(woman) Prairie Mosaic is funded by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4th, 2008, the North Dakota Council on the Arts, and by the members of Prairie Public.

(woman) Welcome to Prairie Mosaic, a patchwork of stories about the arts, culture, and history in our region.

Hi, I'm Barb Gravel.

And I'm Troy Davis.

On this edition of Prairie Mosaic we're going from farm to table with 2 of our stories.

Right Barb?

Yes Troy.

This summer we caught up with the owner and operator of Rolling R Ranch in Otter Tail County, Dale Rengstorf.

He's helping to restore a piece of the prairie by raising bison on his land, making it more sustainable for the future.

(Troy) Yes.

Then chef Sara Watson will prepare a bison steak sourced from Rolling R Ranch into an easy weeknight friendly dish.

Bison is a delicious form of protein that so many people are enjoying more and more.

Let's dive right in.

[acoustic guitar plays brightly] (Dale Rengstorf) Unlike today, there wasn't really any money to be made in the cattle business.

I'd already tried sheep the first few years we moved out here.

I decided I wasn't cut out to be a shepherd.

I was just looking for something different and something that we could maybe make money on but might be interesting and fun, and bison sure fit the bill on that one.

It's something that's going back to what this land was.

My name is Dale Rengstorf, and I'm the owner/operator of Rolling R Ranch Inc.

in Pelican Rapids, Minnesota.

My wife and I moved to this area in 1979, and we were in the feeder pig business to start out, but we had some land that I wanted to try and put some livestock on.

And we decided to take the plunge into bison ranching in 1987.

My son-in-law PJ and daughter Carla had come home to join the operation, and we had the grandchildren around every day.

The other 2 kids live close enough-- they're excited too about the bison ranch.

It's a unique thing.

In college they discovered how unique it was.

When they would tell their friends that they grew up on a bison ranch and so on-- they're proud of it; the whole family is proud of it.

[acoustic guitar plays brightly] Well, I'm on the edge of being an environmentalist.

I'm concerned about things like that.

I was just going to do it on a small basis, I thought this is native prairie, and putting bison back on that is just kind of a neat thing to do.

And that really appealed to me, that it was a native animal, and when I was doing both hogs and bison, I was spending so much time taking care of the hogs-- because cold weather, hot weather-- they're just vulnerable to everything.

[chuckles] And the bison at that time, such a contrast-- they weren't vulnerable to anything.

They could take the cold, they could take the heat, and they're just a wonderful adapted animal to this climate around here.

But they do take more management.

By that I mean if you don't manage your animals for the breeding season coming up, they're probably going to give you a calf every other year.

So you're going to have to try and manage your pasture, put them out on nutritious grass, the most nutritious grass you can during breeding season or supplement with some grain or something like that so you get their energy up there and get a calf every year.

Then when you're working animals in the fall, you do need stronger corrals because they're a wild animal yet.

They're going to try to get out.

They have a tendency to jump over things so you're going to have to have the corrals higher.

It's just a whole different experience working bison than it is working cattle.

That's if you get into the bison business, maybe visit some ranches and watch them do it before you get into it.

We're running 250 cows now, in the cow/calf operation mainly, Also we hold some animals back to try and sell as breeding stock.

But our mainstay is running the cow/calf business.

That would be more in line fitting with the land here and so on.

Bison meat is very similar to beef.

The muscles in bison are a shorter fiber, so it tends to be more tender if you don't overcook it.

And, of course, if they're fed right.

Bison meat also is a little bit sweeter that beef is, so it's very acceptable to the consumer.

There's a big demand for it now.

We've gotten it in in the marketplace and into the grocery stores on a national basis, and it's selling out, and I think the future looks good for the bison business.

We've been in this business for 38 years, and we've grown over the years, and it's been a really enjoyable ride.

I enjoyed it, and I wouldn't want to do anything else.

I hope to stay profitable, of course, and the future definitely looks bright for that.

