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2/13/19 1:38 PM
E
CooperaN
COOPERATIVE
ws
News
Wisconsin
ENERGY Cooperative
contents March 2019
News
6
News BRIEFS
4
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Co-op employees stay updated on industry issues.
10
8
Meet the MEMBERS
Co-op annual meeting season begins.
Call 811 to avoid calling 911.
THE MESSENGER SHOOTS BACK
12
20
Landscaping
for ENERGY EFFICIENCY
Careful planning can save energy.
RECIPES
Kick off spring with chicken.
24
On the
COVER
Collection showcases history of electrification.
23
CALL 811 BEFORE YOU DIG
Reliability warnings ring true.
15 28 30
MY CO-OP
Find out what’s happening at your local electric cooperative.
CLASSIFIEDS
Buy, sell, and trade with readers from across Wisconsin.
EVENTS
March activities await.
March 2019
WECN Mar19TOC.indd 1
3
2/18/19 2:26 PM
LETTER FROM
THE EDITOR Call 811 before you dig
After a long winter, many are thinking of spring and with it, planning for yard and garden projects. On page 12, readers can learn about the importance of considering energy efficiency when designing their spring landscaping projects. With proper planning, your project can cut your heating and cooling costs, protect your home from cold winter wind and hot summer sun, and even help lower noise and air pollution. But readers should also remember safety when plotting out garden plans. Call 811 at least three days before beginning any landscaping project to identify any underground utility lines. Digging without knowing where these lines are located can result in service interruptions, and worse, injury or death. After your call, multiple utilities are notified about your job. The approximate location of underground pipes, lines, and cables will be marked with flags or spray paint. Then your project can begin. As you flip through seed catalogs and dream of warmer weather, plan a call to 811. After all, calling 811 is a good way to avoid calling 911. Dana Kelroy, Editor
March 2019 Vol. 79 No. 9 The Wisconsin Energy Cooperative News (Formerly Wisconsin R.E.C. News) has been published monthly and distributed since July 1940 to members of Wisconsin’s non-profit, consumer-owned rural electric cooperatives. It is available to non-members for $10 per year or $28 for three years. Members pay $6.93 per year. Published by the Wisconsin Electric Cooperative Association, 222 W. Washington Ave., Ste. 680, Madison, WI 53703. Steve Freese, president & CEO. USPS number: 688-480. Postmaster: please send address changes to Wisconsin Energy Cooperative News, 222 W. Washington Ave., Ste. 680, Madison, WI 53703. Periodicals postage paid at Baraboo, Wis. Send correspondence to Wisconsin Energy Cooperative News, 222 W. Washington Ave., Ste. 680, Madison, WI 53703. Phone (608) 467-4650. Web site: www.wecnmagazine.com. Co-op Members: Please send address changes to your local electric co-op. Contact information can be found on page 18. Steve Freese Dana Kelroy Mary Erickson David Hoopman Ann Bailey Dylan Pingitore Geri Miller
WECA president & CEO editor associate editor contributing writer graphic designer editorial assistant advertising consultant
For advertising opportunities please email ads@weca.coop. The appearance of advertising does not constitute an endorsement of the products or services advertised. We reserve the right to refuse advertisers. Please recycle
4
Wisconsin Energy Cooperative News
WECN MarEditor2019.indd 1
2/18/19 1:26 PM
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1/23/19 4:06 PM PM 2/4/19 3:11
NEWS BRIEFS
PSC PASSES ON THIRD-PARTY ISSUE
Wisconsin’s Public Service Commission (PSC) last month rejected a California developer’s request for approval of model leasing language covering distributed solar generation facilities owned by the developer. Third-party ownership of generation equipment has been stymied by Wisconsin law in which an owner/installer leasing the equipment to a homeowner, business, or municipality appears to meet the definition of a regulated utility, a situation developers wish to avoid. Commissioners voted 2-1 against examining the leasing language proposed by San Francisco-based Sunrun, suggesting that any redefinition of “public utility” would fall under the authority of the Legislature, not the PSC.
NUKE RESEARCH FUNDS REQUESTED
Nuclear scientists appealed to a Senate appropriations subcommittee in January for $10–$30 million in taxpayer funding annually over the next several years, to support research and deployment of new, small modular nuclear reactor technologies. The new technologies are being promoted as the key to future emissions-free electric generation with advantages derived from their smaller scale, enhanced safety through self-shutdown capabilities, and greatly reduced production of spent fuel, compared with large nuclear generation units in current use. 6
Co-op employees turned out in the usual strong numbers at the end of January for the annual Industry Updates, an educational program offered at six statewide locations to brief electric cooperative personnel on energy-related issues. Seen here at a presentation in Eau Claire are Madison Attorney Jennifer Mirus on “Creating a Respectful Workplace in Today’s World” and Wisconsin Electric Cooperative Association CEO Steve Freese speaking on current issues.
