Community Builders in the region. We’re continuing that tradition with our 11th anniversary issue! Read on to learn about four more awesome community builders in the Driftless Region. This place is full of them, so stay tuned for more next year. In fact, if you’d like to nominate a Community Builder from your neck of the woods, let us know! Email aryn@iloveinspired.com. Maybe you’ll see them here next fall!

Keep on keeping positive, friends. We can do this! XO – Aryn

School-Year Programs: Children’s House – 3-6 years old E1 (lower elementary) – 6-9 years old + Summer Camps!

June-August

NORTHEAST IOWA neim.us

Montessori

The joy of discovery!

418 W. Water Street. Decorah, Iowa 52101. 563-382-6491 iloveinspired.com \ Fall 2018

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COMMUNITY

BUILDERS

54

photos courtesy Yarnology

Kelly Momsen & Gaby Peterson Yarnology

BY MAGGIE SONNEK

Y

arnology co-owner Kelly Momsen winds a skein of yarn, while her counterpart, Gaby Peterson, opens up a small box that’s just arrived in the mail at their shop on Third Street in Winona. They chat as they work, remembering the time they first met.

Kelly and Gaby had both returned to the Southeastern Minnesota river town – along with their respective families – after being away for several years. As luck would have it, the two shared the same hairdresser. And as all women (and some lucky men) know, what’s shared while sitting in the salon chair is sacred.

“Our hairdresser said to both of us, ‘You need to meet. You talk about the same thing while you’re here: knitting and opening a yarn shop,’” Kelly says.

So they arranged to have coffee, Kelly, left & Gaby, right. Photo by Maggie Sonnek and planned to chat for about an hour. They ended up gabbing for four. Right away, they started crafting plans to open a store.

“We got lots of negative feedback from friends and family warning us not to do business with someone we had just met,” Gaby says. “But each and every time we talked, we had the same vision.”

Kelly and Gaby ignored the critics, and 10 months later, they opened Yarnology.

“We scheduled a soft opening, but didn’t advertise much. We didn’t expect many people to come,” Gaby says with a shrug. “But on that day, folks were lined up outside waiting to come in.

We never stopped moving.”

Nor have they since, nearly 10 years later. In that decade, they’ve built a strong customer base, men and women who come to Yarnology for yarn, knowledge, and advice – yes – but also for something intangible. Something that can generally be found in “The Living Room”.

When Kelly and Gaby were first sketching out ideas for their shop, they wanted to include a space where knitters could gather and chat; where all would be welcomed without judgment.

They reupholstered furniture, dug for Craigslist finds, and scavenged friends’ attics to find the perfect mix of comfortable, cozy, and unassuming couches, chairs, and ottomans. And during store hours, you can bet there are always friends sitting in The Living Room, in the middle of the store, knitting.

“This is the best place to sit right here,” says Patti Schuh, who lives nearby and visits Yarnology weekly.

Marie Kovesci chimes in. “This is home. They should rent us cubbies where we can store our yarn and needles.” She laughs, then adds: “You can’t beat a couch full of knitters.

Their opinions and advice are invaluable.”

65 E 3rd St. “I can’t believe the Winona, Minnesota friendships I’ve seen formed – most of which have started 507-474-9444 right here,” Gaby says, patting www.yarnologymn.com

YARNOLOGY

(continued on next page) iloveinspired.com \ Fall 2018

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Photo by Maggie Sonnek

Mary Haas, DO Dr. Haas offers a full spectrum of family medicine, including obstetrical services.

For an appointment call:

563-547-2022 or toll free 888-547-5474 Cresco Medical Clinic • 321 8th Ave W, Cresco, Iowa • www.rhshc.com

GLAM for WEDDINGS. PROMS. MORE

THE LIVING ROOM Open by appointment Tues-Sat: 563.379.7583 - 930 Division St. Cresco, IA

Amazing Algerian & American Food Appetizers & Entrees Sandwiches & Salads Vegetarian & Gluten-free Options Delicious Desserts Signature Cocktails Craft & Import Beer & Wine

Elkader, Iowa • 563-245-1992 • scheras.com

Teamwork from the team that works best!

