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Green thumbs sought to reinvigorate Range farmstead
Here’s an interesting item I received from Beth Pierce at Iron Range Tourism: Biwabik landowner wants to put farm into production Shawn Callahan is looking for a few good farmers. Callahan, who owns and operates Green Gate Guest House, a sustainably built guest cottage near Biwabik, is hoping to put new life into his historic farmstead. “I’m reaching…
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It’s the Minnesota spring that gets you, not winter
This is my Sunday column for the March 3, 2013 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. It’s the Minnesota spring that gets you, not winterBy Aaron J. Brown It’s March. I think all the snowbirds are gone by now. So let’s speak freely, shall we? I don’t mind that people head south for the winter.…
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The sounds of Sparta
On the topic of Minnesota musicians with ties to the Great Northern Radio Show, check out this marvelous Andrea Swensson “The Current” profile of Sparta Sound, where Rich Mattson and friends have crafted a respected recording studio used by many in the growing Minnesota music scene. From the story: Sparta may feel remote, but it’s…
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Range town thinks spring with ‘Green Envy’
For those longing for spring in this land where spring eludes us well into late April, how about this Iron Range shindig? This Saturday, March 2, an event called “Green Envy” will be held from 4-7 p.m. at the Olcott Park Greenhouse in Virginia, Minnesota. The tagline: “Be the envy of all your friends, get…
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Still time to enter poems, stories in Dylan Days contest
As a shiftless blogger with dreams of an illustrious writing career I know that you, a shiftless blog reader, probably pine for the same. How about you try a contest that I help run for Dylan Days in Bob Dylan’s hometown of Hibbing, Minnesota? The B.J. Rolfzen Memorial Creative Writing Contest is named for Dylan’s…
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Freshman MN state rep seeks 1st grade class presidency
Here’s something adorable and yet just uncomfortable enough to qualify as funny. State Rep. Joe Radinovich (DFL-Crosby), newly elected from Minnesota’s Cuyuna Iron Range and Aitkin County, recently spoke to a McGregor first grade class. After receiving letters from the students after the visit, he recorded this video in which he announces his candidacy for…
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Lyric Center celebrates ‘Range of the Arts’
Every year the Lyric Center for the Arts in Virgina, MN, hosts the “Range of the Arts” festival, a multi-day collection of workshops and gallery exhibits. Range of the Arts 2013 begins today. New this year is tomorrow night’s 6:30 p.m. live variety show at The Loft at 516 1/2 Chestnut Street. The event will…
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By water and land; perils of a man-made landscape
Two big stories this past have shown that the mines and mining in general still hold a lot of sway over northern Minnesota, particularly when it comes to public infrastructure. First, Cliffs Natural Resources rejected the most popular proposal to re-route the vital Range artery of Highway 53. The Minnesota DOT had proposed building the…
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‘Prairie Silence’ rings true across flatlands, woods or city
This is my Sunday column for the Feb. 24, 2013 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. I previewed this column with some additional thoughts last Monday. ‘Prairie Silence’ rings true across flatlands, woods or cityBy Aaron J. Brown Having grown up shadowed by the trees and modified hills of northern Minnesota’s Iron Range, I admit…
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A very mining-y baby announcement
On Tuesday, WDIO-Duluth anchor and Iron Range reporter Renee Passal made a very clever announcement that she’ll be having a baby in August. She framed it in the tone and language of a “This Week in Mining” news segment. For those of us who grew up watching “the channel” (WDIO’s twin WIRT Channel 13 in…
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Here comes the Bakk-mobile
If you learn politics on the Iron Range you grow to love verbal duels between Falstaff-like figures. That’s why I enjoyed this quote from State. Rep. Greg Davids (R-Preston): “If you want to get on the Bakk-mobile, go ahead. I’m not getting on the Bakk-mobile.” That’s from Urmila Ramakrishnan’s story about an internal dispute among…
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Range student tells MPR about life with Asperger’s
I’m very, very, very proud of my kid sister (a sophomore at Hibbing High School) Tori Brown who has today’s commentary at Minnesota Public Radio. She writes about the practical realities of having Asperger’s Syndrome as a high school student. She wrote this after talking to us about our son, who also has a form…
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The quiet weight of Prairie Silence
How many truths are unspoken in a place like the Iron Range, or really any part of Minnesota? Perhaps as many as remain unsaid on the North Dakota flat lands of Melanie Hoffert’s new memoir “Prairie Silence: A Memoir.” Hoffert’s debut book is an excellent read, one that absorbed my long weekend. I’ll explore it…
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Snowmobiles, art and poetry, a true Range blend
Looking for something to do on the Iron Range this weekend? Here are an assortment of options, all of which roughly coincide with e-mails that have lingered in my inbox until this present and pressing moment. How about a snowmobile race? We’ve got solid snow pack all over the Range and if cross country skiing…
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Gadzo talks Iron Range potica on Twin Cities TV
Jason Davis’s popular KSTP “On the Road” segment heads to the Iron Range to talk to Jan Gadzo (pronounced Yahn Gahdso) about potica. Jan Gadzo is an amazing person with an amazing story. I kept lots of notes from talking with him about his experiences fleeing the former Czechoslovakia. Here’s a guy who knows what…