READER STUDY HIGHLIGHTS MAGAZINE’S INFORMATION
The Wisconsin Energy Cooperative News is regarded as a source of “relevant and useful information” by 95 percent of its readers, according to a recent study by the leading U.S. audience research firm. New York-based GfK MRI sampled readers of this magazine last December and shared its analysis last month. It found that three-fourths of the 172,000 households receiving the magazine read three of every four editions and 63 percent read every edition. Nearly half the respondents said they save the magazine for future reference. The research firm found that “nearly 80 percent of respondents had taken some kind of action” based on information from
CO-OP SCHOLARSHIP OFFERED
Law or pre-law students who reside in Wisconsin and are interested in practicing cooperative law have the opportunity to qualify for the third Charles Van Sickle Scholarship this year. Named to commemorate the eminent co-op attorney and lobbyist, and partner in Madison’s Wheeler, Van Sickle law firm, the scholarship is administered by the Federated Youth Foundation (FYF) and funded through an endowment established in 2013. The FYF is a non-profit, charitable arm of Wisconsin’s cooperatives. Eligibility for the $2,000 award is limited to pre-law or law students wishing to pursue a career in cooperative law who are Wisconsin residents. Preference will be
the magazine and more than one in four said they’d acted to make their homes more energy-efficient based on ideas found in the publication. Readers’ top three areas of interest— each listed first by 82–90 percent of survey respondents—were articles about energy conservation and savings, stories about events and places in Wisconsin, and news about issues involving their electric cooperatives. A surprising 93 percent said they prefer to read the magazine in a printed format, rather than electronically. The research firm claims a 95 percent confidence level that its findings are representative of the entire readership.
given to students whose parents or grandparents are members of cooperatives, credit unions, or mutual insurance companies. The scholarship will be awarded during the Spring 2019 semester. Applicants must have a minimum cumulative grade point of 3.0 on a four-point scale and will be judged on leadership, scholastic achievement, extracurricular activities during undergraduate studies, personal motivation, academic and life goals. To be considered, applications must be received by FYF at P.O. Box 148, Baraboo, WI 53913 no later than April 5, 2019. For more information, contact FYF Executive Director Ethan Giebel at (608) 548-2818.
Wisconsin Energy Cooperative News
WECN Mar19NewsBriefs.indd 1
2/11/19 3:16 PM
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Steve Freese President and CEO
8
R
egular readers will know we make frequent reference to “seven cooperative principles” that amount to a set of characteristics spelling out the kind of organization it’s hoped every co-op will strive to be. With the arrival of March, we head into the season when the majority of Wisconsin’s electric cooperatives carry out the most visible expression of Cooperative Principle Number Two: Members cast their votes at Pierce Pepin Cooperative Democratic Member Services’ 2018 annual meeting. Control. Every member is encouraged to attend their co-op’s annual meeting. While a handful of good performance and to correct its opposite. Any likelihood that the latter might need to be these take place in the summer and fall, most— addressed is diminished when members particicontinuing the old historical custom established pate, rather than stand passively on the sidelines. when the details of rural life were necessarily While the primary mission of every cooperarranged in deference to the agricultural calenative is to focus on meeting specific needs of its dar—are held after winter is losing its grip but member-owners, that doesn’t mean the organizabefore spring is fully in the saddle. tion’s activities are fenced in, closed to the interBy statute law and cooperative bylaws, the ests of the broader community. Co-ops are also annual meeting is where the principle of demfrequently involved in assisting the economic deocratic member control plays out in the most velopment needs of the communities they serve. fundamental way. Decisions on how and when to do that are made The members, who in fact own the cooperby the management and the directors elected at ative, elect from among their ranks the people the annual meeting. This plays into two additional who will represent the entire membership on cooperative principles: Concern for Community, the co-op board of directors. It is this board that and Members’ Economic Participation. hires and holds accountable the co-op manI’m often amazed at the power for good an agement. The board elections, in turn, are the electric cooperative can bring to a community, mechanism by which the membership holds the from funding scholarships for local students to board accountable. supporting the establishment and growth of local In this setting, no single member has any businesses, to assisting in recovery from severe greater say than any other in the operations and policies of the cooperative because they all have weather events. Cooperatives energize a lot more than just wires. equal voting rights: one membership, one vote. To find out how true that really is, spend an The opportunity for direct participation in coop governance by every member is something to hour or two this spring and see for yourself at your electric cooperative’s annual meeting. be taken seriously. It’s an opportunity to reward
Wisconsin Energy Cooperative News
WECN Mar19Steve.indd 1
2/15/19 2:28 PM
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the MESSENGER
B
SHOOTS BACK RELIABILITY WARNINGS
below reaseball RING TRUE serve margins, lore is straining “resource almost adequacy.” certainly mistakThe interest-group en in attributing to ridicule lasted about three Lawrence “Yogi” Berra the weeks before regulatory officials observation that “It’s tough to in one of the 14 states—Texas—ran up a make predictions, especially about the fuwarning fl ag. On January 7 the Houston Chronicle said ture.” But whoever uttered the words, what’s lost in the the newly announced closure of one, 470-megawatt coal plant hilarity is that the peculiar remark is fundamentally true. Conin the state with by far the nation’s greatest wind generation sider the reaction when the North American Electric Reliabilcapacity “reduces the state’s already tight power reserves and ity Corporation (NERC) earlier this winter issued cautionary is sparking forecasts of higher electricity prices.” projections about future strains on electric generation capacity. The Chronicle quoted the chair of the Texas Public Utility Interest groups representing high-volume electricity users Commission calling the reduced generation availability for this and segments of the energy industry instantly denounced the summer “very scary,” and noted that power supply contracts NERC report, using terms like “dream world scenario” and on futures markets reflected similar concern, with contracts for “too extreme to offer useful takeaways.” But in the brief 10 August trading more than 60 percent higher than the summer weeks since, new reports have suggested that regardless of peak in 2018. whether the NERC analysis plays out in detail, it can’t safely Soon after the Texas announcement, price concerns surbe ignored. faced in New York. Bloomberg Environment reported January 18 that state officials’ plan to eliminate all coal-fired generaEarly Warnings Just last month, Wisconsin Energy Cooption precipitated an electricity futures market spike that turned erative News examined the NERC report issued a week before into a plateau. Christmas under the title “Generation Retirement Scenario” The state has only two functioning coal plants, with a and labeled as a “Special Reliability Assessment.” combined capacity of 1,010 megawatts. Last spring when the It projects what might happen over a half-dozen years Department of Environmental Conservation proposed a carbon if retirements of baseload (coal and nuclear) power plants dioxide emission limit the plants would be unable to meet—inaccelerate modestly beyond their present pace. It found that if tending to force their shutdown by the end of 2020—futures retirements already scheduled between now and 2025 begin prices for 2021 and 2022 quickly jumped one-third higher and occurring just three years earlier than currently planned, stayed there. (Three years is roughly one-third the time typically needed Warning signs reported the same day from Georgia were to build a major new transmission line or power plant, from more subtle. The CEO of Atlanta-based mega-utility Southern proposal through regulatory review, to commercial operation.) Company said subsidiary Georgia Power will, for the first generating capacity in all or parts of 14 states could fall
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Wisconsin Energy Cooperative News
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time, build system resilience considerations into its resource planning. Southern Company hopes to have no or few CO2 emissions from its generating fleet by mid-century, but fossil fuels—mainly natural gas supplanting coal—will still be needed, CEO Tom Fanning told a Washington, D.C., energy conference. Moreover, Fanning said the company’s coal plants could be mothballed but held in reserve “in the event that you have a resiliency emergency,” the online newsletter UtilityDive reported.
THE PURPOSE of visualizing the ingredients of a
FUTURE GENERATION
shortage is to ensure ITS PREVENTION. Retirements Rising
In 2004, federal energy officials were projecting that at then-current consumption rates, domestic natural gas reserves would be so depleted by the middle of this century as to no longer be practical for mass-market use. Today, that sounds preposterous. In 2018, natural gas supplied 35 percent of all U.S. electricity generation. In mid-February Bloomberg New Energy Finance released its “2019 Sustainable Energy in America Factbook.” It reported coal had dropped to 27 percent of the U.S. generation mix, the least since the Second World War and good news for those concerned about carbon dioxide, because natural gas combustion emits approximately half as much as coal for the same electricity output. The Factbook also reported something eye-catching for readers of December’s NERC analysis: Coal-plant retirements “accelerated in 2018.” “The pipeline of future retirements has grown as well,” the Factbook added. “Companies now plan to retire another 17 gigawatts over 2019–20. As of the end of 2017, they had projected just four gigawatts of closures.” That may be all right; nobody said the U.S. generation mix should never change. The NERC report’s objective is to urge a smooth transition, and
Bloomberg does note that 20 gigawatts of new gasfired capacity came online in 2018. But shrinkage of the nuclear fleet continues, and mid-February brought the first mention of Chicago-based Exelon pondering early retirement for six Illinois units. Additional nuclear retirements could be triggered by litigation pending in Illinois and New York.
The Vexing Vortex
Readers may recall Wisconsin wasn’t among the 14 states NERC warned about tight capacity margins if generation replacements don’t stay ahead of retireExperts must continually analyze what mix of future ments. A likelier challenge generation will withstand high energy load days, like the for Wisconsin would stem recent Polar Vortex. Photo courtesy Bayfield Electric. from the Polar Vortex returning to the upper Midwest, NERC said. with enough new capacity added for Six weeks later the vortex wind and solar to equal the power was back. furnished by today’s grid, people would Cold-related problems affected still have lacked electricity for several gas infrastructure in Minnesota and hours each day due to the absence of Michigan. Xcel Energy provided motel massive energy storage—battery—caaccommodations for residents of several pacity. The challenges of battery storage small communities while they dealt were detailed in the Massachusetts with low pressure problems on a pipeInstitute of Technology’s article cited line, and Consumers’ Energy was comhere last month, titled “The $2.5 trillion pelled to interrupt service to nearly 20 reason we can’t rely on batteries to automotive plants when fire damaged a clean up the grid.” natural gas compression station. Not tested in this year’s deep freeze Prediction = Prevention? It won’t but a big “what if?” is the character of be known for a few years whether future generation. As states and municNERC’s projections from three months ipalities adopt legislation mandating ago are borne out. They shouldn’t be. 100 percent emission-free electricity— The purpose of visualizing the ingrediessentially wind and solar—analysts ents of a future generation shortage is to necessarily ask how those arrangements ensure its prevention. would have fared in our late January But the energy industry is changweather. ing rapidly and governments, interest The same day Bloomberg’s expangroups, elements within the industry, sive report was published, the Wood and a signifi cant percentage of the genMackenzie consulting firm released a eral public say they want it to change paper giving good marks to the grid’s faster. vortex performance. It also analyzed Predicting the future is going to be what could have been expected with tough.—Dave Hoopman 100 percent renewable energy. Wood Mackenzie determined that March 2019
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Landscaping for
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
The approach of spring has many gardeners turning their attention to planting plans, but if your goal is energy efficiency, landscaping is an approach that can beautify your home and help you control future energy costs for years to come.
