Uncategorized | Field 2 Field

November 29, 2020November 29, 2020

Urban Exploring and a Surprise Along the Mendota Trail

Urban exploring in Mendota, Minnesota, was next on my weekend list of things to do. After all, the weather was going to be exceptional for November, so I’d be crazy not to go, right? What I thought was going to just be a chance to stretch out my legs turned into an unexpected photo opportunity and historical exploration.

Anyone who’s followed my urban exploring at either chadsmithmedia.com or on YouTube knows that sandstone architecture is one of my favorites. What I unexpectedly came upon was the Sibley Historic Site, which is located right at the head of the Mendota Trail.

For those who don’t know, Henry Hastings Sibley was the first governor of Minnesota. He made his fortune working for the American Fur Company, one of America’s first truly multinational companies by 1830. Most of their market was overseas in Europe, which bought a lot of the furs produced by the company.

However, the booming fur trade began to decline by the mid-1800s. That’s when Sibley jumped with both feet into politics, first on the local level, followed by state and national level offices. After being appointed Justice of the Peace in 1838, he was elected to Congress from the new Minnesota Territory, serving in that office from 1849 to 1853.

When the Minnesota Territory finally became a state, Sibley was elected as its first governor. His personal office in his home was the first governor’s office, and he served as governor from May 24, 1858, to January 2, 1860. He stayed in Mendota for a couple of years after leaving the governor’s office.

If I understand it right, this is the house Sibley used for cold storage as the construction obviously pre-dated refrigeration. (Photo by Chad Smith)

In December of 1862, Sibley moved his growing family to a larger house in St. Paul while he started to sell off his property in Mendota. He served as a colonel and later as a brigadier-general in the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862. When that concluded, Sibley continue to be active in public life.

He was a member of the University of Minnesota’s Board of Regents, a founding member of the Minnesota Historical Society, and he played a part in regional politics and business until passing away in 1891.

The Sibley House is next to another similarly restored house once owned by a gentleman named Jean-Baptiste Faribault, who also made money in the fur trade. As a former military man, he eventually settled in Mendota, Minnesota, as well.

Come on in to the Sibley House. I’d love to know what it looks like on the inside at the Sibley Historic Site in Mendota, Minnesota. (Photo by Chad Smith)

In June of 1839, Faribault signed a contract to have a stone house constructed, “to be furnished in the same manner as the dwelling house built…for H.H. Sibley.” The house was built out of Platteville limestone and sandstone, and it stood three stories tall. It set him back $5,000, a tidy sum in those days, and was completed in June of 1840. It currently is part of the Sibley Historic Site.

Highly recommend you do some urban exploring in and around the Sibley Historical Site! A learning opportunity and a little exercise never hurt anyone, did they?

The Sibley House at the Sibley Historical Site is a fantastic example of sandstone/limestone architecture.

Here’s a link to the rest of my pictures on FB:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=chad.smith.75685&set=a.3664927210234355

November 23, 2020November 23, 2020

Dairy farming exploration is a little different this time

Dairy farming exploration was too good to pass up. It’s been a while since this old fart got out and did some urbex, either in the city or out in the country. Hat tip to Shelby Staye, an urbexing Rockstar, for the tip! You can find her stuff on pages like Abandoned Places in Minnesota on Facebook.

This was an interesting exploration for me, and not just because I grew up working on my uncle’s dairy farm. While I do love dairy farming and exploring, this was unusual because a car was parked in the driveway when I got there. That’s never happened when I’ve been out exploring before, so I wasn’t sure how to handle it.

Finally, I got my nerve up and walked up to the place and found an older gentleman there cutting up some branches. Got my courage up and asked if I could take pictures of the old buildings there. It was a remarkable opportunity because I got a little history of the place.

The family was full-on into dairy farming back in the day. This gentleman (who I won’t name for the sake of anonymity) inherited the place from his mother-in-law, who sounded like a family matriarch. He and his wife lived on the property for a couple of years but their well wound up drying out, so they moved to a different location.

