A Brush With Life

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Kirk Payne  is enraptured by raptors!  Kirk is  a practitioner of the ancient sport of Falconry - training wild hawks to hunt for quarry. He is also an ardent conservationist,  protecting and promoting the expansion of the kestrel population by installing nesting boxes throughout the region in appropriate landscapes. But he is most beloved in the community for teaching youth and families about the wonders of the natural world for  many years as the (now retired) Naturalist of Quarry Hill Nature Center.  

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Deb Majerus and Joel McDonald share the surprising story of love and flowers literally growing out of the ashes,  as they launched Iron Butterfly Flower Farm.

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Tamsin Barlow is a full-time Printmaker and Painter, who also squeezes in a couple of hours teaching Zumba exercise classes every week.

She painstakingly carves her design into a linoleum block, rolls ink onto the surface, and presses it onto paper — but that's just one of many ways Tamsin makes an impression!  

Tamsin Barlow Instagram

KTTC Interview with Tamsin

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Jeff Feece lives right in in the city, but he can listen to the tree frogs trilling at night, watch hawks hunting in his back yard and he sometimes finds the dried  nymph shells where dragonflies have hatched out in his tiny pond. 

Jeff is a landscape designer and city park planner, and loves wildlife. He has created a haven for insects, birds and small animals  in his  urban backyard in Rochester, Minnesota. Today he talks about how to attract critters to your yard .

Jeff's Wild Heights Garden website

Rochester Post-Bulletin Interview - Planning City Parks

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Cassandra Buck never met an art medium she didn't love. She is a painter, muralist, jewelry-maker, weaver, embroiderer, and more - and she often combines those traditional mediums in untraditional ways.  Cassandra is not one of those artists who secludes herself in her studio. She is truly out there - leading community art projects, organizing exhibits for artists, teaching classes, and being a businesswoman running her vintage shop. 

Cassandra Buck Website

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 "Be the Change You Wish to See in the World." That pretty much sums up Robin Greenfield's life and philosophy. 

Once a successful businessman and aspiring young millionaire, Robin had a revelation about how his lifestyle was harming the earth and did a 180, dedicating himself to living simply and in harmony with the earth. His experiments in simplicity include living off-grid,non-ownership, growing all of his own food, traveling in other countries with no money whatsoever, biking across the continent  (3 times) on a bamboo bicycle, and wearing all the trash produced in the day-to-day life of a typical American on his body over the course of a month in a huge MIchelin-man-like suit. 

This year, Robin is committed to foraging 100% of the food and medicine that goes into his body. In this episode, Robin tells us about his journey and what it takes to survive off of only what you can forage from the land. 

Check our Robin's website for documentation of his projects, resources galore, and great videos and interviews.  You can't help but be inspired!

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Teresa Walter grew up playing classical violin, and she was really good at it, but she took a 20-year hiatus from music to focus on family and career. When her daughters were grown, she picked up the violin again and started to play casually at community venues, such as the Salvation Army kettle at the grocery store. 

One night, she attended a bluegrass jam session, joined in, and fell in love with playing her violin in the fiddle style. Just ten years after playing her first bluegrass jam session, she won first place in the Minnesota State Old Time Fiddle Championship in Mountain Iron, Minnesota.  

Enjoy Teresa's story of becoming a champion fiddle player and beloved musician in the community! This interview ends with Teresa performing "Blugrass in the Backwoods," composed by Keny Baker.

Hear Teresa's music:

Teresa Walter - From Classical Violin to Fiddle Fun

Teresa  competing at National Old Time Fiddle Contest  in Wieser, Idaho, 2025

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It has been so much fun creating these podcasts, interviewing so many fascinating folks, and sharing the conversations with you!  I appreciate you, all of the guests, and the Southeast Minnesota Arts Council, who awarded me a grant to launch this podcast. 

Fr the next month I will be taking a little break over the holidays, putting down A Brush With Life and picking up my paintbrush and my pastry brush to do a little creating and holiday baking and celebrating with friends and family. 

Please stay tuned for the return of A Brush With Life after January 1st! I have some amazing interviews lined up that I am eager to share with you! 

Thank you and Happy Holidays!

Susan

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With plenty of guts and gusto, Marie Marvin turned an old Carnegie Library in  Zumbrota, MN, into a hub of creativity.  The building was bursting with art, whimsy, artists working, children learning, sometimes even people doing yoga. At night it  hummed with fabulous music concerts, artist openings, and poetry readings.  Marie has a way of encouraging the artist inside everyone.

The road to Crossings was not an easy or obvious path. Listen in as Marie shares her story, and how after a lifetime of trying to find what she was meant to do with her life, she finally found it.

After 16 years of showcasing and celebrating the arts in Zumbrota, Marie retired two years ago to focus on family and her own personal pursuits. Crossings was sold to Virginia Cooper, who carries on the arts legacy as "Crossings Art Center."

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John Sievers is not one to toot his own horn, but he does let it slide. John is a trombonist who plays in many bands, a poet who writes a haiku a day, an English professor, and Rochester's most enthusiastic music booster. 

In this episode, learn how John developed his lifelong partnership with the trombone, how he juggles his busy creative life, and what makes him most proud. This episode of A Brush With Life closes with 'Trombot," a joyful tune composed by John for the band Loud Mouth Brass. 

John Sievers FB

Loud Mouth Brass

• Watch "Horizons" music video

The D'Sievers

•       Watch "Mermaid Shuffle"

Jagged Ease

• Watch "Jump, Jive an' Wail"

Amateur

• Listen to "More to Me"