T
he approach of spring has many gardeners turning their attention to planting plans, but if your goal is energy efficiency, landscaping is an approach that can beautify your home and help you control future energy costs for years to come. According to researchers at the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, carefully positioned trees placed around a home can save as much as 25 percent of household energy consumption for heating and cooling. Foundation shrub plantings can also help control costs by diffusing wind or solar heating to moderate thermal temperature transfers.
Meet Your Microclimate
For years, gardeners have used the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Hardiness Zones as guidelines for plant stock selection, seasonal cultivation, and projected harvesting. But understanding the impact of nearby vegetation, topography, and soil science will help you know your yard better, providing more flexibility for landscape planning and potentially more options for using
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plants to control energy costs. Other factors influencing microclimate are the duration and intensity of sunlight over areas considered for planting, proximity to topographic or vegetative wind breaks or nearby wooded areas, which might regulate local temperatures by several degrees.
Trees at the Top
No matter how much you love trees, you will want to plant them at a distance. Placing them too close to foundations, pavement, plumbing, and root systems or maturing branches can damage foundations or roofs. But planted in the right place, within five to 10 years, a fast-growing shade tree can reduce outside air temperatures near walls and roofs by as much as 6 degrees Fahrenheit on sunny days. Surface temperatures immediately under the canopy of a mature shade tree can be up to 25 degrees cooler than surrounding shingles or siding exposed to direct sunlight. According to the Department of Energy, deciduous
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trees—those that lose their leaves in autumn—are great options for seasonal summer shade. Tall varieties planted to the south of a home can help diffuse sunlight, providing roof shading. Shorter varieties of deciduous trees can be planted near exposed west-facing windows to help shade homes on sultry summer afternoons. Mass plantings of evergreens selected for their adaptability to regional growing conditions can be planted farther away on a north or northwestern section of a yard to form a windbreak, shielding the home from frigid winter winds. Deciduous trees with high, spreading crowns (i.e., leaves and branches) can be planted to the south of your home to provide maximum summertime roof shading. Trees with crowns lower to the ground are more appropriate to the west, where shade is needed from lower afternoon sun angles. Trees should not be planted on the southern sides of solar-heated homes in cold climates, because the branches of these deciduous trees will block some winter sun. Using shade effectively requires you to know the size, shape, and location of the moving shadow that your shading
device casts. Also, homes in cool regions may never overheat and may not require shading. Therefore, you need to know what landscape shade strategies will work best in your regional climate and your microclimate. Trees are available in the appropriate sizes, densities, and shapes for almost any shade application. To block solar heat in the summer but let much of it in during the winter, use deciduous trees. To provide continuous shade or to block heavy winds, use dense evergreen trees or shrubs. Although a slow-growing tree may require many years of growth before it shades your roof, it will generally live longer than a fast-growing tree. Also, because slow-growing trees often have deeper roots and stronger branches, they are less prone to breakage by windstorms or heavy snow. Trees, shrubs, and groundcover plants can also shade the ground and pavement around the home. This reduces heat radiation and cools the air before it reaches your home’s walls and windows. Use a large bush or row of shrubs to shade a patio or driveway. Plant a hedge to shade a sidewalk. Build
a trellis for climbing vines to shade a patio area. To ensure lasting performance of energy-saving landscaping, use plant species that are adapted to the local climate. Native species are best, as they require little maintenance once established and avoid the dangers of invasive species. Properly selected, placed, and maintained landscaping can provide excellent wind protection, or windbreaks, which will reduce heating costs considerably. Furthermore, the benefits from these windbreaks will increase as the trees and shrubs mature. With a little research and planning, you’ll be well on your way to a beautiful, energy efficient yard. Derrill Holly writes on consumer and cooperative affairs for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, the national trade association representing more than 900 local electric cooperatives. From growing suburbs to remote farming communities, electric co-ops serve as engines of economic development for 42 million Americans across 56 percent of the nation.
Climate Strategies
The energy-conserving landscape strategies you use depend on where you live. The United States can be divided roughly into four climate regions: temperate, hot-arid, hot-humid, and cool. Below are suggested landscaping strategies listed by region and in order of importance.
Temperate
Hot-Arid
• Maximize warming effects of the sun in the winter. • Maximize shade during the summer. • Deflect winter winds away from buildings with windbreaks of trees and shrubs on the north and northwest side of the house. • Tunnel summer breezes toward the home.
• Provide shade to cool roofs, walls, and windows. • Allow summer winds to access naturally cooled homes. • Block or deflect winds away from air-conditioned homes.
Hot-Humid • Channel summer breezes toward the home. • Maximize summer shade with trees that still allow penetration of low-angle winter sun. • Avoid locating planting beds close to the home if they require frequent watering.
