- [Announcer] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] Coming up next "Off 90", join us as we visit garlic farmers in Le Roy.

(upbeat music) Travel to New Ulm to visit the Grand Center for Arts and Culture.

And check out the Commonweal Theatre in Lanesboro.

(upbeat music continues) It's all just ahead "Off 90".

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music) - We've been home farming probably since the beginning of our marriage in 1992, where we didn't know anything about eggplant and we discovered that eggplant puts out more fruit than we can eat.

And then, we've just been gardening through the years, adding more, learning a lot.

And probably since 2018, we got our first batch of garlic.

We went to the Cranberry Fest over in Tomah, Wisconsin, and there was a gentleman that had a tent and offered garlic samples.

And so, we tried some of it.

And they were selling samplers and we bought our first sampler to just give it a try.

- Yeah, and last year we had a big garlic garden, 5,000 square foot, and we had over 7,000 heads in the ground at that time.

The head that has the four or five, up to 13 different cloves of garlic, or cloves of garlic in it.

And there's actually over 100 different varieties of garlic.

A lot of people don't know that.

- I'm Georjeanne Carlin.

- I'm Steve Carlin.

- [Both] And we're One Foot in the Garden.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) - And the older kids have helped us for about three years on the big garden with the garlic planting and raking the dirt over the top of the seeds, and they still have to go out and help and plant seeds and transplant plants.

And helping, I conned 'em into thinking it's helping grandma out.

- And they're a little distractible.

(laughs) But they're outside, they're in the dirt.

They're getting to see how gardens grow.

They're getting to see how their food comes from the ground.

And those, again, are things that we're losing, that knowledge.

By being able to go into grocery stores and just get our food, we're losing the understanding of, garlic is grown in the ground and it takes a winter to set the seed and to have it harvest in July.

We're losing an understanding that potatoes are in the ground.

We're losing the understanding that it takes two years to get seed from a carrot.

There's just so many things that our forefathers and our grandparents and our great-grandparents used to know that we're so used to, now, the convenience of grocery stores, that we have children who don't know where food is coming from.

And so, to be able to see my grandchildren play and get dirty and be able to say, "I planted garlic today," that just makes my heart warm.

- And they help us pack seeds too, because we save seeds.

And so, this year, we had teaspoons of seeds going in packets.

And that was what we sell at the farmer's market, is their seeds.

So, when we sell the packet of seed, that goes right to them.

- It's their college fund.

(laughs) - They did 120 seed packets one day.

- We're into hands-on activities.

(Steven laughing) We want dirt under the fingernails.

We want- - Learn skills.

- Yeah, we want a blade of grass in their mouth, pretending to be Huckleberry and- - Tom Sawyer.

- Tom Sawyer.

Screens are in children's faces and adults' faces all the time.

And I think we just lose touch with Mother Earth if we're only experiencing farm games and, what is it, "Farmville"?

I'm not even sure.

My dad did what he loved, and I credit my dad for my love of nature and connection because my earliest memories were of my father having me go out in the garden with him.

And I would hold a bowl and we would pick green beans that were as tall as I was.

And it took me, it took me several years in the garden to realize that when I went out to pick green beans with my dad when I was four, green beans are not three, they're not as tall as as you think.

So, basically, this is where we incubate all of the babies.

We grow our stock in this yard.

It provides a protected microclimate versus the farm because we have so many buildings that retain heat.

So, we will continue to grow as much stock as we want from the different beds that we have.

And then, eventually, when we have enough stock, then we will take it to the farm and we'll grow in larger quantities.

♪ Oh, slow living ♪ ♪ Can be life-giving ♪ ♪ Although we might disagree ♪ ♪ If most our lives are ♪ ♪ Lived in black and white ♪ ♪ It makes the gray so hard to see ♪ ♪ The same old people ♪ ♪ The same old steeples ♪ ♪ On every corner ♪ ♪ For half a mile ♪ ♪ Where nothing changes ♪ ♪ And ain't it strange that ♪ ♪ We didn't notice ♪ ♪ As a child ♪ - Market, our farmers market in Lanesboro, and we also do it in Eyota.

Eyota's a Tuesday night market and Lanesboro is a Saturday morning market.

