- [Narrator] Funding for Compass is provided in part by, the Otto Bremen Trust, the McKnight Foundation and members of Pioneer PBS.

Thank you.

- Hi, I'm Amanda Anderson.

Welcome to the May edition of Compass, the regional public affairs show on Pioneer PBS.

I want to remind you that this new model of Compass is digital first.

All of these stories that you're about to watch have already been posted on Compasses' website and social pages.

We encourage audience interaction and feedback, so have your devices at the ready, so you can comment and tell us what you think of each story as you watch.

First an update on the Asatru Folk Assembly in Murdock.

Compass attended the city council meeting on April 14, where it was concluded that the Asatru Folk Assembly didn't violate their conditional use permit.

However, the city was unaware that an additional temporary certification had been issued by the city's contracted building inspector.

The AFA has been labeled white supremacists by many watchdog organizations and other Asatru groups.

During their meeting on April 14, the Murdock City Council and their lawyer, Don Wilcox, concluded that the Asatru Folk Assembly a white supremacist organization, has not been in violation of their conditional use permit.

The conditional use permit states, that the AFA must create off street parking, any exterior lighting must be downcast and shielded.

Screening which could take the form of a fence or hedge on their northern and western boundaries must be installed.

Signage must comply to city code and outdoor services are limited to daylight hours.

All of this was to be completed before the group held any religious gatherings.

This permit was granted to the AFA on December 9, 2020.

On March 27, the AFA held a dedication ceremony at their Midwestern Hof or religious center, located on Highway 12 in Paulina Street in Murdock.

This Hof, called Baldurshof, is dedicated to their god Baldr and is the third AFA Hof in the nation.

A photo collage of the dedication ceremony was posted to the group's YouTube page, the organization has been banned from Facebook.

In the video and during a visit to the Murdock Hof, it's clear to see that the group hadn't completed the parking and screening requirements.

This led citizens to believe that the AFA had violated the conditions of their permit.

- The city was not aware from our building inspector that a temporary permit was given to the AFA.

- [Narrator] A letter written by the city inspector to Brandy Callahan, who was ordained an AFA religious leader at the March 27 dedication, says that the renovation on the inside of the building had met the city's building code.

It also said that the conditions of the permit that require outdoor work, the parking lot and screening, can be completed by June 1st.

The letter also stated that, the building may be used temporarily for its intended use with no further work required at this time.

After Mayor Kavanagh spoke, Don Wilcox, the city of Murdock's lawyer, said that the building inspector initially inspected the property in January and gave the AFA a list of things to improve.

On February 22nd, the inspector went back and determined that the AFA was in compliance.

- Except for those things on the outside that couldn't be done because of weather.

So, as you just heard, a temporary permit was issued by the building inspector which certified that they were in compliance.

That being the case, they were allowed to hold a religious ceremony.

- The city stated that they were unaware that the letter had been issued to the AFA and they also initially believed the AFA was in violation of their conditional use permit.

Additionally, Jason Plourde, an AFA Gothi, or priest, filed a harassment retraining order against a Murdock Area Alliance Against Hate founder, Victoria Guillemard, because he believed he was a target of harassment by the group.

The order was denied.

Plourde contested the denial, which resulted in a virtual hearing on April 21st.

Court documents said that Guillemard contacted two organizations that Plourde was involved with, Anytime Fitness and the Willmar Chamber of Commerce, notifying them of Plourde's afflictions with the AFA.

On April 29, the order was again denied by Kandiyohi County District County Judge Stephanie Beckman.

Court documents state that the court is deaf to the political or moral ideology of the AFA and that Plourde's recruitment efforts for white supremacy for Plourde and his group are of public concern.

The court found contacting organizations over matters of public concern, was within Guillemard protected free-speech rights as she didn't target Plourde but the views of his organization.

- Keep watching pioneer.org/compass and Compass on Facebook and YouTube for updates on this story.

Next, from aloe to tomatoes to jalapenos, the students at Yellow Medicine East Schools in Granite Falls, learn how to grow plants that they can eat, use and sell.

(upbeat music) - [Amanda] You would never guess it's a greenhouse from the outside.

In fact, some people think it's just an add-on to the YME storage garage, but swing open those big gray doors and so up the chlorophyll.

(upbeat music) - Yeah, she's probably the best kept secret at Yellow Medicine East.

- [Amanda] The Yellow Medicine East green house was built by the school's construction and trades class four years ago, after receiving a $100,000 grant from the Bush Foundation and a roughly $20,000 donation from Vegan Inc. Ben Lacy is the industrial arts teacher at YME.

He said he's biased.

