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

(bright music) - [Host] Coming up next, "Off 90," join us as we travel to Lyle to discover more about a local business bringing horses to town.

Come along as we attend a dancing competition that raises money for a local nonprofit.

And finally, visit a soap maker with us in Hayfield that uses all natural ingredients.

It's all just ahead, "Off 90."

(uplifting music) (uplifting music continues) (bright music) (horse neighing) (gentle music) (gentle music continues) - I'm Russ Slowinski.

My wife and I are co-partners in a horse business called Horse'n Around.

We do carriage rides for weddings.

We do sleigh rides in the wintertime.

We do Christmas festivals in town.

And then we also have a pony carousel that we do pony rides for small town festivals and pony rides for birthday parties and such like that.

We are a local business here in Lyle, Minnesota.

So a lot of our events are northern Iowa and southern Minnesota.

(uplifting music) Years ago I was, I ran into a guy that had a team of horses, and he did parades, and his name's Don Conkin.

And I says, "Don," I says, "I'd like to learn, get in on doing some, you know, know how to do this driving stuff, driving horses and stuff."

He says, "Have I got a deal for you."

So as time went, Don and I were partners when we first started out with the big horses.

And we'd would do Christmas in the city, and we'd do, Brownsdale had a Christmas event we would do.

Time went on, he phased out, and I kind of took it all over.

And so he's kind of the one that really got me started in the business of driving.

And it's been a wild ride.

We've done some things, a lot of weddings.

A lot of it, what we're doing is we're building memories.

If it's a pony ride, we do pony rides.

There are so many things that we've done that really touched out to people.

We were in Albert Lea doing pony rides, and it was open for the whole family.

And this gentleman comes up and says, "Hey," he says, "I got an odd question for you."

He says, "Is there any chance my son can ride?"

And, you know, we keep a weight limit and stuff.

And I says, "Well, worried about that."

And he says, "Well, he's in a wheelchair.

He's paraplegic, and he wants to ride."

Well, he's small, and he was an older boy.

So I got on the inside of the carousel, and I says, "As long as he can walk with us."

And the dad.

- The dad.

- And the young man couldn't sit in a saddle.

He had to sit side saddle 'cause he couldn't.

And he had never been on a ride before, any ride.

And we went around, I said, "Well, we'll we'll do one round and just see how it goes."

And that little guy, he smiled, he had a huge smile.

- He stayed on for the whole ride.

- The whole ride.

And yeah, that, you know, that's why you do stuff like this.

You know, it's not a huge money-making deal, but it's to make memories.

- We've had several of those that have kids that can't not normally be able to do stuff like that.

And they got to get in on it and have some fun, and they leave with smiles.

And if possible, they're usually back wanting more rides.

- Yep.

- That and the educational part of it.

You know, while we're doing the rides, we're talking to the kids about, you know, do you know how to make the horse go?

Do you know how to make it stop?

Do you know how to walk up to a horse?

You know, our horses, they could probably walk into the ring where the ponies are any directions and none of 'em are gonna bother.

But we teach 'em to walk towards the horse's head 'cause that's the safety issue of it.

So they're learning some safety things as we go, or you know, this is why we do this, or this is why you don't do that.

And we've had parents that have been very grateful for that and, "Wow, I didn't know that, you know, as an adult."

So just kind of educate the public a little bit about horses and you know, they say we'll have some that, you know, question if the horses like it or not.

They do, 'cause if they didn't like it, they'd let us know, and we wouldn't have 'em here.

(inspiring music) I grew up with horses.

My dad had horses all of his life.

He used to do some breeding and selling of horses and things.

And he actually was one of the founding fathers of the POA breed.

So I was raised with POAs, Appaloosas, we had Arabs, we had just kind of a menagerie of different horses.

POA stands for Pony of America.

It's a cross in breeds there for Pony.

It's a larger size pony than what you'll see with our ponies right now.

Yeah, I guess that's, I just, I always grew up with 'em.

I always liked riding.

My parents were not riding anymore as I was growing up.

So it was just me.

But it was kind of a package deal.