DECORAH, IOWA 563-382-8406

www.davekelly.com 56

Fall 2018 / iloveinspired.com

the bright-colored couch beside her. “I can’t believe the topics I hear discussed. People talk about really personal things.” (Except politics.

That’s the only issue off-limits in The Living Room.)

Gaby and Kelly host several classes each month, including a beginner’s class that familiarizes newcomers with different kinds of yarn and needle sizes.

“People need something tangible in their lives,” Kelly says. “So many sit behind a computer screen or behind a wheel; they need a creative outlet.”

Both women say knitting is a tactile skill that uses both sides of the brain – which basically means your brain is firing on all cylinders.

Even more impressive, mind and body experts say the repetitive action of needlework and stitching can induce a relaxed state the same way meditation and yoga can.

120 WASHINGTON ST DECORAH, IOWA

RESERVATIONS APPRECIATED

563-382-3067

303 W. Water St • Decorah, Iowa •563.382.4941

Kelly momsen & gaby peterson “Kelly said the coolest thing when we were planning to open the shop,” Gaby says, smiling at her business partner. “She said, ‘Anyone can sell yarn. But what are we really selling?’ And the answer to that is community. There’s hardly anything in this shop that you can’t buy online. But people are hungry for connection. For community. And that’s where we come in.”

Gaby says Yarnology has become a “third place” for many knitters, which sociologist Ray Oldenburg wrote about in his book The Great Good Place. Oldenburg said your first place is your home.

The second is your work place or school. And third places are “anchors of community life, and facilitate and foster broader, more creative interaction.” He suggests third places are welcoming and comfortable, free or inexpensive, accessible, and involve regulars.

And that’s exactly what Yarnology has become: A Third Place. A Living Room. A space for all.

Maggie Sonnek is lucky enough to learn to knit in The Living Room at Yarnology. You can find her there most Thursday nights in the fall. When she’s not knitting, she’s parenting three young kids with her husband Eric. They live in the Driftless Region.

Hair salon + Manicures & Pedicures Facials • Makeup

Luxury salon & day spa eclipsdecorah.com

WOODEN WINDOW

restoration & weatherization

Residential & light commercial construction David J. Wadsworth • 563.419.0390 • wadsworthconstruction.com

C O N S C I O U S LY S O U R C E D FOOD, TOYS & ACCESSORIES FOR YOUR DOG & CAT

WANT TO JOIN THE COMMUNITY? CHECK OUT YARNOLOGY’S EVENTS: (please check online to confirm schedule):

Wednesdays: “Yarn and Conversation” 10 am – 12 pm, First Saturday of each month: Please join us as we knit or crochet for charity! We have donated yarn and needle, but please feel free to bring your own as well! 10 am – 12 pm First Sunday of the month: Master Knitter Group, 1-4 pm

LULU & BB’S PET MARKET B E C A U S E W E L O V E T H AT YOU LOVE YOUR PETS

luluandbbs.com

Monday: Closed Sat: 10-5 Tue-Fri: 10-6 Sun: 10-2

301 West Water St. – Across from the Oneota Co-op! iloveinspired.com \ Fall 2018

57

Misty Lown

COMMUNITY

BUILDERS

Misty’s Dance Unlimited

BY SARA WALTERS

M

isty Lown, of Misty’s Dance Unlimited in Onalaska, Wisconsin, believes banding together for the good of the community is more important now, than ever.

“We are living in a more ‘connected’ time than ever before and yet we have people who feel more alone than ever before,” she says.

“Bringing like-minded people together builds bridges of authentic connection, support, and understanding.”

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Misty has done exactly that for over 20 years as the owner and operator of her wildly popular dance studio. “If you look inside the walls of our studio you’ll really get to see community in action.”

