Patrick Wood’s doodles hit children’s bookshelves. 

by Sara Schafer  |  sschafer@ruralmissouri.coop

Rumble, rumble, rumble … boom! “Ahhhhh!” screams Cat, as he watches the thunderstorm rage outside and his house turns dark. “We’re doomed!”

“Don’t worry, our electric cooperative will have the power back on very soon,” said Duck.

“What’s an electric cooperative?” asked Cat.

And so begins the gripping, whimsical and educational tale of “Cat & Duck and the Electric Cooperative.” This new children’s book was written and illustrated by Patrick Wood, manager of communications at Co-Mo Connect, an electric cooperative based in Tipton. He combined his creative skills with his focus on cooperatives to teach young children about the amazing world of electric cooperatives.

An avid doodler, Patrick typically pulls out the sketchbook or tablet after his children go to bed. He and his wife, Lauren, have three children: Grayson, 11; Parker, 9; and Flora, 3. So, their house is filled with children’s books. One night the idea hit him — what if he made a children’s book about electric cooperatives? 

“I wanted to target kids ages preschool through first grade, because our cooperative didn’t have any programs that cater to children that young,” he says. “We have programs about electrical safety for older elementary kids and middle schoolers and great leadership programs for high schoolers. But there wasn’t anything for the young kids.”

As any author does, Patrick started with the characters. “I looked around my house and saw our cat,” he says. “So, I drew a cat. I had an idea the cat was going to be the kid in the story. There would be an outage, and I needed an adult figure. So, I drew a duck. I did a quick Google search and found out kids’ books should be roughly 30 to 40 pages. That night I did a quick outline of the story.”

Over the next few days, Patrick put pen to paper and wrote the story. Cat and Duck would jump into a time machine to learn how electric cooperatives were formed, where electricity comes from, how cooperatives are run today and how lineworkers restore power outages. Patrick converted his original doodles to digital files through the illustration app Procreate. In just about a week, his original idea turned into files ready to be sent to the printer. “It was a crazy idea — I wrote a kids’ book about electric co-ops,” he says. “My co-op definitely lets us have some creative freedom, but even I thought this one might be a bit far out there. So, I wanted to quickly prove it was a good idea.”

Patrick reached out to his alma mater, Morgan County R-II School District in Versailles, to set up a reading of his book for the preschool and kindergarten classes. He wanted to read the book, give a copy to all the students and have the children go outside to see a bucket truck and meet a lineman from Co-Mo Connect. 

“If all else fails, a lineman in a bucket going up will always be a crowd pleaser for preschool through first grade,” Patrick says. “The lineman, Zach Wells, gets in the bucket and starts going up. Based on the sound the kids made, you would have thought Taylor Swift came around from behind. The kids lost their minds and just went crazy for it. His son was in that group, so it was extra special.”

In the last six months, Patrick has read to students all across Co-Mo’s service territory — Stover, Tipton, Jamestown, Pilot Grove and more. The magical part, he says, is gifting all the children a copy of the book. “These kids are young enough they can’t read yet, but I’m giving them a book,” Patrick says. “So, their parents read it to them, and they all learn together. I know I’ve learned a great many things by reading books to my kids. For some kids, this may be their first or only book on their bookshelf, and they now have something of their own.”

Patrick shared the book with his network of electric cooperative communicators across the country. Many loved it and are now offering it to children in their service areas. So far, he says, multiple co-ops in 26 states have read or shared the book. 

The success and response to “Cat & Duck and the Electric Cooperative” led Patrick to write a second book, “A Lineman’s Day with Co-Mo Joe.” It was released in conjunction with National Lineman Appreciation Day in April. The book includes a page where children can color Co-Mo Joe, cut him out and physically take him through the pages of the book. The book includes photos of Co-Mo Connect Lineman Danny Wood as he highlights tools, safety precautions and typical tasks of lineworkers.

This summer Patrick plans to release a sequel to “Cat & Duck” that focuses on electric safety. “I have so many creative ideas, but writing a book wasn’t necessarily a plan for me,” he says. “But it’s been fun, and I can’t believe it exploded like it did. My mom was an elementary teacher for 30 years, and I think she would appreciate this book.”

Patrick joined the Co-Mo Connect team in 2019. His days are filled with managing the communication efforts for the cooperative and its fiber internet business. Whether he’s polishing up their local pages for this magazine, coordinating students to attend Youth Tour, organizing their annual meeting or sharing important updates on social media, Patrick is always focused on spreading the good word about cooperatives.

You can download copies of Patrick Wood’s books at www.catandduck.org. You’ll also find coloring pages and more information. Contact Patrick at pwood@co-mo.coop.

Originally Appeared Here

Co-op lineworkers mobilize to turn power back on after storms. 

by Paul Newton  |  pnewton@ruralmissouri.coop

photos by Paul Newton and Ricki Spargo

Spring came in like a lion this year. Electric cooperatives across Missouri spent parts of March and April working to undo the damage Mother Nature left them after tornadoes, storms and flooding ravaged southern Missouri. Electric cooperative lineworkers banded together to work each storm until every co-op member had their power and broadband restored.

The most devastating string of storms hit late in the evening on Friday, March 14. Tornadoes touched down in southern Missouri, taking with them homes, churches, trees and anything else in their paths. In all, 10 tornadoes — with gusts up to 165 mph — were confirmed.

When the sun came up, co-ops started to see the daunting task they faced. At its peak, more than 35,000 electric co-op members in Missouri were without power. Crews quickly discovered what the story of this storm restoration would be: broken poles. The tornadoes broke 1,400 poles across the rolling hills and unpredictable terrain of the Ozarks, which would all need to be replaced.

West Plains-based Howell-Oregon Electric Cooperative lost a total of 437 poles, according to Dan Singletary, CEO/general manager. “In my 40-year career, this is the biggest storm I have been a part of as far as poles and financial cost,” Dan says. “As soon as we started assessing the damage, we knew we needed help.”

Dan and his counterparts at four other electric co-ops called Missouri Electric Cooperatives — the statewide association that represents all 47 Show-Me State electric cooperatives — requesting support from co-ops out of harm’s way. That activated the association’s emergency assistance program, which mobilized 140 additional lineworkers from across the state to help.