Cool • Use dense windbreaks to protect the home from cold winter winds. • Allow the winter sun to reach south-facing windows. • Shade south and west windows and walls from the direct summer sun if summer overheating is a problem.
Deciduous trees with high, spreading crowns (i.e., leaves and branches) can be planted to the south of your home to provide maximum summertime roof shading.
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What’s a
Landscaping doesn’t only add beauty to your home, but it can also microclimate? Landscaping doesn’t onlycomfort add beauty youryour home, but it bills. canA microclimate also is an area improve your home’s and to lower energy where the climate differs from improve your home’s comfort and lower your energy bills. the surrounding area. It can be Energy Saver 101: Everything You Need to Know About
On average, a well-designed landscape savesaenough energy On average, well-designed to paysaves for itself in less than landscape enough energy to pay for itself in less than
as small as a few square feet or as large as a few square miles.
8 YEARS. YEARS. 8
A microclimate impacts the type of plants that can grow in your landscape.
Landscaping doesn’t only add beauty to your home, but it can also improve your home’s comfort and lower your energy bills. Temperate Region Take advantage of the sun’s warming effect in the winter.
Hot-Arid Region
Lower maintenance Lower maintenance
Reduce your water Reduce use your water use
Lower maintenance
Hot-Humid Region
Cool Region
8 YEARS.
Provide shade to cool your home’s walls, On average, a well-designed windows and roof. Shade your home from the hot landscape saves enough energy summer sun. Naturally cool your home to pay for itself in less than with summer winds. Deflect winter winds with windbreaks on the north and Cool the air around your northwest sides of your house. home with plants.
Cut your heating and Cut your cooling costs heating and cooling costs
allowing you to better deal allowing you to with water Reducedeal better restrictions! your withwater water use restrictions!
Cut your heating and cooling costs
Channel summer breezes toward your home to cool it.
Use dense windbreaks to protect the home from cold winter winds.
Protect your Help lower home from cold noise and air Use trees to shade your home Protect your Help lower in the summer but allow the sun Ensure the winter sun reaches winter wind and pollution home fromto warm coldit in the winter. noise and airsouth-facing windows. hot summer sun winter wind and planting beds pollution Avoid locating Shade the south and west sides that require frequent watering of your home from the summer hot summer sun close to your home. sun, if summer heat is a problem.
Protect your home from cold winter wind and hot summer sun
Help lower noise and air pollution
Landscaping for Shade allowing you to better deal with water restrictions!
Top 3 Landscaping Strategies by Climate Top 3 Landscaping Strategies by Climate Shading is the most The landscaping strategies you use depend on where Oak tree
cost-effective way to Top 3landscaping Landscaping Strategies by on Climate you live heat in thegain U.S. and your microclimate. The strategies youhome’s use depend where reduce solar The and landscaping strategies you use depend on where in your home cut you live in the U.S. and your home’s microclimate. you livecosts. in the U.S. and your home’s microclimate. air conditioning To effectively shade your home, you need to What’s a know the size, shape FACT: In tree-shaded #DidYouKnow: A microclimate? neighborhoods, the summer well-planned landscape and location of the daytime air temperature can can reduce an unshaded A microclimate is an area shadow that your A microclimate is an area air conditioning be up to 6thedegrees cooler where climate differs from home’s shading device casts. the surrounding area. It can be than in treeless areas. costs by 15-50 percent. where the climateisdiffers from A microclimate an area as small as a few square feet or the surrounding area. It can be as large as a few square where the miles. climate differs from as small as a fewarea. square feetbe or the surrounding It can A microclimate impacts the assmall large as few square miles. as as aafew type of plants that can grow in square feet or
50%
What’s a What’s a microclimate? microclimate?
your landscape.
Camphor trees are as large as a few square miles.evergreen trees that can A microclimate impacts the grow up to 30 m tall. Deciduous vs.type Evergreen. of plants that can grow in A microclimate impacts the landscape. What’s the difference? type of your plants that can grow in
Temperate Region
Hot-Arid Region
Take advantage of the sun’s warming effect in the winter.
Provide shade to cool your home’s walls, windows and roof.
Shade your home from the hot summer sun. Deflect winter winds with windbreaks on the north and northwest sides of your house.
Temperate Region
Temperate Region Take advantage of the sun’s
Naturally cool your home with summer winds. Cool the air around your home with plants.
Hot-Arid Region
your landscape.
Hot-Humid Region
Cool Region
Channel summer breezes toward your home to cool it.
Use dense windbreaks to protect the home from cold Evergreen winter winds.
Deciduous trees
trees and Ensure the winter sun reaches shrubs provide south-facing windows. continuous shade. Shade the south and west sides
Use block trees tosolar shadeheat your home in in the summer but allow the sun the summer but to warm it in the winter.
let in sunlight during the winter. Avoid locating planting beds
that require frequent watering close to your home.
of your home from the summer sun, if summer heat is a problem.