Though her dancers and their families are a community as a whole, many offshoots have developed as well. “We have smaller communities built around preschool, classical, urban, competitive, and recreational dance families. We even have a community of dads who come together each year to dance and perform together!” she says. “It’s like a microcosm of the Coulee Region – just with a lot more music and movement!”

3 Stores in 1 Boutique

Great fashions & brands

Photos by Megan McCluskey

And building strong communities isn’t something Misty keeps confined to her studio. She’s a major player in supporting local causes. Case-in-point: Misty and team spent seven years developing and executing an event called “Dancing with the La Crosse Stars.” During that time, they raised over $400,000 for the local American Red Cross.

She then shifted gears and helped launch a local, semi-professional ballet company called Ballet La Crosse. The group is now in its sixth season.

And in recent days, Misty has pivoted yet again, working diligently with local business leaders to get a leadership curriculum into area high schools. “Small business and schools are the fabric of the community, so it only makes sense that we would work together to create a stronger foundation for our kids and community,” she says. As always, a dedicated community has been built up to support the cause – they’ve already raised over $300,000 of their $600,000 goal. On top of all that, Misty gives back through her 501(c)3 charitable organization, A Chance To Dance Foundation.

MISTY’S DANCE UNLIMITED “Everybody can give something, whether it’s time, talent, or treasure,” 923 12th Avenue South, Suite #103 she says.

Onalaska, Wisconsin

608-779-4642 www.mistysdance.com

(continued on next page)

Les Wigs Renee

Mother/Daughter Makeovers

111 E. Water St. Decorah, Iowa 563.382.6212 leswigsrenee-revelation.com

iloveinspired.com \ Fall 2018

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WELCOME, MARANDA! Est. 1961

3 Generations: John, Shelly, Maranda, Shirley & Richard Elliott Maranda Elliott is the third generation of Elliotts to join our team at Elliott Jewelers in Waukon, Iowa. She graduated from the Gemological Institute of America in 2017, completing the graduate Gemology and Jeweler courses, and has been working in Waukon ever since. Maranda adds her expertise and enthusiasm of gemstones and diamonds, and repair and creation of jewelry pieces to our 57th year of business.

31 W Main St Waukon, IA. 563.568-3661 . elliottjewelers.com

Mon: 9am - 8pm. Tues - Fri: 9am - 5pm. Sat: 9am - 3pm

Thank You! from Project Care!

Photos by Megan McCluskey

In fact, in the early years of owning Misty’s Dance Unlimited, all Misty could offer up was her time and talent. But her business has grown – what started two decades ago as three studio rooms is now seven, and 47 class offerings a week has grown to over 200. Over time, she’s been able to invest in teachers, event producers, and creative directors that understand and support that community-first vision.

As a mother of five, Misty knows there is a need for work-life balance and wants to provide a solution. She continues to devise creative solutions, such as her latest, Momforce – an idea that would allow working parents the schedule they need fulfill their roles as parents while still bringing in income. She wants to continue to build and support the community of families that have long supported her and her business.

The impact of Misty’s influence can be seen on both large and small scales. You’ll often find young moms joining together in the lobby of the studio, chatting about the challenges of raising children.

Or dancers who take their performances to nursing homes to share and bond with residents. Misty sees value in these communities as much as she does in larger-scope projects, like her newlyopened International Performing Arts Campus, which is used for programs, classes, courses, meetings, and of course, dancing. The 21,000-square-foot facility is located in Onalaska. It also serves as a training center for dance instructors and studio owners from all over the world.

No matter the cause, Misty knows that the La Crosse area is ready to chip in and help.

“There is so much I value about our community, from the natural beauty, to the schools, to the seasons. But my favorite thing is the people,” she says. “La Crosse is truly a place everyone will help anyone. Nothing says community more than that!”