As you can tell from the pictures and short video, it’s sat there unused for a long time. However, Mother Nature hasn’t been as hard on the building as vandals have. I could hear the sadness in the guy’s voice as he described all the damage to what once was a stately old building it used to be.

The dairy barn is long gone from the property. The only other buildings on the property are an old metal building and a crumbling wooden shed. However, they may not be there for long. The owner said his wife wants to build a house and spend their golden years on the property, so it may not be there for long.

After that, it was off for a short drive over the Myrback Bridge and pulling up to the old Myrback School. I’ve been Googling a lot of different things to try and get some history of the Myrback School, but I can’t find any more than very small snippets. I do know at one point in its history, one of the teachers that worked there over time bought the school building. There are books available about those old schools in Wright County, but none of them are online.

It was nice to get out and explore again. With everything that’s been going on here in the Twin Cities since early this summer, I felt the need to stay closer to home. Good to see the rest of Minnesota again!

Here’s a link to my Facebook album with all the pictures:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=chad.smith.75685&set=a.3647115205348889

Here’s quick video I put together.. .didn’t have enough time to film everything I wanted. Sun goes down pretty quickly these days!

July 13, 2020July 13, 2020

Commodity markets suffer in first half of 2020

Commodity markets have not enjoyed the first half of 2020. In fact, both the grain and livestock markets are likely not looking backward, but instead are eyeballing the second half of the year with more than a little trepidation. What does the second half of the year hold in the markets? Joe Vaclavik of Standard Grains in Nashville, Tennessee, has some interesting thoughts on the impact of 2020 on the agricultural markets.

“The first half of the year was very abnormal,” he said without much hesitation. “If you look at where the markets were early in the year, we entered 2020 on a high note. Front-month corn futures were in the $3.80s and even the $3.90s, as well as better soybean and livestock prices.”

But those prices were short-lived, thanks to the coronavirus and the resulting economic shutdown. He says coronavirus has been THE big story of the year so far in agriculture. It was very much the story when it comes to the corn market, due to radically lower demand for ethanol.

“The virus hit and then the government shut down the economy,” Vaclavik says. “People just stopped driving. The amount of gasoline demand plummeted to levels that we haven’t seen in 30 or 40 years. When gasoline demand drops, ethanol demand goes with it.

“Ethanol typically accounts for as much as 40 of total corn usage in a given year,” he adds. “That means farmers lost hundreds of millions of bushels in corn demand lost because people weren’t driving.”

He says that sharply negative trend in the corn markets likely bled over into other commodities, including soybeans. But the livestock markets weren’t left unscathed during the first six months of this year either. The enormous loss in production capacity brought the entire processing industry to a screeching halt.

“That’s how you’d characterize the first half of the year,” he adds, “as a massive disruption in overall demand for ag products.”

There are some positive markers ahead for the markets. To find out what they are, listen to the complete podcast here:

July 11, 2020July 11, 2020

Abandoned State Hospital Exploration near Faribault

Abandoned state hospital exploring presented a golden opportunity. Got a tip from a fellow explorer about an awesome location near the city of Faribault in south-central Minnesota. The old Faribault State School and Hospital first opened in 1879, and then went by many names in the many decades to follow. While there isn’t a lot left to see, what’s there, as well as the history behind it, is interesting.

Here’s a link to my photo album: https://www.facebook.com/chad.smith.75685/media_set?set=a.3257581964302217&type=3

It first opened at the Minnesota Institute for the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind opened up an experimental department for feeble-minded children. In July of that year, 15 children were transferred there from locations in Rochester and St. Peter, Minnesota.

Two years after the experimental facility opened, a contract was let in 1881 for construction of the new building, which would be built south of the School for the Blind that was once owned by Alexander Faribault. The building consisted of a three-story main section and a two-story annex to the south, with a full-length basement. Later on, the building was extended further south by adding a central tower and two sections, a similar style to the original two structures.