- But it's probably the most unique thing we have.

There aren't many of these anywhere in the world.

When we were building this, there were two other facilities like this in the United States.

Both of those facilities, you weren't allowed in.

They were research facilities.

A lot of people think of a greenhouse as something with double glazers or these glass sides or plastic sides.

We have none of that.

We control everything from the inside, from the light to the heat, to the water that we collect, we collect our own water that should be mineralized just to our system.

We monitor our CO2 levels.

Everything is right here.

- [Amanda] Because consider the little amount of sunlight and warm weather during Minnesota School Year.

Lecy said that a double glaze or hoop house style is at the mercy of nature.

This one - Is built from extreme panels We have a concrete floor that has high carbon mats on the inside, so we have in-floor heating.

We have an R-value of 24 on the walls and I believe it's 42 in the ceiling.

So it gives us 30s in R-value overall.

- [Amanda] The higher the R-value, the higher the insulation effectiveness.

Each chamber has spectrum LED lighting at various PAR, - [Ben] Par levels.

- [Amanda] Or photosynthetic active radiation levels.

This is what the plants use for photosynthesis in this sunless setting.

- [Ben] We also have mini-splits one in each room that help us regulate the humidity and the temperatures.

(upbeat music) A lighting system that replicates sunlight It slowly comes up in the morning, it will peak out after about two and a half hours worth full sun.

It stays that way until later on in the evening.

And then around eight o'clock our time, 8:00, 8:30, they start to dim down and eventually they go out.

- [Amanda] This state of the art greenhouse has three chambers that can be closed off and climate controlled.

The first chamber feels the coolest of the three and has equipment for Hydroponics and Aquaponics projects.

This is also where the class rock hangs out.

The next chamber is accommodated for succulent growing, a student's favorite.

- [Ben] It doesn't have to be all tomatoes and peppers and broccoli and cabbage, which are still my favorites.

But let's try to grow some different things.

And so that was kind of that starting point where the kids were like I can't believe that just by extracting the leaf and letting it callus over or dry out for a couple of days, put them in some sand and just misting them and then watch the new fibrous root come out and the new one grow, they're amazed by that.

And pretty soon that became the rage.

And so now we have a few 1000 of them in the other room that we'll have next year, we do a sale each year.

- [Amanda] Walking into the last chamber, it feels the most humid.

Darrel Refsland, the YME Ag Instructor said that, especially in winter, when the 24 by 40 square foot greenhouse is kept at 70 to 75 degrees, it's the hotspot on campus.

- It's tropical.

You can feel the humidity in the room when you walk in right away.

- [Ben] To be totally honest with you, this is kind of like our beachfront property.

When COVID tore us up last year, we didn't have the kids to start any seeds or do any of the transplanting so we did it all.

So we turned some music on and we just stayed out here.

It's amazing.

I can't explain it to you.

But the lights that we have are so healthy for you, the vitamins you get from them and the air is nice and clean.

- [Amanda] And in the dead of winter - We actually considered renting out lawn chairs and just let people come up for a little while and gobble up a little bit of artificial sunlight.

- [Darrel] Realistically as an Ag teacher, you teach about production.

Whether it's livestock production or crop production, and it's pretty hard to go out and buy 40 acres of farmland and say, okay, we're gonna learn how to raise corn and soybeans.

In here, we're raising a crop just like you would as a farmer, but on a smaller scale.

Probably the most surprising thing is watching students come in with maybe very little knowledge of how to raise their own food.

They just think everything comes from a grocery store, they just go and get it, to having a light bulb come out and say, this tastes so good and I'd like to start doing a garden.

A goal we had was to make studying about science and agriculture come to life.

And actually kids physically be able to raise things and take them home to their families and eat it.

- [Amanda] Isaac is a junior at YME.

- I think it's really unique because not a lot of places have a greenhouse that you can go out and just kind of be hands on more.

'Cause most places are stuck in a classroom.

So it's nice to get out of the classroom and just see how all the plants are really grown.

- [Darrel] I think it's every students and us as teachers, our favorite part of the day, it's our last hour of the day, and we've been in dark.

It's wintertime, it's cold out, it's darker out, and we come out here and it's bright and sunny like summertime.

So it's just a real joy to come out to this building, and be able to work with plants in the middle of winter.

- I find that really peaceful, for me.

- [Amanda] Julius, a junior at YME, said that a favorite thing he's learned has been transplanting.

He and Brooke, also a YME junior, said that they're transplanting the jalapeno plants that haven't been killed by the fungus gnats.

Yes, even in almost perfectly controlled conditions, the class is battling a gnat infestation.