✻ ✻ Project Care was founded 9 years ago as a way to uplift area young people who were not only graduating from high school, but who were also “aging-out” of Iowa's foster care system and transitioning to a life of independent living. Project Care strives to provide all of the basic living essentials needed in this time of new beginnings. Project Care now serves students in five area counties. This inspiring effort would not be possible without the support of a caring and generous community. We would like to thank the individuals, families, businesses, fraternal and organizational sponsors who have helped to make Project Care so successful in being able to help foster youth in our community. All gifts are tax-deductible, and 100% of contributions of this volunteer effort go directly to the youth being served. Thank you for your continued generous support of Project Care!

Grace Episcopal Church Burr Oak Lutheran Church Beta Sigma Phi. Alpha Sigma Phi Sorority Iowa Xi Zeta Omicrom Sorority Inspire(d) Media Friest and Associates Bob Jones Rich and Babs Amundson Bob and Judy Alford Cory, Ann and Sydney Landstrom Troy and Michelle Whitehill Pat McClure Delores Timmerman Paul and Miri Mattson

✻

Jim and Sandy Hoeg Jim and Sue Haemker Uwe Rudolf and Ruth Caldwell Dan and Carol Edmondson Gregory and Diann Marten Jud and Connie Barclay Owen and Linda Christianson Marilyn Wahlberg Jeff and Marilyn Roverud Luann Smith Rich and Linda Svenson Kathryn Vigen Myrv and Anne Christopherson Sherry Bouska David and Kirsten Heine

Learn more at www.projectcareiowa.com

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Sara Walters lives in the community of La Crescent, MN. She could use a few dance lessons from Misty.

COMMUNITY

BUILDERS

Katie Ruff By the Spoonful

BY THE SPOONFUL

221 Main Street McGregor, Iowa 563-873-2900 www.itsbythespoonful.com Photos courtesy By the Spoonful unless noted

BY KELLI BOYLEN

K

atie Ruff knows that in a small town, everyone does better when everyone does better.

As the owner of By the Spoonful, a local food store in McGregor, Iowa, this philosophy plays out on a daily basis.

“If my neighboring businesses succeed, I will succeed,” she says. “I view my fellow business owners as co-workers, swapping ideas.” iloveinspired.com \ Fall 2018

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KATIE RUFF This small-town life wasn’t exactly the plan for Katie – at least, not yet.

The now 32-year-old grew up in a farming family between McGregor and Farmersburg, active in 4-H and life in rural Iowa. In high school though, like many other small-town kids, she wanted to move away and not look back.

But about six years ago, Katie was living in the “big city” and working at a job where she felt unhappy and underappreciated. When she was home for Christmas in 2012, she told her mother she would consider moving back to her hometown area… maybe when she turned 40.

Just a few months later, the local food store, Top Shelf, came up for sale. Katie was only 27 at the time – it was 13 years earlier than her original plan – but she was interested. Her family was supportive of the idea, but it was still a big leap.

“I was young and had no savings. All I had was my brains and my passion,” she says. Luckily, those are the most important ingredients for starting a business.

She called the bank, and talked to Upper Explorerland Regional Planning Commission and Clayton County Economic Development, and soon she had a small business loan.

By the Spoonful opened Memorial Day weekend in 2013. She chose the name because she loves spoons – cooking by the spoonful, eating by the spoonful, collecting spoons – and she has a fond appreciation for spoon puns and sayings.

The store features gourmet foods including local meats, dairy,

Photo by Kelli Boylen

wine, beer, and many other unique artisan items you might not find in a mainstream grocery store, not to mention her above and beyond customer service.

Katie’s support of the community doesn’t stop at offering up local foods at her store or shopping locally herself; she is also very active in the McGregor Betterment Group and the McGregorMarquette Chamber of Commerce – she has served on the Chamber board for four years, as president for the last two.

“I’m trying to keep the Chamber moving in the direction of boosting our community’s online/digital presence,” she says. “I’ve encouraged other area businesses to keep their online appearance up-to-date – especially since we are a tourist location, online presence is key.”

In addition to helping to keep McGregor – population 842 – strong, Katie is, obviously, a big supporter of local foods, farmers, and producers.

