(peaceful rhythmic music) - [Narrator] On this episode of Postcards.

(slow rhythmic music) - And if you have cupcakes, I pitch, you know, maybe I can add flowers to it or do an interactive cake dessert.

I just love making things pretty and whimsical.

- I guess it's not as explicit as people think.

It's more about just having a good time.

- I just really like to see different people come to choose their vegetable, and they just, like some people want to try the new vegetable to eat.

(upbeat rhythmic music) (upbeat rhythmic music) - Postcards is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the Citizens of Minnesota.

Additional support provided by Margaret A Cargill Philanthropies, Mark and Margaret Yackel-Juleen on behalf of Shalom Hill Farms, a retreat and conference center in a prairie setting near Wyndham, Minnesota.

On the web at shalomhillfarm.org.

Alexandria Minnesota, a year round destination with hundreds of lakes, trails, and attractions for memorable vacations and events.

More information at explorealex.com.

The Lake Region Arts Council's Arts Calendar, an arts and cultural heritage funded digital calendar showcasing upcoming art events and opportunities for artists in West Central Minnesota.

On the web at lrac4calendar.org.

Playing today's new music plus your favorite hits, 96.7kram, online at 967kram.com.

(upbeat country music) - I've always loved flowers.

Flowers have just always spoken to me.

(upbeat whistling music) They have always kind of been like a luxury item and a luxury item I didn't really have growing up.

You know, it's nothing that we could ever just buy for fun, you know, and flowers, it's, it brings such joy when they're fresh.

And then I even started to see like the beauty in dried afterwards and the colors are still vibrant and bold and fun and it's also being able to kind of reuse those flowers again and put 'em to use.

And then I started thinking of like keepsakes.

That kind of is how it kind of took off into the next level as well.

(upbeat whistling music) This is how it started.

And I would put, you know like these beautiful, not beautiful, I mean they were just these weird little like dried floral scenes on here, you know, and just make this cute little thing.

And then I was like, I think pressed flowers would be fun to get into.

So dried floral art started for me like around covid time and I just found this woman on Pinterest, just scrolling.

I became a stay-at-home mom and I was bored and I saw this woman making beautiful wreaths with dried florals.

And so I essentially kind of started doing that and it took off.

So it just started as dried floral wreaths and now it has evolved into pressed floral art and preservation and just all sorts of dried floral.

Vases and cloches and wreaths and balls.

(peaceful rhythmic music) Mostly people that just got married are sending me their bouquets, bridal bouquets, maids bouquets, boutonnieres.

And that also goes hand in hand with funeral pieces as well, I've been doing, but mostly weddings.

So the brides will send me their bouquet via mail, kind of UPS two days or if they're in the Fergus Falls area they drop it off and I get it in the press right away.

So the project I'm working on now I got flowers about six weeks ago and that's about how long it takes to press.

That's kind of my estimates.

We've been going a little longer lately due to humidity but I just pulled it from the press.

All the flowers are now pressed, some are pressed whole, some are pressed petal by petal.

And I just got a custom frame made by a local gentleman in town, the BC wood shop.

And so I will then start designing these flower layouts on glass and then eventually secure them with glue, put them in the frame and nail it in and send that guy off.

And you guys ready for the fanciest press you've ever seen?

You guys don't know me, don't care.

(upbeat rhythmic music) So my foxtail fern mixed kits is kind of how this whole thing started.

When covid hit, bars shut down, my bar shut down that I was running, I had quit, you know four months before covid hit.

I feel like I dodged a bullet a little bit.

But what I make is 8 to 16 ounce little concentrates.

And you get that with a recipe card, straws, and garnishes.

It's essentially a mocktail at home.

It comes with suggestions on how to mix it but eight ounces of one of those should get you eight drinks cause it's one ounce of concentrate.

Two, four to five ounces of whatever your mixer.

Ginger ale, soda water, tonic tend to be the basic ones.

And then you just toss in one of the straws I gave you and some ice and the garnish and you got yourself a cute little drink at home.

(drinks sloshing) So this is a blueberry mint shrub concentrate.

That's blueberries, cane sugar, apple cider vinegar.

