- Hey there, Minnesota!

We're gonna go chase some fall colors, explore some stone ruins, and look for an animal that they describe as 'a cinder block with legs'.

I don't know what that's about but I'm excited to find out.

Join us with our guest artist, Heidi Bacon, and our guide today, Bruce Ause, from the Red Wing Environmental Learning Center.

Lets go Minnesota!

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

(upbeat music) - [Brenda] So we're starting here, and then I believe we're gonna hike around this loop.

Not sure if we're doing that, but we're going to go around here, and then we're going to come back down across the creek and come up around this loop, and I believe the stone ruins that we're going to visit are kind of up on top of a hill over in this area.

So yeah.

So I don't know, 20 miles, 25 miles.

Maybe like three or five miles.

- [Brenda] Hey guys.

- Good morning.

- Hi how are you?

- Hey, I'm Brenda.

- Heidi.

- Hi, nice to meet you.

- And I'm Bruce.

- Bruce.

- Nice to meet you.

- And - Jim.

- Jim.

- Laurel.

- And Laurel.

Nice to meet you guys.

Yeah, I'm excited for today.

I hear we get to see some of your descendant's ruins of their old house.

Is it a house?

Or what exactly.. - [Laurel] It was a house.

- [Bruce] Farmstead, actually.

- Yeah - Okay.

- [Laurel] It's a wall now.

- Okay.

(people laughing) But a very nice wall.

- [Laurel] It is.

- Yes.

- [Laurel] Well-built.

Well built.

- Can you climb it?

Because I like rock climbing.

- I don't think so.

- [Brenda] Oh, okay.

So and are you with Red Wing Environmental Learning Center?

- I'm the director from 30 years ago.

Actually, 50 years ago.

I started Red Wing Environmental Learning Center in 1970.

- [Brenda] Oh, wow.

Okay.

- And so I retired a number of years ago and have been enlisted to come along today.

- Because you want to be here.

- Oh, absolutely.

- [Brenda] Yes ( people laughing) - And Heidi, why are you with us today?

- I'm an artist and I do plein air painting as well as work in the studio on commission works, but I always get inspired by nature so I'm excited for the hike.

- [Brenda] Yeah, I'm excited to hear more about the plein air and what that means.

All right, cool.

Well, I am not sure.

There are several trail heads so I don't know if you guys know which direction we're heading today?

Do I have the map in my bag?

Do any of you have a map today?

Or is this this is our only map so if something happens to me, we're in big trouble.

Which direction are we facing right now is this West or East?

- This should be East.

- East, North, West.

So we're gonna take the trail probably to the East first, and then we're gonna come back here and cross over the little creek and head up here and then is this where the ruins are up in here?

- Mm hmm.

- [Brenda] Like where can you point out kind of where they are in here?

- this area maybe that the overlook or there.

- [Brenda] Okay.

All right, cool.

Is this pretty hilly back in there?

- It's all uphill.

- Quite steep.

- Excellent.

Well, I take piggyback rides.

(people laughing) - So you want to lead the way?

- Beautiful, I'd be happy to lead the way.

- Lead the way, show us where to go.

That would be great.

(upbeat music) - [Bruce] Ah there she is yeah.

- Wow, okay.

(upbeat music) - Tell me a little bit about the Environmental Learning Center.

- Well, it's basically hands on.

- Okay.

- We adhere to a proverb, Chinese proverb, I hear and I forget, - [Brenda] I hear and I forget, - I see and I remember, - I see and I remember, - I do, and I understand.

- I do and I understand.

I love that.

Tell me, what does that mean to you?

- [Bruce] Well, it means that if you can experience something, you're going to remember it a lot longer than just hearing somebody talk about it.

Everything that we do, for the most part is experiential.

- [Brenda] Okay, how so?

- [Bruce] Getting the kids involved in learning skills, whether it be skills to make maple syrup, or cross country ski.

- [Brenda] Okay, - [Bruce] Or rock climbing, cave exploring.