“A lot of people think you need to go to a big city to get fancy foods, but you can have a great experience with local food right here,” she says.

Although Katie enjoys living in a small – but mighty – community, she admits that sometimes she misses the diversity of urban life and the easy access to ethnic foods. But after a weekend in the hustle, she is ready to return home.

“When I lived in the city I could do a whole day of errands and not have a friendly conversation with anyone. That bothered me greatly,

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Fall 2018 / iloveinspired.com

so I didn’t hesitate to move back to small-town Iowa,” Katie says. “I love the Driftless area – I’ve always gotten the overwhelming feeling of being home when I’m here.”

See you at FEAST! Local Foods Marketplace Katie enjoys attending the Feast! Local Foods Marketplace in Rochester, Minnesota, to sip, shop, and sample potential new products for her store. This year’s event is slated for November 30 (networking for industry only) and December 1 (public).

Everyone is welcome to attend Saturday, December 1, from 10 am to 4 pm, as FEAST! features approximately 100 food makers and growers from Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.

Folks interested in being vendors can contact Eli Goodwell at 612-208-8354 or eli@rtcinfo.org. More information about FEAST is available at www.local-feast.org.

Kelli Boylen is a freelance writer (and licensed massage therapist) who lives in Allamakee County with her family.

Katie Ruff and By the Spoonful are well worth a stop in McGregor, Iowa – as Katie says, she hopes to “see you spoon!” In the store, you’ll find many items from Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin – too many to mention them all – but the most local products currently available are: Edgewood Locker, Edgewood – various meat options WW Homestead, Waukon – ice cream, butter, curds Kymar Farms, Waukon – jams, relishes, pickles, & more Ruff’s Sugarbush, McGregor – maple syrup, sorghum Yellow River Apiaries, Monona – honey Valley View Candies, Edgewood Most of the beer, wine, and cider available at By the Spoonful are also made in Iowa.

Plus, this past year, By the Spoonful started offering coffee and espresso, made with Iowa-roasted beans.

Empty Nest Winery

Through Oct: Sat 10-5. Sun 1-5. Fri 4-9 pm Nov-Dec: Sat 10-5. Sun 1-5.

Hot Food Buffet through October – Friday nights 5-8 pm & Saturdays 11-2 pm.

Menu at emptynestwinery.com or Facebook

Upcoming Events

Aug 31-Sept 3: Labor Day Fun - stop on out!

Friday 4 to 9 pm; Sat/Sun/Mon 11 am to 5 pm Oct 5-7: 5th Annual Wining with the Arts Local Artists, Wine, Beer, and Food. No cover Nov 24: Murder Mystery Dinner Theater Tickets @ Eventbrite.com Dec 31: New Years Eve at Empty Nest!

Murder Mystery Dinner Theater Tickets @ Eventbrite.com + New Years Eve Party after!

Like us for details!

Wine Fresh Sangria Slushies 10 Taps of Hard Ciders & Craft Beer

Outside & Inside seating! Great Venue for your next event!

Fall Limited Edition Wine Releases: Aug 31: Truffle – Chocolate Cherry wine Oct 5: Naked Iced Apple Wine & Little Black Dress (off-dry wine) Nov 3: Night Temptation (Coffee Port), Seduction (Raspberry Mocha Dessert Wine), Berrylicious (Holiday Wine), & Private Reserve (Bourbon Aged Port)

emptynestwinery.com • 563-568-2758

1253 Apple Rd. Waukon, Iowa

SPORTS BAR & GRILL

Festive Fall FuN! Here are just a few fun events to check out this fall! See you there?

Steam Engine Days – September 6-9

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Luna Valley Farm First Anniversary Party! – September 8

Join Luna Valley for a first anniversary party of their Pizza Farm September 8! A celebration concert with Dead Horses and The Driftless Sisters promises to bring out all the magic of a fall night on a Midwestern farm. Milwaukee based Dead Horses Sarah Vos and Daniel Wolff have been lulling and captivating audiences across the Midwest for a few years, and have recently broken out across the country with pals like Charlie Parr, Trampled by Turtles, and others.