There is no mint it because the mint comes from the garnish.

So the big part of the Foxtail Fern is events, I call it atmosphere catering.

So the dried floral art was something that took off by storm that surprised me.

But entertaining and setting tablescapes is kind of in my blood.

I ran restaurants for 12 years, mostly on the cocktail side.

So with the foxtail fern, I do refreshment catering.

But I wanna go beyond that besides just dropping off drinks.

I also want to set the table and make this a beautiful little tablescape that I drop off with a mixed concentrate.

And if you have cupcakes I pitch, you know, maybe I can add flowers to it or do an interactive cake dessert.

I just love making things pretty and whimsical.

(upbeat energetic music) (upbeat energetic music) And nature has in kind of come back full circle with the kids, with my husband.

We had lived in Colorado and we had lived in Arizona and California.

And a big part of what we did for fun was going new places and hiking.

And when we had children in the cities we still went to our local park and did that.

But we had kind of missed that.

And now I fell in love with early childhood education too.

I don't have an education background but I've read a lot of books about early childhood education and found a love in nature play-based education for children and kind of a term that's being thrown around more now is forest school.

And so that was a big draw for us to get back again to an area where we could buy land, afford land, and get our kids outside.

'Cause I think that's what kids are kind of missing now you know?

And so that's a big part of the Foxtail Fern brand too was kind of just, you don't have to do as much with your kids, you know, nature's there, take full advantage of it whether you're adult, a child, I think it just kind of rejuvenates you and it's beautiful in all forms.

I mean I love Fall obviously with the seasons changing so I just go trim the branches right now in yellow and they're gonna stay yellow.

You know, like that's, that's pretty cool.

It's just there is, I just think nature's really awesome with all the seasons and being here in Minnesota to be able to see that all.

It's really special.

(upbeat rhythmic music) And so the Foxtail Fern journey has been just taking me on one and I'm just kind of along for the ride.

You know, I post stuff on social media and that's it.

Right now I don't have a website yet.

And so it's just been really exciting.

It's been taking off by storm more than I thought.

I'm getting a lot more traction especially with the bridal bouquet preservation and I'm getting bigger refreshment caterings where I'm serving, you know, 50 people, a hundred people full bar or mocktails.

So it's been a wild ride.

It's been a lot faster ride but it also had to slow down in certain parts too.

And so where I'm taking it now is gonna be a little different, but who knows, it could change cause it seems to be changing often.

(upbeat energetic music) - Who is Lady Jah?

Lady Jah is kind of a boss and likes to make things happen and is confident and likes the admiration from the crowd.

So that's kind of Lady Jah's inspiration.

(upbeat pulsing music) I got involved with the drag when I was living in Washington and I was performing as a go-go dancer and I'd perform after the drag queens would do their performance and then I started modeling too, and then my friends started putting me in drag and I think that's what initially started my whole drag career.

(upbeat rhythmic music) Drag is an art form that lets people express themselves in a different way and like a different identity.

It was like really founded as it is today, like in the 70's and 80's when the LGBTQ community had a lot of negative reactions from the public.

So then they kind of used it as way to express themselves in a very like loud way and say like, "no, we're here, we're staying."

(upbeat rhythmic music) It's visual art, you're putting makeup on, you're taking on a new identity and then you're taking that persona and then amplifying it and giving it a whole character.

And then performing as that character.

(funky energetic music) Performing is a lot of funk.

You're no longer you, you take on like a completely new identity.

They're completely different people, like me and Lady Jah, completely different.

So it's fun getting to be someone else and live that life for a second.

(upbeat pulsing music) (upbeat pulsing music) What gave me the idea to have a drag show in the small town of Montevideo was there's a lot of interest from people because I knew I would do drag and at first it was just going to be like in Java River's courtyard and then it was gonna be inside and we kind of just like played with the idea for a little bit and it just got more and more interest.

And then we did it at the Hollywood.

(joyful pulsing music) My impressions from the show in Montevideo.

I thought it was the best time in Montevideo I've ever had.

Just looking in the crowd and like everyone was smiling and having fun.