And that's how we sell our produce and market our spices and things like that.

- We have two different garlics that are in this bed, and then we also have two different ones over in this bed.

Georgian Fire is another hot one.

And this one, we would've had this filled, but this is where we had winter loss.

Another issue with raised beds that can make garlic vulnerable is that cold penetrates that ground.

And so, again, it is a continual experiment.

The intention is, again, we'll pull all of this in July.

The hardnecks will put what is considered a scape, and it is a stem that comes out and then it does a curlicue.

And from that, then, there is a seed pod where they actually create little mini cloves of garlic called bulbils.

And you can actually plant those, but it takes several years to get anything of size.

(bright music) I think one of the reasons why we decided on One Foot in the Garden as the name for our market name is that our daughter actually came up with it.

Most of our other days are one foot in life.

We just juggle, just like everybody else, the multi responsibilities that we have on our plate so that we don't necessarily get to just say, "We're gonna do one thing and we're gonna do it excellent."

We do a lot of things fairly well with a few not-so-well outcomes.

(both laughing) - Farming's hard.

(both laughing) (bright music) (upbeat music) (jaunty music) - The Grand is a historic building in our historic downtown and it's a community gathering space for everyone.

It's a space that's for artists, it's for community members, it's for tourists.

It has live music, it has an art gallery, a gift shop for local artists where they can sell their items.

It's just an amazing place.

- The Grand, to me, is one of the heartbeats of the city of New Ulm, and it has been since it first opened its doors in the 1850s.

One of the people that came was a man named Philip Gross.

He had been born in Germany and moved here and opened up this hotel in what, at that time, was a very spare, small town that was growing rapidly.

First, it was called the Minnesota House.

Then, it was called the Union Hotel, and later, it became known as the Grand.

When he opened up the hotel here on Minnesota Street, he also used the second floor for theater.

The earliest plays were held here, concerts, dances almost every Sunday.

And so, it was a place where the arts flourished over the years.

- We found out about it in 1993 when I came here with my family, and my dad said, "Your original immigrant ancestor's from a small town named New Ulm, and you should go there."

Brought my dad down here and I thought I'd find the grave of the man who built this building, whose name was Philip Gross.

His name is the same as my father's name, my brother's name.

But instead, we went to the Historical Society.

I went in and I asked, "Do you know anything about Philip Gross?"

And she handed me a big, huge file and said, "There's a building downtown that's on the National Register that he built."

And it was a hotel.

It was the first hotel in New Ulm.

My brother and I were meeting at one point, and my mother, and we were talking about, "What would you do if you could do anything in your life?"

I said, "Well, I'd buy that old building and I'd fix it up and turn it into something."

And my family said, "Well, we should do that.

We can help you with that."

So, other people in my family helped fund us buying this building and we were able to start fixing it.

It took about 13 years renovating different floors, so it's been a very long process to do this.

- It led up to creating a nonprofit, The Grand Center for Arts and Culture.

And we went ahead, worked on creating a board and the key elements to this have always been the musical performances here at the Cabaret, going up to the 4 Pillars Gallery with art on display.

This is not where you come in and watch things.

This is where you come in and do things.

You are an artist.

You learn technique, you share with others, and have a chance to do that.

So, to do that here, we have the 4 Pillars Gallery, which is a really wonderful display area where, once a month, we bring in new, do shows, new exhibits, and allow artists, local artists and other artists, to come and show their work.

- [Anne] It's not huge, but it's very well done.

It's got very high-quality lighting, and it was just a perfect space.

It has lots of windows, but yet, lots of wall space.

So, 4 Pillars Gallery was really one of our first programs that we had.

(smooth music) - [Dan] And then, down in the basement, the Cellar Press, which I think is our total gem.

And the Cellar Press, it's one of the finest, without a doubt, print shops in Minnesota.

- [Anne] Cellar Press is open to the public.

We have both classes down there, about 16 classes a year, I'm saying about, and a few kids' camps in the summer.

So, you look at our website, you'll see classes in everything from letterpress, printing, printmaking, and bookbinding, book arts.

(rousing music) - And then, in the Cabaret, the room where we're sitting in right now, at least once a week, twice a week, local groups, Minnesota bands come in and play music.