I want PJ and Carla to be able to make a good living when they take it over.

I hope bison are on this area and whatever 40 years from now.

I hope our grandkids take it over someday.

That would be a nice thing.

[acoustic guitar plays brightly] Hi, my name is Sara Watson, I am a personal chef, and today I'm lucky enough to working with this beautiful piece of bison from the Rolling R Bison Ranch.

This is a bison sirloin and we're going to just season it with some salt and pepper and let that beautiful flavor of the bison come out.

We're going to grill it and top it with a wonderful chimichurri sauce.

First I'm going to get my grill pan hot.

We want it as hot as possible to get a nice sear on our meat.

I'm going to simply drizzle the meat with a little bit of olive oil and season it with some coarse salt.

Today I have the Himalayan pink salt.

And I'm seasoning it pretty generously.

And also some fresh ground pepper.

If you're into marinating your meat, you certainly can do that.

I prefer when you have a nice piece of meat similar to this to let that flavor shine.

Make sure you do both sides.

Test our pan quick.

Yeah, that is perfect.

What we're going to look for on our meat is a nice crosshatch grill mark.

You can get that by placing it diagonal onto your grill.

And we're going to cook it for about 6 minutes on each side.

After 3 minutes I'm going to turn it to try to get that nice crosshatch mark.

While we are cooking the steak, we're going to make our chimichurri sauce.

Chimichurri is a beautiful herb sauce.

I'm using fresh parsley and cilantro today.

Also I'm adding a little bit of sweet red pepper for color and a little flavor.

If you prefer your chimichurri a little spicy, feel free to play around with your peppers.

You can even use a nice crushed red pepper if you'd like.

We'll use a food processor, but I am going to simplify a little bit by chopping a few of these things up.

So we have our red pepper our cilantro, parsley.

We're going to add 2 cloves of garlic.

I have a little dried oregano.

Again we're going to use our Himalayan sea salt.

A little fresh ground pepper.

At this point I'm just going to give the herbs a little buzz.

[whirring] Let's check on our steak again.

We're just going to give that a flip.

We're going to add a little bit of red wine vinegar.

And pulse again.

I'm going to slowly add the olive oil.

[whirring] Look at that-- beautiful!

Let's check on our sauce.

And this will be a beautiful accompaniment.

to our steak.

I like to get the steak to about mid rare.

After I grill the steak I like to let it rest for a few minutes just to let all the juices loosen up a little bit.

I like to slice it real thin.

Then we'll take our sauce And here we have a beautiful bison sirloin from Rolling R Bison Ranch with chimichurri sauce.

[acoustic guitar plays brightly] Founded in 1961, the Concordia Language Villages in Bemidji, provide a unique language learning opportunity to students of all ages and backgrounds.

With more than a dozen foreign languages to choose from, the camp creates an immersive, natural learning environment.

[students singing in a non English language] (Susan Larson) There's no other place like this in the United States or really in the world to my knowledge.

When I talk about the Concordia Language Villages, our mission is to inspire courageous global citizens where you could come into the wonderful north woods of Minnesota and experience these culturally authentic sites, this deep immersion learning.

(Martin Graefe) No one day is alike another.

Currently we have 14 languages for the youth programs in the summer.

The Scandinavian languages that are prevalent in this region, of course, German, French, and Spanish as primary languages taught in schools.

We're the only program that offers a high school credit course in the 4 weeks in the summer in the country in 3 different Asian languages, so Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.

Then there's a number of other languages including Arabic and Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, What we're doing at the Villages, and it's evolved in those 65 years, but it's essentially re-creating a natural language learning environment.

So they're hearing the language spoken around them whether or not they understand, whether or not they can reproduce that language immediately.

And they're having real opportunities to use the language right-- so buying something at the store-- you're not going to get the thing till you get your money out of the bank and you ask for the thing in the language.

Of course, all that usage is supported lovingly by staff.

