City to Country Tour

Late Thursday, Nancy and I returned from a 15-day vacation (article to follow soon) to the Pacific Northwest states, giving us a day and a half to prepare to be at the Scott-Carver City-to-Country Tour on Saturday, September 24, where we planned to have fun meeting people, talking about farm heritage, doing a 30-minute show, and selling our books.

Three farms are included in the tour, and a ticket purchased at any one of the locations is honored at every location. There is no particular starting point.
We felt lucky to be scheduled from 10 AM to 4 PM at the Charles and Jeri Friedges farm, located west of New Market. Charles and Jeri have a really clean and efficient farmstead, with the dairy building and holding pen located next to County Road 27 and near County Road 2. We drive by the place many times a year and always enjoy viewing the fine herd of cattle and the fine crops.

Nancy took the above picture of the Friedges farmstead several years ago during a winter sunset.

I like the way the sun makes the vertical pink streaks on the blue silos.

Youngsters are kept busy coloring as food is prepared to be served to the farm visitors.

Later, children are read to while others stand in line to eat.

The big shed had displays from several vendors plus an informational display from the Jersey Association as shown below:

Patrick Fisher, staff writer from The New Prague Times covered the event.

My program was at noon and I performed a 25 minute show which included my story If I Were a Farmer:Nancy's Adventure. 

Audience members seemed to enjoy the show and stopped by later to chat. 

Around 600 people visited the Friedges Farm that day, and no one seemed in a hurry.

Many attended the 4-H display.

All morning and afternoon people stopped to visit and buy books.

I had the privilege of signing some books, 

and Nancy and I gave out free stickers.

And I got to meet my second cousin Nancy, who was a childhood friend of my wife.

But what people really came for was the milking, which began at 3:30 PM.

Visitors go to the barn as milking begins.

Charles and Jeri have a fine herd of Jerseys.

But they have a few Holsteins too.

And everybody likes the calves.

Nancy and I want to thank Laura Kieser from the Scot County and Carver County Extension offices for inviting us to the event. Also, we thank the farmers who participated and went thorough all the extra work to prepare their farm for visitors and put their regular work on hold so people could come to their farms. We especially thank Charles and Jeri Friedges for opening their farm to us.

Photographs by Nancy A. Fredrickson

Preston Public Library and country side

Nancy and I left early for our show at Preston Library on Thursday for the sole purpose of arriving early. We looked forward to driving around the hills and lowlands and taking pictures. The drive to Preston took nearly three hours. Once we arrived, we quickly found the library and then drove out of town to witness the scenic country side.

Preston Library with sidewalk sign announcing our 7:00 PM show.

The city of Preston is located in a scenic valley with a river running through it. Whichever direction you take out if town, you are treated to an uphill climb and then a panoramic view of the valley below.

The slightly over cast day gave magical haze to the countryside.

The windmill above and the farmhouse below stand as proud reminders of past successes.

Current farms and cattle provide pleasant viewing.

Nancy spots a fox trotting through a field.

We slow down. He stops to check us out. Looks like something is in his jaws.

After the fox moves on, we drive another 200 yards to spot young foxes playing along the road bank.

They quickly scurry to the safety of the tall grass. We know our pictures will be blurry. 

We content ourselves with taking a few photos of wildflowers, which patiently wait for us to point and shoot.

 Photographs by Nancy A. Fredrickson

To see photos of the program at Preston Library, please click below on Read More.