Obviously like every one of like every like political viewpoint or religion or like sexuality or whatever.

But everyone was just like there having a good time, watching the same thing, having like the same experience.

I thought it was really beautiful.

(joyful rhythmic music) The performers said that that night was one of the best crowds they have had.

They said they'd come back anytime.

Before the show started, I... (laughs) Let's see.

Pure stress.

(laughs) No, before the show started I was mostly spending my time making sure that the space looked the way I wanted it to look and then it just came down to like getting ready.

(upbeat rhythmic music) I'd say like just getting like ready in that moment or for that performance, like typically like on average at least like two hours, it's taken me like three or four hours to put together a look before and then like that whole persona, I mean it's like a lifetime of developing different traits like in yourself and then like amplifying them through that persona that you create.

(upbeat energetic music) Yeah, I'd say performing has helped with my confidence.

It's fun to be on a stage and being Lady Jah gives me the opportunity to be on a stage.

(upbeat energetic music) I think the community of Montevideo was overwhelmingly accepting of the idea of having a drag show in Montevideo.

There wasn't any like protest or very small pushback.

So yeah, I was kind of surprised too.

When I first saw the Hollywood, I literally was like, there's no way this is gonna be full of people.

It felt so big, but then that night, like it felt small cause there was so many people, it was cool.

(slow sweeping music) The importance of having a drag show in a small town.

I feel like it's so, a smaller percentage of people that live here feel seen and accepted.

I think that is super important for any small town.

I think a lot of times in smaller towns, people that are like part of the LGBTQ community don't feel seen or accepted or they can feel like kind of scared to like be in that space.

So I think a night like that where they're being celebrated for their difference makes a strong impact on the community, makes it stronger as a whole.

What I want people to know about drag is I guess it's not as explicit as people think.

It's more about just having a good time with people and mostly just art.

(slow energetic music) (slow energetic music) (upbeat pop music) - Growing your own food is humbling and also like very amazing.

I mean, you can see the food come up out of the ground and form and then it's there.

It kind of really reminds you how delicate the world really is.

(upbeat energetic music) (upbeat relaxing music) My great-grandfather, he was the postmaster in Bird Island and so my great-grandmother was really the first farmer at this farm site and she worked it for many, many years.

And then my grandparents Carol and Dallas Lundstrom, they lived here like their whole life and farmed and eventually adopted my dad.

And like he's lived here his whole life.

- I get some people on here, they get about to the middle and then I'll go like that.

(cameraman laughing) They get a little freaked out.

- When I turned 18, I moved to Indiana and went to college for engineering and then I moved to Phoenix, Arizona, and I was there for 15 years as an electrical engineer.

I read this book called The Market Gardener and it kind of explains the economics of the small garden market.

My parents already had irrigation supplies, they had a lot of the farm resources.

So it kind of made sense to move back here.

This winter everything finally worked out that we were ready to move, my wife and I, to move here to back to Bird Island, Minnesota.

- So when Zeke asked me that want to become a farmer at his hometown at Lundstrum farm.

So it is kind of hard for me at first time because we used to be like in the city, right?

And like in my hometown in Thailand too we not really a farmer, we just have like a a few acre of food land, rubber tree, something like that.

But it's not the gardening.

And when he talk about how can we create a beautiful thing and we can eat our own vegetable, something like that.

And it's just like, okay, maybe I give him a try.

So maybe I like it.

Maybe if we didn't like it we can move to do something else.

(peaceful music) - We were married here on this farm.

Neither of us had very strong family ties to Phoenix so we thought it would be great to just come to the farm and have a wedding here.

Still one of my grandmother's favorite weddings to have ever attended.

- And Lyle, Lyle, you're sitting here.

(chairs scraping) With our three-course meal.

- My wife cooks a lot of stuff that I would say is inspired by Thai food, but we also, we eat Korean food, we eat Chinese food.

Everything that, you know, we like.

(knife scraping) - I learned it from my mom, what to put it before what to put it next and what sauce to mix it and how it's turned out.

Or usually I do a vegetable stir fry so we can put all the vegetable in there.

Or I do the curry too, just like a mixed vegetable with curry.