The lineworkers began arriving in West Plains the following day, giving a boost to those who knew the task at hand. “It’s an incredible feeling when you see the trucks rolling in,” says Dan. “Comfort isn’t the right word, but it puts you just a little bit at ease knowing that others have left their families to come and help.”

“Our co-ops know that if they are ever in need, help is just one call away,” says Johnie Hendrix, vice president of risk management and training for Missouri Electric Cooperatives. “The outages from this set of storms proved to be challenging to restore, however, Missouri’s cooperative lineworkers have trained to work safely in nearly any condition to turn members’ lights back on.”

At each of the five cooperatives hosting out-of-town lineworkers, safety was the key message, especially at the predawn breakfasts before the crews packed up for the day. Co-op leadership and safety personnel would go over the restoration plans and pass along local information, ensuring lineworkers, dispatchers and more were on the same page. At Black River Electric Cooperative in Fredericktown — where they also had more than 400 broken poles — crews would gather for a late-night dinner once their day was over. Co-op staff projected photos of the damage and restoration efforts from the day, giving the lineworkers a look at what their peers were facing.

Communication was key for co-ops as they kept their members informed of the restoration process. Through a combination of social media posts, news interviews, press releases, safety reminders and website updates, members kept up with the progress. Dan started each morning recording a video Howell-Oregon would post to Facebook detailing the progress and challenges his crews faced.

“At one point we had more than 6,300 members out and all those broken poles, so we knew this was going to be a multiday outage and we had to be clear in relaying that to our members,” he says. “They just appreciate the information. Even if it’s not happy or great information, it helps them understand the gravity of the situation and how seriously we’re taking it.”

In addition to Howell-Oregon and Black River, others receiving assistance were Ozark Border, Crawford and Intercounty electric cooperatives. Some crews first made repairs to their own system before being dispatched out to help. The final mutual assistance crews were sent home on Friday, March 21, one week after the tornadoes hit.

The lineworkers’ work is never done. Just a few weeks later, three cooperatives traveled to Pilot Grove to fix more than 50 broken poles for Co-Mo Connect following a tornado. The crews from Black River, Howell-Oregon and Intercounty would repay the favor and travel to SEMO Electric in Sikeston to restore power following heavy storms and flooding. 

Restoring power after a storm is a combination of meticulous planning, problem-solving and teamwork. “It’s incredible to see it all come together,” says Dan. “We’ve got our emergency restoration plan that we can follow, but seeing everyone come to help and then our staff and volunteers figuring out breakfast, lunch, supper, hotel rooms and laundry for the guys. The man-hours and organization behind the scenes is incredible.”

Originally Appeared Here

Tasty food paired with housemate brews in Hermann. 

by Paul Newton  |  pnewton@ruralmissouri.coop

You’ll come for the food, but hang around for so much more at Tin Mill Brewing Co. There’s a pet-friendly patio with yard games and live music. There’s a jukebox in the basement of the old granary while the upstairs is relaxed and features plenty of board games and space for quiet conversation. On the main level, the bar features 20 taps of housemade beer, cider, mixed drinks and more.

“The atmosphere is our big sell here,” says Randy Lissner, manager of Tin Mill Brewing Co. “The beer is amazing and the food is great and meant to complement the beer. We want to be inviting with live music on Fridays and Saturdays throughout the season. It’s a place to come that just has good vibes.”

For nearly two decades, Tin Mill Brewing Co. in downtown Hermann has served mouthwatering bites and ice-cold beers brewed on-site. The brewery is known for its quick-service menu featuring plenty of appetizers, burgers and pizzas to pair with its wide selection of drinks.

Tin Mill opened in 2006 and today is part of a family of businesses — including a winery, distillery, fine-dining restaurant, deli and inn — located on the east side of the German town.

“Our philosophy with our food is rooted in speed and efficiency,” Randy says. “We have a lot of foot traffic that comes through here. We might be a little slow and then get 60 people who come in at once. Our focus is on casual food that pairs well with our beers like pizza and burgers. It’s not fancy or overly complicated, but elevated pub food.”

For a German classic, start with the Bavarian Pretzel. The jumbo soft pretzel is cooked to order and served with housemade Red Caboose beer cheese. The rich sauce is made with Tin Mill’s Red Caboose amber lager, a core beer at the brewery that is a nod to the Caboose Museum across the street. Try the Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel for a sweet alternative. The hot pretzel is dusted with cinnamon and sugar and served with buttercream icing.

Other unique appetizers include the Sweet Tots — crispy sweet potato tots fried and served with chipotle dipping sauce — and the Spicy Cheese Curds served with housemade ranch dressing. “The cheese curds are our No. 1 seller,” Randy says. “I have to warn people when they order the cheese curds that they do pack quite a spicy kick.”

You’ll have multiple options if you want a burger, but the most popular is the Brewery Burger. The classic cheeseburger features a one-third-pound patty, which is smashed into the flattop and cooked to order. The burger is topped with American cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion and pickle and served with piping hot french fries.

In a nod to Hermann’s German heritage, Tin Mill serves a Brewery Brat. Randy sources his bratwurst all the way from his next-door neighbor, Hermann Wurst Haus. The brat is served with your choice of sauerkraut or the Red Caboose beer cheese sauce and fries.

If pizza is what you crave with your brew, Tin Mill has you covered with St. Louis-style pizzas. Guests customize their 9- or 12-inch pizzas with up to nine toppings. Randy says his flatbreads are becoming more popular, including the colorful Garden Flatbread. The parbaked flatbread is topped with a mascarpone cheese base, basil pesto, artichoke hearts, spinach, black pepper and a light sprinkling of mozzarella cheese. The flatbread is cooked until it’s bubbling and delivered promptly to hungry customers.

“It’s very herbal,” says Randy. “That basil pesto comes forward with the mascarpone cheese. It’s very light, airy and aromatic.”

