Bowdon, ND

As a direct result of a Horizons Program based initiative–publication of the Bowdon Guardian–BDCI is the recipient of 200 sturdy, new folding chairs for the Bowdon Auditorium. After receiving the first issue of the newspaper, a generous former Bowdonite gave a challenge grant that was matched by other local groups and people for the purchase of chairs. This means that there will be no more moving of chairs to and from the Community Center or borrowing them from the local churches for large occasions. How nice and convenient for our next All School Reunion!

Thank You!

Wednesday night, April 2, a group of Bowdonites gathered at the Library and learned about circles–the circles of recycling and composting.

As we move toward a Green Bowdon, recycling has become an important part of our efforts. Angela Boeshans, Executive Director of the North Dakota Solid Waste and Recycling Association, gave us a rousing presentation of all aspects of recycling and how we can easily integrate it into our households, our businesses, our farms and ranches, and our community. We learned that when we recycle, we put our refuse and waste back into the circle of manufacturing and use, instead of having it wind up in the dead end of the landfill. Interest was high, and the group asked lots of questions. The answers will be a great help in moving us forward to becoming the little green town on the prairie.

Following Angela, Ron Wiederholt of the NDSU Research Station at Carrington gave us important information about how we can keep even more stuff out of the landfill and move it back into the circle of life by composting. We found out that composting is simple and easy and will result in a 70% reduction in the volume of organic waste, while helping us to grow fruits, vegetables, and flowers that are vigorous and healthy. According to Ron, anything that is derived from something once living can go into the compost pile/bin/barrel. He did caution us, however, that we shouldn’t recycle potato or tomato vines because of the possiblity of plant diseases. With anything else that goes through the composting process, though, the heat from the process will break down toxins, weed seeds, and all the rest of that bad stuff. What we get at the end is clean, crumbly, rich, organic, earthy-smelling compost–manna for the garden. To illustrate, Ron passed around a two-year-old bag of compost that was made from manure.  It smelled, according to Gary Heintz, “earthy–like rich soil.” The group concurred that it was black gold!

All this information will be a great help in our community gardening and beautification efforts. Thanks Angela and Ron! 

Earlier in March, Wayne Fuhrman, Gary Heintz, Laurel Jones, Valgene Kreiter, and Patti Patrie met with Dale Van Eckhout of the USDA to discuss options for funding for updating and heating the school, both the new part and the 1913 building. We’re looking at renewable energy sources that are economical to install and use. Many ideas were generated during the meeting, and the one thing we could all easily agree on was that we need the assistance of an architect to help us evaluate our specific needs. Anyone out there?  

Whew! Sorry I haven’t been doing much blogging lately–March has been a very busy month, and we’ve been doing too much to stop and blog about it!   To illustrate:  Sunday, March 30th, the Bowdon Lions Club held a benefit pancake dinner at the Community Center for Jim Kunz to help defray expenses while he and Sandy are in Rochester, MN for Jim to receive treatment. The food was great and the dinner was well attended. The Lions will have their funds matched by up to $1000 by Thrivent. People working together to help each other.

 Immediately following the dinner, the Horizons Steering Committee held a presentation in the basement of the Lutheran Church on organic gardening. The guest speaker, Dwight Duke, was phenomenal–all that knowledge in one man’s mind is absolutely amazing. I learned more about gardening–organic, sustainable gardening–in that one presentation than I have picked up in a lifetime! What a wonderful boost to our community gardens effort.

Then Patti Patrie and I were off to Crookston, MN, for the Home Grown Economy 2008 Conference at the University of Minnesota Crookston. The theme of the conference was “Connecting Local Foods and Economic Opportunity” which directly relates to what the Horizons Program is doing right here in our community. We learned all about organic gardening and farming, the growth of the local foods movement, sales, and marketing. Lunch was a fantasic spread of locally grown and produced foods, during which we had time to network with many different people, including Shawnn Balstead of the USDA in Minnesota, whose picture is shown here. What a wonderful opportunity to learn about addressing healthy living, growing our economy, and leaving a smaller environmental footprint, while eating tasty, local foods.