When he proposed to me it was, well, you take me and the horses with you (laughs).

(inspiring music) - I've got two people haulers, and we've got a big sleigh for the big horses, and we've got a vis-a-vis carriage.

And then I got a covered surrey.

And for the ponies, I've got numerous, numerous pony wagons and carriages and stuff and carts, 'cause two of our ponies will actually drive.

We can use 'em for driving.

(uplifting music) - Right now it's the three of us, my husband and I and our daughter and who's 13.

But we have, like he said, three adult sons, and whenever we need extra hands, they come and help out.

Our daughter-in-laws, they come and help out when needed.

Even our grandkids get involved in helping out.

And it's definitely a family business.

(uplifting music) I guess to summarize it, at least for me, the reason I do it is like I said, the educational, to educate the public on horses and how wonderful they can be and to make those memories both, you know, with the kids or the families in general.

You know, making those memories, those memories are important, and they're important now, but down the road, they're gonna be even more important.

- And I think a lot of it is, especially the driving part, it's getting to be a lost art.

So I go to the sales, and I'm, you know, upper fifties, and I'm one of the young ones at these sales.

You know, there isn't many young people getting into this line of work.

And it's getting to be kind of a lost art.

It's sad, but that's, you know, I have a few friends that do similar stuff, and they, same thing.

You know, they're.

People aren't out there to have horses and drive them.

(inspiring music) (inspiring music continues) (inspiring music continues) (uplifting music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) - My name's Edna Ringhofer, and I'm the executive director for Healthy Seniors of Steele County.

We started in 2011, and primarily because we were looking for a fundraiser, a signature fundraiser here in Steele County, which can be somewhat hard because there's so many great fundraisers here.

And so we had heard of a group that did the dancing with the Albert Lea Stars, and then shortly after that, Rochester started theirs.

And so they did Dancing for the Arts.

And so two of the choreographer for the Albert Lea show, they were here in Owatonna, they lived here.

So it was just like, aha.

So that's kind of, that's how it got started.

And we had those choreographers, it's Brian and Lynette Dolly, and we had them for 10 years.

They referred April Doll 'cause they were gonna start a new studio here and do lessons during the practice time.

So we have April Doll, which is out of Rochester, Dancing for the Arts.

And so she comes here, it's her third year.

So that's kind of where we're at today.

We are very excited to be here at Owatonna High School.

This is actually our second year here.

Prior to that we've been in Medford, and we probably outgrew that site maybe after the fifth year.

And so we are very fortunate to be able to get into the Owatonna High School.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) The planning is your round.

I am already recruiting for dancers for next year.

That is a constant, that is a constant, planting those seeds and kind of getting that bug to dance.

And so some of the dancers that we have this year, I have probably asked three or four times, you know, and it's funny they joke, "Yeah, 'cause I'm dancing, 'cause that Edna doesn't stop bugging me."

So, but it's a year-round process just in, the main thing is the dancers, 'cause you can't have a show without the dancers.

And then also too, once we get the date for the Owatonna High School, then it's showtime, 'cause then it's getting our choreographer set, and then we have the date.

And then once we have that date, then I call the dancers that have told me they might be interested, and start securing the spots.

(upbeat music) Healthy Seniors of Steele County started as a Medicare project back in 1997.

And basically with a mission is to recruit volunteers to help seniors that are 65 and older have some support so they don't have to go into a nursing home or go into an assisted living.

The longer we can keep 'em in their home, to have that friend.

You know, there's a lot of seniors that are solo seniors, so they don't have anybody.

So to have that friend to go to an appointment with or go to coffee, a lot of times it's a medical appointment, then it's go for coffee, and then it's do errands and then go for lunch, or you know, it's a day or it's time.

And for our volunteers that recruit, they get a lot out of it just as much as the senior does.

And for them, we ask, you know, they can determine the schedule, they can determine the time.

A lot of times we ask if they could go at least twice a month.

Some will go weekly.

And some of the stories, we have, one in particular, she lost her mom.

And so we made the match, and she said, "I knew right away it was a perfect match."