In addition to the Red Caboose amber lager, Tin Mill has three other year-round core beers including the German pilsner Skyscraper, hefeweizen First Street Wheat and doppelbock Midnight Whistle.

The other 16 taps at Tin Mill are filled with a rotating collection of what Tin Mill’s brewing team comes up with. “We’ll save spots for certain types of beer, but it changes throughout the year,” Randy says. “Right now we have a blackberry-cranberry sour, before it was blackberry-cherry sour and before that a Key lime sour.” 

The exhaustive beer list includes ales, stouts, IPAs, ciders and lagers. Locally made root beer is also on tap, along with mixed drinks using spirits sold across the street at sister store Black Shire Distillery. The Blackberry Lemonade is made with Black Shire’s blackberry whiskey and Pink Gin and Tonic is made with Black Shire’s gin and hibiscus tonic syrup from Pinckney Bend Distillery in nearby New Haven.

Tin Mill stays busy throughout the year. Once visitors descend upon Hermann in March for WurstFest, there is at least one festival in town every month. Hermann’s German heritage will be celebrated with Maifest on May 16-18 with German music, dancing, food and more.

When Tin Mill opened 19 years ago, they started with just their four core beers. As Hermann’s tourism industry has grown, so has the brewery, according to Randy, who started at Tin Mill in 2016.

“Over the past 10 years, there have been a bunch of distilleries and other things built in Hermann,” Randy says. “The brewery has developed more and more over that time span as well. The whole town is very tourist-oriented.”

Randy says seeing the growth and evolution of Tin Mill is what makes him excited to go to work. “I’ve seen the evolution of and been around for the changes to the building and menu,” he says. “Being a part of the fine-tuning and curating the atmosphere and vibe we have here has been enjoyable.”

Originally Appeared Here

Jon Wilson cultivates the next generation of farmers

by Jim McCarty |  jmccarty@ruralmissouri.coop

He ran 100 miles. He’s well on his way to a doctorate. He wrangles cattle in the hills of the Ozarks with his wife, April. He advocates for vocational agriculture. He’s known for having the best mustache in the 8th Congressional District. He has a day named for him at Gainesville High School and sings its school closings. He’s also an “Idiot.”

That last one might need some explaining: Jon Wilson was out running one day with his friend David Murphy when they crossed paths with a skunk. The two quickly realized they didn’t have to outrun the skunk — just the person next to them.

Thus began the first Skunk Run put on by a “dumb little club” called the Idiots Running Club, an online social media group Jon helped start. Today the group numbers more than 7,000 Idiots — Jon included — and is devoted more to helping its members succeed in life than it is about actually running.

Helping others succeed pretty much sums up Jon’s mission in life. When he’s not farming, lobbying, running or adding a few more hairs to a mustache that’s been dubbed “magnificent,” Jon can be found teaching agriculture to students at Gainesville High School. 

He’s also the advisor to the school’s FFA chapter. That means arriving at the school at 6:15 a.m. to coach FFA teams because there just isn’t enough time in the day for students involved in many other activities. It also requires giving up weekends to lead blue-jacketed youth to contests, field trips and conferences.

“I’m a late bloomer,” Jon says of his entry into ag education. He started college aiming for a career in conservation, something of a family tradition for this White River Valley Electric Cooperative member. But along the way Jon saw fellow students graduating but not finding jobs. “I didn’t want to get an education and not have anything to show for it,” he says. “So, I dropped out and started working for Tindle Mills in Springfield.”

It took a few years for Jon to get the itch to continue his education. In talking to his college advisor, he realized there were two things that were most important to him: working with youth and agriculture.

“I switched majors,” he says. “I jumped back in and finished it up.”

Hired to teach agriculture at Gainesville High School in 2000, Jon set his sights on a new goal. He wanted to help reverse an alarming trend in agriculture. As he pointed out in a guest column for Rural Missouri in 2015, the average age of farmers is on the rise. “Who will replace our retiring farmers?” he asked in the column.

The answer to that question lies in the 361 agriculture education programs in Missouri’s schools, career centers and community colleges, and with ag education teachers like Jon who serve as advisors for the state’s FFA chapters. According to Missouri FFA, ag education programs in Missouri reach 31,575 students. In a typical year more than 5,000 of these students will graduate with 60% pursuing a career in agriculture.

“My goal is to make class fun, to make the learning fun,” Jon says. “I want it to be something that draws them into agriculture instead of pushing them away. I’ve seen kids who lived on a farm all of their life. They’ve had to work it. They’ve had to do it and they get out, they aren’t farming any more. My goal is to make it to where they want to come back.”

As a weeknight and weekend rancher on a farm south of Ava, Jon knows all too well the difficulty involved with entering agriculture for the first time. “The startup cost of a farm right now is just tremendous,” he says. “If you are starting from nothing, you own no cattle, you own no land, you own no equipment — the debt is astronomical. The kids look at that and they are like, ‘I can’t afford that.’ ”

That’s where a formal education in agriculture can help. Jon’s students will be immersed in every aspect of agriculture, including horticulture, conservation, forestry, mechanics and welding. They will put those ideas into practice in the community, with his 66 students earning more than $70,000 in 2024 through raising livestock or from their own ag-related businesses.

Gainesville’s students learn from a teacher determined to help them succeed with a tenacity that never quits. Take his reluctant entry into long-distance running, for example. At the same time he was training for a 100-mile race, he was also working on his doctorate. 

“I had no intention of ever running a race whatsoever,” Jon admits. “I just wanted to fit in my clothes. It turned into one of those things where you read Runner’s World, and they’d have all those things you are supposed to do. And me and David were doing the opposite. Well, you’re an idiot for doing that. And so we were like, ‘Hey, we’re the Idiots Running Club.’ ”

Armed with T-shirts designed by one of Jon’s students, the two started selling the shirts from the trunks of their cars at running events. The club grew quickly, and became a group devoted to encouraging the overweight runner who completed their first mile as much as congratulating those who finished an ultramarathon or beat cancer.

Jon began pacing his friend David, who had his sights set on going the ultimate distance for runners, 100 miles. Jon would complete a 50-mile run, then pace David for another 20 miles or so. Before long he found himself toeing the starting line for the Mark Twain 100 ultramarathon held on the Berryman Trail near Steelville. 