Hot-Humid Region
Hot-Arid Region Provide shade to cool
Cool Region
Hot-Humid Channel summer Region breezes
UseCool dense Region windbreaks to warming effect in the winter. your home’s walls, toward your home to cool it. protect the home from cold Take advantage of the sun’s Provide cool Channel summer breezes Use dense windbreaks to windows andto roof. winter winds. Maple tree shade Shade your home the hot Use trees to shade home warming effect in from the winter. your home’s walls, toward your home your to cool it. protect the home from cold summer sun. Naturally cool your home in the summer but allow the sun Ensure the winter sun reaches windows and roof. winter winds. Shade your home from the hot Useto trees to itshade home with summer winds. warm in theyour winter. south-facing windows. Deflect winter sun. winds with summer Naturally cool your home in the summer but allow the sun Ensure the winter sun reaches Plant a 6-8 foot deciduous tree near your home, Shade and it the will tree it in planting windbreaks on the north and Cool air around your Avoid locating beds south and west sides withthe summer winds. toOak warm the winter. south-facing windows. Shading is the mosthome with plants.start shading your Deflect winter winds northwest sides of yourwith house. thatwindows require frequent watering of your in the first year. Depending on home the from the summer windbreaks on the north and Cool the air around your Avoid locating planting beds Shade the south and west sides close to your home. sun, if summer heat is a problem. cost-effective way to species and the home, it will shade the roof in 5-10 years. northwest sides of your house. home with plants. that require frequent watering of your home from the summer reduce solar heat gain close to your home. sun, if summer heat is a problem.
Planting Tips
Landscaping for Shade
in your home and cut air conditioning costs. To effectively shade your home, you need to know the size, shape and location of the shadow that your shading device casts.
50%
Hens and chicks is a type of succulent groundcover plant.
Oak tree
FACT: In tree-shaded neighborhoods, the summer daytime air temperature can be up to 6 degrees cooler than in treeless areas.
MORE ENERGY Landscaping for Shade EFFICIENT Landscaping for Shade Shading is the most LANDSCAPING IDEAS cost-effective to Plant deciduous Plant trees with Shading is theway most trees to the south crowns lower to CAN BE FOUND reduce solar heat Deciduous vs. Evergreen. cost-effective way gain to of your home -- they the ground on can screen 70-90 the west if you in your home and cut reduce solar heat gain What’s the difference? ON PAGE 19. percent of the hot want to shade
#DidYouKnow: A well-planned landscape can reduce an unshaded home’s air conditioning costs by 15-50 percent.
Oak tree
Oak tree
Maple leaves change color with the seasons
airyour conditioning in home andcosts. cut summer sun from lower, while allowing afternoon To effectively shade air conditioning costs. Evergreen Deciduous trees breezes through. sun angles. trees and block solar heat in shrubs provide your home, you need to the summer but To effectively shade continuous let in sunlight shade. during the winter. 14 Wisconsin Energy Cooperative News knowhome, the size, your youshape need to FACT: In tree-shaded neighborhoods, the summer and location the know the size,ofshape FACT: In tree-shaded Pine daytime air temperature can shadow that your neighborhoods, the summer and location of the Cypress Oak be up toair 6Oaktemperature degrees cooler Maple tree daytime can shading device casts. shadow that your Planting Tips WECN Mar19Feature2.indd 4 be than up toin6treeless degreesareas. cooler shading device casts.
Camphor trees are
evergreen trees that can Plant bushes, grow up to 30 m tall. shrubs or climbing vines with a trellis to shade your patio area.
50% 50%
To cool air before it reaches your home, plant shrubs and groundcover plants.
#DidYouKnow: A well-planned landscape #DidYouKnow: A Camphor can reduce anlandscape unshaded well-planned home’s air conditioning can reduce an unshaded costs byair 15-50 percent. home’s conditioning
Infographic courtesy of energy.gov
Maple leaves change color with the seasons
2/18/19 2:12 PM
in your home and cut Take advantage of the sun’s warming effect in the winter. costs. air conditioning Shade your home from the hot To effectively shade summer sun. your home, you need to Deflect winter winds with windbreaks on the north and know the size, shape northwest sides of your house. and location of the shadow that your shading device casts.
Provide shade to cool your home’s walls, windows and roof.
50%
Channel summer breezes toward your home to cool it. Use trees to shade your home in the summer but allow the sun to warm it101: in the winter. Energy Saver Everything
Naturally cool your home with summer winds.
Avoid locating planting beds FACT: In that tree-shaded require frequent watering neighborhoods, close the tosummer your home. daytime air temperature can be up to 6 degrees cooler than in treeless areas.
Use dense windbreaks to protect the home from cold winter winds. Ensure the winter sun reaches
south-facing windows.About You Need to Know
Shade the south and west sides #DidYouKnow: A summer of your home from the sun, if summer heat is a problem. well-planned landscape can reduce an unshaded home’s air conditioning costs by 15-50 percent.
Cool the air around your home with plants.
cont.
Landscaping doesn’t only add beauty to your home, but it can also improve your home’s comfort and lower your energy bills.
Landscaping for Shade Maple leaves change color with the seasons
Deciduous vs. Evergreen. On average,Oak a well-designed tree landscape saves enough energy to pay for itself in less than
Shading is the most cost-effective way to reduce solar heat gain in your home and cut air conditioning costs. To effectively shade your home, you need to know the size, shape and location of the shadow that your shading device casts.
