Grasshopper, played by Derek Scheele; Ladybug played by Sam Schimmel; Centipede, played by Ezra Jarman; James, played by Triton Schultz; Spider, played by Emma Roberts; and Earthworm, played by Evan Baumgarten; travel the sea in their giant peach.
Hutchinson Middle School drama students have a "masterpeach" of a tale to tell. At 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Hutchinson High School auditorium, they'll present the musical "Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach Jr.," a new take on the 1961 novel "James and the Giant Peach."
The book was first adapted into a musical in 1991. In the show, James attempts to escape his conniving aunts by traveling across the sea in a giant peach with the help of giant insects. Together they face sharks, hunger and their disagreements.
"The tone is overall goofy and silly, but it gets serious at some points," said eighth-grader Jaycie Prater.
Ladahlord, played by Benjamin Pollmann, provides a spark of magic to get the story moving. He pops up throughout the show to provide more excitement and to narrate.
Eighth-grader Benjamin Pollman plays Ladahlord, the mysterious narrator whose magical potion jumpstarts the strange story.
"He's a narrator who hops inside the story," Pollman said. "My character is a mysterious person who knows everything but never wants to tell anyone and puts people on their toes."
His favorite musical number, "Right Before Your Eyes," comes right out the gate.
"It introduces me and a lot of the other characters, and the whole show," Pollman said.
Prater's character, Sponge, and her sister, Spiker, provide a lot of the story's conflict.
"James' parents get killed and he is adopted by his aunts who are basically evil," Pollman said.
"(Sponge is) the foodie. And she's somewhat the nicer one, but not at the same time," Prater said. "She's very funny and she's not very intelligent. Spiker and Sponge signed contracts for movie appearances and shoes and all that and are trying to get the Peach back."
Her favorite song is "I got You."
Sponge, portrayed by Jaycie Prater, and Spiker, portrayed by Isabelle Shorter, are the nasty aunts James is trying to escape. They threaten their nephew during one of the final scenes of the show.
"It's the song (Sponge) and Spiker sing on the cruise ship and it's funny," Prater said. "They don't sing very pretty."
The show also includes songs such as "Everywhere That You Are," which discusses James' connection to the parents he lost, and "Shake it Up," which is when the magic starts to happen.
"Some of them are pretty hard, but I think we can pull it off," said seventh-grade Sam Schimmel, who plays Ladybug.
The standout prop of the show is the eponymous giant peach. It was constructed out of wood, and platforms on the front provide the characters something to sit, stand and climb on during the action.
Early in the show, the bugs are portrayed with puppets moved by their actors. Later they take the stage with only their costumes as they portray a more humanoid shape befitting the magic that grew the peach. That's where Ladybug comes in.
"I'm like a mother character to James," she said. "He doesn't have a mom."
She described her character as kind and nurturing, and able to bring people together.
"She wants to help James and make him feel like he has a family," Schimmel said.
Sixth-grader Dustin Trettin has five roles in the show, including that of a Hollywood agent and a police officer. His favorite to portray is the former.
"They're basically the whole shebang and don't care what other people think," he said.
A new Environmental Protection Agency rule redefines what waters will receive federal oversight.
A new federal rule appears to provide relief to farmers and rural communities that felt unfairly restricted by environmental protections, but many conservation groups say it goes too far.
The Environmental Protection Agency announced the Navigable Waters Protection Rule this past week as a replacement for the Waters of the United States Rule that was previously repealed following legal challenges. The change, which is expected to be enacted in the coming weeks, would limit federal jurisdiction to enforce restrictions to pollution and call for environmental protections pertaining to property owners by bodies of water. The new rule limits jurisdiction to oceans, rivers, streams, lakes, ponds and wetlands, as well as rivers or streams that contribute flow to traditionally navigable water. Previously, the policy was more expansive and included ditches, drainage systems and groundwater.
Farmers and businesses said the former rule created an additional set of restrictions and permitting on top of local or state protections, which came with larger expenses.
"I am hopeful that the rule announced (Jan. 23) provides farmers and ranchers more certainty about the scope of federal regulation on their property,” said Rep. Collin Peterson, who represents Minnesota's 7th U.S. Congressional District. “Previous efforts either left too much discretion or went too far.”
“The (previous) rule expanded the definition of ‘navigable waterways’ to include everything from rivers to ditches and ponds on private land,” Rep. Pete Stauber, who represents Minnesota's 8th U.S. Congressional District, said in a press release. “This move threatened the livelihoods of thousands of Minnesota’s farmers, miners, manufacturers and small business owners who rely on access to this water and land.
The city of Hutchinson's environmentalist, John Paulson, said it was hard to say how the new rule would impact landowners until it was officially in place and it was more clear how the EPA planned to enforce its regulations.
"With the amount of changes we've seen over time ... we can speculate, but how they put it into practice isn't known," he said.
He said anyone planning a project that would impact a wetland or a body of water should keep an eye out, but Hutchinson wouldn't see as much of an impact as nearby rural areas or other cities with more wetlands.
"Hutchinson in general in the city limits doesn't have a lot of wetlands," Paulson said. "There are maybe a dozen in city limits. Other communities have many more."
Ryan Freitag, district manager for the McLeod County Soil and Water Conservation District, said the changes wouldn't impact how his office enforces Minnesota's Wetland Conservation Act.
"The State Wetland Conservation Act is a statute by Minnesota legislation enacted in '91," he said. "That operates separately from the federal clean water aspect."
He said the federal rules would come in to play with the Army Corps of Engineers.
President Donald Trump touted the new rule as a way to roll back Obama-era regulations, but critics say it sets the country back even further.