- [Brenda] So what do you do these days now that's you're not working at the Environmental Learning Center?

- Well, I'm the interpretive naturalist at the State Park and I've done that ever since I retired and I thoroughly enjoy it.

(upbeat music) - [Brenda] I'm curious about your experience with your parents growing up.

- [Heidi] Both parents became teachers.

My dad was a principal in grade school.

And so every summer they had the summer off and so they would get a national parks pass.

And we'd spend the summers camping across the country.

- [Brenda] I love that.

So I had to note that your dad used to drop you into caves that he couldn't fit into.

What in the heck is that all about?

- Well, - I get claustrophobia.

So even thought of that.

- Oh, yeah, well, also part of growing up is doing the things my dad did when he was younger.

- Okay.

- One of the things he had done in the 50s, was discover a cave at Whitewater State Park.

And it had the (indistinct) American remains and they were able to determine for the first time, a certain group had been in that area.

- [Brenda] So yeah, so Okay, so then he put the rope on you so you guys could go explore.

- Yeah.

And I think because first of all, we liked doing it and it was exciting.

But there was that fear factor.

(upbeat music) - So you guys are related to the people who built this house?

- Yes.

Um four or five generations ago, for me, built it.

Cordes fam the Cordes family.

- Okay, what were their names?

Do you remember?

- No, but there's a sign at the top that will tell you.

(women laughing) - This was all prairie back in those days.

there just weren't trees around here like there is.

- Okay.

Yeah, sure.

So what do you guys know about this place then?

Like is it just a house?

Is it a farm?

- It was a farm.

- Okay.

- And I want to say three generations ago, they sold it.

So a farm place for what do you think Dad?

Two or three generations?

- [Brenda] So do you guys know any stories about the people who used to live there or kind of you're any of the descendants between them in you?

in this property?

- [Jim] Well, my grandpa would have been born up here.

- [Brenda] Okay.

- [Laurel] Was it one of them that got stuck in the river?

Is he the one that immigrated to the US from Germany?

- Yes.

Yes.

- He was in St. Louis, going to St. Paul.

Boat got stuck so he stayed.

(women laughing) - Then he homesteaded down in Flowerville.

- That's what we like to call destiny.

- This is where you're meant to be.

- Yeah, right.

- Do you mind if I take a picture of this tree?

I was like, I'm always like, squirrel..

There's something there.

I gotta stop and do it.

- What are you seeing it up there?

- Well, I love trees.

And when you find a tree that's had the space to grow the way it's supposed to this one's branched out fully.

You know, a lot of times they're crowded and they, they don't have their branches spreading out, like this one, but this one's beautiful, and it's got moss on it, and oh, I just love trees.

- [Bruce] Oh, that's an oak tree.

Probably a Baroque, I'm guessing.

And we've been noticing on the way here.

We probably won't see any more but a lot of evidence of Asian bittersweet.

So if we see some we'll pointed out.

In fact, there might be some right up here that would make a good uh .. - What's Asian bittersweet?

- It's an invasive species.

And it's very lethal to trees.

- Are we supposed to like remove it if we see it?

- Yeah.

If, if you have a half a day (upbeat music) - Ow, that was itchy.

Ow.

- [Heidi] What is it?

- I don't know what that was but that thing hurt me.

- [Heidi] Is it a nettle?

- I don't know but oh yes, look, it's turning red right now.

- [Heidi] Yeah.

- And I just barely brushed up against that.

(upbeat music) - So Bruce tells me that he found some medicinal relief for my itchy arm so we're gonna go check that out.

- [Brenda] What is this?

- It's jewel weed.

- [Brenda] Jewel weed?

Never heard of jewel weed.

- It's kind of a succulent - [Brenda] Okay.

- And so if you take the this and squeeze it, there's moisture in there.

- [Brenda] Okay.

- And you just rub that on your, on your bite.

- [Brenda] Here will you rub it on it?

- [Bruce] Sure.

- It's hard you can't whether you can see the bumps.

- [Bruce] Kind of cool.