I cannot find a Thai food around here too so I'd rather to cook my own food, yeah.

And sometime I take a picture and send it to my mom to show her like, look at this.

I cook some Thai food and yeah, she's just like, oh, you never cook it at home.

(laughs) So my favorite vegetable is Thai chili and you can see back here and it's Thai basil over there.

Yeah.

So it's like a main thing of the Thai dish that you supposed to have.

Yeah.

For the flavor and the good smell, whatever.

Yeah.

(peaceful music) - We attend the Wilmer farmer's market on Wednesday afternoons and Saturday mornings and my parents had already done a lot of farmer's markets.

We always did it as kind of a side business or whatever.

We had a very large garden.

We have a large family.

Now when we come back to the market with the Lundstrum Farm name and they were Lundstrum vegetables, people do still recognize us at the farmer's market.

They still come up and say, "Oh, we used to love buying from your parents.

We're so glad you're here."

- I need a couple of green peppers.

- Yes, three, two.

I just really like to see different people come to choose their vegetable, and it's just like some people want to try the new vegetable to eat.

- We've had some success with different products that maybe people don't normally see in the grocery store.

This year we grew giant dicon radishes that we were able to sell all summer and people loved them.

They came back to the farmer's market and bought more of this thing that they didn't even know what it was before they started.

(peaceful music) - Mmm.

- Everything we bring to the farmer's market is grown on our farm by us.

We have probably two acres of garden.

And if you grow green bell peppers and red bell peppers put them somewhere where you know that they're separate.

- Now we don't know.

- Because you have to wait for the green ones to turn red and they all start green.

(laughs) (relaxing chiming music) - My outside jacket is is called mo hom shirt.

Mo hom shirt is represent a farmer like a to be a farmer in Thai.

So a lot of farmer wearing this.

Yeah, like a cop, jeans, that people wear jeans to farm here, but people in Thailand wearing this mo hom shirt and this one is, my friend gave it to me before I left Thailand because they know that I'm gonna be a farmer this year.

So they're just like give me this thing and give him too, but he never wear it.

(laughs) (cameraperson laughing) - I've seen a red one hidden way down there.

- Oh yeah, you should pick it.

See?

It's ready.

- Ever since I was a little kid I can remember entering things into the Renville County Fair.

There was a little cash premium there, you know it was a little contest even amongst ourselves to see who could do the best at the fair.

This year my wife and I entered I think maybe 40 plus exhibits into the Renville County Fair.

And so far it looks like it went well.

(peaceful chiming music) - I was an engineer before for three years before I come to America.

We have system I think.

I don't know how is that, like a, we try to do less work.

- I still feel like an engineer when I farm.

Every day with farming, there's some kind of problem.

There's something new you have to solve.

Sometimes it's just, you know putting your head down and doing the work.

But much more of the time it's about finding the most effective way to spend your time.

(water sloshing) (machine whirring) - They're washing.

(upbeat energetic music) I came back to this farm because I want there to be a future for this land with my family, for it to stay productive.

I'm very lucky that this farm was here to come here and try gardening, to try growing.

- You don't have to be in the office and try to impress all the people.

(laughs) So you can like grow your own food and cook your own food with your own vegetable and yeah.

And selling some to get some money.

It's not that much money but I mean it's, you can still survive and have a good life.

(exciting energetic music) - [Narrator] Postcards is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the Citizens of Minnesota.

Additional support provided by Margaret A Cargill Philanthropies, Mark and Margaret Yackel-Juleen on behalf of Shalom Hill Farms, a retreat and conference center in a prairie setting near Wyndham, Minnesota.

On the web at shalomhillfarm.org.

Alexandria, Minnesota, a year-round destination with hundreds of lakes, trails, and attractions for memorable vacations and events.

More information at explorealex.com.

The Lake Region Arts Council's Arts calendar, an arts and cultural heritage funded digital calendar showcasing upcoming art events and opportunities for artists in West Central Minnesota.

On the web at lrac4calendar.org.

Playing today's new music plus your favorite hits, 96.7kram.

Online at 967kram.com.

(peaceful rhythmic music)