Thank you Midwest Living!

The latest issue of Midwest Living recognizes what we have known for a long time - this is a great place to be!

The new travel trends are apparently shorter trips closer to home; wanting to see real communities, not just tourist venues; and focusing on food. Southwest Wisconsin fits this description beautifully, and area communities are featured in the section of the article called "Surprisingly Hip Small Towns."

Eat local. Go green. Support independent businesses and artistic communities. These are all things we have been doing in the area for a long time, and the article recognizes that travel tastes are catching up with us.

Both Monroe and Monticello are mentioned in the article, along with area communities like Spring Green, Mount Horeb and Mineral Point. All of these towns are within about sixty to ninety minutes of Monroe, and I have to second Midwest Living's opinion that they are places to visit. Stay in one of our local B&B's and town hop for a few days to explore this area of wonderful arts and food yourself. Spend one or two days on your bike along the Sugar River Trail to work off some of the meals you enjoy at our surprisingly good restaurants. See for yourself why Midwest Living felt the Sugar River Trail, Earth Rider Inn, The Dining Room at 209 Main (the Monticello restaurant it references), and Monroe are worth the visit.

If you are planning a visit to the area, visit our website for an article with area resources for traveling green as well as local lodging options which include the aforementioned Earth Rider Inn along with another B&B that is a nationally recognized top 10 eco-destination.

Come visit. Enjoy the quiet of our bike trails, back roads and state parks or the flair of our concerts, plays, arts venues, and dining establishments. Cars will stop for you when you cross the downtown streets; people will smile and say hi.

Things to Do around Monroe, WI

Lots going on in the area in the upcoming days!

~ Monroe Theatre Guild is a happening place in the next week! Tons going on at the Stage Building in Monroe.

• Dancing with Marlene: This dance class is a bargain! The five week class started last week, but anyone interested can still register and join us this week. The class runs from 6:30 until 7:30 on Thursdays, and the prorated price is only $8 for memeber for the remaining classes. Luis and I are taking it, and it is so much fun. Learn swing, polka, waltz, line dances and more.
  
• Youth Improv Workshop: Dave Bristow is leading this workshop for people age 14-24. Learn the art of Improv comedy and acting. Cost is $30 for the 4.5 hour class. Registration is officially finished, but there may still be room. Contact MTG for more information.
• Classic Movie Night: Come watch Casablanca with MTG members on Saturday evening. Enjoy their theatre seating and pick up some popcorn at their concessions. Stick around after the showing for post-movie discussion. 7 pm

~ Music! If you want to hear live music, this is the weekend for you.

• Keith Gennerman Band is playing at the New Glarus Hotel on Friday and Saturday evening at 7:30 pm.
• Dave Cox is playing blues and rock at Baumgartner's on Saturday night at 8 pm. Come listen to Cox's mix of blues and rock, enjoy a Lazy Mutt or peppermint hot cocoa and a cheese sandwich.
  
• Joel Pingitore and the PlayGround of Sound! is playing at Toffler's in New Glarus on Saturday evening at 9 pm.
• Turner Hall has another Dance and Dine event featuring the Keith Zweifel Band on Sunday from 2 until 6 pm.

~ Stop by the United Methodist Church on Saturday morning for the Boy Scouts Troop 180 annual Pancake Breakfast. Adults are $6, kids 10 and under are $3. The breakfast runs from 7 am until noon.

~ The 22nd annual Monroe FFA Farm Toy Show takes place at the Monroe High School on Sunday from 9 am until 3 pm. There will be over 120 tables of old & new tractors, Nascar, farm displays and farm related toys as well as vendors from three states. Admission is $3, kids 10 and under are free.

~ Winneshiek Playhouse in Freeport is showing a production of The Vagina Monologues on Saturday March 7 and March 14 at 7:30 pm. It is sponsored by the Freeport Art Museum, and proceeds will go to support VOICES, a Freeport group working to prevent violence against women and girls. Tickets are $12.

~ The Monroe Public Library is hosting another Celebrando Storytime on Tuesday, March 1o. Bring the kids for stories in both English and Spanish along with games and a craft. Everything is presented in both languages, so you do not have to be bilingual to attend. Stories start at 6:30 pm in the community room at the library.

