Kenneth Hermann

My maternal grandparents homesteaded in northern Minnesota, just north of Crosby, in the early 20th centur y. Grandpa's land patent has President Taft's signature scrawled on it. They scratched out a living for three children from the tall pine forest and poor soil with a few cows, horses, chickens, and hogs. Grandma always kept her slop bucket next to the woodbox in the kitchen. All vegetable scraps and food waste went into it. Whenever we were all together, my cousins…