WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2015
Serving Polk County’s St. t Croix C i Valley V ll since i 1897
VOL. 118 NO. 03 www.osceolasun.com $1.00
SPORTS: Osceola Braves lose at state tournament. PAGE 12
Sharing secrets in the hive society BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@OSCEOLASUN.COM
Not every rookie beekeeper gets to harvest honey, says Mike Mackiewicz, a beekeeper of
“I guess that’s part of the tradition of beekeeping, to get somebody under your wing and make sure the knowledge never goes away.” Mike Mackiewicz Bone Lake Meadows Apiary about 20 years and founder of Bone Lake Meadows Apiary in Scandia. But the bees in Ethan Stephansen’s Osceola hives have foraged and fanned enough nectar to seal off a decent collection by mid-August. “Ethan had a very successful year, which is not usually what happens for a first year beekeeper,” says Mackiewicz, Stephansen’s mentor.
At 13 years old, Stephansen’s success is perhaps even more impressive. Initially inspired by a year-round, drive-up honey stand run out of a shipping container in Harris, Minn., Stephansen’s interest has been longstanding. Before this year, he’d had a bit of practice shadowing other beekeepers. And when he decided to take the leap and tend his own hives, YouTube videos helped with many of the basics. But bees adapt to specific climates and conditions, and tricks of the trade in one region might not work in another. It’s something to be cautious of if the Internet is your teacher, says Mackiewicz. Stephansen’s bees seemed happy, for the most part, but he still had questions. So when Stephansen’s dad ran into Mackiewicz at the Scandia farmers market, one of the places Mackiewicz sells his honey, he started inquiring about the finer points of beekeeping on behalf of his son. It didn’t take the two men long to realize the mentorship potential. “I love mentoring new beekeepers and there are
SUZANNE LINDGREN | THE SUN
Mike Mackiewicz and Ethan Stephansen take the lid off a collection box.
always questions,” says Mackiewicz. From his perspective, a bit of teaching is the duty of experienced beekeepers. He does it happily. “I guess that’s part of the tradition of beekeeping,” he says, “to get somebody under your wing and make sure the knowledge never goes
away. Hopefully the next generation can pick up what you did and improve and ask the questions that need to be asked.” Mackiewicz has had a few teachers over the years. “I grew up in Superior and my neighbor kept bees,” he says. “It was
Village granted $488K for Discovery Center BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@OSCEOLASUN.COM
Osceola’s combined library and village-center project, the Mill Pond Discovery Center, got a boost last week when the village received notice of a $488,610 grant awarded to help fund construction of the building’s senior center. The money comes from a 40-year-old federal grant program created to support community development projects, especially public infrastructure, called the Community Development Block Grant [CDBG]. The village submitted its application for the grant in late May. Joel West, Osceola’s village administrator, credits the application’s success to the combined efforts of village staff,
fascinating and I used to help him out. Then I went to school in the big city and lost interest. In the late ‘90s I decided to move to the country and raise a family in Scandia. As a Fathers Day present one year I got a gift of a hive. From there it just kind of took off.” He found a new mentor,
a beekeeper in his 80s. He also studied the trade at the University of Minnesota, where he fine-tuned his methods for keeping bee colonies healthy and resilient. “At the University of Minnesota they advocate, if you want your SEE BEES, PAGE 11
New officer joins OPD BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@OSCEOLASUN.COM
to put the proposal together: architects, engi-
Jonathan Peter Frieden, the newest addition to Osceola’s police department, has wanted to be a police officer since h he was a boy growing up in Moline, Illinois. u “I’ve kind of always w wanted to be a police o officer,” he says. “Our c church shared parkiing lot with the Moline P Police Department, a and every Sunday I’d w walk by the shiny pollice cars with the Satu urday night officers g getting off their shift. I Frieden was always wide-eyed and that’s where the fascination started.” Over time, his goals have changed, but not his
SEE CENTER, PAGE 24
SEE FRIEDEN, PAGE 16
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A rendering of the Mill Pond Discovery Center, released in February. Evolving design plans may change the structure, but the style will likely remain similar, with a mix of brick and metal.
community members and Discovery Center planners, including Short Elliott HendrickNEWS 715-294-2314 editor@osceolasun.com
son [SEH], the architecture firm designing the building. “We worked with SEH ADVERTISING 715-294-2314 sales@osceolasun.com
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