I am pumped up!! Laurel Jones and I attended the Miner County presentation at Gackle Thursday night. We saw old friends from Leadership Plenty training, were inspired by the story of dedicated people in Miner County who are reinventing their future, and Laurel sold 16 “Believe in Bowdon” Raffle Tickets at $20 a shot. She assured the good folks in Gackle that at least one would win and good enough our friend Mary Conrad did just that in our first drawing yesterday in Bowdon.

Two things really impressed my about Miner County. 1. Their original program was youth driven. 2. They focused on the impact that 10% increased purchasing would do to their community. Someone had suggested that very idea for increased patronage to our local grocery store. Now we have proof from our friends in South Dakota that buying local has great impact!

Lance Brower, NDSU Ext. agent with an emphasis on economic development, can help Bowdon do a similar assessment. I will be taking the idea to the marketing task force soon and with their approval will anticipate some very helpful feedback through Lance’s assessment.

By the way Kurt S.– thank you for your blog and the suggestion for our grocery store. I am looking forward to the day when the Bowdon community will be celebrating the outcome of its new found loyalty to present and new business entities.

Patti Patrie was just elected president of the ND Farmers Market and Grower Association at its 4th annual conference in Carrington, ND on February 15 and 16. Patti grew up in Michigan on a fruit farm and now raises red raspberries on the Patrie grain and cattle farm southeast of Bowdon. Raspberries are sold fresh and in processed products made in the Patries’ on-farm commerical kitchen. A fruit stand was built by Clayton Patrie (Patti’s oldest son) when a Junior at the Bowdon High School. It is located on the northwest corner of Highways 52 and 200 where they intersect just 1 mile north of the Patries’ berry patch.

For several years Patti has been encouraging others in Bowdon to grow produce and sell it along with the raspberries at the fruit stand. Now people are realizing that growing a few more vegetables in their gardens may be a good way to increase the amount of local foods available for purchase in ND. Local food production and a local foods diet are two ways to build upon the new trend of eating by health conscience consumers. Customers inquire about more choices. ND people are agricultural. So its a perfect fit to match the local skills with demand.

Patti and daughter, Anne, attended the conference session on high tunnel production by Terry Nennich of Bemidgi, MN. The tunnels serve as greenhouses but have no artifical heat. Temperature is controled by rolling up and down the plastic walls of the tunnel. Tunnels serve to extend the growing season of both fruit and vegetables which make them very popular in northern climates.

The farmers market group will work to bring Terry back again to speak in more detail on the tunnels and plan a tour of tunnels in the Fergus Falls area of MN this summer. For more information on the farmers market organization and events go to www.ndfarmersmarkets.com or call Patti at 701-962-3355.

Meanwhile the local foods interest is growing in Bowdon and the Horizons team has asked Dwight Duke of Hensler to do a presentation on raising organic fruit and vegetables and marketing at Farmers’ Markets. He will be in Bowdon at the school building library on Sunday, March 30 from 1 to 4 p.m. Everyone is invited.

Current equipment available in the Bowdon Fitness Center:
A Bowflex Sport, 2 Treadmills, 2 Cardiogliders, Eliptical Machine, Rowing Machine, ab lounger, ab swing, schwinn air bike, bike
We have a tv with a vhs recorder and a dvd player, so come and workout on the treadmill or bike while watching a movie. Before you know it, you will have walked those 4 miles or rode those 6 miles.
We also have a cd player available, so bring your favorite cds with and listen to music while you workout on all the machines.
Currently there are 9 members using the Fitness Center.

On Feb. 8th, Denise Spanjer of the Center for Technology & Business, came to Bowdon to give the Train-the-Trainer Class in Computer Education Courses.  Denise was very helpful in giving us the tools we need to competently hold Adult Education Computer Courses.  The following classes will be given:
1. Computing 1 - A beginners guide to computers & the internet.
2. Computing 2 - Word Processing & Spreadsheets
3. Intermeditate Course
4. Windows Management
5. Powerpoint
6. Microsoft Word
7. Microsoft Excel
8. Power-up with Projects
a. Intro to Genealogy
b. Intro to Online Shopping
c. Finding Answers to Your Computer Questions Online
d. Online Investing Resources
e. Getting Acquainted with the Photo Editing Program
f.  Intro to Digital Photography
g. Projects Using Digital Images, Part 1
h. Projects Using Digital Images, Part 2

For more information, contact Pam Hoff at 962-3697.

