By Justin R. Lessman

After rising through the ranks of the Heron Lake-Okabena FFA Chapter to the office of chapter president, Ashlyn Koch has learned a thing or two about the FFA organization — and life in general.
In fact, Koch — still only a high school junior, though she has held four different offices in her FFA chapter already — even feels she’s in a place to offer some advice to younger students.

“Be involved in any activity,” Koch advises. “Staying active in your community is the best way to grow.”
And Koch said that’s whether one’s “community” at the time is an FFA chapter, a city or even something much larger. In fact, “community” is what she likes best about the FFA — in addition to what is done for her personally.

“It has made me an effective communicator and leader,” she said of the FFA, “and has taught me important life skills.”

Koch said she joined FFA because most of her friends were members and because it sounded interesting. She added she has never regretted it.
She is a member of the chapter’s award-winning floriculture career-development event team and has served as chapter historian, secretary, vice president and now president.

Though high school graduation is still more than a year away, Koch said she already has a pretty good idea of what the future holds for her.
“I plan to study business and marketing and obtain a real estate license,” she said.

Kyle Kuphal | Staff reporter
kkuphal@pipestonestar.com

Staci Mergenthal, of Lake Benton, is the host of a podcast called “Funeral Potatoes & Wool Mittens.”

Mergenthal started the podcast in December of 2022. She said she chose the name because she wanted something different that people would remember. The funeral potatoes, or cheesy hash browns, represent a comfort and community vibe, she said, and the wool mittens represent the Midwest, cold weather and coziness. In the beginning of her podcast she describes it as “a show for people who embrace the warm and cozy spirit of everyday living in the Midwest.”

Mergenthal has a background in corporate communications and freelance writing for magazines. She’s also done some private baking for individuals, fundraisers and weddings. About 15 years ago, she started a blog as a place to share recipes. She started the podcast because she wanted to listen to one like it and couldn’t find any.

“For all my life, I’ve really just learned to cook and bake and love it from other home bakers and cooks — just everyday people, not chefs,” Mergenthal said. “I’m not big into the big fancy culinary chefs. I’m not a culinary person or trained, but have always loved to learn from grandmas and aunts. I wanted to listen to a podcast like that and all I could ever find was the famous people, the popular chefs, restaurant owners, which is great. They’re incredible and it’s wonderful, but that’s just not necessarily how I learn or what I like.”

Early on, she did some podcasts alone, then she did a few episodes with her husband, Jason, and then other family members and friends. She’s since interviewed guests from Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan, often by Zoom. They’ve included greenhouse owners, an Airbnb owner, honey farmers, cattle ranchers, popcorn store owners, waffle makers, a high school student who grew and gave away garden produce, interior designers, an author, a volunteer birthday cake baker, Christmas tree farm owners, museum staff and more. No matter who the guest is, the conversation usually includes food.

“You can talk to anybody and you can be talking about anything,” Mergenthal said. “They could be a perfect stranger and you still could end up back on that topic.”

Her guests are typically people she’s heard about from others, read about or seen in the news. She also welcomes story ideas, which can be sent to her at staci@randomsweets.com.

In addition to her podcast and blog, Mergenthal can be seen on KELOLAND Living discussing recipes and food. She’s a member of the South Dakota State University Communication and Journalism Advisory Board, East Central Court Appointed Special Advocates Board in Brookings and the Lake Benton Public Library Board.

Mergenthal’s blog, podcast, recipes and more are available at randomsweets.com. The podcast is also found on other platforms where podcasts are found. 

Kyle Kuphal | Staff reporter
kkuphal@pipestonestar.com

Darla Bakker, of Tyler, recently released her third cookbook, titled “Darla Bakker’s Family Favorites.”
She made her first cookbook in 1996 in an effort to consolidate her recipes.

“I had a lot of different recipes in different cookbooks and recipe boxes and I wanted to organize them all to one place,” she said.
Bakker said she was also encouraged by family and coworkers to make a cookbook because she likes to cook and collect recipes. The first cookbook sold well and, years later, she decided to make a second one. That one was printed in 2006 and contained recipes from the previous book and new recipes. It also sold well.