- [Brenda] Yeah, a little bit.

- actually it's getting you know, in the summer there'd be much more much more liquid in here, sap.

- [Brenda] Sure.

Kind of drying up cause it's fall.

- [Bruce] Yep.

But that will that should alleviate some of the itching.

- [Brenda] Yeah, I mean, it feels good right now.

- [Bruce] You really want to look for this.

The fact that it's a succulent plant.

- [Brenda] Okay.

What does that mean exactly?

A succulent.

- [Bruce] Well, a lot of moisture in there.

And it's translucent.

If you hold it up to the sun, the light passes through it (indistinct) - [Bruce] Lower down in the stem you can - [Brenda] There y'all look right here.

- [Brenda] Actually, if you guys look at this, the bumps have gone down.

Yeah, look at that the bumps have totally gone down.

(upbeat music) - [Bruce] There are a number of trails, I think there's 1500 acres in the state forest land here.

And this is one of the more popular forest in which they allow horseback riding.

So I think - [Brenda] Yeah I saw I actually saw some horses in the parking lot when we pulled in - [Bruce] In many cases, the, the trails are separate from hiking trails, but in some places, as you can see the trail that we're on, they converge and you have both hiking and horseback riding.

So here in Creek Hardwood Forest, which is a part of the Richard Doerr Memorial.

- [Brenda] Okay.

- [Bruce] State Forest.

- [Brenda] That was the name I had heard somebody mentioned earlier.

Who was he?

- [Bruce] Well, an early forester and had a great pride being (indistinct) and recognition of the fact that we needed to better manage our forests.

Back in the 1950s and 60s - [Brenda] I wanna have a forest named after me.

What do I have to do to have a forest named after me?

Do you know kind of what what kind of forest area is this like what are the main trees through here?

- [Bruce] Well it's a was a combination of everything from here you have a black cherry, to elm, to oak.

Maple not so much Maple right in here.

- [Brenda] Okay.

I See we're steadily going up and up here.

- It's actually it's not too bad, right?

Kind of all sudden realized I was starting to get out of breath.

- I'm surprised I haven't like fallen on my face yet.

- My stepdad used to call me Grace as a joke.

(women laughing) (upbeat music) - [Jim] It's just a weird thing that they would have built such a sturdy stone house on a hill like this.

Generally it would have been out of wood.

There'd be nothing left.

- [Brenda] So when was this house build?

- [Laurel] 1850s?

- [Jim] Yap.

- The sign will say - The sign.

- The sign will tell us.

- We're gonna find that sign.

- 1850s - [Brenda] With that kind of as your upbringing and your parents, you know, kind you having out, your national parks all the time and all the scouting and, you know, putting you down into caves and how has that made you who you are right now?

- Well, I think it helps you to be fearless and explorative and creative.

I mean, we're noticing things you know and being aware.

I used to, I used to know this, how to identify trees by their leaves and their bark.

And you know, different things that we would be taught as we hiked.

And we hiked everywhere.

We camped in tents and open air.

And sometimes, you know, you know, very primitive conditions.

(Heidi laughing) But it was always an adventure.

- [Bruce] There's an interesting plant here that it's worth talking about.

It's right here.

It's called White snakeroot.

and a lot of the wild flowers that you see in the forest bloom in the spring, because they have to bloom before the canopy develops and robs the forest floor of any sunlight.

This is one of the exceptions.

This blooms mid August, and it's kind of at the tail end of things.

But what what's interesting about White snakeroot is the fact that when this country was settled, Particularly Iowa, and Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, and people were moving across and setting up homesteads, Everything was cool, everything was working.

And then about mid August, people started getting sick.

And they could not figure out why that was.

Well, in time, they put the dots together and figured out that any particular dairy cow that would accidentally start grazing on this plant, it would taint the milk.

And now it's commonly called milk sickness.

If the cow ate enough of it, it could kill the cow.

- [Brenda] What was the name of this plant again?

- It's white snakeroot.

- [Brenda] Okay.