"The Dirty Water Rule is the centerpiece in the Trump administration’s campaign to dismantle the Clean Water Act, reversing decades of progress for our water," said Clean Water Action president and CEO Bob Wendelgass. "It ignores science, it tosses aside public opinion and is driven by the wish list of special interests who have tried to weaken safeguards for clean water for nearly 50 years."
Clean Water Action is a nonprofit founded in 1972. Its Minnesota office is in Minneapolis. The Clean Water Act was passed to protect U.S. waters in 1972.
The EPA's Science Advisory Board took issue with the new rule in a draft letter to EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler.
"The proposed rule excludes irrigation canals. ... The biological and chemical contamination of large-scale irrigation canals is an established and serious threat to public health and safety," it reads.
It later adds, "These changes are proposed without a fully supportable scientific basis, while potentially introducing substantial new risks to human and environmental health."
Alycia Gruenhagen, an organizer for Greener Pastures Co-op in Hutchinson, talks with worker Oriann Johnson. The store, which offers locally sourced products, is at 8 Main St. N. in downtown Hutchinson.
Tim Rohde sells his homegrown and homemade products at the indoor and outdoor Hutchinson Farmers Market at Depot Marketplace. Interested in checking it out? The Indoor Farmers Market is 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, at Depot Marketplace.
Andy Temple and Aimee Haag, owners of RebelSoil in rural Litchfield, sell their produce at the Hutchinson Farmers Market as well as to restaurants.
Cannabis-infused drinks. Low- or non-alcoholic beverages. Meat-free alternatives to burgers. These are some of the latest trends in the culinary world. But over the past few years, farm-to-table cooking, the trend of local restaurants creating menus using whatever is in season and what local farmers can provide, has taken off due to health benefits, freshness and the emotional component of supporting local communities.
Alycia Gruenhagen, an organizer for Greener Pastures Co-op in Hutchinson, is one of those people working with farmers to support the community. She’s not a farmer, but she works with local farms to help sell their products and simply doesn’t see a natural connection between farmers and stores or restaurants.
“There’s not any real process,” Gruenhagen said. “It is kind of person by person or … business by business. So I would say relationships are very individual depending on what the grower is capable of … and then also what we’re able to handle or how much we’re able to buy.”
“It can be a delicate science,” she added.
THE FARM-TO-TABLE CRAZE
Farmers believe people want local food, in part because they know where it came from and what has been done to it, without the fear of added pesticides and herbicides.
“For me … food is something we need to survive, so we have such a natural connection,” said Aimee Haag, a member of the Hutchinson Farmer’s Market board and co-owner of RebelSoil, a local produce farm in rural Litchfield. “How fun is it? At the farmer’s market we see that every day. It fills me up as a farmer and grower and seller to have people come and want to spend their money on something that we’ve created. It’s really a great relationship that goes both ways.”
Local farmer and Hutchinson Farmer’s Market board member Tim Rohde explained how the process of working with local chefs and restaurants works.
“Most vendors, what they’ll do is, if you have someone like Aimee, she’ll go by herself and look for a restaurant to supply,” Rhode said.
Gruenhagen agreed. People want what’s grown in a garden and want it done by experts who can grow it successfully.
“In my customer base, the people who come in are usually looking for organic,” Gruenhagen said. “They’re looking for some of the up-and-coming, trendy stuff.”
While the farm-to-table restaurant scene is strong in some places around the state, it hasn’t taken off as quickly in the Hutchinson area, Haag said.
“There aren’t a whole lot of restaurants locally buying products from us,” Haag said. “There are some, and there are some unique situations … I don’t sell to any in Hutchinson.”
Despite a lack of farm-to-table restaurants, the support for local farmers is still there from members of the community who buy their products.
At Greener Pastures, Gruenhagen stocks local, organic products such as elderberries, eggs, mushrooms and poultry. Local honey and maple syrup is also a popular item, as is goat’s milk and organic grapes.
Gruenhagen supports local farms, believing the extra cost is worth it to people because the quality is better.
“It’s a little fresher, and people like knowing their dollars are going to support other local farmers,” Gruenhagen said. “People want local produce, and they also want to shop local, meaning they want to encourage local business.”
Laura Frerichs, co-owner of Loon Organics in Hutchinson, agrees that there is support in the community. While she admits she can’t compete with the prices of supermarket groceries, she believes the product quality and the community impact Loon Organics has is far superior.
“(Where I can compete) is quality and freshness and value and taste,” she said. “I can compete on land stewardship, treating my workers well, food safety. ... I can beat that California farm on all of those things.”
FARM-TO-TABLE FUTURE
If people in the area want to see more farm-to-table restaurants and options, Haag believes farmers and restauranteurs must lead the conversation. Farmers need to know if there is a demand. Otherwise they aren’t going to grow it.
“We have the farmers and some people that are interested to help drive it forward. We just need energy on both sides,” Haag said. “The farmers are interested in here, and the co-op — or restaurants or caterers or schools — are also here. We need to organize and sit down and see how we can really establish strong community connections to make sure we have lots of the produce and other crops that are grown here.”
One area where relationships are being built is between farmers and Hutchinson Public Schools. According to Haag, the school district is interested in offering more farm-to-school food options for students and staff.
“There is a really strong interest right now from the food and nutrition department at Hutchinson Public Schools to use the farmers next year,” Haag said. “Which is exciting.”
“That takes a big demand for somebody to have a lot of produce for (the school district),” Rohde said. “School-age kids can get excited about trying carrots grown by someone maybe they know in town.”