Often, it's just free admission, and it's fabulous.

- I love when we have friends from out of town who are visiting.

I love bringing them here and showing them this impressive space.

My husband and I like to come and have a glass of wine maybe before dinner or after dinner, and enjoy some music.

It's just a really great place in our town.

- [Dan] Just a place, again, where the community can come down, have a nice evening together, bond and share in that way, and support.

Support our musicians who are out there just trying to make good music.

- [Anne] We also have an artist in residence program, and this year we took eight different artists who could come in, and all different levels of artists who could come and live in our building in the artist-in-residence apartment and do their craft here for two to three weeks.

It's been amazing.

- To top it all off, we have our gift shop where they can come in and hopefully make a little bit of money off of their work as well.

Some really wonderful pieces that we've been keeping, there.

After seeing a place up in Saint Paul that billed itself as the smallest museum in Saint Paul, and then looking that it was a tradition in several German cities, we decided to create the smallest museum in Minnesota.

We weren't afraid to go for top billing.

- So, I went out and found, actually, it's a fire case that's smaller than the one in Saint Paul, so we could say it was the smallest museum in Minnesota.

So, it is the smallest museum in Minnesota, and it's freestanding.

The one up in Saint Paul is at a coffee shop and embedded into a wall.

So, we put various things in there.

They're mostly like collectibles or collections, but we have various collections.

And it was perfect during the pandemic.

We actually would have openings out on the street and we'd live stream them on Facebook for an opening for the smallest museum.

And people would, we'd have sometimes 25, 30 people out there for opening up our museum.

- [Sarah] The Grand is a really important part of our community.

I mean, the fact that we're a community of 14,000 people and we have an art space like this is just really incredible.

It's historic, and so it's got that history tie-in.

It's on the National Register, the Historic Downtown.

People come here just to explore the vibrant downtown, and it's great to just have one more amazing storefront where people can go and see art, they can purchase retail, they can experience live music.

It's a great place.

- The reason I have stuck with this for 16 years is because I love to see a community enjoy the arts.

And to me, as a historian, this place carries that long tradition and legacy, which is just beautiful to me.

To know that 150 years ago, people came here to establish the spirit, art, and wisdom, and we're still doing it.

How many places can say that they've carried on what was originally going on here in this town and in this building 150 years later?

(upbeat music) (bright music) - The Commonweal started in 1989, was our first season.

The Commonweal Theatre started as a response to, or in reaction to, the opening of the bike trail, actually, here in Lanesboro.

The bike trail opened and proved to be a great tourist destination.

There was a volunteer arts community here, and they were the managers of the St. Mane Theater next door.

They reached out to Eric Bunge.

He was currently in grad school for theater.

And they said, "You know, we think that a summer theater would go really well here in Lanesboro."

So, he came back from grad school and started a season.

We produced two shows that year.

This year, we will be doing seven.

And then, the rest is history.

We became a biking and theater capital and arts capital for the state.

- The theater means so much to Lanesboro.

I think it's really important to have both a community and a professional theater here.

It really allows our residents and our children to see what professional theater looks like.

The theater is a huge draw for tourism.

People come from the cities, they come from Rochester, the whole surrounding areas to come see our plays.

I think that's because they're like nothing I've ever seen.

We really get a big bang for our buck here in Lanesboro with special, what feels like one-of-a-kind performances.

- My name is Stela Burdt and I am the director of administration at the Commonweal Theatre.

Right now, I am truly thrilled playing Hertha Ayrton in "The Half-Life of Marie Curie".

It's a role like nothing else I've done before.

It features Marie Curie and her friend Hertha Ayrton.

It's just two actors, and it's a very, I feel, moving show.

And we've had some incredibly amazing responses from our audience members.

And recently, I'm gonna get emotional, here, we had a response from one of our patrons who saw me the day after the show and said, "Stela, I went home trying to figure out, what is my response?

The show had such a huge impact on me."

And she said, "But ultimately, I realized the show made me feel I am worthy."

And I can't imagine us getting a bigger compliment than that.

It's pretty incredible.

- I think there are a lot of places that have a theater, even though it might not be as good as ours, or have wonderful dining or even a beautiful Victorian bed and breakfast.

