march/april 2015 - 10 page preview

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wine winneRS BenSon ZioS PiZZeRia MoToRCoaCH ToUR

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pg. 56

+ Nebraska Life Hometown Videos, Spring Calving, Wausas Steampunk Artist and Flower Poetry.

SigHtS & SoundS

BlueCreekLodge

pg. 30in oSHKoSH

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2 NEBRASKA LIFE MARCH/APRIL 2015

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NEBRASKALIFE.COM 3


Stephen R. Jones

POSTMASTER: 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.

M A R C H / A P R I L 2 0 1 5

Features

NEBRASKALIFE.COM 5

22 Fillmore County Barn QuiltsRural 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 LodgeChildhood 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 Zios PizzeriaNew York-style pizzas bring Big Apple taste to Omahas Old Market one lip-smacking, hand-tossed slice at a time.Story and photographs by Carson Vaughan

50 Benson ReturnsAn 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 SpringFive years of solitary camping trips in western Nebraskas wildest places fill us with natures songs and scenes.Text by Alan J. Bartels Photographs by Stephen R. Jones

66 Spring CalvingFor a multi-tasking ranch family in Loup County, spring calves and another newborn are on the way.Story and photographs by Alan J. Bartels

Barn Quilts, pg. 22

Zios Pizzeria, pg. 42

Sights & Sounds of Spring, pg. 56


Taylor pg. 66

Omahapg. 42, 80

Norfolk pg. 47, 75

Lexington pg. 18Lincolnpg. 16, 75

North Plattepg. 17

Crescent Lake National Wildlife Refuge pg. 56

Ash HollowState Historical

Park pg. 56

Potterpg. 17

Columbus pg. 46, 83

Niobrara Valley Preserve pg. 56

Stories in this issue come from:

Keith Countypg. 56

Oshkoshpg. 30

Waynepg. 80

Rising City pg. 19

Burwell pg. 66,74

Ord pg. 80North Loup pg. 80

Superior pg. 18

Beatrice pg. 80Fillmore County pg. 22

Ashland pg. 18, 80

Valparaiso pg. 80St. Paul pg. 18

Central City pg. 18

Bensonpg. 50

Wausapg. 48

ON OUR COVER On his spacious ranch in the Sandhills north of Oshkosh, Greg Polk lives out a childhood dream at Blue Creek Lodge.Story on page 30. PhotograPh by ChrIStoPhEr aMUNDSoN

36

38

72

9 Publishers Lettera 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 MailboxDearly appreciated deliveries from our readers.

16 Flat WaterSing husker fight songs and sip award-winning wines.

21 In the Wildthe monarch of the backyard bird kingdom wears a brilliant crown.

36 Poetryour poets celebrate winters retreat and the burst of spring color.

38 KitchensWe bet you cant resist these delicious baked goods.

46 Writers & ArtistsPainting in pajamas at Columbus, steampunk jewelry and more.

72 Triviathree types of teasers to test your knowledge. answers on page 77 (no peeking).

74 TravelerPrairie chickens and Lincolns Irish dance with abandon, while others strap on their skis. Plus a statewide calendar of fun Nebraska events.

83 Roadside CuriositiesWhere the Loup and Platte rivers join power, progress, and industrious workers flow from Columbus.

NEBRASKALIFE.COM 7

Departments



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From the Publishers DeskIn Madison County

Founded in 1997 to explore life in Nebraska

MARCH/APRIL 2015Volume 19, Number 2

Editor & PublisherChristopher Amundson

Associate PublisherAngela Amundson

Assistant EditorAlan J. Bartels

Art and DesignTannon Asche, Jenny Coriell

Ali Clark

Photo EditorJoshua Hardin

Staff WriterMatt Masich

Subscriptions/OperationsCora Thompson, Lindsey Schaecher,

Janice Sudbeck

Advertising SalesLindsey Bradbury

Contributing Writers/PhotographersNina Buck, Steve and Bobbi Olson, Cameron

Steele, Jessica Maxwell, Dee Watson, Don Brockmeier, Kerri Long, Molly Garriott, Carson

Vaughan, Stephen R. Jones, Jean A. Lukesh

Nebraska Life Magazine 206 W Norfolk Avenue

PO Box 819Norfolk, NE 68702

800-777-6159www.NebraskaLife.com

MEMBER OFInternational

Regional Magazine

Association

SUBSCRIPTIONSWe welcome subscriptions. $24 per year; $44 for two

years. Subscribe by returning the card in this magazine, calling 1-800-777-6159 or

visiting www.NebraskaLife.com. Gift subscriptions include free gift card.

ADVERTISINGFor advertising rates and deadlines, contact

Lindsey Bradbury at 1-800-777-6159 or [email protected].

COPYRIGHTAll contents, photography, artwork and editorial copy are copyrighted 2015 by NEBRASKA LIFE, Norfolk, NE. For permission to reprint any of the contents,

contact the publisher.

ThiS iSSuE Of the magazine is full of stories about rural Nebraska.This issue of the magazine is full of stories about urban Nebraska.Do you see the difference? Do you see the connection?Before I started telling magazine stories, I worked in the daily newspaper

business. As writers, we talked to politicians almost every day, whether we liked it or not. The interviews sometimes got deep. They claimed the ability to

solve the worlds problems and would often quote a rural-urban divide in our state. Then they would debate with themselves over what Nebraska is: rural or urban?

Since spending the last 15 years traveling Nebraska for Nebraska Life, Im beginning to see they had it all wrong. There is no one or the other, no division, but rather a connection in our state. Nebraska is a big state with our residents spread across 430 miles from east to west and 210 miles from north to south. Were fortunate that Nebraskans have found ways to make livings and settle down in big

cities, towns, farms and ranches, sometimes going back and forth for educa-tion, family and career changes.

This issue of the magazine leads with a cover story about Greg Polk, a man 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 County with a guest lodge. The lifestyle wasnt and isnt easy, but hes making it work. Like others, he mixes city influences and country influences in his Nebraska life.

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, blighted and shuttered. It felt like a cast-off sweater, moth-eaten and stained, 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.

Elsewhere in the magazine we write about the artistic people of Fillmore County who adorn their communities and farms with decorative barn quilts. We cover Zios Pizzeria, a cool pizza joint thats been a mainstay of Omaha since 1985. Other stories in this issue blend together urban, rural, farm, ranch Nebraska.

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 our strength this is our state.

Nebraskas Rural-Urban Connection

Christopher AmundsonPublisher & Editor

NEBRASKALIFE.COM 9

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About ourContributors

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.

Stephen R. Jones is a lover of Native American lore and all things wild. Hes 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.

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: Nebraskas Historic Places, was first printed in 2007 and is now in its third printing. Since then theyve explored every Nebraska county more than once, and our readers have enjoyed hundreds of their beautiful pho-tos in Nebraska Life. In this issue youll see their handiwork in stories about the Omaha neighborhood of Benson and the barn quilts of Fillmore County.

Stephen R. Jones Boulder, Colorado

Nina Buck, Stanton

Steve and Bobbi OlsonPalmyra



march/april 2015 - 10 page preview

Documents

nebraska life magazine

nebraska life publishing

intro pages

nebraska life hometown

bartels photographs

loup county

norfolk avenue

cameron steele photographs