Starting off the night will be the incredible duo The Driftless Sisters from Galena, Illinois. Kat Karberg and Lily Sprengelmeyer are no strangers to Northeast Iowa – you might have seen them at a past Music and Monarchs event in Elkader, Iowa. They are a duo that shouldn’t be missed. Food and beverages will be for sale (Please no BYOB). Advance tickets are available in person at Luna Valley pizza nights (Fridays 4-8pm), at the Oneota Co-op, and also online at www. lunavalleyfarm.com

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b uy great

For over 65 years each September, a dedicated group of “Steamers” have come together from Hesper, Iowa and Mabel, Minnesota to celebrate Steam Engine Days.

Although most of the original old timers have moved on to greener pastures, there’s an awesome crop of young folks coming up, learning the steam engineering skill set.

Annual events include the Parade of Tractors from Hesper to Mabel Thursday evening at 6 pm, The Grand Parade Saturday & Sunday (yep, both days!) at noon, lots of classic entertainment, the royalty crowning, bingo in the barn (our personal favorite), tractor and vehicle drawings, fireworks, and more. And of course, those magical almost-silent beasts of steam tractors. This is a great family outing, and kids can get up close to countless steam machines and more. Toot!

Toot! www.steamenginedays.com

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KIDS CLOTHING MATERNITY WEAR GEAR & MORE

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Buy & sell in-store & online. Details at getupdecorah.com fda 64

Fall 2018 / iloveinspired.com

Turkey River Music Festival – September 22

The Inwood Ballroom in Spillville, Iowa, has served generations of NE Iowans for everything from wedding receptions to polka dances, 4th of July celebrations, and community gatherings. Saturday, September 22, you can support the landmark by attending the Turkey River Music Festival in Spillville. The Festival is set to raise a few bucks to help keep Riverside Park and Inwood Ballroom going with contributions from bands like Fusion, Abigail & Buck Towne, Busted Flat Band, Vigilante Firefighters, Wonder Creek, Yukon, and Sinkhole. Music starts at noon and goes late. Gates open at 10 am and entry is Free Will Donation.

You can even reserve camping space in advance by contacting (563) 380-0148. To top it off, A Coed Kickball Tournament will begin at 11am. Kick up your heels and support the Inwood!

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99th Annual Retreat, WI World’s Fair - SEPT 28-29

Retreat, Wisconsin (technically an unincorporated village near Sterling in Vernon county) is home of the “Retreat World’s Fair”. The community gathering, held every year since 1919, features a tractor pull, horse show, “2 Way Parade”, kids games, 4-H displays, and lots of community involvement and opportunities. The name couldn’t be more perfect for this tiny rural town’s annual festival.

Admission is free, and Retreat is just 10 miles east of the Mississippi River from De Soto, Wisconsin.

Keep an eye on the “Retreat Sportsmen’s Club” Facebook page for more details as the weekend approaches.

Live on Water Street – September 29

Last year a hard working crew from the Water Street Music Series, the Oneota Co-op, and others put together a fun fall afternoon of live music, good eats, and local craft beers – on the street! Live on Water Street will take place again this September 29th, from 12-4pm, and also act as a sort of “after party” for the Decorah Rotary’s Loop-de-Loop Half Marathon. Live Music, food for purchase by the Oneota Co-op, kids activities, and free admission should make this an afternoon to celebrate in Downtown Decorah.

Come on out and enjoy Live on Water Street!

NE Iowa Artists’ Studio Tour – October 12-14

There’s nothing like a perfect fall weekend (no matter the weather!), to head out across the rolling hills and into the working studios of artists across our region. This year will be the 21st annual Northeast Iowa Artists’ Studio Tour – including 51 artists in 37 locations – all within 40 miles of scenic Decorah.