His rationale for entering the race? Finishers received a belt buckle, with an awesome mustache on it.

Halfway through the ultramarathon, Jon tripped and fell — mustache first — into the rocky trail. Bleeding, and with every breath painful, he had a decision to make. “I woke up that morning with the intention of running 100 miles, not 75,” he wrote in a blog on the Idiots Running Club website. “I told my wife that if I quit and went to the doctor, he would just say my ribs were broke, bruised or cracked and send me home. I could hurt on the trail for a few more hours and go home with a buckle or go home now and hurt the same empty-handed.”

He continued, completed the race and later learned he ran with separated ribs.

His running days are behind him and he’s put the doctorate on hold, but Jon basks in the knowledge that his efforts are paying off for his students. His two sons are both involved in agriculture, one as a teacher and the other as a farm equipment mechanic.

Jon sees former students at Gainesville’s Hootin and Hollarin Festival. “I get to visit with them and see where they are at,” he says. “Not everyone goes into agriculture, but a big chunk do involve themselves in some way.”  

You can learn more about Missouri FFA at missouriffa.org. The Idiots Running Club can be found online at www.idiotsrunningclub.com and on Facebook.

Originally Appeared Here

Jim Rogers fishes for a legacy

by Kyle Wayne Stewart  |  info@ruralmissouri.coop

photos by Jim McCarty  |  jmccarty@ruralmissouri.coop

When it comes to the legends of fly-fishing, the typical names that would likely come up in conversation would be international celebrities of the sport, such as Lefty Kreh, Flip Pallot and Joe Humphreys, among others. However, one of the most influential ambassadors of the sport resides right here in Missouri. If you’ve ever been to one of Missouri’s trout parks, chances are good that you’ve seen this man in action, too.

Just like any other fly fisherman, Jim Rogers had to start from scratch. Back in the 1950s when Jim was 10 years old, his father would pack up the family and their camping gear and make an annual trip from Oklahoma to Roaring River State Park near Cassville. It was there, along the banks of the trout-filled stream, that Jim discovered what would become a lifelong love affair with fly-fishing.

“I would see these old men casting with fly rods and it intrigued me,” says Jim, who is a member of Laclede Electric Cooperative. “They were catching fish and I wasn’t, and I wanted to learn their secrets.” After that, Jim was hooked. On each consecutive family camping trip back to Roaring River, he would practice and practice with a fly rod until it became second nature and the fish became seemingly effortless to catch.

But his connection with Roaring River State Park didn’t end there. In fact, those early vacations were the genesis of what would become a long-lasting relationship that would see him running the southwestern Missouri trout park for more than 40 years.

In 1975, while he was working for Drury Hotels in Springfield, Jim heard that the concessionaire contract for Roaring River was coming up for bid. He jumped at the opportunity to throw his hat in the ring and he got the job.

“My beginnings were at Roaring River as a young man. Then my wife and I started camping there after we got married, and then with our first daughter once she came along,” Jim says. “It was like God designed me to do this.”

After five years at the helm of operations for Roaring River, Jim was offered the opportunity to manage another trout park, Bennett Spring State Park near Lebanon. Never one to shy away from challenges or excellent fishing, Jim said “yes.” He went on to simultaneously manage concessions for both parks until 2023 when he decided to let Roaring River go and focus his full attention on Bennett Spring and the Jim Rogers School of Fly-Fishing.

That marked almost five decades spent at two out of the three Missouri State Park trout parks, so you know this man knows his stuff when it comes to fishing for trout.

Over that span of time it is no exaggeration to say Jim has instilled the love of fly-fishing for many and helped thousands of Missourians learn to fly-fish through his fly-fishing school. Perhaps no Missourian has had a greater impact on the sport than Jim.

“Since I started teaching in 1976, I believe I have taught over 4,000 students to fly-fish through the school and private lessons,” Jim says. “And I’m proud to say that at least seven of them learned how.” He laughs with his congenial spirit on full display.

The school is designed to benefit both beginner and advanced anglers with their casting and overall knowledge of the sport, leaning on Jim’s nearly 50 years of teaching and 70-plus years of fly-fishing. Based out of a small classroom on the backside of the park store at Bennett Spring, Jim walks his pupils through the essentials: learning the different parts of a fly rod and reel and how they work in tandem to accurately cast for hungry fish. They’ll also learn the mechanics of basic casts, such as the roll, overhead, single-haul and double-haul casts. Depending on the class, additional topics can include fly-tying; reading the water; fly selection; and how to play, land and safely release a fish. 

Then, it’s time for the students and the teacher to head outside in the grassy courtyard between the classroom and the park’s dining lodge. That’s when Jim gets the chance to show his stuff. As one of the few international fly-fishing instructors to hold a Masters Certification from the Federation of Fly Fishers, now Fly Fishers International, Jim is exceptionally adept at casting for distance and accuracy, both skills that have earned him awards and accolades in competitions over the years. And he’s picked up a few other impressive casting tricks along the way.

But perhaps his most impressive skills are his ability to engage, entertain and encourage all of the students throughout each class session. Jim has no shortage of captivating stories and funny anecdotes, which he shares freely not only with his students but any and all guests at the park who get a chance to talk with him.

In addition to learning from a master, if participants aren’t already rigged for trout fishing, they are welcome to use the park’s rods, reels, waders and other gear, free of charge during the class. Additionally, students receive 25% off Jim’s signature line of rods, reels and fishing sling packs. Students also are encouraged to fish before and after class to maximize their experience and practice what they’ve learned. Talk about having a great day at school!

The basic school costs $100, and children under 16 enrolled with an adult can learn for free. Private lessons are $75 for one adult and $110 for two adults. Available class dates for 2025 are: May 11; June 15; July 6; Sept. 14; and Sept. 28.

If you are interested in learning more about the Jim Rogers School of Fly-Fishing you can either stop in at the camp store at Bennett Spring State Park and ask for Jim, call 417-532-4307 or visit www.JimRogersFlyFishing.com.