But they don't have our people.

Our people show up.

They are engaged, they don't stop.

And I think people can feel that.

And I think we see that in how many seats are sold and how they come in to our restaurants or stay in the bed and breakfast just to come and see a play.

- Theater and the arts are incredibly important to me.

I value so much the way that it impacts people on a very deep and personal level.

I love seeing the changes that come across people in our audiences.

Maybe during a show, maybe after a show, laughter, tears, sometimes anger, and maybe at a character, but just very, very diverse responses.

And I love seeing how that can change people, even if it's just a little bit, having that impact on someone's life.

- Our company is comprised of a number of different types of artists.

We have a resident ensemble of 15, currently.

Those are the artist administrators.

We live and work here year 'round.

We, none of us, I don't think any of us, are from here, but we ended up here in Lanesboro and this is where we make our home.

And we run a company.

Additionally, we bring in about four or five, sometimes up to 10 seasonal company members, and they'll job in from the Twin Cities, Chicago, New York, wherever, and they'll join us for one show or maybe two shows a season.

And then, finally, we have our apprentice company.

Our apprentices join us in May and they spend 10 months with us, and they rotate through.

They just learn how we make theater, how theater is done here in Lanesboro.

And then, in March, we give them a small budget and they put up their own production.

- When I started here, I was a few months out of college.

I did not go to grad school for acting.

Many people who work here did go to grad school for acting and we have so many talented people here, but I really consider that I got my grad school right here at the Commonweal.

And I learned so much watching the other people I was on stage with, listening to the directors I was with.

And so, I've had a lot of aha moments over the years watching these people and interacting with them.

And now that I've been here a long time and have had a lot of experiences, it's also really fun to see that happen to other performers as well, and other theater-makers, whether they be designers or tech people or an actor.

And it might be that aha moment of seeing an audience member connect with a character, or maybe something they're seeing or hearing, and be so moved by it.

For an actor, an aha moment is often, even though you've been told it over and over again that acting is really about listening and responding, it's actually a lot harder than we think it is.

And so, to see a younger actor relax enough to just have a conversation on stage, that's pretty profound.

- Lanesboro has a population of 750, and yet, we are, as I said, we are one of the gems on the bike trail.

We are one of the diamonds of the bike trail in the United States, actually.

We're on this beautiful Root River.

We are nestled in these incredible bluffs.

So, we are a, if I may, a no-brainer tourist destination.

I mean, everything about Lanesboro is so gorgeous.

The arts are a linchpin in that tourist community, so we have Lanesboro Arts down the street.

We have all the action in the St. Mane.

We have a bustling community theater.

And so, in the spring, summer, and fall, the heavy tourist seasons, we just have an abundance of natural beauty, but also an abundance of exuberant art that's happening here.

And I really think we are draw-all from the major cities around us.

But we have a really fantastic season pass base, season pass holders, and they're coming from everywhere as well.

So, we have people who come three times a year.

They'll stay overnight, they'll get to see two shows in one weekend, they'll get to bike, they get to have a fabulous meal, they get to fish, if that's what they're into.

The collaboration of the organizations here in Lanesboro, certainly, we have an amazing infrastructure of chamber and arts organizations, and our business community is so vital and so supportive.

And I think all of that comes together to make this a place that is just so appealing, so beautiful.

And you want to be here.

- I grew up with Lanesboro always in my background.

My family built the Cottage House Inn in 1993, but a few years before that, my uncle helped start the Commonweal Theatre Company.

And so, it was always a treat to be able to grow up with the theater across the street, see shows, and just witness the art that comes out of Lanesboro.

- I am playing a character right now who is, actually, the character is a playwright and she gets to say the lines that her mission is to change people's lives through the power of theater.

And I believe, truly, even on the darkest days, that simply the act of strangers sitting together in a dark space and breathing together and sharing the same experience, theater is really one of the last places you can do that with live storytellers and live fellow patrons.

And it's like church for me, where we're all sitting together, we're having this experience.

And that experience helps transcend those differences, I believe, truly.

It sounds a little hokey, maybe, but I think that the two hours that we're sitting together in the dark can actually make the world a better place.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (bright music) - [Announcer] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.