From paintings to ceramics, wood to metal – getting a glimpse into the studios of our local artists is a real treat (and you might find an actual treat along the way!). Here at Inspire(d), we’ve created some fun imagery in the past with things you should bring along for your Studio Tour adventures – highlights include the official brochure, a good (non phone) map, cash (it’s king!), and fun snacks to enjoy along the way.

Enjoy an afternoon, or spend the entire weekend finding studios that you didn’t know existed in the nooks and crannies of our region. Happy exploring – and thanks for supporting local artists! Details and more: www.iowaarttour.com

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PROBITUARY – A NOTICE OF LIFE!

Walter McIntosh

Introduction and interview by Aase Haugen staff

Walter McIntosh is a gentle man, with a vibrant manner of kindness about him. Walter, age 77, is from Decorah and moved to Lime Springs in 1984, where he lived from 1984-2017, when he came to live at Aase.

Each day we catch glimpses of his personality as he greets everyone with a smile. Often times he is an advocate for others, making sure that our Aase family is taking care of each other as we should. His thankfulness, positive attitude, and outward expressions of inclusion bring something special to each day. The gardens at Aase bloom under his careful watch, cultivated with his talent, as he and his neighbors plant and tend to the beauty of God’s creation. His telltale straw hat perched on his head, he’s the first to give you a welcoming nod when you enter the garden. We are thankful to have Walter in our Aase family, he is a brother to all.

What is the best advice anyone ever gave you?

When the farm economy went bad and I was advised to quit farming.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

Still don’t know!

What do/did you do?

Three 1/3 years in the United States Army, four years working at a gas station, 18 years farming, 22 1/2 years as assistant manager for a grain elevator and at the same time I was the mayor of Lime Springs, Iowa. In retirement I drove an escort truck for a trailer and house moving company.

If you were stranded on a desert island, what three things would you want with you?

How long? Water, food, water.

If you could eat anything every day for the rest of your life, what would it be?

I like almost everything. I don’t care for one thing every day.

Name one thing you COULD live without?

People who do not listen or will not compromise.

Do you know someone you’d love to interview for this page? Let us know! aryn@iloveinspired.com

Tell us about…

Your wedding day: November 17, 1962 and it was cold. That was the day Walter married Beverly at the Decorah Lutheran Church. They had two children, Theresa and Keith.

My first job was as a mechanic helper while I was in high school.

My favorite memory was raising our family on the farm along with my cousin’s boy who would come out on weekends and the Norwegian exchange student who stayed with us for a year.

Post-hospital rehabilitation following surgery, illness or injury.

• Large, private, fully furnished rooms • Private bathrooms/walk-in showers • Therapy and 24/7 assistance • Cable TV & wireless internet • Medicare Certified 5-Star facility • Restful rehab to return home Decorah, Iowa 563-382-3603 • info@aasehaugen.com www.aasehaugen.com 66

Fall 2018 / iloveinspired.com

Valley Suites Rehabilitation

ACCIDENTS HAPPEN You’re working in the shop and forgot to put on your safety glasses.

Your toddler gets something in her eye at a pumpkin patch. You’re mowing the lawn and don’t see a tree branch until it’s too late.

Call us – our doctors are here 24/7 for eye emergencies.

9:30-5:30 MON 7:30-7:00 TUES & THURS 7:30-5:30 WED & FRI 8:00-12:00 SATURDAY 305 East Water St. Decorah, Iowa • 563-382-4279

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EDUCATION BUILT FOR

Follow us online: SparrowsDecorah.com

Life

• Flexible 8-week classes and an accelerated 6-week summer session • Student to Faculty Ration: 13:1

• 94% of UIU students are employed or attending graduate school within 6 months of graduation [Source: 2017 Graduate Survey/Application (1354 responses/1618 surveyed]

• 20 sports teams – Only NCAA Division II Institution in the state of Iowa • Scholarships, grants and other financial aid

800.553.4150 – info@uiu.edu

UIU.EDU/INSPIRE

Schedule a Campus visit. Meet with an admissions counselor and discover how UIU truly provides you with an Education Built for Life.