- I come in here and then these are some of my plants that I planted with my partners.

And so then we check on them and see if they're still living because we've had these bugs that have been coming in and eating them.

So then we continue to put water in the bottoms of them with hydrogen peroxide.

And then we spray a dishwasher soap like over the top of them.

- [Amanda] But this, like everything else in this climate controlled classroom has been a learning opportunity.

- I learned like hydrogen peroxide fights the bugs that kill the plant.

And then you just mix it in with the water when you do water the plants.

- You see its (mumbles).

If you look right here to how narrow the neck is kills the plant and wherever they attack that they eat into the game room or the stem.

And that kills the plant.

Lisi said that it's all part of the learning process.

And it adds to the opportunities for student growth.

- We truly have an obligation to every generation coming up to teach them as we were taught by our ancestors.

And that's how to feed yourself and how to get good healthy foods.

And at the same time, let them understand that plants are like the coolest medicine that we have.

We talk about the carbon cycle and all of those things and how we all fit into that.

And so just by being in here and being a part of this, you're getting tons of chemistry.

You're getting your earth sciences you ecology, environmental awareness and good agricultural practices, all of those things.

And so, for me this is this is absolutely the core of education in my life.

This is what it's all about.

- So don't judge a greenhouse by its cover.

What may look like a storage garage to some could have potential for plant and student growth.

Pioneer PBS storyteller Tanner Peterson has started a new occasional series exploring the meanings behind Dakota place names in the Minnesota River Valley.

The series kicks off with Wanyeca Wakpadan or Firefly Creek.

- Oh, we dug up.

I'm Super LaBatte aka Walter Jr. My dad's name was I have my dad's name and so I was ready to call that I'm from I'm from here.

Indian Name I was asked about place names Indian place names that I know of.

And I suppose the most obvious one is our Creek here.

It's called Wanyeca Wakpadan.

Means Firefly Creek.

When I was being raised here, in June or July, there would be 1000s of fireflies coming off that Creek and flying around here.

As a child I would we'd all try to catch one of them things we call them lightning bugs, then Some years ago, I was reading Joseph Nicholas expedition of the Minnesota River in the 1830s.

He was the French cartographer, he came up the Minnesota River with Indian guides.

And from them, they mapped and wrote down certain place names.

I was following it up, up river, and I was recognizing these places.

place names in there.

He came to the Yellow Medicine River.

He said that the next tributary next Creek, coming from south into the Minnesota River was this creek he called Cansasa Wakpadan.

And I knew that he was referring to our Creek here.

Cansasa Wakpadan means Red Willow Creek.

And I immediately recognized the way they called it that because when I was growing up here, there was this red Willow that was abundant on the creek.

My brother and I Gordy would go down in the creek and harvest the red Willow.

I suppose place names change over time.

different circumstances come out and I guess now it was because of the Fireflies being so abundant around here that that that that Creek to God the name of Wanyeca Wakpadan - As part of the moving lives Minnesota stories of origin and immigration project, we've been gathering stories of the communities and people who have moved through and to Minnesota.

This next story features the Bergquist family history.

- Dear Minnesota, my name is Leslie Bergquist.

I'm a resident of Granite Falls Minnesota and have been since 1985.

I'm a native of Dassel, Minnesota, and was raised on a small farm south of Dassel by the name of Steelsville, Steelsville's where the bergquist family immigration story started.

I'm very interested in genealogy my mother and father were also interested in genealogy and documenting most of the Bergquist family stories and since their passing I've kind of assumed genealogy torch and kind of been bitten by the bug.

The Bergquist family immigration story starts back in 1871 when my great grandfather Gustaf Bergquist immigrated to America, from Smaland Sweden, arriving in New York, and then initially settling in Duluth, Minnesota Gustaf's last name and Sweden was Johannesen when and why his surname was changed to Bergquist is not conclusive, but it is speculated that the Bergquist name was assumed for identification purposes, due to the heavy influx and concentration of Johannessens and Johnsons in various Scandinavian communities.

There may also have been a military connection where surnames were assigned to the soldiers by the Swedish military.

Upon arrival in Duluth, Gustaf initially relocated a short distance away to Thompson, Minnesota, securing employment at a Lathe Mill.

After working for a year Gustaf was joined by his wife, Anna Louisa Bergquist, Anna Louisa immigrated to America in 1872.

Along with Gustaf's and Anna Louisa's children, Axle, John, Jenny, and France number one.

At the same time, Anna Louis's parents, Peter Magnus and Katrina Carlson immigrated along with Anna Louisa's siblings.

Shortly after their arrival Gustaf and Anna Louisa's son France died.