If you want the butter that's on the far end of the 16-person dinner table, you're going to asked to have the butter passed in the target language, be it German, be it Danish, be it Japanese.

(Josephine Fadziewicz) This is actually year 10 for me.

It's kind of like a second home away from home.

It's somewhere that I have come back to for over half of my life every summer.

There's so many familiar faces I see.

I'm going into senior year this year, but I've already actually been accepted to college, and I think this is likely what got me in, so I am going to Middlebury College.

In February I'll be finishing my last semester of high school, then going to college.

It was pretty much Lac du Bois and learning French and studying abroad that got me in, so this has already changed my life.

(Canaan Pierre-Louis) I really like to travel, and I know a lot of countries speak French, so learning French really helped me speak French in the other countries that I would like to visit like France, of course.

But also there's a lot of African countries or countries in Europe too that speak French so you could travel a lot and know the culture of these places, so it's really nice.

What I like about the Concordia Language Villages is that it's immersive, so it's really easy to learn and how we sing songs, it's really easy to learn French.

And especially if you know French already or if you're a newcomer.

So if you're learning language for the first time, or if you already have the experience.

(Susan Larson) In addition to our youth camps in the summer, we have a whole series of events throughout the winter and fall and spring including family camps where multigenerational families come and really experience the same sort of thing but with a family unit.

Or you can come to an adult only camp so you're learning German or French or Spanish with other adult learners.

They have a very similar experience-- the principles of outdoor playful learning.

One of the challenges of staffing at the Villages-- we need language experts-- people who are willing and able to speak the language at meals, with youth, in cabins with youth.

So our staffing includes lots of people who were villagers come back as counselors.

College students who are learning language at the college level will come and serve as counselors.

Then we also have a day one exchange visa program so we are able to get native language speakers from some of the countries that are represented with the languages we offer.

Gerry Haukebo is an amazing visionary.

Right?

1961 he worked with the college, Board of Regents, president Knutson at the time, Joe Knutson convinced him to try the language camp idea.

The camp idea, of course, is a big tradition in the US, and so that came to mind.

He had experience in Germany where he was the principal at an Army dependent school.

For awhile he was an education professor at Concordia as well.

While he was in Germany observed how kids, his own kids included were able to learn a language through play essentially, through very unstructured, but very natural interactions.

1966 there were 800 campers in 5 different languages, in '62 they added French and then Spanish and Norwegian the following year, in '66 Russian.

In '66 then the college purchased this property from a local family, the Bachelors.

They run still today the Bemidji Woolen Mills and we send our families there to contribute to the economy locally and thank them for being so supportive to the Language Villages.

They were very pleased when Concordia decided to establish itself with building these Villages here in Bemidji.

Gerry just had this incredible gift of creating kind of a vision for our program.

A lot of the elements of that first year still exist today in our program-- the nametags people wear when they get a name from the target culture.

Over time, of course, the program has evolved, and we became more aware of what those key elements were for our Language Village program.

A really big part of it is the learning community where everybody is in the same boat.

We have people who start from scratch, but also have people who are more advanced.

Meow!

There is an economic impact.

Right?

We're filling hotels and airplanes and peripheral businesses with our kids coming and going for programs.

We're also a pretty large employer in the Bemidji area.

We are known internationally for our work in language immersion.

There are certainly other rigorous and excellent language programs for young people in the United States.

I think we are unique in that we're doing that in the north woods of Minnesota in an outdoor camp setting and where we're really creating full immersion rather than kind of modeling after a classroom.

it's incredible, we have alumni in all kinds of positions.

Obviously some move away from the language study over time.

Right?

But it still impacts them in terms of having had that experience and having their eyes opened to different parts of the world, different experiences even if you don't continue with that or travel necessarily to that region.

To me it's just the idea that the Language Villages have the program concept in them, and the design allows for language learners of all ages and all needs to benefit from the program.

I learned so much from being here, like be immersed in a village like this is like such an amazing opportunity and privilege for us to have here in Minnesota.

