March/April 2015 - 10 Page Preview/Test

MARCH/APRIL 2015 wine WINNERS • Benson • Zio’s Pizzeria • MOTORCOACH TOURNEBRASKA LIFE MAGAZINE Sights March/April 2015 & Sounds $5.95www.NebraskaLife.com pg. 56 2/3/2015 1:46:23 PM Blue Creek Lodge IN OSHKOSH pg. 30 + Nebraska Life Hometown Videos, Spring Calving, Wausa’s Steampunk Artist and Flower Poetry. MA15_Cover.indd 2

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MARCH/APRIL 2015Stephen R. Jones Sights & Sounds of Spring, pg. 56 Features 22 Fillmore County Barn Quilts Rural agricultural pride and family heritage are proudly hung high for all to see in Fillmore County. Story by Cameron Steele Photographs by Steve and Bobbi Olson 30 Blue Creek Lodge Childhood trips to Garden County inspired Greg Polk to work hard in the city so he could become a farmer and rancher. Story and photographs by Christopher Amundson 42 Zio’s Pizzeria New York-style pizzas bring Big Apple taste to Omaha’s Old Market one lip-smacking, hand-tossed slice at a time. Story and photographs by Carson Vaughan Barn Quilts, pg. 22 50 Benson Returns Zio’s Pizzeria, pg. 42 An old-time Omaha neighborhood rebounds as a trendy, friendly place with a bright outlook on the future. Story by Molly Garriott Photographs by Steve and Bobbi Olson 56 Sights & Sounds of Spring Five years of solitary camping trips in western Nebraska’s wildest places fill us with nature’s songs and scenes. Text by Alan J. Bartels Photographs by Stephen R. Jones 66 Spring Calving For a multi-tasking ranch family in Loup County, spring calves and another newborn are on the way. Story and photographs by Alan J. BartelsPOSTMASTER: NEBRASKA LIFE, ISSN 1091-2886, is published bimonthly for $24 per year by Nebraska Life Publishing, Inc., 206 Norfolk Avenue, Norfolk, NE 68702. Periodicals postage paid at Norfolk, NE, and at additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to Nebraska Life, PO Box 819, Norfolk, NE 68702. NEBRASKALIFE.COM • 5MA15_Intro pages.indd 5 2/3/2015 11:51:44 AM

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Stisosureiceosmeinfrtohmis: Niobrara Valley Preserve pg. 56 Wausa pg. 48 Wayne Crescent Lake pg. 80 National Wildlife Burwell Refuge pg. 56 Taylor pg. 66 pg. 66,74 Norfolk pg. 47, 75 Oshkosh Ord pg. 80 Benson pg. 30 Columbus pg. 46, 83 pg. 50Potter North Loup pg. 80 Valparaisopg. 17 Omaha St. Paul pg. 18 pg. 80 pg. 42, 80 Ash Hollow Keith North Central City pg. 18 Rising AshlandState Historical County Platte City pg. 19 Lincoln pg. 18, 80 pg. 56 pg. 17 Lexington pg. 18 Park pg. 56 pg. 16, 75 ON OUR COVER On his spacious ranch in the Sandhills north of Oshkosh, Fillmore County pg. 22 Beatrice pg. 80 Greg Polk lives out a childhood dream at Blue Creek Lodge. Superior pg. 18 Story on page 30. Photograph by CHRISTOPHER AMUNDSONDepartments 38 9 Publisher’s Letter 72 A perspective from the desk of Christopher Amundson. 10 Contributors It takes a lot of talent to create each issue. Meet some of the faces behind our stories and photos. 11 Mailbox Dearly appreciated deliveries from our readers. 16 Flat Water Sing Husker fight songs and sip award-winning wines. 21 In the Wild The monarch of the backyard bird kingdom wears a brilliant crown. 36 Poetry Our poets celebrate winter’s retreat and the burst of spring color. 38 Kitchens We bet you can’t resist these delicious baked goods. 46 Writers & Artists Painting in pajamas at Columbus, steampunk jewelry and more. 72 Trivia Three types of teasers to test your knowledge. Answers on page 77 (no peeking). 74 Traveler Prairie chickens and Lincoln’s Irish dance with abandon, while others strap on their skis. Plus a statewide calendar of fun Nebraska events. 83 Roadside Curiosities 36 Where the Loup and Platte Rivers join – power, progress, and industrious workers flow from Columbus. NEBRASKALIFE.COM • 7MA15_Intro pages.indd 7 2/3/2015 11:58:11 AM