Her third cookbook was printed in the spring of 2025. As with her second cookbook, the third contains recipes from her previous books and some new ones. The third book is unique, however, because it also includes recipes from her daughters, Danielle, Andrea and Laura.

“So, it was indeed a family cookbook,” Bakker said.
According to a forward in the book from Bakker’s daughters, the third cookbook “is a culmination of recipes that we all love. The three of us enjoyed adding in our own favorites this time around!”

Bakker said there are 830 recipes in the 362-page cookbook. The categories include bars; cookies; holiday treats; cakes, desserts and pies; rhubarb; breads and muffins; vegetables, salads and sides; soups and sandwiches; main dishes; and appetizers, snacks, beverages and miscellaneous.
When asked what her favorite recipes in the book were, Bakker said two that came to mind were the bun recipe on page 159 and the brunch egg bake recipe on page 299. She said the brunch egg bake reheats easily and that pieces of it can be frozen for another time. She said the dough from the bun recipe can also be made into cinnamon rolls and caramel rolls. 

“It was my mother-in-law, Sharon Bakker’s, recipe,” she said. “She had made this recipe weekly for her family, only the recipe was tripled. I decreased it to fit my bread maker, using the dough section.”
Bakker said she has always liked to cook and that her family has played a significant role in that interest throughout her life.

“My mother [Verna VanBockel] just let me go in the kitchen and be on my own,” she said.
Bakker said she was also influenced by her grandmothers, aunts and mother-in-law. She, in turn, instilled a love of cooking in her  daughters.
“Safe to say; we all feel very blessed to have grown up as Darla Bakker’s three daughters,” her daughters wrote in the forward of the cookbook. “From a very young age, we were all given kid’s cookbooks, taught about ingredients, shown what a homemade meal is, and were privy to delicious desserts daily, too. Reading cookbooks and cooking magazines was - and still is - as natural as reading anything else for all of us.”

Now some of their children, Bakker’s grandchildren, have shown interest in cooking as well.
Bakker was a licensed practical nurse at the clinic in Tyler until she retired about two years ago. Her husband, Jeff, farms corn and soybeans, and she said he plans to retire soon.
Bakker’s cookbook is available at Johnson Flower Box in Tyler. People can also email her at jdbakker@woodstocktel.net and she will mail them a copy.

 

Wayne Finnern owns a piece of Jackson County history.

Finnern and his sister, Ruth Finnern Stephens, are the owners of the Atz farm in rural Okabena — the newest Century Farm in Jackson County. The farm was recognized as a Century Farm earlier this year by the Minnesota State Fair and the Minnesota Farm Bureau.

The original 200-acre farm was purchased by Henry Atz in 1925 for $125 per acre after Atz moved to Jackson County from Illinois. Atz farmed the land all 50 years he owned it.

Ownership of the land was transferred to Atz’s son, Howard, who retained ownership for the next 19 years. Upon his death, the six-acre building site was sold and ownership of the 194-acre farm was transferred to Finnern and Stephens. The siblings have owned the farm for the last 31 years and today rent the land out for production agriculture.
The Atz Farm was one of nearly 80 from across the state of Minnesota to be recognized as Century Farms in 2025. Qualifying Century Farms have been in continuous family ownership for at least 100 years and are 50 acres or more in size.

Administered by the Minnesota State Fair in conjunction with the Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation, the Century Farm Program was created to promote agriculture and honor historic family farms in the state. More than 11,000 Minnesota farms — 239 of them in Jackson County — have been honored since the program began in 1976.
Families who have owned their farms for 100 years or more are invited to apply for the 2026 Century Farm Program now. Applications are available online at mnstatefair.org/about-the-fair/awards-and-recognition, at fbmn.org, by calling the state fair at (651) 288-4417 or at statewide county extension offices. The submission deadline is Monday, March 2, 2026. Recipients will be announced in the spring. Previously recognized families should not reapply.