The interior of the first of two buildings Derrick and I found during our exploration. They mostly looked the same. I couldn’t find much information on what they used these specific buildings for. (Photo by Chad Smith)

A short time later, the name would change to the Minnesota Institute for Defectives. As an aside, can you imagine those names going over well in this day and age? Me neither. However, the name changes didn’t stop there. In 1895, the facility took the name School for the Feeble-Minded. The name changes once again to the School for Feeble-Minded and Colony for Epileptics in 1906. The name became a little more generic when the institute became the Faribault State School and Hospital in 1955.

There would be one final name change before the facility would close. The name changed to the Faribault Regional Center in 1985 before closing a mere 13 years later.

When the school opened, it performed the functions of a school, a home, and a hospital. The three departments were the School and Training Department, Custodial or Home Department, and the Epileptic Hospital. During the school’s later years, its functions included reducing the dependencies of mentally disabled individuals, providing care, treatment, and training to help return people to as normal a life as possible, and assisting the families in coping with a mental disability, and many more.

The institution hit its peak patient population of 3,355 in 1955. It then became a receiving institution serving 28 counties in Minnesota. Just before closing, it served Hennepin, Dakota, Rice, Steele, and Freeborn counties, but individuals from many other counties in the state were still in residence.

Must have been a REALLY good July 4th at the old state hospital in Faribault. (Photo by Chad Smith.)

According to most of the sources I could find, the patient population represented people of all ages and all types of mental disability. Many of the patients had physical disabilities as well. The institution finally closed for good on July 1, 1998.

The abandoned state hospital doesn’t have much left to it. It’s always amazing to me just how quickly nature moves to take over an area we humans abandoned. It’s only been 22 years since that place shut down and nature is re-claiming it rapidly.

It is just me or does an abandoned state hospital always seem to have a really interesting story?

How long do you suppose it took for the tree to curve itself over the roof of that old
building? (Photo by Chad Smith)

Not sure what this is. We found it just off the path to the first building we found. Looks like
an adult car seat but I’m betting that’s not correct. (Photo by Chad Smith)

May 4, 2020May 4, 2020

Victory at the Jabs Farm – Finally Found It

Victory at last. After an unsuccessful first expedition , I came in from the south and found the Jabs Farm Site located between Jordan and Carver, Minnesota. It’s a long hike through the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, but it was totally worth it to see the building remnants that date all the way back to the late 1880s.

Here’s a short video I put together of the site.

One thing about the internet, they’ll sure tell you if you’re wrong. Came in from the north on the first trip and ran into a whole lot of water (flooding). Didn’t know there was another way in. But if you ask for assistance, the internet will also offer that too. And by the internet, I’m talking about the people on social media. Thanks to Brendon Maness, my newest Facebook exploring buddy. Took the time to put together directions so detailed, even I couldn’t get lost.

It took a while but I made it to the Jabs Farm on what I’m calling
the “Chad Smith victory hike.” (Photo by Chad Smith)

If you know anything about me personally, you know I have the direction sense of a wounded bumblebee. Ever seen a bumblebee fly? Nuff said.

You won’t get to park anywhere close to the site itself. I hiked two miles from where I parked to the site. Since my gym shut down over a month ago, it was a much harder hike than it would have been normally. I’m not a man that was naturally gifted with patience when I wanna get somewhere. The walk to victory was much more brisk than the hike back to the car.

The longest structure at the Jabs Farm. I’m just completely guessing but it’s either a storage area for equipment or animals. Again, just a guess. (Photo by Chad Smith)

The Riedel family originally put the farmstead together sometime between 1860 and 1880. Among the ruins of their old barn, one limestone chunk was engraved with “1880.” They worked the land till the Jabs family assumed control in 1905. They would control the land up to 1979, when the land was turned into the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge.

Just think for a minute about the Riedel family putting that operation together through the late 1800s. They didn’t have the state-of-the-art tools that we have today. That had to be some serious back-breaking labor in order to get those buildings up and going.