- And what a lot of people don't realize is that Abraham Lincoln's mother died when he was 11 years old, because she consumed milk that was tainted from this plant.

- [Brenda] Oh, wow, that's interesting.

- So it's not, there's no problem with touching it.

But consuming it, there's a poison.

- [Brenda] Do not eat this plant.

- There's a real sharp right hand turn here and we're gonna go back because it's been a number of years since I've been out here so - [Brenda] Oh so are we lost right now?

- It would be pretty embarrassing to have you get lost out here.

- Our artists today Heidi Bacon grew up in a household where both of her parents were scout leaders.

She's been immersed in nature her entire life, which is partly why she is now a plein air painter.

And what does that mean?

Let's find out.

- I like to paint out in nature in the state parks especially.

And it just is uh makes me feel calm and step back for a moment from my busy life and just enjoy being in nature.

(upbeat music) When I'm in the middle of a painting, I'm excited about it.

I know what the end result is going to be, I know the finish line in my head, or it's going to be that no one else does.

So I get excited.

I, I like to show people look what I'm doing.

And they're like, 'Oh, what is that?'

And like, 'Oh, good luck with that,' you know, but I know where it's going.

And as it continues on, the layers are added the detail is the last thing.

(upbeat music) My passion for art has allowed me to look at everything differently.

When I'm driving every day.

I'm picking out the colors in the sky.

It's not just blue, the clouds aren't white.

The clouds are pale orange, and then the lavender.

The sky can be turquoise and it goes to whitish blue.

And so if you break down everything you see including people, animals, buildings, they're not your brain tells you 'Oh, this is the basic color of something.'

But it's not.

Everything's made up of all these different colors.

Even in faces, you know, there's greens and and purples and burgundy's you know, so when you're painting, then you remember that.

(upbeat music) My favorite memory from our hike was when we were all hiking up this hill to an abandoned stone house and farmhouse that had been there 100, 150 years ago.

It's falling down now.

And it's covered with ivy.

It was a beautiful sight to come around that bend in the woods and see this building there.

And it made me wonder what happened in that house and who were these people and what was it like living there?

Was it just as I'm sure it was just as beautiful and quiet as it was when we're there, birds were chirping.

We even had horses come by, horseback riders riding the trail while we were there.

And I just that my favorite part has got to be exploring that old house.

(upbeat music) I chose that old house for the subject of my painting because of the stories that were told from the descendants of the person who donated that land to create that park.

(upbeat music) - [Brenda] So, are we is this considered part of the drift less region?

- Good question.

We are right.

right on the edge of the drift less area.

Yes.

Drift is material that's carried by the glaciers.

And when the glaciers start to melt, that stuff falls out.

And it could be the size of your fist.

It could be the size of a Volkswagen car.

- [Brenda] So do you know anything about like, where they got the stone did they like, carry it all off up hill?

- [Jim] Pretty much so.

- [Brenda] Okay.

- It's kind of a mystery why they would have built up here.

- Maybe they wanted to view their view.

Is there a good view?

- Would have been in the day.

- Back when there was no trees?.

- [Brenda] We are almost up the hill.

Hey, look at this.

A little bit of moisture.

This is like booby trap number one when you're trying to like get to the house.

Oh, yeah, I see part of it right here.

So do you know what kind of some of these pieces are of the foundation - That would be assessed or it would probably be on this map Laurel?

- [Laurel] Yeah, there's a sign in a map up here.

- [Brenda] It does have a picture.

- [Jim] That is the picture from way back.

- [Brenda] So this is a picture of the original.

- [Laurel] Yeah.

- [Jim] And this would have been a map of the - [Brenda] Oh, let me see - [Jim] place about five years ago when they cleared it off.

- [Brenda] So can you kind of point on here where things are.

- [Jim] Well, here's the halls.

Right.

- [Brenda] Okay.

And - [Jim] I'm guessing we're about standing right here somewhere.

- We got barn, hay, are we looking at the wrong way?

Let's see what we're looking at.