What’s the difference?
Camphor trees are evergreen trees that can grow up to 30 m tall.
8 YEARS. 50%
Lower
Deciduousmaintenance trees block solar heat in the summer but let in sunlight during the winter.
Reduce
Cut your
FACT: In tree-shaded better deal with water neighborhoods, the summer restrictions! daytime air temperature can be up to 6 degrees cooler than in treeless areas. Top 3 Landscaping
Planting Tips
Maple tree
Protect your home from cold winter wind and hot summer sun
Evergreen your water heating and trees use and cooling costs shrubs provide continuous shade. allowing you to
Help lower noise and air pollution
#DidYouKnow: A well-planned landscape can reduce an unshaded home’s air conditioning costs by 15-50by percent. Strategies Climate
The landscaping strategies you use depend on where you live in the U.S. and your home’s microclimate.
Plant a 6-8 foot deciduous tree near your home, and it will
What’s a microclimate?
start shading your windows in the first year. Depending on the
Maple leaves change color with the seasons
Camphor trees are evergreen trees that can grow up to 30 m tall.
species and the home, it will shade the roof in 5-10 years.
Deciduous vs. Evergreen. What’s the difference?
Oak tree
A microclimate is an area where the climate differs from the surrounding area. It can be as small as a few square feet or Hens and chicks is as large as a few square miles.
a type of succulent groundcover plant. A microclimate impacts the type of plants that can grow in your landscape.
Evergreen trees and shrubs provide continuous shade.
Deciduous trees block solar heat in the summer but let in sunlight during the winter.
Temperate Region
Hot-Arid Region
Hot-Humid Region
Cool Region
Take advantage of the sun’s Provide shade to cool Channel summer Use dense windbreaks to Plant deciduous Plant trees with Tobreezes cool air protect warming effect in the winter. your home’s walls, toward your home to cool it. the home from cold Plant bushes, windows and roof. winter winds. trees to the south crownsShade lower to before it your home from the hot Use trees to shade your home Maple tree shrubs summer sun. Naturally cool your or home in the summer but allow the sun Ensure the winter sun reaches of your home -- they the ground on reaches your with summer winds. to warm it in the winter. south-facing windows. climbing vines Deflect winter winds with can screen 70-90 the west if you windbreaks on the north and Cool the air around your Avoid locatinghome, planting bedsplant Shade the south and west sides with a trellis northwest sides of your house. home with plants. that require frequent watering of your home from the summer percent of the hot want to shade shrubs and sun, if summer heat is a problem. close to your home. to home, shade your deciduous and it will summer sun Plant a 6-8 foot from lower, tree near your groundcover patio area. while allowingstart shading yourafternoon plants. windows in the first year. Depending on the breezes through. species and thesun angles. home, it will shade the roof in 5-10 years.
Planting Tips
Landscaping for Shade Oak tree
Pine
Oak tree Oak
Oak
Shading is the most Camphor Hens and chicks is cost-effectiveCypress way to a type of succulent reduce solar heat gain groundcover plant. in your home and cut air conditioning costs. To effectively shade your home, you need to know the size, shape FACT: In tree-shaded #DidYouKnow: A neighborhoods, the summer well-planned landscape and location of the A windbreak reduces heating costs by lowering the wind daytime air temperature can can reduce chill an unshaded shadow that your up to 6 degrees cooler that home’s air conditioning nearshading your device home. It also createsbedead air space insulates casts. than in treeless areas. costs by 15-50 percent.
Infographic courtesy of energy.gov
Infographic courtesy of energy.gov
50%
Landscaping deciduous for Plant Windbreaks trees to the south of your home -- they can screen 70-90 percent of the hot summer sun while allowing breezes through.
Plant trees within your home crowns lower to the ground on the west if you Maple leaves change color with want to shade the seasons from lower, afternoon sun angles.
the summer and winter.
To cool air Plant bushes, before it shrubs or reaches your climbing vines home, plant with a trellis shrubs and toDeciduous shade your vs. Evergreen. groundcover patio area. What’s the difference?plants.
#DidYouKnow:
Camphor trees are evergreen trees that can grow up to 30 m tall.
Windbreaks to the north, west of houses cut Windbreaks to the north, west, andand easteast of houses can result fueltoconsumption by an average 40 percent, in an up 8 percent reduction in annualof heating and cooling according to atostudy in South Dakota. costs, according a report by UW-Extension. Deciduous trees block solar heat in the summer but let in sunlight during the winter.
Pine
Evergreen trees and shrubs provide continuous shade.