They had the same name.

And she goes, she saw the Bible on the table, and they became very close.

It was like she became her mom, and then to the senior, she became her angel.

And so yeah, so we get those testimonials.

- My name is Becky Dawley, and I'm actually on the board for Healthy Seniors.

I was a client and my dad was a client as well prior to his passing.

My dad was in his nineties, and he was living at home with me.

I was his caregiver.

And he had a couple of medical issues.

He actually had taken a fall, and after he fell, he had to go into rehab for a little while.

As part of that process, they assessed whether or not he should be living at home alone anymore.

Even though I was there, I was working.

So there were a lot of hours when I wasn't actually home with him.

And the care center came back and said he really shouldn't be living at home with alone, without me being there all the time or having somebody else there.

And so I knew he would be coming home soon, and I started to look for somebody who could actually come into our home and stay with him during the day while I was working.

And I couldn't find anybody.

I really couldn't.

And somehow through the care center, Edna, our director, found out about our situation, and she came in one day and told me some of the services that they could provide.

And then she asked me, "Does that help?

Would that help?"

And to me it was everything.

It allowed me to continue to work.

It allowed my dad to continue to be at home with their services.

And so he was at home for three years longer.

I was in the workforce for three years longer.

To me, I can't say enough positive about that organization because they're kind of a hidden gem in the community.

People don't know about them, but they do amazing things for the elderly and helping to keep them in their home longer.

My dad was able to stay at home for three years longer.

I think that's pretty amazing.

And he loved it.

(uplifting music) (uplifting music continues) - We're always looking for volunteers.

We're always looking for dancers.

So they have to live or work in Steele County.

So that's something too where if it's something they might wanna do.

We're always looking for volunteers to provide services or wanna become a friend or friendly visits.

So our website is www.healthyseniorsmn.org.

And so give us a call.

If they ever wanna donate, we're always, you know, we're a small nonprofit organization.

We have big numbers though.

We serve 1,559 seniors in Steele County.

And we do that with staff and 245 volunteers.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (uplifting music) (gentle music) - I am Michelle Hamilton, I'm the founder of Dandelion Naturals in Hayfield, Minnesota.

And we create all natural handmade body products.

I started Dandelion Naturals because I'm really into all-natural living.

My husband and I live on an acreage north of town here in Hayfield.

And there we have all natural gardens and apple trees, and we have our own chickens.

And I've created our own like salves and kombuchas and sourdough starters for many years.

So this just kind of seemed like a natural thing for me to explore.

I was a nurse for 21 years, so this is kind of taking care of the body, but in a different way.

And it's very, it's something that I'm very passionate about.

So we started making cold-processed soap bars, and we started with 50 different varieties.

We currently make 33 different varieties.

They are a hundred percent all natural.

It's really hard to find that.

And we are very passionate about making sure that all of our ingredients are all natural, from the oils that we source, they're not seed oils, they're really high-quality fats.

For fragrance, we only use plant-based essential oils.

We don't use any synthetic fragrances.

And even our colors are from the earth.

Nothing that's artificial or synthetic.

We use like ground up herbs, fruit juices, things like that to color our soap.

We started our business about three years ago, and it has expanded into quite a offering of products.

One of our best sellers is our all-natural powdered laundry detergent.

We make five different options of that.

And we also make lip balms, medicinal salves, solid shampoo and conditioner bars.

Those are also really popular.

Lotion bars, solid dish soap bars, dog shampoo.

And we have a whole list of things that we'd like to make now that we're in our new space and have more room to do that.

(inspiring music) - My name is Nicole Marti.

I work for Michelle Hamilton here at Dandelion Naturals.

I started last November, actually right before her busy season with the holidays and things.

Michelle reached out and said, "Hey, I need some more help."

Michelle's just such a joy and a blessing, and this has just been amazing.

The other coworkers that I get to work with are amazing, and I just really enjoy Michelle's products.

(inspiring music) - I often get asked about the process of soap making and how long does it take to make a bar of soap.

And that's a tricky question because it's a process.