- [Jim] I think that's would be - [Brenda] Because this is the way we're kind of standing right?

- That's the way I would say yeah, - Yeah.

All right.

So that means when we turn this way, we're gonna walk up to it this direction.

- [Brenda] Oh, hey, there it is.

That's clearly the house.

Yeah.

Franz and Meta how do you say last name?

- [Laurel] Cordes.

- [Brenda] Cordes homestead.

It almost looks like in that picture, it almost looks like a town.

You know, I mean, there's like so many buildings and a little gravel road going through the middle.

Kind of hard to tell.

Neat.

- [Jim] I think what's neat, is it was a two story home, with a basement and it's just.

- [Brenda] So tech I mean so really it had three levels.

- [[Jim] Right.

- [Brenda] Which that's probably pretty rare for that time period I would imagine.

- Yeah.

No how well that was built.

- Right.

So yeah, even you can see like the wood.

- [Jim] And the huge windows.

- Yeah.

So were they a fairly wealthy family?

- Well, I you know, I don't think so.

They just came from their home country.

So I don't know how they had a lot of money.

- They were just a very innovative family.

- [Jim] Well, they had all had skills.

That's the thing.

- [Brenda] There you are.

There they are.

There's a family portrait right there.

No, those really are huge windows.

I mean, that's amazing.

- [Jim] One of their daughters died at 18 and she had dropsy, which would have been a heart issue.

- [Brenda] Okay.

- [Jim] And I've heard my folks say that that's why they had big windows.

SO they had a lot of air.

No idea if that's ... - [Brenda] Sure.

I understand.

- Family lore.

- [Brenda] It's really fun to kind of look in here and imagine them living here.

- [Laurel] There's probably lots of animals that live here now.

- [Brenda] Oh, yeah.

(upbeat music) - Well, we haven't seen one yet.

And despite its fearless reputation, the American badger actually does not want to pick a fight with you.

Let's learn more from Oxbow Park and Zollman Zoo's naturalist Clarissa Schrooten.

- The badgers that we see here in Minnesota are the American badger.

They are known for having the big white stripe that goes back on their head, that is the best way to identify them.

They also kind of look like a cinder block with legs based on their body shape.

And they get that because of their behavior.

One of the big things that an American badger does it spends a lot of time digging in the ground, kind of like a swimmer where they get the big broad shoulders.

Badgers have what was called delayed implantation.

When they breed those embryos then go into a diapause.

So during embryonic diapause, they can the female can hold on to those slightly developed embryos for months and then her body is going to assess the whole situation.

She's going to see if the habitat's good, if they have everything they need.

If is the right situation those embryos will continue to develop into full on embryos and babies and that she'll have.

I'm Clarissa Schrooten from Oxbow Park and Zollman Zoo and I encourage everyone to get out enjoy the outdoors.

- We've had a great day on the trails.

Checking out the forest and exploring old stone houses.

But you know what we're getting kind of hungry so we're gonna go get some lunch.

We'll see you next time on Let's Go Minnesota.

(upbeat music) - [Brenda] I hear there's some badgers around here - I'd be surprised if there are any badgers in here mainly because they survive by by digging.

- [Brenda] Oh really?

- And with all the roots in the forest you aren't gonna find many badgers.

- [Jim] No it was a man with three daughters that built this thing in and you know just wonder.

He spent a lot of time building the house and they needed to farm besides.

I don't know how that all worked.

- [Bruce] I can't imagine I got enough trouble just getting my lawn mowed.

- [Jim] Say Isn't that the truth?

(men laughing) - [Bruce] Well, they had shape for that.

- [Jim] And you don't go to the hardware store to get some parts either.

You're just gonna have to.

- [Bruce] Wing it.

- [Jim] Wing it yeah.

- Well, we can breathe a sigh of relief.

I think trail turns to the right here so.

- We're not gonna get lost after all.

Our guide found our way.

Maybe, actually we're not sure.

Let's see what happens right around this corner and then the next corner and then probably next corner.

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

(upbeat music)