~ Young Professionals of Green County is having another Bowl-o-Rama at Turner Hall on Wednesday, March 11 starting at 6 pm. $10 for bowling, pizza and soda.

This is just a sampling of local events. Check out Green County Spotlight or Stephenson County CVB for more events.

Knitting, spinning, dyeing. Oh my!

Every spring, fiber arts enthusiasts have reason to celebrate as the Stephenson County Fiber Arts Fair takes place right in our own back yard.

This fun fair has something for everyone. There is workshops offered in a variety of fiber arts every year. This year's line up will teach participants how to spin with beads, needle tat or paint yarn and the basics of Entralac knitting, Kumihimo weaving, and felting (wet and dry). There is also a spinning wheel workshop to help people learn to "get the most out of your wheel" (bring your own spinning wheel).

There are always vendors on hand to feed any fiber arts enthusiasts stash. I will be on the prowl for some nice sock yarns and another set of bamboo double pointed needles, but I know from previous years experience that there array of choices will be stunning and include a huge variety of yarns and rovings, lots of needles for knitting and crochet, accessories, and supplies galore for any fiber art from needle felting to weaving and everything in between.

Join in the fun and enter the drop spindle spinning competition. Watch this ancient art, and perhaps you will see why I am so tempted every year to give a go myself.

The fair happens on April 18 from 9 am until 5 pm at the Jane Addams Community Center in Cedarville, IL, about halfway between Monroe and Freeport.

Business Spotlight: Bauman Kitchens and Giftware

On the east side of Monroe's historic Downtown Square sits a store that has been a Monroe fixture for over 50 years: Bauman Kitchens and Giftware.

When we first moved to Monroe, Luis became entranced by the musical chimes that played whenever we walked into some of the Downtown businesses. A conversation with Scott over at Chocolate Temptation led us to Bauman Kitchens, the store selling the chimes and so much more. We have been back often over the years.

Like so many stores in the area, Bauman Kitchens has wonderfully eclectic offering of goods. Walk in, and you see racks of collectibles and gift items. Figurine lines include Precious Moments, Seraphim Angels, My Little Kitchen Fairies, Cherished Teddies and more. They offer a large collection of Rossi cranberry glass and leaded crystal items too. You will find gifts large and small, something for every taste and every budget in the giftware areas that span three floors.

As the name implies, Bauman Kitchens also has items for the kitchen, but most people who are not from the area do not realize that they also design kitchens here. A Bauman Kitchen is a selling point always mentioned by realtors around here.

If you are not in the market for an entirely new kitchen, but are just looking for a few items for your kitchen, Bauman Kitchens can help too. They carry a variety of wine and cheese items, cookie cutters, various sea salts and peppercorns along with mills, specialty pans, and lot of gadgets.

Bauman Kitchens and Giftware is open Monday through Friday from 9 am until 5 pm, Saturdays from 9 am until 4 pm and Sundays (during the winter holiday shopping season only) from noon until 4 pm.

Green Your Yard Care

It may be a chilly 16 degrees at the moment, but we Wisconsin natives know that spring is just around the corner. Now is the time to start planning yard care and gardening for the upcoming warm weather.

Taking some small steps in your yard care this year can have a big payoff for nature. Standard yard care in the US dumps chemicals into our soil and spews pollutants into the air.

Mowing a yard with a gas powered lawn mower or using a gas powered leaf blower produces a lot of hydrocarbons. Do it the old fashioned way instead. Take the kids outside, get out the rakes and spend some fun family time raking up winter's debris instead of blowing it. If you have an average city or suburban yard, consider a reel lawn mower. These are quiet, good exercise and easy enough that we let the kids use ours to mow the lawn. It takes about the same amount of time as using a gas mower.

Another thing to consider this year is a rain barrel. Depending on the type of yard and garden you have, you will probably need to water somethings this summer. Sprinklers are convenient, but they end up watering a lot more than just the vegetables I want them to soak. A rain barrel is an easy way to capture the drops from summer storms and funnel them to the garden later. They are available commercially for about $100 and up. It is quite easy to build your own. Here is a video on doing it yourself: