Lake Lillian, Minnesota

April 13, 2014September 27, 2019 ~ RWare ~ 3 Comments

Last summer I travelled to Blomkest MN for an antique power show. Ever since I became interested in photography a few years ago, I try to maximize the new things I see. So I’ll take a slightly longer route sometimes to get somewhere if I have the time, just so I can pass through a town I haven’t been in before.

Lake Lillian a town of a little more than 200 people in Kandiyohi county MN was a couple miles off the direct route to Blomkest, but worth the visit. I stopped for lunch on my way back from West Central Antique Power Collectors Show that I had went to earlier in the morning. Like another blogger I know, I always enjoy finding a restaurant that features real cooking and not just items that come off of the food service truck.

The Food Garage is a remodeled Ford auto dealership.

Inside the Food Garage in Lake Lillian Minn.

“Dennis and Rachelle Jacobson renovated what had been Lake Lillian’s Ford Garage into a restaurant. The building’s location, in the heart of the town’s business district, was the mainstay for the William Johnson Motor Company. The firm operated from 1923-84.” (1)

The restaurant features plenty of seating for large and small groups of diners. The special on the day I stopped was a barbecue pork sandwich. It came as a slab of pork on a bun with some barbecue sauce and featured slaw and fries as sides. It was very good. The service was good. I was there about 11 am and it was really starting to get busy when I left at 11:45. If you are traveling on MN 7 through the west central part of the state, it’s worth the stop.

I shot some other photos of the town on as I was leaving.

Main Street Lake Lillian, Minn. Looking North from the Food Garage.

U.S. Post Office, Lake Lillian, Minn. 56253

I did not know the fate that awaited the liquor store when I was there that day in June.

Just three months later, almost to the day, the liquor store would burn. I didn’t know that until I happened to be driving through Lake Lillian in February of this year and took a drive down main street and saw the fire damaged liquor store. I was hoping no on was injured because I remembered before when I was there that it was apparent people lived above the business. A quick search on the internet revealed the following snippet.

LAKE LILLIAN — The Sept. 23 fire that extensively damaged the K&M Liquor building in downtown Lake Lillian has been ruled an arson fire by the State Fire Marshal and the Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s office.

I found no indication of any injuries sustained in the fire, so hopefully there were none.

References:

(1) http://www.agrinews.com/jacobsons/remodel/former/ford/garage/into/popular/lake/lillian/cafe/story-5230.html

Corn Shelling at WCAPC Show

July 2, 2013September 27, 2019 ~ RWare ~ Leave a comment

So as I alluded to in the last post, a more in depth post about one subject at the West Central Antique Power Collectors show in Blomkest, MN was coming. Here it is.

I arrived about an hour after the show started and it was not very busy yet. The early morning rain pushed back the arrival times for many. The exhibitors however we’re ready to exhibit.

While I was at the show I was wandering about with my camera. A nice old gent by the name of Randy Mertz tipped me off that he was going to be shelling corn in a little while.

Some of you may know I grew up on a farm, but my family did not farm. I had uncles and a grandfather that did, so I’m somewhat familiar with the common activities of farmers. Shelling corn is one such activity.

Now days picking corn implies shelling it because that happens automatically when the combine harvests the corn. Back when the equipment at the Blomkest show was in use, that is not how it happened. Corn was picked and it stayed on the cob. It was then stored in granaries, corn cribs and the like until it was needed.

At that time the farmer would shell the corn. Shelling was the process of getting the kernels of corn separated from the cob. In this state the corn could be sold or further processed into feed for livestock, etc.

This is the side the husks and cobs are ejected from. The tractor on the right is powering the sheller with it’s PTO.

Randy Mertz feeds corn into the conveyer to be shelled.

The corn begins it’s journey from the back of the green wagon as several look on.

Now it’s flowing nicely.

Corn goes up the elevator into the sheller

Here you see the corn leaving the conveyer dropping on the the sheller’s conveyer to be fed into the sheller. On the left the shelled corn falls into the wagon. On the right the cobs and husks are discarded.

The husks and cobs are spit neatly into separate piles.

A little closer look at the cobs and husks.

And finally the whole point of this exercise. Corn all by itself, no husks, no cobs.

Thanks Randy for taking the time to exhibit so people like me who somewhat remember this stuff can see it again and especially for those who have no idea what shelling corn is. If not for folks like you and the other exhibitors a lot of things once done on the farm could only be read about.

West Central Antique Power Collectors Show

June 23, 2013September 27, 2019 ~ RWare ~ 3 Comments

This morning saw the 17th annual West Central Antique Power Collectors (WCAPC) show in Blomkest Minnesota get off to a slow start. Heavy rain Friday night and into early Saturday morning looked like it could make for a miserable day and keep attendance down. The worries were unfounded, the rain stopped and even some partial sun peaked through most of the day.

The show runs tomorrow too and if you are in the area, it’s worth checking out. See WCAPC website for more info.

I talked to several of the exhibitors, got some history on some machinery and farming methods. Those old boys are a wealth of knowledge and happy to talk about their machinery.

For now, I’m going to share a few photos so you get and idea of what is at the show. I’ve got a couple of photo essay’s coming up in the future from today event.

I’m not sure if Oliver was the featured tractor this year or not. I know it was last year at Scott Carver Old Threshers Event in Jordan, MN as well as at the Rice County Show. It seemed there we’re probably more Olivers here than other manufacture and they were prominently featured up front. Of course other manufacturers were well represented as well and even some lesser seen models such as Fordson were there.

Fordson - see I was telling the truth. — Fordson – see I was telling the truth.

Case had a few units on hand and I met a few more on the highway after I left that appeared to be headed for the show. Possibly the heavy weather the night before and early Saturday had the owner a little skittish about bringing them earlier.

In addition to the tractors there were arts and crafts and old machinery on display as well as being demonstrated.

Tractor PullThe little fella’s pulled today, tomorrow is the dad’s and grandad’s turn with their big tractors.

They have food and drink on site as well and one thing I noticed at this show that some others I have attended lacked was a nice distribution of benches throughout the grounds for folks to get off their feet for a bit if they needed to. The tractor pull has a nice hill that overlooks and there is a row of benches and folks can bring their own chairs as well.

While not the biggest show I’ve been to, the organizers were all friendly and helpful and really took pride in putting on a good show.

If you get the chance check out the show.