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Founded in 1997 to explore life in Nebraska From the Publisher’s Desk In Madison County MARCH/APRIL 2015 Nebraska’s Rural-Urban Volume 19, Number 2 Connection Editor & Publisher This issue of the magazine is full of stories about rural Nebraska. Christopher Amundson This issue of the magazine is full of stories about urban Nebraska. Associate Publisher Do you see the difference? Do you see the connection? Angela Amundson Before I started telling magazine stories, I worked in the daily newspaper Assistant Editor business. As writers, we talked to politicians almost every day, whether we Alan J. Bartels liked it or not. The interviews sometimes got deep. They claimed the ability to Art and Design solve the world’s problems and would often Tannon Asche, Jenny Coriell quote a rural-urban “divide” in our state. Ali Clark Then they would debate with themselves over what Nebraska is: rural or urban? Photo Editor Joshua Hardin Since spending the last 15 years traveling Staff Writer Nebraska for Nebraska Life, I’m beginning to Matt Masich see they had it all wrong. There is no one or Subscriptions/Operations the other, no division, but rather a connection Cora Thompson, Lindsey Schaecher, in our state. Nebraska is a big state with our Janice Sudbeck residents spread across 430 miles from east Advertising Sales to west and 210 miles from north to south. Lindsey Bradbury We’re fortunate that Nebraskans have found Contributing Writers/Photographers ways to make livings and settle down in big Nina Buck, Steve and Bobbi Olson, Cameron cities, towns, farms and ranches, sometimes going back and forth for educa- Steele, Jessica Maxwell, Dee Watson, Don tion, family and career changes. Brockmeier, Kerri Long, Molly Garriott, Carson This issue of the magazine leads with a cover story about Greg Polk, a man Vaughan, Stephen R. Jones, Jean A. Lukesh who grew up in the city but longed to live in the country. He made that dream come true in 2008 and now maintains a 10,000-acre ranch and farm in Garden Nebraska Life Magazine County with a guest lodge. The lifestyle wasn’t and isn’t easy, but he’s making it work. Like others, he mixes city influences and country influences in his 206 W Norfolk Avenue Nebraska life. PO Box 819 And a few pages later, we have a story about Benson, a neighborhood in Omaha that was its own city before annexation. Twenty years ago Benson was worn, Norfolk, NE 68702 blighted and shuttered. “It felt like a cast-off sweater, moth-eaten and stained,” 800-777-6159 wrote Molly Garriott in our article. Reinvestment of money, time and energy has flowed into Benson, which is now hip, cool and a transformed community. www.NebraskaLife.com Elsewhere in the magazine we write about the artistic people of Fillmore MEMBER OF County who adorn their communities and farms with decorative barn quilts. We cover Zio’s Pizzeria, a cool pizza joint that’s been a mainstay of Omaha International since 1985. Other stories in this issue blend together urban, rural, farm, Regional ranch … Nebraska. Magazine Election season is over for now, but I challenge us all as we go about our lives to think, act and build a connected Nebraska – city, country, combined. This is Association our strength – this is our state. SUBSCRIPTIONS Christopher Amundson Publisher & Editor We welcome subscriptions. $24 per year; $44 for twoyears. Subscribe by returning the card in this magazine, NEBRASKALIFE.COM • 9 calling 1-800-777-6159 or visiting www.NebraskaLife.com. Gift subscriptions include free gift card. ADVERTISING For advertising rates and deadlines, contact Lindsey Bradbury at 1-800-777-6159 or [email protected]. COPYRIGHTAll contents, photography, artwork and editorial copyare copyrighted 2015 by NEBRASKA LIFE, Norfolk, NE. For permission to reprint any of the contents, contact the publisher.MA15_Intro pages.indd 9 2/3/2015 1:51:22 PM

10 • NEBRASKA LIFE • MARCH/APRIL 2015 CAobnouttroiubrutorsMA15_Intro pages.indd 10 Stephen R. Jones Boulder, Colorado Stephen R. Jones is a lover of Native American lore and all things wild. He’s the author of the definitive lyrical explo- ration of the Nebraska Sandhills, The Last Prairie, and the co-author of the Peterson Field Guide to the North American Prairie. His new CD of nature sounds recorded while camping in unspoiled places in western Nebraska, Sandhills Serenade, was the inspiration for his photo essay in this issue, “Sights & Sounds of Spring.” Nina Buck, Stanton Nina Buck took the long way to Nebraska and Nebraska Life. The native Californian attended the University of Hawaii where she got a degree in theater. She describers her husband, Scott Abels, as an “experi- mental poet.” A year ago the couple moved to his great-great-grandparents’ farm near Stanton. Their 6-month-old son, Charlie, is the sixth generation there. Busy like all new mothers, Nina somehow finds some time to work in our downtown Norfolk office. She also enjoys singing and dancing, surfing, cooking, gardening and playing the ukulele. Steve and Bobbi Olson Palmyra This husband and wife dynamic duo of photography was first published in Nebraska Life in 2004 after the discovery of a whiffletree cockeye at Meeske Hardware in Weeping Water. Their best-selling pho- tography book, Marking Time: Nebraska’s Historic Places, was first printed in 2007 and is now in its third printing. Since then they’ve explored every Nebraska county more than once, and our readers have enjoyed hundreds of their beautiful pho- tos in Nebraska Life. In this issue you’ll see their handiwork in stories about the Omaha neighborhood of Benson and the barn quilts of Fillmore County. 2/3/2015 11:32:01 AM