So it all starts with gathering all the raw material, measuring it all out, melting it down, and mixing that together.

And then that gets poured into a slab or a mold that makes 80 bars of soap.

And we can do about, I think, eight of those in a day.

So we can make 640 bars of soap currently.

And then the soap batter sits in that mold for about 24 hours.

We come back the next day, and we cut the slabs into bars, and then they go on like baking size trays, and they sit on those trays for about four weeks to cure.

And then once they're cured, they go to our curing rack where they can be grabbed for selling purposes.

But the reason that they have to sit so long is so that the water evaporates out of them and that makes them a hard long-lasting bar of soap.

So that's the process for making bars of soap.

Some of our other things are a lot easier, we can make and sell the same day, which is nice.

There's a lot of planning that has to go into soap making for inventory purposes.

(inspiring music) - So to make the product, I didn't realize how precise you need to be.

Michelle has it written out very well for us, for recipes to follow.

And it needs to be like almost exact when you're making the product, making sure the recipe is right, following her direct orders so that it comes out the way that she wants it to.

(inspiring music) - So Dandelion Naturals actually started in our kitchen at our farmhouse, which is wild, because that was only three years ago.

And that quickly spilled over into our dining room, and then it went into a bedroom, and then we moved our business to our basement of our farmhouse.

And I think that square footage was about 800 square feet.

And that lasted for about nine months, I think.

We grew out of that space, and we were actually planning on building something on our farm or our acreage north of town.

And we had a wonderful opportunity that came up in Hayfield.

There's a building that we purchased last July, and it's been wonderful.

We're very grateful for this space.

So we moved into the building last September, and we have a two-story building.

The upper level is a three-bedroom, two-bath apartment.

And we temporarily used that space for our production.

It gave us quite a bit more space while we renovated the main level.

That project on the main level just finished up, and that's where we're standing today.

So about two thirds of the space is gonna be used for production and then the other third is gonna be used for a retail space.

So we'll be soon staging that area and opening our doors to the public very soon.

So we're excited.

So the building that we purchased was called The Herald.

It was built in 1938.

There's a lot of historical significance in this building.

It was used as the town's newspaper printing office, and we've kept a lot of the old relics that were here.

The old sign "The Herald" was on the outside of the building when we purchased it.

We've since then removed it, and we're gonna be utilizing that in some other way in the building here in the future.

But there was like a big platform in the back that we had to take out, which housed the printing press, and underneath that was cement footings.

So there's a lot of obstacles for us when we were redoing or reconstructing the area on the main level.

There was the, you could see where the old dark room was.

But yeah, it was a really, really cool building.

I'm really thankful that we were able to utilize it in the way that we are.

The town is really excited to see this business coming and to have this in our community.

Starting a small business, it's tricky because you don't know what you don't know.

I was a nurse, like I said, for 21 years, and very, very different from what I'm doing now.

This is many, many hats that I wear as a small business owner.

My husband is very supportive.

He has his own career outside of Dandelion Naturals.

But there's, it constantly is changing every day, especially with the changes that we're seeing, you know, with moving and opening a retail space.

But I absolutely love it.

I'm very passionate about it.

It's very challenging.

And you know, especially with the economic, the way the things are economically, it's kind of scary sometimes, but you just keep plugging away and pray that everything will work out.

So currently you can find Dandelion Naturals products on our website.

That's one of our primary arms of business for selling.

And that's just dandelionnaturals.com.

And we're also pretty active on social media.

You can find us on Instagram, as well as Facebook.

And like I said earlier, we do a lot of in-person markets, and we're gonna continue doing markets until we kind of get a flow with the retail space.

We're not quite sure how that's all going to work out.

Another really big part of our business is our wholesale business.

We currently sell, I think we're in 45 states that have our products in different retail stores throughout the country.

So that's a really big part of our business.

Our goal last year was to get all 50 states.

There's a few states up in the northeast part of the country, like Maine, I think, and Connecticut, that we're trying to get into.

There's just so many wonderful opportunities for small businesses in Minnesota.

So we're really grateful.

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