by Cori Hilsgen
news@thenewsleaders.com
All Saints Academy and St. John’s Prep sixth-grade students gathered Feb. 11 for a Lumberjack Day on the St. John’s University Campus.
Students from the sixth-grade classes of ASA teacher Susan Huls and SJP teacher Mary Anderson gathered at the campus to learn about lumbering/logging camps of the 1900s in Minnesota.
Activities included a lumberjack breakfast. ASA sixth-grade teacher Susan Huls said the 41 plaid-clad students seemed quite comfortable as they sat down to the unusual meal of sweat pads, fried sow belly, cold shuts, loggin’ berries and blackjack.
Students commented the food was familiar, because they ate these foods often, but they were just given different names – sweat pads are just pancakes and cold shuts are donuts.
Huls said students also enjoyed the bacon (fried sow belly) and hot chocolate (blackjack) and most of them even tried the stewed prunes (loggin’ berries).
SJP student Avanthi Wijetunga, Sartell, said the most unusual fact she learned about the lumberjacks is that they call bacon “fried sow belly.”
“My favorite part of the day was when we all had a lumberjack (breakfast),” Wijetunga said. “We had pancakes, bacon (actual fried sow belly), stewed prunes, hot chocolate and fried potatoes.”
Besides eating the lumberjack breakfast in the morning, the students played Lumberjack Lingo Bingo, and listened to local storyteller Douglas Petersen, who shared several “tall tales” about the famous northwoods logger Paul Bunyan. Petersen brought along Bunyan’s ax and his extra-large stocking cap, which he gave students a chance to try on.
During the afternoon, the students enjoyed the sledding hill and a walk to the St. John’s woods. There, they met St. John’s Outdoor University staff member Kyle Rauch, who shared about modern-day logging operations at the St. John’s Abbey Arboretum.
Brother Walter Kieffer showed students several logging tools, including a crosscut saw, which students used in pairs to saw a cut log.
“My favorite part was using the saw,” said ASA student Sam Harren.
SJP student Aidan Math, Sartell, thought it was interesting the lumberjacks would have rather slept in the horse barn instead of their own beds.
“Their house was known as a sweat lodge because it always smelled like sweat because lumberjacks usually did not take showers until the season (was) over,” Math said. “Along with that, lumberjacks usually had two to three people sleeping in one bed. Not the best conditions. Therefore, they would have liked to sleep in the horse barn.”
Math also said his favorite part of the day was when they used the crosscut saw to cut the log.
“The kids seemed to enjoy the day, and it’s a good way to make Minnesota history more interesting,” Anderson said. “We might make it an annual thing.”
Last summer, Huls and Anderson attended a three-day Logging Immersion camp at the Forest History Center in Grand Rapids.
Created by the Minnesota Historical Society teacher-education programmers, the immersion was set up to teach teachers how to make the stories of the logging industry come alive.
“We dressed in 1900s costumes, went out to the woods to cut down a tree, practiced driving a team of work horses and had a chance to be interpreter-hosts in the blacksmith shop and horse barn,” Huls said. “We had a good time learning and wanted to share the experience somehow with our students.”
Anderson began planning the lumberjack breakfast in December, as a way to introduce her students to important industries that built the state. She decided to invite the ASA students to join them. After discussion, the two teachers decided to plan an entire day of lumberjack experiences.
All Saints Academy and St. John’s Prep students (left to right) Billy Jiang, SJP; Daniel Moog, ASA; Aidan Math, SJP; and Sam Harren, ASA, enjoy a lumberjack breakfast of sweat pads (pancakes), fried sow belly (bacon), spuds (potatoes), loggin’ berries (stewed prunes), cold shuts (donuts) and blackjack (hot chocolate) Feb. 11 during a Lumberjack Day on the St. John’s University campus.
All Saints Academy students Mary Morris (left) and Jaedyn Nydeen (center) use a crosscut saw Feb. 11 during a Lumberjack Day on the St. John’s University campus, while Daniel Moog (far right) observes.
All Saints Academy and St. John’s Prep students sat down to a lumberjack breakfast menu Feb. 11 during a Lumberjack Day on the St. John’s University campus. The meal consisted of sweat pads (pancakes), fried sow belly (bacon), spuds (potatoes), loggin’ berries (stewed prunes), cold shuts (donuts) and blackjack (hot chocolate).
Storyteller Douglas Petersen shared “tall tales” about northwoods logger Paul Bunyan during Lumberjack Day Feb. 11 at the St. John’s University campus. He brought along Bunyan’s ax and his extra-large stocking cap, which he gave students a chance to try on.