Stewart is a freelance writer from Jefferson City.

Originally Appeared Here

Sweeten your Memorial Day with these treats

Glazed Lemon Cookies

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon zest
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon lemon extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Glaze:

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon zest
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.

In large bowl, mix butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and mix well. Add lemon zest, lemon juice and lemon extract; beat until combined.

In medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda and salt. Slowly beat dry ingredients into wet ingredients. Beat until combined.

Spoon out dough and roll into balls. Place on parchment paper 1 inch apart and lightly press with fingers to slightly flatten dough. 

Bake 15 minutes or until edges start to brown.

Transfer cookies to wire rack to completely cool.

To make glaze: Whisk powdered sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice until smooth.

Dip top sides of cookies into glaze for full coverage.

recipe courtesy Milk Means More

Cheesecake Cookie Cups

• Two 16-ounce packages chocolate chip cookie dough, divided

Filling:

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1/2 cup sugar
• Crumbled cookies and sprinkles, for topping, optional

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a generously sprayed muffin tin, press three small pieces of cookie dough into each muffin cup, covering the bottom and sides. Bake 15 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes then press a small glass into the center to form a well. Let cool another 5 minutes and place cookies on rack to completely cool. Place an extra cookie or two on a baking sheet to bake separately; crumble for topping.

With mixer, mix cream cheese with powdered sugar. In another bowl, mix heavy cream with sugar until peaks form. Combine mixtures. Spoon cream mixture into cookie cups. Top with sprinkles and crumbled cookies.

recipe courtesy Cookin’ Savvy

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 30 drops green food coloring
• 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 12-ounce package chocolate chips

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

In large bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt until blended. Set aside.

In medium bowl, beat butter and sugar until combined. Add eggs, food coloring and peppermint extract; beat until combined. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients; beat until combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop spoonfuls of cookie dough onto baking sheet.

Bake 11 to 14 minutes, or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on wire racks.

recipe courtesy Culinary.net

Sugar Cookies with Orange Glaze

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup light olive oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 to 3 tablespoons unsweetened milk

Glaze:

• 1 cup powdered sugar, plus additional if needed, for thickening

• 2 to 3 tablespoons fresh orange juice
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• Orange slices or blood orange slices, for topping
• Sugar, for topping

To make cookies: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease baking sheet.

In large bowl, stir flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt to combine.

Add olive oil, vanilla extract and almond extract. Stir until crumbly dough forms.

Add 2 tablespoons milk; stir until soft dough ball forms, adding more milk if needed.

Place dough ball on lightly floured surface. Roll out dough until 1/4-inch thick. Using jar lid or cookie cutter, cut out cookies; place on baking sheet. Repeat until all dough is used.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes; do not overbake. Set aside to cool.

To make glaze: In small bowl, stir powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons orange juice and salt until thick glaze forms. Add more juice, if needed, to thin glaze or add more powdered sugar to thicken.

When cookies are cooled, glaze them. Top with orange slices or blood orange slices and pinch of sugar.

recipe courtesy Pompeian Oils & Vinegars

Rocky Road Cookie Pizza

• 16-ounce roll refrigerated sugar cookie dough
• 1 cup miniature marshmallows
• 1/2 cup salted peanuts
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup caramel topping

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease 12-inch pizza pan with nonstick cooking spray. In pan, break up cookie dough. In bottom of pan, evenly spread cookie dough to form crust. Bake 12 to 17 minutes, or until light golden brown.

Sprinkle marshmallows, peanuts and chocolate chips evenly over crust. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until toppings are melted. Drizzle with caramel topping. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Cut into wedges.

recipe adapted from Pillsbury

Originally Appeared Here

Two brothers share single passion of painting

by Sara Schafer  |  sschafer@ruralmissouri.coop

The shelves explode with color — rows of artillery shells, sparklers, smoke bombs, parachutes and fountains are waiting for a match and the ultimate small-town celebration. American flags, streamers and hand-drawn signs spackle nearly every inch of wall space. Amid the fireworks stand’s sensory overload, smooth jazz hums through the speakers. Each armed with brushes and paints, two brothers create magic on canvas. 

One brother, Jon, wields his brush with precision, layering oil paints into lifelike portraits that could be mistaken for photographs. The other, Mike, heads for outer space, stretching limbs, and exploring color and crafting surreal dreamscapes. Their styles couldn’t be more different — order versus imagination — but their brotherly bond and incredible talent run deep.

Raised in Moberly, Mike and Jon Wolf have used their Midwestern roots to make their artistic mark on everything from paintings that will pass through generations to book covers to beer labels. Whether painting in the open air by the ocean or beside a table of sparklers in their family’s fireworks stand, the two make art that pops.

Mike and Jon grew up in an artistic family. Their father, Gayle, was a hobby painter and their mother, Mary Ellen, was a craft artist. “My dad taught me one-point perspective when I was 6,” Jon recalls. Mike was inspired at an equally young age, as he can remember standing in front of Picasso’s “Woman with Yellow Hair” in Chicago when he was 7. Based on their exposure to art, it’s no surprise Jon drifted toward impressionism and realism while Mike pursued pop surrealism. 

The brothers studied art in high school with teacher Ed Miller, and they both won the state art competition. They considered nonartistic occupations but have each spent the last several decades as professional painters. “I cannot not be doing this,” Jon says of painting. “That’s why if I go on vacation, I’ll take my sketchbook. My motto is ‘Always be drawing — ABD.’ ”

Both brothers, members of Macon Electric Cooperative, spent decades out west in California but now spend more time back in Moberly to be near their parents. Each summer they manage the fireworks business, Boomers, which has been owned by their family since 1987. 

Jon leans into elements of design, such as line, form, color, texture, space, variety, rhythm, balance, unity and emphasis. Then he adds his own flair. “I would go to a gallery and study brush strokes from one painting to the next, trying to figure out how to reverse engineer it,” he says. 

In Jon’s portfolio, you’ll find paintings and sketches of city landmarks, memorable faces, frothy oceans, fields with cows, bright yellow ginkgo trees and whiskey on ice. “I’m more apt to paint what I’m around,” he says. “In California I’ll paint seascapes and cityscapes and then when I’m back home, my paintings are very Missouri-ish.”

