Remember the brails…

This time of year was a busy season for the loggers who cut the virgin timber in Wisconsin during the late 1800’s.  They spent the winter cutting the timber.  In the spring, the logs were floated down the rivers to the sawmills.  The Mississippi River was a major transporter of logs.  The logs drifted down the Chippewa River and then were assembled into rafts before being nudged into the current of the Mississippi.

The rafts were formed by grouping the logs into “brails.”  A brail was bound together by linking a chain of logs around the outside perimeter using wooden binder poles and iron links.  Boom chains and boom plugs made by the company’s blacksmith secured the logs to each other.   The logs were prevented from spreading with galvanized wire spaced at intervals across the deck of the raft.  When completed, a brail was at least five hundred feet long and forty-five feet wide. 

Six brails coupled together formed a “Mississippi raft.” Rafts were guided down the Mississippi by a steamboat at the stern and a bowboat tied crossways to the raft at the bow.  A small crew of river rafters rode the brails.  Their principal job was to gather any logs that might break loose.  All other boats on the river were required to get out of the way of these rafts.  This led to tension between residents along the river and the independent rafters.  Abusive exchanges from both sides were frequent. 

When you travel the Great River Road today, you may see a stray log or two in the river.  If you do, remember the era of the brails.

We’d love to see you again,
Stockholm Merchants   

Can you imagine jewelry from inner tubes?

Tammy Rice could.  She enjoys taking used and discarded materials and recycling them into earrings, bracelets, and necklaces.  Currently, she is using tractor, dump truck, automotive, pedal bike, and motorcycle tubes.

Inner tubes seem to be a very different choice for jewelry.  Tammy’s interest in them sprang from learning that inner tubes do not decompose for years.  She also discovered that inner tubes are often dumped in places other than landfills because companies must pay fees to dispose of them properly. 

With a desire to help the environment, Tammy started working with inner tubes to create hand-designed pieces that are distinctively beautiful.  Take a look at her work.

We will have some new pieces from Tammy in the store later today.  Stop by and see them in person.  Check out our winter sale, too.

We’d love to see you again,
Sandy Wagener
Sandy’s Clothing and Art

The golden eagles are thriving….

Volunteers turned in a count of 140 golden eagles from the bluffs spanning southeast Minnesota, western Wisconsin, northeast Iowa, and northern Illinois after the Wintering Golden Eagle Survey a couple weeks ago on January 19.  This is the largest count of golden eagles since the annual survey began nine years ago.  Past counts have found between 60 - 100 birds.  The golden eagle population appears to be increasing in other parts of Wisconsin, too.  The recent Lower Wisconsin Riverway eagle count was more than double the count of a year ago.   

Since golden eagles winter here but do not nest in the area, this information is important to help the species through education of the public, landowners, and conservation managers.  Likely, most of these birds raise their young in Ontario where golden eagles are on the endangered species list.  In nearby Quebec, golden eagles are listed as threatened.  Prior to conducting this annual survey, golden eagles were not considered to be inhabitants of our area at all.  Now we know differently.

 Project co-coordinator Scott Mehus thinks that part of the increase in numbers is due to “more observers out looking for golden eagles and more people who know where to find these majestic birds.”  The dark colors of the golden eagle are easy to spot against the snow in the fields and the ice on the water.  When you next drive the Great River Road, watch for golden eagles.  Remember that their winters here are helping the population to thrive.

We’d love to see you again,
Stockholm Merchants  

Celebrate National Pie Year with Us...

Yesterday, January 23rd, was National Pie Day.  Since we weren't open yesterday, we are going to celebrate today.  Due to our pies' mouth-watering flavors, we celebrate pie every day at The Stockholm Pie Company.


We find that few foods bring forth nostalgia like pie.  Customers have shared with us that our sour cream raisin pie reminds them of the sweet deliciousness of their grandmothers' pies.   Other pies bring back memories of a grandmother peeling apples, pitting cherries, and baking pumpkins.  Customers recollect the sound of the rolling pin on the counter as grandmother rolled out her delicate pie crust.

We often think of apple pie as an American original.  Even though we like the thought, "American as apple pie," we do not get the credit.  In its original form, sweet pie was brought from England where it was claimed as an English specialty unrivaled in Europe.  The crust of wheat flour and lard was English and used to enhance the food pantries of the British affluent.    The apples, butter, and thickeners were English.  The British Empire provided sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  A cookbook published in London in 1747 contained forty-three recipes for both sweet and savory pies.  That was a great deal of variety back then!

For centuries before English sweet pies, throughout Europe pies were made with crusts several inches thick.  These served as the pan and were tough and inedible.  Called "coffins," the pie shell was more of a container used just to hold the filling, which was often made of meat.  The lords and ladies ate the meat but not the shell.   In Pie: A Global History, Janet Clarkson says:

"It is surely not likely that such a hard-won resource was simply discarded after the contents were eaten even in the great houses.  The crust may not have been intended for lords and ladies, but the well-to-do were obliged to feed their servants and were also expected to feed the local poor.  Would not this largesse of sauce-soaked crust be distributed to the scullery boys and the hungry clamoring at the gate?"

We can be grateful that pie has evolved to what we know today.   At The Stockholm Pie Company, we mix our crusts one at a time and roll out each one by hand.  Apples are peeled and sliced by hand.  We make our own puddings for cream pies.  Fruit fillings don't come from a can; we mix our own.

We have taken the art of pie, started centuries earlier, and perfected it for you.  Come to The Stockholm Pie Company and experience the evolution of pie.  Celebrate National Pie Year with us.

We'd love to see you again,
Janet Garretson
The Stockholm Pie Company