There was some restoration work done by Minnesota Fish and Wildlife. If you’re like me, your first though was “what?” However, the agency does maintain and protect a lot of abandoned buildings on their lands throughout the state.

The land the Jabs Farm sits on is now part of the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge. (photo by Chad Smith)

It’s a great place to go if you want to be “socially distant” from other folks. I didn’t see much more than a half-dozen folks going in and coming out. Like I said, it’s a trek. Mostly flat with some occasional ups and downs. Victory for this old guy felt pretty good!

Absolutely love the limestone they used to build the farmstead. (Photo by Chad Smith)

Here’s the link to my complete photo album on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chad.smith.75685/media_set?set=a.3079533055440443&type=3&uploaded=50

April 17, 2020April 18, 2020

Spring weather forecast showing less flooding

Spring weather is never a dull topic of conversation in the Midwest, is it? We went from a fantastic week of mild weather leading up to Easter to a run of below-normal temps and snowfall on Easter Sunday. While it was only a couple inches here in Maple Grove, there were much higher amounts elsewhere. I talked weather with Bryce Anderson of DTN, who says it’s not unusual at all to get snow during April.

“That has certainly happened many times before,” he said. “The heavy snow was certainly unwelcome because it set back farmer fieldwork for a while, probably a week later than they wanted.

This is what spring weather looked like in a good deal of the Central Plains and Midwest when flooding hit farmers hard. The good news in the spring weather forecast this year is the threat of flooding has moderated, depending on where you live. (Photo from curbed.com)

Farmers are certainly chomping at the bit to get spring fieldwork done to get ready for planting. Remember April 15^th of 2019 and the big snowstorm that moved through the Midwest? Here on the west side of the Twin Cities, we picked up 17 inches of snow last year. Happy Tax Day, right? However, despite that recent round of spring weather, Anderson doesn’t expect the monumental planting delays we saw last year during one of the roughest springs in recent memory.

Here’s a quick recap of a rough spring in 2019, courtesy of PBS:

“It won’t be a repeat of last year by any means,” he said emphatically. “Despite storm activity that moved through the southwestern and central United States, things were starting to moderate as we headed into the weekend. That colder arctic air we saw come into the Midwest over Easter was very slow in leaving the region, so that’ll also set fieldwork back a bit.”

One area of good news in the spring weather forecast is he’s not as worried about widespread flooding in farm country as he was a month ago. However, the caveat is that it depends on where you live. Still, things have slowed down some on that front.

“It’s not just me saying that either,” Anderson said. “Hydrologists with the Corps of Engineers have said the movement of the higher water throughout the nation’s river systems has been better than they hoped it would be. However, that doesn’t mean we won’t have trouble spots.

“The James River Valley that runs through South Dakota and the Red River Valley in North Dakota and Minnesota are still at flood stage,” he said. “In the Delta, there are streams in some portions of the lower Mississippi River Valley where flooding is still ongoing.”

Unfortunately for farmers and folks in those areas, flooding will likely continue in those areas for some time yet. Anderson did say that there likely aren’t going to be any new flood threats that develop in the spring weather forecast for farm country unless there’s a drastic change in the weather pattern. Before the recent run of cold and snow, farmers have gotten some planting done this spring in the eastern Corn Belt.

“There has been some soybean planting in Illinois and Indiana,” he said. “Growers in the western Corn Belt likely haven’t gotten very busy yet. In other areas of the Delta, corn planting is way behind in states like Mississippi and Arkansas. They likely won’t get a lot done after the recent run of storms and rainfall that recently hit southern areas.

April 16, 2020April 16, 2020

Hog farmers are hurting and asking for help

Hog farmers are hurting.

COVID-19 has put a serious crimp in the U.S. economy and nowhere is that more evident than in agriculture. More specifically, American hog farmers are struggling to stay on farms because they’re having trouble getting their hogs to market. Big trouble, in fact. Hogs are so far backed up on the farm that producers may have a tough decision to make in the not-too-distant future.