Mike’s creative journey centers on wild and unexpected subjects. One painting features a striking monkey in heart-shaped glasses, another showcases three bees slurping from a martini glass and another captures a levitating Mark Twain in neon hues. 

“They say every painting is somewhat a self-portrait, and there is always something of me in every painting — even if it’s hard to see,” Mike says. “In the late ’80s and early ’90s, my work seemed really weird. At that time, it was extreme. Now it doesn’t seem so weird.”

Mike says his art draws inspiration from both his rural upbringing and his city living experiences, often juxtaposing the two and highlighting humor. This unique perspective of art is what led Mike’s art to be featured on hundreds of thousands of cans of beer brewed by Logboat Brewing Co. Mike and Jon have been longtime friends with the founders of the Columbia-based brewery. When the group started brainstorming the business idea back in the mid-2010s, they asked Mike to create a logo. 

Mike sketched the logo featuring passengers in a dugout canoe on a bar napkin. That led to Mike and Jon investing in the brewery and Mike’s artwork being showcased in the brewery and on its wide offerings of craft beers.

“The brewers would flip through my old sketchbook, and then they’d make up a beer name to go with it,” Mike says. “Snapper and Lookout were our first names for beers.” Snapper is an American IPA that has a can design adorned with a green snapping turtle, while Lookout is an American pale ale featuring a frazzled and colorful owl. 

Another customer favorite is Shiphead, an American wheat illustrated with a woman whose hair forms a ship with yellow sails. “I lost the original painting of ‘Shiphead’ in a fire, along with 28 other pieces,” Mike says. “But one of the managing partners, Andrew, just loved that painting and told me to redo it. So, I did and it became one of the core brands of beer.”

Now the Logboat crew may suggest a subject, such as the golden ale, Stormin’ Norman. For that Mike created a watercolor-type portrait of the famed Mizzou basketball coach. “There’s a lot of sketches that wouldn’t have even become paintings if it wasn’t discussed as being a label,” Mike says. “So working with Logboat has been a good stimulator for new paintings.”

Both brothers sell their art through their personal websites and promote it on their social media channels. They will do commissions, and they encourage people to stop by Boomers to peruse art as they buy fireworks. Overall, seeing their art in person is the best experience.

“When I take a photograph of a painting, it doesn’t come out nearly as accurate,” Jon says. “With landscapes, there’s no character to convey, so you rely on the colors and texture. When people pick up a painting, they are often surprised by how much better it looks in real life.” 

Mike and Jon say they are each other’s biggest artistic influences. When in the studio together, they share inside jokes as they create masterpieces that will grace everything from a new brew to a gallery wall. “Paintings are historical vestiges you can physically touch,” Jon says. “They’re handmade; they’re emotional. Paintings are items you pass down to your children.”

To see more artwork by Mike and Jon Wolf, visit www.mikewolfart.com and www.wolfoilpaintings.com or follow them on Instagram at @mikewolfart and
@superbrotherx. You can buy prints from Mike at Logboat’s birthday celebration on May 7 in Columbia. 

Originally Appeared Here

SEMO students can earn drone degree

by Paul Newton  |  pnewton@ruralmissouri.coop

The slight buzz from the spinning propellers rises and falls as a trio of drones passes. At the northeast corner of Cape Girardeau, students split into two groups, each carefully navigating their drones overhead along planned paths. They aren’t flying for fun though — this is drone school.

Equipped with thermal cameras, they are searching for deer. “In the fall there’s a managed deer hunt in these parks,” says Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO) instructor Andrew Chronister. “We’re trying to see how effective that hunt is. For the last three years, we’ve come out here to count the deer with our drones and we give that data to our biology department to process, which in turn works with the Missouri Department of Conservation.”

Andrew leads SEMO’s unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) program — the only bachelor’s degree of its kind in Missouri. The program prepares students for a broad range of careers in drone technology.

Before joining SEMO, Andrew spent 25 years as a video producer. While capturing aerial footage of buildings, he became fascinated with drones. His passion led him to build his own drone and eventually join the university as an advisor for agricultural drone technology. The UAS program was established at SEMO in 2017, and Andrew took over three years later.

“We’re trying to create well-rounded drone professionals,” Andrew says. “People who cannot just fly the drones, but manage departments and things like that.”

The curriculum covers a variety of other topics drone pilots need to know far beyond flying. Throughout their four years, students take classes on meteorology, GIS, basic circuits, microcomputer maintenance, technical communication, physics and more.

The first core drone class most students take is the fundamentals of aviation where they learn what makes an aircraft fly. Students start to become familiar with drones in UAS fundamentals where Andrew prepares them for their Part 107 FAA test so they can fly commercially. Another class focuses on remote sensing technology and students in the UAS design class build a drone from the ground up. Another class focuses on drone laws, policy and safety.

One of the final classes is UAS mission planning. “That’s where we take all the knowledge that we learned in the previous classes and we wrap it all up and go out and fly various types of missions, like counting the deer,” Andrew says. “We fly various missions like thermal, multispectral, hyperspectral and photography.”

A capstone course is personalized to each student who completes projects and missions. “There’s a physics student who’s researching light pollution on campus,” Andrew says. “Our capstone students have been flying missions around campus at various moon stages. Over the next few years, we’ll be expanding into agriculture spraying too.”

Currently, SEMO has a dozen students majoring in UAS, with more pursing it as a minor. Graduates have gone on to work for Boeing, inspect wind farms and even work for companies specializing in counter-drone technology.

“The diversity of what we can do after we graduate is incredible,” says Audrie Clark, a UAS major from Poplar Bluff. “Drones are in the baby stage and I think we’re going to see a huge growth in technology in the next five years. It’s exciting knowing there’s going to be new opportunities that come up.”

The most popular majors that minor in UAS are agriculture, construction management, professional pilot, law enforcement and communications, according to Andrew. 

Austin Gross is a junior from Troy majoring in plant and soil science and minoring in UAS. He says he picked the minor to educate himself on drone spraying and land surveying. “I was completely new to drones in general,” he says after inspecting the area for deer. “Doing this program and flying in class has given me the confidence to know I can do this whenever I’m out of school.”

As drone and camera technology rapidly evolve, Andrew envisions them being used in more industries. First responders might put up a drone as soon as they arrive on a scene to survey the area, use thermal imaging to look for hot spots of a fire, search for possible criminals or to help with accident reconstruction. Quarry operators use drones to quickly measure piles of rocks. Electric cooperative employees use drones to help them inspect power lines.

“Package and food delivery are already happening in some places, but that will be big the next five years,” Andrew says. “I can envision someone in Marble Hill needing an auto part from a store in Cape Girardeau. They can order it and it gets loaded onto a drone and delivered to Marble Hill in 15 minutes.” By comparison, it would take 45 minutes one way to drive this distance.

Andrew says when people think about real-world applications of drones, they become increasingly interested in hearing about the UAS program. “Some people don’t realize there are professions specifically for drone pilots trained in all these things,” he says. “A lot of people just think of drones as toys, but there is so much more they can do.”

For more information on SEMO’s UAS program visit www.semo.edu.

Originally Appeared Here

Spencers’ Sweet Call continues 100-year candy legacy in Webb City

by Sara Schafer  |  sschafer@ruralmissouri.coop

With the precision of a chemist and the patience of a preacher, Charles Spencer approaches the rotating machine filled with shimmering liquid gold. He carefully ladles out just the right amount of chocolate — heated precisely to 86.8 degrees. He pours the chocolate into a charming bunny mold, which is held tightly together by three binder clips.

Once the chocolate fills a little under half of the mold, Charles slowly rotates the mold to inspect every angle. “You tap the molds so that the chocolate gets into the features,” he says. “You can see like there’s a little bubble there on her nose, so you have to keep tapping up until the bubble goes out. You usually want them heavier at the bottom, so the bunnies can stand up.”

After Charles is happy with the thickness and consistency, he adds one more clip to the bottom of the mold and stands it up on his worktable to let it cool and set. One bunny done, and several hundred more to go. These bunnies will delight children and adults alike this Easter — offering a sweet taste of nostalgia and fun.

Charles and his wife, Malinda, own Spencer’s Sweet Call at the Minerva in Webb City. They are just the third family to run a business at this location, which originally opened in 1917. The couple opened their store in 2017, after the shop had been closed for several years. “I’m one of the people who got themselves in trouble on the internet,” Charles says. “I was just looking for used candy equipment online to use as a hobby. Instead, I found a whole candy store.” 

Charles has always enjoyed making sweet treats. His other job is serving as Presbyterian minister, so he and Malinda would commonly make and take cakes, pies and breads to church functions. Charles was wrapping up his time with a church in Lee’s Summit when he found the candy equipment and store for sale in Webb City.

While Malinda was surprised by the idea, she was open to it. “It seemed right, which helped,” she says. “It was a lot of change, but you have to be open to change.”

The couple moved south and started restoring the store, which was famous for its dozens of varieties of homemade candy, including chocolate hearts for Valentine’s Day and candy canes at Christmas. They scrubbed the blue-and-white tile floors, touched up the tin ceiling and worked to bring the antique candy equipment back to life. 

Today, the shop’s cases are filled with caramels, fun chocolates shaped for various holidays, old-fashioned ribbon candy, pies and cakes. They also have modern-day bulk candy, 80 varieties of soda in glass bottles and other seasonal goodies.

For Easter, the star of the candy case is giant eggs. “The eggs are a big local tradition,” Charles says. “People were asking us, ‘When are you going to do the eggs?’ I asked, ‘What are the eggs?’ They said, ‘Oh, you know, the chocolate eggs with candy inside.’ We had to talk to a lot of people to actually get to the bottom of what they were.”

The memorable treats include a hollow chocolate egg that’s made in an ornate mold. Customers then choose a third of a pound of candy to fill the egg. Charles fills the eggs with treats such as jellybeans or chocolate-covered caramels, then he seals the two egg halves with royal icing. 

“You have to make the shell thick enough that it has structural integrity, but thin enough it is like the consistency of a chocolate bar,” he says.

Eggs come with two tickets — one with the price ($16 or $18 depending on the candy) and one to say what candy is inside. That way grandmothers with large orders know exactly who gets what egg. “You’re always worried you’ll switch them up,” Charles says.

Charles and Malinda admit owning a candy shop came with a steep learning curve. “I have a chemistry degree, and this is the closest I’ve come to using that degree,” Charles says. 

The two enjoy seeing customers — whether they are locals or tourists visiting Route 66, which runs a block from the store. They are honored to carry on a 100-year-plus tradition and play a special part in their customers’ Easter baskets.

Spencer’s Sweet Call at the Minerva is open Wednesdays and Thursdays, 1 to 5 p.m. and Fridays and Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. It is located at 12 S. Main St. in Webb City. Learn more at sweetcall.net. 

Originally Appeared Here

MO PAC Lumber strives to be the gold standard for black walnut hardwood

by Jim McCarty  |  jmccarty@ruralmissouri.coop

It starts with a squirrel burying nuts in the forest. Some of these are dug up for food in the wintertime. But others are forgotten and grow into tall walnut trees. The landowner decides to thin the mature trees so sunlight can reach the new ones sprouting below. The tree is cut by a local logger, sold to Missouri-Pacific Lumber Co. and hauled to the state-of-the-art sawmill in Fayette.

Then begins a process of sorting, debarking, sawing, steaming, drying, grading and straight-line ripping that might end more than two years later. The result will be crafted into beautiful boards highly prized for the rich beauty and luxurious patina by woodworkers the world over.

MO PAC Lumber, the name it does business under, got its start accidentally. Its founder, Louis Pescaglia, shoveled coal for home heating in the 1930s. One day a truck ran a stop sign and slammed into his coal truck. The driver didn’t have insurance, so he offered to pay for the damage with his load: timbers destined for the Illinois coal mines.

