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PEACHES and cheese and Splitladder Syder
IF I HAD TO NAME my favorite fruits, I would choose blueberries, strawberries and peaches. So you can imagine my excitement upon glimpsing a PEACHES sign while traveling along Minnesota Highway 60 near...
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Traveling Wisconsin State Highway 21
THIS PAST WEEKEND my husband and I moved our second-born to eastern Wisconsin, where she just started a job as a Spanish medical interpreter. Our mission focused primarily on transporting her...
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Say cheese, a Wisconsin experience
TO TRULY EXPERIENCE Wisconsin, you must, must, visit a cheese store, like Simon’s Specialty Cheese Retail Store in Little Chute, northeast of Appleton. Simon’s offers a Wisconsin experience you’ll long...
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Say “no” to cheese?
“Did u hear about the anti-cheese billboard up by green bay?” my Wisconsin-resident daughter texted. Since I discovered her message seven hours after she sent it, I was on my own to investigate. You...
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Differences & bridges
I WANT TO SHARE two items with you today. Both are different, yet alike, because they’re about differences. Differences between cultures and differences between states. Humbird Cheese, a popular...
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Come on over to Faribault for a BBQ & more
An example of the barbecued meat prepared for the 2011 Minnesota in May BBQ Contest. MINNESOTA BARBEQUE LOVERS, this is your weekend. The season’s first of six Kansas City Barbeque Society sanctioned...
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Piper pets a pig & more fun at tasty BBQ fest in Faribault
One of the humorous signs I spotted on BBQ equipment at the Minnesota in May BBQ & Cheese Festival in Faribault. FROM TEAM “Drop It Like It’s Hot BBQ” of Little Canada to “The Oinkologists” from...
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A wannabe dairy princess
The barn where I labored alongside my father and siblings while growing up on the southwestern Minnesota prairie. File photo. GROWING UP ON A MINNESOTA DAIRY FARM, I’ve always loved dairy products....
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If you think Wisconsinites love beer, brats & cheese, you’d be right
IN THREE YEARS of exploring Wisconsin, I’ve learned a few things: Wisconsinites are crazy about their Packers. Wisconsinites love their brats. Cheese is, indeed, big in Wisconsin. And, finally,...
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Next time pull off in Pine Island
Approaching Pine Island on U.S. Highway 52 southbound. TRAFFIC ZOOMS BY on U.S. Highway 52 around Pine Island, hurried motorists rushing to Rochester or St. Paul or places in between. On the left, a...
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In rural Nerstrand: Of sheep & cheesemaking
Approaching Shepherd’s Way Farms, rural Nerstrand. I WAS SMITTEN, simply smitten by the two-day-old lambs at Shepherd’s Way Farms. I wanted to snatch one of the babies from an outdoor pen, tuck it...
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A Minnesotan’s take on Wisconsin
WHEN I TOOK A ROAD TRIP to Boston earlier this year, I learned something about my home state. Or rather, what others think of Minnesota. Whether in Indiana or New York or Massachusetts, folks reacted...
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Another world award for Caves of Faribault cheese
Felix, Caves of Faribault’s latest award-winning blue cheese. (Photo source: Caves of Faribault Facebook page) THERE SEEMS TO BE no middle of the road here, no riding the fence. Either you like it or...
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The Mystery of the Inflated Mozzarella Cheese Bag
The unopened bag is rock-hard solid inflated. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2022) IT’S A MYSTERY, The Case of the Inflated Mozzarella Cheese Bag. To be sure, this is no Nancy...
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Minnesota makes strong showing in U.S. Cheese Makers Contest
Inside a Rice County dairy barn. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo) AS SOMEONE WHO GREW UP on a dairy farm, I understand the hard work and commitment of feeding, caring for and milking...
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Last-minute Minnesota centric gifts, mostly local
A delivery truck for Cry Baby Craig’s hot sauce, parked behind the business in downtown Faribault. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo 2021) WITH ONLY DAYS until Christmas, hostess and...
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