The Land :: www.TheLandOnline.com Back Roads

Back Roads: Direct and to the point

2011-02-11T10:13:24-06:00

Whole Farm Cooperative, Long Prairie, Minn.

Back Roads: Baby needs new shoes

2011-01-28T14:48:21-06:00

“Most horses are remarkably gentle, even patient during the shoeing process.”

Back Roads: Deep thoughts

2011-01-13T11:01:32-06:00

The Great American Think-Off was an ambitious project in the early 1990s when local free thinkers created the idea for a philosophy competition. Since then people from around the country, and world, have come to debate some of life’s central questions.

Back Roads: Schweiss menagerie

2011-01-13T10:55:44-06:00

Arnie Schweiss’ herd of horses — three Quarter Horses and two Arabians — stand at attention to honor those who drive by the Schweiss home in New Ulm, Minn. They never flinch. The fact that they are made of fiberglass doesn’t lessen the effect.

Back Roads: Greetings from Amish country

2011-01-13T10:52:37-06:00

Have you ever seen a handmade Amish greeting card?

Back Roads: In cod we trust

2010-11-05T14:04:41-05:00

Not every town would want to be known as the Lutefisk Capital of the United States, but Madison proclaims it proudly, on the base of a 25-foot-long fiberglass codfish along Highway 75. They named him Lou T. Fisk.

Back Roads: Sweet Finnish

2010-10-22T14:27:12-05:00

In days gone by the old Finns were short on leavening for their bread. So they made flat bread. That Finnish flat bread was one of the things that defined your Finnishness. These days Finns, and those of us not lucky enough to be Finnish, can get old-time flat bread at the Menagha Bake Shop in Menagha. Well, it’s not really the same as old-timers bread.

Back Roads: A world apart

2010-10-13T16:15:13-05:00

Many look to escape the summer heat of the southern plains, others come to kayak the beautiful autumn shoreline of Lake Superior, and the adventurous brave the frigid northern winter to experience dogsledding.

Back Roads: History on the hill

2010-09-24T10:30:56-05:00

In 1883, the Todd County Commissioners agreed to build a courthouse high on a hill above the little frontier village of Long Prairie. They spent a grand sum of $20,000 during a time when most anything the ordinary citizen needed was valued in pennies. This statement about the solidity and longevity of justice and law was certainly affected by the dark deeds of autumn 1879.

Back Roads: Prairie giants

2010-09-10T09:42:08-05:00

When visiting the bison at Blue Mounds State Park in southwest Minnesota, watching them graze on the plentiful prairie grass, be sure to keep one eye on their tails.