Louis decided it was easier supplying lumber than shoveling coal. He bought a small sawmill in 1935 and began cutting timbers. In 1960 his son, Jim, joined him in starting Pekin Hardwood Lumber Co., which specialized in lumber for industrial purposes. This changed when Jim convinced his dad to let him saw some furniture-grade hardwood. He hauled the boards to Chicago and returned with a new direction for the business.

“That completely changed the trajectory of the business,” says Jim’s son, Bucky, now president of the company. “We were trying to expand in Illinois. We cut every species of wood in the forest because there’s not that much forest in Illinois. It was my dad’s idea to focus on just one species, walnut. Hardly anyone was cutting it at the time in large volumes.”

Jim’s younger brother, Jerry, joined in 1970. As the business grew, it became apparent the supply of hardwoods in central Illinois wouldn’t keep up with the demand. 

When Bucky left home to learn the trade, the family business moved to New Franklin, Missouri. With the move came a new name — Missouri-Pacific Lumber Co. — and a new focus on black walnut production.

Missouri ranks first in the nation for black walnut trees, and the move put the mill close to the supply. “Missouri has more walnut trees than the next two states combined,” says Bucky. “It’s definitely the walnut mecca of the world.”

The Howard County location also provided easy access for shipping to the West Coast, hence the Pacific in its name. The move to Missouri proved to be a good one — until it wasn’t. The company thrived until the Missouri River almost destroyed it.

Its location 2 miles from the Missouri River should have been enough distance to keep its lumber high and dry in the worst of floods. “We’d had floods in the first several years we were there,” Bucky recalls. “Just a little backwater from the creeks behind us.”

But the Great Flood of 1993 caught the business by surprise and drowned it under 14 feet of water. Virtually the entire stockpile of logs floated away, along with pallets of finished lumber. Employees took to johnboats and searched the river for the missing wood. 

“We took rope, and we took fence staples, and we’d go out and hammer the rope into the logs,” Bucky says. “We’d make a train of those logs and try to pull them to shore. The lumber was everywhere for miles and miles.”

With the business underwater for 30 days, employees stayed busy rescuing its products and cleaning the thick mud from what they found. They worked for 100 days straight to put the business back on its feet. 

Despite their efforts, a move back to Illinois seemed inevitable, taking 40 good jobs away from an area that desperately needed more employers. That’s when Howard Electric Co-op stepped in. Its manager at the time, Richard Fowler, and Operating Superintendent Don Frevert stopped by to see what it would take to keep the business in Howard County. They learned Jim Pescaglia was frustrated with a search for land out of the flood plain. 

Compounding the problem, another flood hit the business in 1995. There was no flood insurance to cover the losses from the floods. That prompted Howard Electric’s board to offer the business a $150,000 loan. They spearheaded an effort to find suitable ground for the move and found it at a former airfield just south of Fayette. 

Howard County received a grant from the Missouri Department of Economic Development to buy the land. A Community Development Block Grant was used to add water and sewer. The U.S. Small Business Administration chipped in a $1.5 million loan, and the deal was made.

“My dad sat in his pickup truck with a napkin and drew out what it would look like,” Bucky says of the new location, now served by Howard Electric. “This will never flood. And if it does, Noah will be coming by. We were in a good area. We had great employees, so we wanted to stay here.”

In 1996 the first board came off the high-tech bandsaw at the new location. Its capacity expanded by 25 percent, with plenty of room for future growth. Today more than a million board feet of lumber is ready for shipment at any given time. Walnut only grows in the United States. MO PAC Lumber ships 50% to 60% of its products overseas, including destinations as far away as China and Germany. It’s sold in bundles of 1,000 board feet.

“Walnut is known as the aristocrat of hardwoods,” Bucky says. “There is this level of respect in the marketplace that if you are using walnut you are using one of the finer hardwoods that’s available.”

The best walnut, he says, grows north of the Missouri River. While MO PAC Lumber does source logs from the Ozarks, the wood tends to have more defects so north Missouri trees are preferred.

Once the logs are delivered to the mill, they are sorted into piles based on the expected quality. The best logs are resold to veneer mills. Forked logs, which tend to produce highly figured wood, might go to gunstock makers. Everything else goes into one of 13 piles destined for boards. 

The bark is ground off and the log passes through a metal detector to prevent damage to the 14-inch-wide, 42-foot-long bandsaw blade. “We want to make sure there’s no wire, nails, rifle bullets,” Bucky says. “The weirdest thing I’ve ever found is an entire framing square. But we’ve seen all kinds of things. There’s this myth that if you hang a horseshoe on a walnut tree it’ll produce more walnuts.”

Armed with 43 years of experience, Missouri Pacific’s sawyer Scott Schrader runs the computerized bandsaw that scans the log and determines how best to cut it into pieces. He often uses his wisdom to override the computer’s directions using two joysticks with 14 buttons to manipulate the log.

Once cut, the boards are carried down the line where they are cut to uniform length, stacked on carts and moved to a building where the wood is steamed for 84 hours to give it a uniform color. 

Now saturated with water, it goes into huge stacks outside where it dries naturally for a period of time based on its thickness. This drying can take up to two years for thicker boards.

Then it’s moved into huge kilns, where air heated by burning sawdust and woodchips dries the lumber to 7% moisture. From there it will be sorted into different grades by highly experienced inspectors.

While business is booming for MO PAC Lumber, it faces many of the same issues that plague the rest of Missouri’s forest products industry. Competition from wood substitutes like vinyl flooring, concrete railroad ties and plastic pallets has led to a push from the Missouri Forest Products Association to encourage consumers to use real wood.

Despite the challenges, Bucky sees a bright future for MO PAC Lumber. “I’ve got all three of my boys working in this company,” he says. “If I wasn’t convinced there’s plenty of resources out there, that the trees are growing way faster than they’re being harvested, that our products are quality and sustainable, I wouldn’t be encouraging them to work in this company. We make a great product. The world has a desire for these products. We just have to educate them and inform them about the benefits of using real hardwoods.”

For more information on MO PAC Lumber, call 800-279-7997 or visit www.mopaclumber.com.

Originally Appeared Here