One of the Focus Items that came out of the Group Decision Center Activity and the surveys Horizons sent out was ‘Improving our Senior Citizens Services’.  So we sent out a letter to the communities with the following info:

Some of the areas where they felt help would be needed/appreciated are:·       
Needing rides to Doctor/dentist/eye (medical) appointments·       
Needing rides to bigger towns to purchase items that can’t be purchased in Bowdon (such as clothes, hardware items, etc…)·       
Help with Spring & Fall Cleaning for someone who can no longer physically do it·       
Pick up and take them to the Bowdon Grocery store for weekly grocery shopping or pick up just their list and monies and do the grocery shopping for them here.·       
Give them a ride to their local hair appointment.·       
Assist them with their mailing needs by taking them to the Post Office or doing their Postal needs for them (mailing their packages, getting them stamps, etc…)·       
When activities are going on in town, provide transportation for them to and from the activity·       
Give them a ride to & from the café if they want to eat out - or if they want to order in, pick it up for them 
We have come up with a possible Volunteer program that could assist in all of these areas.  ·       
We would have a Volunteer Program Coordinator who would be a liaison between the person needing the service and the volunteer providing the service.·       
The Senior Citizens/Shut-ins would call the coordinator to let them know the needs they have.·       
Volunteers would call & let the coordinator know when they will be going to another town and would be willing to take someone to and from their medical appt. or when they would be willing to help transport with the local grocery shopping, hair appointments, activities, café·       
The organizer would contact the Senior Citizen of dates for them to make their medical appt.·       
If the Senior Citizen has a specific appt. where the date is set and can’t be changed, the coordinator would call someone on the list of Volunteer Providers to see if someone could help out.·       
If at all possible, the person needing the service should always schedule their appointments to meet the Volunteer Providers schedule. 

Carolyn Ondris is willing to be the Volunteer Program Coordinator as she is home most of the time.  Her phone # is 962-3020.  (Thank you Carolyn!!!) 
If you are a Senior Citizen/shut-in who could use these services, call Carolyn & let her know of your needs. 
If you are interested in being a Volunteer Provider, call Carolyn and let her know how you are willing to help out. 
If you have any questions/suggestions, please call me at 962-3697.   
Sincerely,

Pam Hoff, Volunteer Program Chairman

An idea that surfaced when the Bowdon Public School merged with Fessenden in 1997 was to build a commercial kitchen in the science room of the vacated school. It wasn’t until the Horizons program in Bowdon that the entire community has started to look at the real possiblilites of such a business in the community.

On February 4 at 4:30 Dennis Hahn of St. Cloud, MN will meet with the members of the school utilization committee to look at the possibilites of remodeling the 1958 built science room into a kitchen for use during community activities, cooking classes, rental to food entrepreneurs, and possible food processing business for the community of Bowdon. Dennis works with a Fargo based restaurant supply company in offering his expertise in commercial kitchen design.

On February 14 an informational meeting will take place with the stakeholders of the kitchen project. Bruce Smith from Glendive, Montana will come to Bowdon to share his expertise on commercial kitchens and food related business. Bruce has had past experience working for two major food companies and is presently a Montana State Extension worker helping eastern Montana establish a project in Glendive which includes a shared-use kitchen, micro-brewery, restaurant, and culinery school. Bruce has been to North Dakota in the past to share information at the state capitol with members of the Bowdon community and others around the state.

Details are being worked out for the workshop which at present will run from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the school building. Anyone interested in helping with the project, fruit and vegetable growers, present and future entrepreneurs, economic development personal, local government officials, etc. are welcome. The project fits into the strategic goal of developing business and jobs in the Bowdon-Chaseley-Heaton community. The project likely will involve persons from throughout the central part of the state.

Please call Patti Patrie at 962-3355 or 471-4748 with your interest.