Those of us in the agricultural media don’t often hear the word “euthanize” in press conferences. Unfortunately, it came up multiple times during a press conference hosted by the National Pork Producers Council. As prices for hogs have plummeted, Howard ‘A.V.’ Roth, NPPC President, says things are as bad as they’ve ever been after several years of a depressed farm economy.

“We are now an ag sector in dire crisis,” Roth said to reporters. “Farmers are already exiting the business and the damage will only intensify without direct intervention from the federal government.”

Speaking as a hog producer himself, Roth says the pork industry has a list of several things it needs in order to help keep as many farmers in operation as possible. The first item on their wish list would clear out a tremendous amount of stored pork supplies as quickly as possible, plus it would get food into the hands of people who need it.

“Over $1 billion in pork purchases by USDA to clear out a backed-up meat supply, while supplementing food bank programs around the country facing increased demand for food as unemployment continues to rise,” Roth said. “These purchases should come from packaged pork that was intended for restaurants and other segments of the foodservice market.”

In all the years I’ve covered agriculture, I can tell you from firsthand experience that farmers want to make their living from the markets, not government handouts. How desperate are pork farmers to stay in business?

“We need direct payments to producers without eligibility restrictions,” Roth says.

They’re also hoping to see China remove retaliatory tariffs on U.S. pork that are still in place despite the Phase One trade agreement between the two countries. Roth points out that it’s no secret China needs a reliable source of affordable pork after their herds were decimated by the African Swine Fever virus.

“Removing those damaging tariffs would get us back on a level playing field with our international competitors,” Roth says. “Dr. Dermot Hayes, an economist with Iowa State University, says removing those tariffs would allow U.S. exports to China to more than double their current volume.”

How badly does China need pork, one of the most preferred proteins in the Asian diet? Let’s just say that Chinese pork producers, who can’t ever hope to meet their country’s domestic demand, are enjoying some pretty high prices for their products right now.

“While Chinese producers are enjoying record pork values, U.S. producers are facing a dire decision on our farms,” Roth said. “Sadly, it’s true. Without significant assistance, euthanizing is a question that’s going to begin coming up on our farms.

“Let me be the first to say, as a pork producer, we care about our animals,” he added. “The last thing we ever want to do is euthanize even one animal. We’re going to do everything in our power to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Producers may be able to at least push that decision back somewhat, thanks to a recent decision by the Environmental Protection Agency. Michael Formica, Assistant Vice President of Domestic Affairs and Counsel at NPPC, says hog housing restrictions have been temporarily relaxed.

“We reached out to EPA to ensure that if we were ever in a situation like the one we face now, producers would have an option to hold animals on their farm,” Formica said. “All of the farms are permitted to hold a certain number of animals. If they exceed those numbers, they have to go through new permitting.

“We asked EPA for a temporary waiver of the thresholds during the crisis we’re facing,” Formica said, “and thankfully, they granted that request a couple of weeks ago. That’s a tool that many farmers can use to hold animals on their farms while additional animals come through the pipeline.”

He says it’s important to point out that’s an advantage for farmers only if they have adequate additional space. If the backup continues indefinitely, they will run out of space and that’s when they have to start culling otherwise healthy animals from their herds, simply because there won’t be enough space to take care of them.

Why is it all piling up on hog farmers so quickly? Nick Giordano, Vice President of Global Government Affairs and Counsel for NPPC, says hog producers were the first to be hit hard by the trade war with China.

“Hog farmers were there at the tip of the Chinese retaliation spear,” he said. “Trade retaliation from two key markets, Mexico and China, in 2018 and 2019, took $20 off the prices that producers received for every hog.

‘Unlike a lot of the other segments in our economy that came into the COVID-19 outbreak with record profits and a full head of steam, our producers were already hurting. This has made a bad financial situation infinitely worse.”

How far have things fallen across the industry? Iowa State’s Dr. Hayes says in just one month, from March 10 to April 10, the pork industry has lost $5 billion in value. Something has to change.