When I talk to people and tell them how I learned French, they're like oh, that's in Minnesota-- that's crazy!

It's a lovely opportunity here.

I actually was working with some villagers at one of our Villages last week.

They were a little bit kind of down in the mouth having a rough day, so I went over and met with them, and one of them said to me, "Why do you do this job, why do you stay?"

I was like, well I have got an answer to that question!

It is incredible work, it makes you believe in the human capacity to share, to create, to create peace, to learn each other's languages and cultures to find common ground-- that is incredibly satisfying.

Dan Brekke found his passion for music at a young age.

And throughout his career he's had the good fortune to create music with his family, perform in Nashville, and travel the Midwest sharing his gift of music.

[guitar intro; country-rock beat] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Well I heard it from a friend of a friend ♪ ♪ That you packed all your things and you moved out west ♪ ♪ ♪ Found your goldmine California sunshine ♪ ♪ New start and a new address ♪ ♪ Well Layla's shutting down on the other side of town ♪ ♪ If I want a buzz I better go now ♪ ♪ But I heard from a friend of a friend ♪ ♪ That you packed all your things ♪ ♪ And I wish you the best ♪ ♪ ♪ But meanwhile in Tennessee ♪ ♪ I'm as drunk as a drunk can be ♪ ♪ I got a date with miss Denver Green ♪ ♪ I might call up old Jacky D ♪ ♪ You're on a beach just sipping your time ♪ ♪ I'm on a barstool shooting mine ♪ ♪ Meanwhile in Tennessee ♪ ♪ Well I heard it from a friend of a friend ♪ ♪ That you wanna wipe the slate so you moved up state ♪ ♪ Big city lights keep you buzzing all night ♪ ♪ And you're working towards a wedding date ♪ ♪ Well the sun's going down and the band's getting loud ♪ ♪ If I want a buzz I better go now ♪ ♪ Yeah but I heard from a friend of a friend ♪ ♪ That you wanna wipe the slate and I think that's great ♪ ♪ ♪ But meanwhile in Tennessee ♪ ♪ I'm as drunk as a drunk can be ♪ ♪ I got a date with miss Denver Green ♪ ♪ I might call up old Jacky D ♪ ♪ You're on a beach just sipping your time ♪ ♪ I'm on a barstool shooting mine ♪ ♪ Meanwhile in Tennessee ♪ [piano solo] ♪ ♪ ♪ [guitar solo] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Well I heard from a friend I heard it from a friend ♪ ♪ I heard from a friend I heard it from a friend ♪ ♪ I heard it from a friend ♪ ♪ And I wish you the best ♪ ♪ ♪ Well I heard from a friend I heard it from a friend ♪ ♪ Yeah I heard from a friend I heard it from a friend ♪ ♪ I heard it from a friend ♪ ♪ And I'm wishing you the best ♪ ♪ ♪ But meanwhile in Tennessee ♪ ♪ I'm as drunk as a drunk can be ♪ ♪ I got a date with miss Denver Green ♪ ♪ I might call up old Jacky D ♪ ♪ Yeah meanwhile in Tennessee ♪ ♪ I'm just as drunk as a drunk can be ♪ ♪ I got a date with miss Denver Green ♪ ♪ I might call up old Jacky D ♪ ♪ You're on a beach just sipping your time ♪ ♪ I'm on a barstool shooting mine ♪ [guitar solo] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ If you know of an artist, topic, or an organization in our region that you think might make for an interesting segment, please contact us at... (Barb) You can stream this and other episodes of "Prairie Mosaic" online, and be sure to follow Prairie Public on social media For more updates and content.

I'm Barb Gravel.

And I'm Troy Davis.

Thank you for joining us for another edition of "Prairie Mosaic."

[guitar, bass, and drums play in bright country rhythm] (Barb) "Prairie Mosaic" is funded by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage fund with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4th, 2008, the North Dakota Council on the Arts and by the members of Prairie Public.