Visit to Austin Minnesota: Austin Public Library

The drive from the Mower County Historical Society to the Austin Library takes us less than ten minutes and after we check out the performance area, we unload right away. Still no rain. We are lucky.

As you can see, the Austin Public Library is a really nice building with a beautifully landscaped entrance. What you do not see is that the friendly, efficient library staff is really busy on this Thursday afternoon as people of all ages take advantage of all that is offered.

Anita Bruggerman, who farms with her husband and son and works full-time with events at the library, kindly introduces me to the kids and adults in the audience.

The room is long and he audience sits in he middle and in chairs along the perimeter, making them impossible to capture on one picture.

They seemed to enjoy the show and a few of the adults hung around to ask some questions, tell me stories, and buy some books after the show.

The mother above is wearing an Allis–Chalmers sweatshirt and explains that she farms with her husband and family. They run a lot of land but also take time to collect antique tractors, which is an important way of preserving farm heritage. I'm pleased that they see my books as a legitimate way to preserve farm heritage, as well.

Thanks to Anita Bruggerman for arranging my visit to the Austin Public Library and thanks to the library for their generous donation for travel expenses. Nancy and I enjoyed the trip and would love to return some time soon.

Photographs by Nancy A. Fredrickson

Visit to Austin Minnesota: Mower County Historical Society

Back in February Dustin Heckman, Executive Director of Mower County Historical Society in Austin, MN, contacted me to do a show for their Noon Lunchbox series on June 23, 2011. Lucky for us, after he scheduled the event, he talked to Anita Bruggerman of the Austin Public Library, and she scheduled us to do a show at the library the same day. Since we advertise that we do our show for free but we accept donations, doing two shows that are only a mile or so apart in a city like Austin on the same day is exactly what we need to keep expenses down. We thank the Historical Society and the Library for each giving us a generous donation for travel expenses. I will post the blog on the Austin Library tomorrow.

The Mower County Historical Society is located on the fairgrounds in Austin and although we accidentally drove past the entrance the first time, the sign by the street shown in the picture below made us feel really welcome.

The Historical Society preserve and display a number of buildings on the grounds, including a school, a church, a log cabin, original fair buildings, and the Hormel building in the picture below.

We had no time to stroll the grounds, especially since we wanted to make sure we unloaded our equipment before rain came.

Dustin showed us to the Agriculture Building where Nancy and I set up quickly so we would have some time to get a close look at all the machinery on display.

Another bit of luck is that we were able to pick up our newest book, A Farm Country Picnic, from the warehouse the preceding week, and today would be our first performance of a show that included the newly released story.

I think that having a hay loader in the background is appropriate since the story begins with the family putting up hay with a hay loader.

After the show, people generously bought some books and waited patiently for me to sign them.

Dustin and I pose for a picture in front of the hay loader before Nancy and I have to be on our way to the Austin Library.

Nancy and I would like to thank Dustin Heckman, Executive Director of the Mower County Historical Society, for asking us to visit and taking the time to show us around. The grounds are really nice and we'd love to return during the fair some time to see all the buildings and equipment on display.

A Farm Country Picnic

As Nancy and I pick up my newest book, A Farm Country Picnic, from the warehouse in Minneapolis, we are just as excited as when we picked up our first, A Farm Country Christmas Eve, in October of 2008.

Nancy takes a photo of the book as we drive south on Highway 100.

A Farm Country Picnic, our seventh book published by Beaver's Pond Press, Edina, tells the tale of a farm family putting up hay day after day while the children long for a break to go to a nearby lake to fish, to swim, and to picnic. The father admonishes the kids for asking for a break by telling them, "'Make hay when the sun shines' is farming's old rule," but the next morning when when the children wake up to a rainstorm, they know they may get their wish to go to Web Lake to have some fun.

 But as every farmer knows, the word farm comes before the word family in every farm family, and when the Watkins man drives into the yard exclaiming their cows are out, the entire family knows they will spend the day rounding up cows and fixing fences. Their shoulders sag as one at the news.

Like all the stories in my Farm Country Tales series, the story is written in rhyme and meter, portrays farm activities accurately, and shows the positive results of a family working together to accomplish goals. Ever sensitive to the needs of the farm and their children, the parents in the story give the kids a special picnic in their own pasture after the work is done. Nine-year-old Mags proclaims, "This sure beat old Web Lake!"
The book features a map of the farm which shows were the cows got out and a glossary that defines some of the farm terms.
More sample pictures are displayed on my website.
www.gordonfredrickson.com