December 28, 2019December 28, 2019

Meat Sector Looking for 2020 Rebound

Here’s the complete podcast with Mike Zuzolo. You can play it here or download it by clicking on the three dots on the right side of the player.

“Meat, the redder, the better.” Words of wisdom from the grill master (me). However, those folks who raise that red meat (which includes all types of the protein products in the meat case at your local grocery store), for the most part, had a difficult year.

The U.S. ag sector has to be happy to see the end of the calendar year 2019. It was rough, which might be the understatement of the century so far. I’ve been doing a series of interviews for the National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service (I’m the assistant editor/reporter) that looks back at 2019 and peeks ahead to next year. I caught up with Mike Zuzolo, President of Global Commodity Analytics in Atchison, Kansas.

2019 was not good for most sectors of the U.S. ag economy, including the protein sector. “No, it wasn’t,” Zuzolo says. “Given the packer break-evens being in the hundreds of dollars for much of the year in cattle, and given the cash prices of hogs struggling to get above $50 live prices, as well as seeing that African Swine Fever was decimating half of the world’s hog herd, I’d say 2019 was a very big disappointment to the cattle and hog industry.”

He said the challenges didn’t just include the trade troubles that dominated headlines throughout the year, they also included a major fire at a Cargill plant in Holcomb, Kansas. Zuzolo said that shot cattle prices sharply lower.

“Prices went below break-evens and they didn’t recover for several weeks,” he recalled. “In my opinion as a livestock analyst, it really shouldn’t have hit the markets quite that hard. The market saw cash prices for cattle collapse from around $120 to $100 for several weeks. At the same time, ground beef and boxed beef prices shot sharply higher because of expectations for tighter supplies.”

Cattle producers took a major hit at that time. The good news is I want to leave you is that Zuzolo sees potential for several bright spots ahead for the protein sector in 2020.

You can find Mike’s website at https://globalanalytics.wpcomstaging.com/

September 17, 2019September 17, 2019

World Horseshoe Tournament: Minnesotans do well

The 2019 World Horseshoe Tournament took place in Wichita Falls, Texas, on July 22-August 3. The National Horseshoe Pitching Association sponsors the tournament once a year in different locations around the country. Once again, this year’s tournament included a contingent of “pitchers” from the Rushford-Peterson area, who all competed well down in Texas.

Darren Chambers of Rushford usually takes a delegation of area residents to the World Horseshoe tournament once a year, with this year being no exception. “This year, we had a few more people going along than in 2018,” he said. “I took three new players this year. A total of five went from the Rushford area and I took my two grandsons from West Salem too.

“My new players this year included my niece, Donata Kitchens,” he said, “along with my granddaughter, Brielle Schneider, as well as Lucas Rasmussen. They all took part in their first world tournament. The three that I took to last year’s tournament, Isaac Rasmussen, Mason Chambers, and Noah Chambers, all went again this year too.”

Brielle Schneider, who Chambers says has “only been pitching for about five months,” won the Class C Division at the tournament. “She won the round-robin tournament with a perfect 9-0 record,” Chambers said. “Brielle actually had to beat Isaac Rasmussen at one point (18-17) to win the championship. Isaac wound up in second place with an 8-1 record.

“A total of four kids were in Class C, including Brielle, Isaac, Lucas, and Noah,” he said. “Noah took sixth place in Class C and Lucas Rasmussen finished in seventh. Mason won his class last year and took fourth in this year’s World Horseshoe Tournament. He started slowly but finished the tournament on fire, throwing 15 ringers in one game (40 total throws, 37%).”

Chambers said he takes the kids to different tournaments in Iowa throughout the winter (indoors). It’s not hard to get them ready for the world tournament because “they just love the road trips” and they “love playing the game.”

Lucas Rasmussen had the distinction of being the youngest player at the World Horseshoe Tournament in Texas. He played quite a match with Brielle Rasmussen in Class C competition. “Lucas lost to Brielle in the last game of the tournament,” Chambers recalled. “He trailed 11-9 and just needed a ringer to win the game. Lucas threw a ringer that would have won him the game. However, she had a shoe that was literally standing up on the side of the pole and it flipped her shoe right on there. That canceled out his ringer and he lost 11-9.