It's interment is undocumented, but it is believed that France may be buried in the Thompson pioneer cemetery, which is located adjacent to the current Jay Cooke State Park, that being the only established Cemetery in the Thompson area at the time.

In 1874 Gustaf and Anna Louisa's and family moved to South Dassel and Meeker County, Minnesota Anna Louisa's brother Frank Peterson, and his family had already settled in the neighborhood.

Gustaf's family, Frank's family and Anna Louisa's parents Peter and Katrina Carlson, all initially resided in a very small log house on the Frank Peterson farm.

Then on October 12 1875, Gustaf purchased his first farm, a 40 acre track located a half mile from the Peterson farm.

Gustaf paid $375 for the 40 acre parcel, which equates to $9.38 per acre.

Two years later Gustaf purchased an additional and adjacent 40 acre parcel for $400.

Under the Homestead Act of 1862, this area of Minnesota was initially settled by Easterners of English descent from Virginia and Kentucky areas who are seeking to escape the conflicts of the United States Civil War.

Once the war ended, and after these original settlers experienced a few Minnesota winters, most abandon their claims and relocated back to the eastern United States.

Prior homesteaders of Gustaf Farm had constructed a barn on the site Gustaf and Anna Louisa.

Soon remodeled the barn into what became their very first home.

After establishing a farm yard for the milk cows and other farm animals.

Gustaf and Anna Louisa soon built their new house.

In addition to their children, Axle, John, and Jenny.

Gustaf and Anna Louisa soon added another son, France number two to the family, followed later by children.

Olivia Walter Carl and August from this foothold and Meeker County, the Bergquist family thrived today the direct descendants of Gustaf and Anna Louisa number of proximately 510.

Extending down to now the seventh generation great great great great grandchildren who now reside in many parts of the world.

As I study my family's immigration story, thoughts of risk, endure and survival and adventure come to mind.

The exact reason why my great grandfather Gustaf Berquist decided to immigrate to the United States is not specifically documented.

It can be assumed that Gustaf like most other immigrants at the time came to America seeking a better life for he and his family.

They were lured with various promises such as the opportunity to own their own farmland an opportunity to become self sufficient, something no longer available in the homeland.

They arrived in the United States without any kind of entitlement, attitude or other such government assistance, expectations.

Neighbors and family helped out and supported other neighbors and family who were in need.

These immigrants took many risks.

They were faced with many hardships, including illnesses, disease, crop failures, depressions, grout, and loss of many family members, just to name a few.

But yet they endured and they survived.

I am left fulfilled with a strong sense of pride and I am very grateful to be a descendant of this wonderful family.

- Finally, I want to share a snippet from a story that we're currently editing.

Access to childcare is a huge challenge in all parts of our state.

Wildwood Montessori school with childcare in Montevideo recently announced that they're moving to a new location this fall and expanding their availability from the current 13 students to 42 students in 2023.

Campus recently got a tour of their new facility.

- Welcome to Wildwood Montessori School.

This space is both a welcome area.

And then it's also part of the preschool kindergarten classroom.

This is the sensorial over here we have geography.

And then there will be tables and chairs, space for artwork.

And so it's laid out there's sensorial works, so things that they can learn about by touching and looking at so these are some of those.

These This is feeling texture so smooth, and then it gets rougher and rougher.

The toddler classroom is really about practical life.

So building those life skills and building the coordination and building concentration, which will then allow them to excel once they go up to the three to six classroom.

So we have washing plant lives watering plants, they can make their own snack and set their own place at a table.

And when they're finished, then they would take it to our laundry basket and then they can wash the table as well.

Learning about how different things work together.

So this is the infant classroom.

And it's not fully set up yet, because a lot of our infant materials, since this is a new classroom that we're adding, a lot of those materials have not arrived yet.

This is an evacuation crib that we received as a donation from another school.

And the crib that we will have will have clear sides all the way around.

So we have a lot of different ways that they can learn movement.

And so we really slow things down in the infant room, and we provide them just like one thing to practice learning on.

So even like our mobile instead of having a lot of different sounds and a lot of different things to look at.

We keep it really simple.

And then we would change out the mobile once they've mastered one mobile - checkout our website and social media for that story.

It will be featured on next month's broadcast.

Thank you for watching this May edition of compass.

We encourage audience interaction and feedback.

So head over to our social pages and website and let us know what you think we should be covering and a heads up.

The June edition of compass will air on June 10.

Thank you for watching compass on Pioneer PBS.

Funding for compass is provided in part by the Otto Bremen Trust the McKnight Foundation, and members of Pioneer PBS.

Thank you