WEDNESDAY, MAY 30, 2018
Serving Polk County’s St. Croix Valley since 1897
VOL. 120 NO. 44 www.osceolasun.com $1.00
SPORTS: Osceola track teams win Regional. PAGE 14
Osceola Community Health Foundation plans inclusive playground
Hop to it Local farm meets growing demand BY BRITTANY SHERMACH CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The number of craft breweries in the United States just keeps growing, as does demand for hoppy ales and lagers. As of 2018, more than 6,000 breweries produce the beer enjoyed throughout the country. This doesn’t account for the individual hobbyists producing their own beers for smaller levels of consumption. Although you may not know it, local growers at St. Croix Valley Hops are meeting the demand for a key step in the beer crafting process: the hops. Husband and wife team Eric and Tammy Anderson own Deer Lake Gardens, where they have grown and cut flowers for the Twin Cities wholesale market for about 20 years. When they started getting requests for hops six years ago, they took on the challenge and founded St. Croix Valley Hops. Here the Andersons have a sprawling three and a half acres dedicated entirely to the growth and propagation of the crop as well as a research garden where they tweak and perfect their product. Hops are the flowers produced by humulus lupulus, a herbaceous perennial that grows on vines. These vines vigorously spread themselves
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A rendering of plans for the inclusive playground. The Osceola Community Health Foundation is currently raising funds for the project, which it hopes to build in August. BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@OSCEOLASUN.COM
Kids of all abilities would be able to use a playground being planned by the Osceola Community Health Foundation for the medical center campus. The foundation is currently raising funds for the project and hopes to build it with the help of local volunteers in late summer. Dubbed an “inclusive playground,” the structure would be wheelchair accessible and designed to accommodate a variety of special needs including autism.
The idea occurred to the group last summer, according to foundation director, Sue Gerlach. “The concept came from seeing people use the walking trail,” she explained. “Seeing little kids stopping to play on the adult exercise equipment and realizing we really needed something for the children to do.” According to the foundation’s research, more than 600 children diagnosed with special needs live within a 30-minute drive of Osceola. But the group found that inclusive playgrounds open to the public remain rare.
“We quickly realized that there aren’t any [public, inclusive playgrounds] in Polk County,” Gerlach said. “The closest one is in Hudson.” Accessible playgrounds have two main design features: ramped play structures and a surface that’s navigable by wheelchair. “Most play equipment requires a child to climb to get to a slide,” Gerlach said. “Those factors limit who can play on a playground.” Instead of pea gravel or woodchips, the playground planned SEE PLAYGROUND, PAGE 6
Sheriff rolls out CodeRED alerts Polk County has contracted with CodeRED to allow everyone throughout the county the opportunity to receive free emergency alert notifications that require immediate action or awareness. These notifications could include but are not limited to emergency evacuations, missing children alerts, emergency road clo-
sures, extreme weather alerts, etc. The Polk County Sheriff’s Department tested
All landline telephones should automatically receive notifications as the countywide database
the CodeRED emergency alert system on the afternoon of May 25.
was been uploaded to the CodeRED system. Those who wish
NEWS 715-294-2314 editor@osceolasun.com
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to receive these free notifications on a cell phone, email account, or VoIP phone must register online. The link to register is located on the Polk County website at www.co.polk.wi.us or on the Polk County Sheriff’s Department Facebook page. Direct link: https://public. coderedweb.com/CNE/ en-US/BF4A225F8BED
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Husband and wife team Eric and Tammy Anderson founded St. Croix Valley Hops after they started getting requests for hops about six years ago.
on trellises 16-20 feet in height. Only females produce viable flowers, and plants can be cloned to maximize production. The plants are introduced to strings on the ground in mid-May when they are bines, flexible stems that will curl around their support trellises as they grow. By mid-August the hops are ready to harvest. Flowers are plucked from the vines and dried, with the process varying between growers. At a facility such as St. Croix Valley Hops, the smaller sized harvests can be airdried at around 80-90 degrees Fahrenheit to draw out the essential oils that give beer the rich flavor it has. Larger facilities will commonly be outfitted with an entire heat-powered drying house where hops are laid out in a single layer and dried at temperatures up to 145 degrees Fahrenheit. St. Croix Valley Hops is home to over 20 different strains of hops used in brewing a plethora of different beers. Selection of varieties to grow is dependent on climate and in some cases even rights—certain strains require special permission SEE HOPS, PAGE 6
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