“This old guy (Darren) finished up 9-6 at the tournament this year,” he said with a laugh. “I wound up in sixth place, which got me into a little money. They pay out through sixth place.”

Chambers said Donata Kitchens wasn’t initially going to play in the tournament. At first, Chambers said she came along to “help out with the kids.” Chambers admitted he knew they would need an extra pair of hands on the trip, especially with the extra kids going along to Texas. “Well, we decided since she’s going along, Donata might as well play,” he said. “You have to play in four tournaments to qualify for the world tournament and we just barely got her qualified. It was worth it as she took third place in the women’s Class K Division.”

It takes many hours of practice to be successful at the world tournament. Chambers likes the fact that people in each division are competing against other players with similar skill levels, thanks to the way the national association organizes the tournament.

“This tournament really has a class for everybody,” he said. “Participants are put into their class based on their ringer percentage. The more ringers you make, the higher class of competition you’re in. For example, I’m in the second-to-lowest class at the tournament because my ringer percentage is between 10-12 percent., while the number-one-ranked guy in the world will pitch somewhere between 85-90 percent.

“That’s a big difference and why they class it up the way they do,” Chambers added. “When you play someone in your class, you’ll have a good chance to win. It makes the tournament a lot more fun for everybody.”

Chambers started attending world tournaments every year since 2003 and typically went by himself, however the group traveling to next year’s world championship tournament in Monroe, Louisiana, will likely include at least 13 people from Minnesota. He said there’s always room for more people who want to play.

“Anyone interested in pitching horseshoes can give me a call if they want to get involved,” Chambers added. “I’m happy to teach them different ways to throw and would be happy to help anyone interested.”

I included a video recap of some of the action at this year’s tournament:

September 11, 2019September 11, 2019

Trojans football gets first win last week on the road

Here’s the entire podcast with Davin Thompson. Feel free to download for later use. Just click on the three dots on the right side of the audio player and select download.

The Rushford-Peterson football team went on the road to an unfamiliar place and came away with their first win of the season last week. The Trojans beat Bethlehem Academy in Faribault 39-18, evening their mark at 1-1 overall (0-0 sub-district). R-P coach Davin Thompson said the team jumped out to a 14-0 lead and the coaches could see the players’ confidence growing.

“I loved the way our kids responded after the Blooming Prairie loss,” he said. “We had a good week of practice and talked about being more physical. Against BP, we were tentative and not aggressive. The coaches know the kids are going to make mistakes, but we want them to be aggressive mistakes. We don’t want them second-guessing what they’re supposed to be doing.”

The Trojans had to overcome some adversity at the start of the game during the opening kickoff. “We had a nice wall (of blockers) set up,” Thompson said. “The kid from BA made a good tackle on Kobe Lind and forced a fumble. Right away it felt like ‘here we go again.’ However, the defense stepped up, got a stop, and gave us the ball back.

“Right away, Malachai Bunke threw a pass to Kobe, we got Triton Meldahl going, and our offensive line did a good job up front,” he added. “They did a good job of opening holes as well as protecting (quarterback) Malachai (Bunke). They were physical without trying to do too much.”

Trojan running backs took advantage of the good blocking, tallying up 32 carries for 369 yards and three touchdowns, averaging a spectacular 11.5 yards per rush. Triton Meldahl played a big part in the ground game, rushing 23 times for 262 yards (11.3 yards per carry) and two TDs. Lind had two carries for an amazing 66 yards and the other rushing TD, while Peyton Morrison added another three carries and 31 yards.

Bunke, in his second career start, completed nine of 14 passes (64%) for 120 yards and two touchdowns. His longest throw was a 21-yarder. Justin Ruberg (56 yards receiving) and Lind (56 yards) each caught one of his two TD throws. Thompson said the young QB did a nice job of distributing the football.