Camphor Oak
Cypress
Oak
The distance Planting Tips between your home Install a fence or a 6-8 foot home, it will and windbreakPlant should be deciduous tree near your wall inand addition to shading your windows in the first year. Depending on the two to fives start times the evergreen trees to species and the home, it will shade the roof in 5-10 years. height of the mature windbreak reduces heating costs by lowering deflect the the windwind over
March 2019
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Maple tree
WECN Mar19Feature2.indd 5
Plant evergreen trees and shrubs to the north and northwest of your
Landscaping
A
chill
2/18/19 2:12 PM
Stir-Fried Chicken with Mandarin Oranges and Broccoli In a bowl, toss chicken breast cubes with five-spice powder. In a separate small bowl, combine soy sauce, vinegar, reserved mandarin orange juice (about 3/4 cup), honey, red pepper flakes, and cornstarch; reserve. Heat a large sautÊ pan or wok over high heat, add vegetable oil and sesame oil. Heat until just smoking. Add ginger and chicken cubes, toss until browned, about 5 minutes. Remove chicken from pan and place in bowl. To the same pan, add broccoli and toss until bright green and crisp tender, about 6–8 minutes. Return chicken to pan. Add 3 tablespoons sliced scallions and sauce. Stir until sauce begins to thicken, about 3 minutes. Add oranges and heat through. Serve over steamed rice. Garnish with remaining tablespoon of scallions and cilantro.
Spring
Photos and recipes courtesy of National Chicken Council.
4 chicken breast halves, boneless and skinless, cut into 1-inch cubes 1 tsp Chinese five-spice powder 2 Tbsp soy sauce 1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar 1 can (15 oz) mandarin oranges, drained (reserve liquid) 1 Tbsp honey 1/3 tsp red pepper flakes 1 Tbsp cornstarch 2 Tbsp vegetable oil 1 tsp toasted sesame oil 2 tsp minced fresh ginger 2 cups broccoli florets 1/4 cup sliced scallions, divided 2 Tbsp fresh chopped cilantro
CHICKEN 20
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Warm Tuscan Chicken Sandwiches 1 lb pre-cooked chicken, sliced 2 tsp fresh rosemary, minced 2 tsp fresh basil, minced 1 clove garlic, minced 1/2 tsp kosher salt 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper 1 loaf crusty baguette, split lengthwise and soft insides removed 2 Tbsp olive oil 1/3 lb sliced provolone cheese 8 sundried tomatoes in oil, drained and cut into strips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine rosemary, basil, garlic, salt, and pepper; set aside. Brush inside of baguette halves with olive oil. Sprinkle evenly with herb mixture. Place sliced chicken, provolone, and sundried tomato strips evenly on one baguette half. Put other half of baguette on top, press down slightly and tie the baguette, at 2-inch intervals, with kitchen string, if desired. Place baguette on a baking sheet and move into the hot oven. Bake until warmed through and cheese is melted, about 10–12 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest for 5 minutes. Remove strings and cut into quarters before serving.
Photos and recipes courtesy of National Chicken Council.
Chicken and Red Lentil Stew with Greens and Sweet Potatoes 1-1/2 lbs chicken thigh meat, boneless and skinless, cut into 1-inch cubes 2 Tbsp vegetable oil 1 tsp salt 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced 1 medium onion 1 tsp cumin 1/2 tsp dried mustard 1/2 tsp dried coriander 1/4 tsp cinnamon 1 Tbsp brown sugar 4 cups chicken broth 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes 2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch rounds 2 small potatoes, peeled and diced into 1/2-inch cubes 1 small sweet potato, peeled and diced into 1/2-inch cubes 1 cup red lentils
1 large bag (12 oz) cleaned and chopped spinach 2 Tbsp freshly chopped cilantro 6 Tbsp plain yogurt or sour cream In a stock pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add cubed chicken and sprinkle with salt and cayenne pepper. Sauté for 2–3 minutes, stirring occasionally to brown all sides of meat cubes. Add garlic, ginger, and onion. Sauté for another 2–3 minutes. Add cumin, mustard, coriander, cinnamon, and brown sugar; stir until combined. Add broth and tomatoes with juice; bring to a boil. Add carrots, potatoes, and sweet potato. Return to a boil, reduce heat and cook for 10 minutes. Add lentils, cover and simmer for an additional 20 minutes. Using a fork, check that vegetables are soft. When soft, add spinach, stir to combine until spinach is wilted. Add cilantro. Serve in soup bowls. Garnish each bowl with a dollop of plain yogurt or sour cream.
Apricot Glazed Grilled Chicken Wings 4 lbs chicken wings, remove tips and cut loose skin at joint 1 tsp kosher salt 3/4 cup apricot preserves 2 garlic cloves, mashed 1 Tbsp chopped fresh ginger 1/4 cup soy sauce 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes Juice from one lime (2 Tbsp) 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar 1/2 tsp cumin 2 Tbsp chopped chives Fresh lime wedges for garnish
Season wings with salt. Heat grill to medium high. In the bowl of a food processor (small if available), combine preserves, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, red pepper flakes, lime juice, vinegar, and cumin; process until smooth. Add chives. Place wings on grill and cook for 8–10 minutes. Turn and grill for another 5–6 minutes. With a pastry brush or spoon, brush sauce on wings. Cook for about 1 minute and turn. Repeat on other side of wings. Cook for 1 additional minute. Wings should register 170 degrees when tested with an instant-read thermometer. Serve the wings garnished with lime wedges. March 2019
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RECIPE EXCHANGE Submit your favorite recipes to be featured on our reader recipe page. Email to dylan@weca.coop. For bonus recipes, go to http://wecnmagazine.com/recipes/.
Refrigerator Pickles Sandra Patz, Pound Pickles:
6 cups cucumbers, sliced 2 cups onions, sliced 1 green pepper, sliced 1/4 cup canning salt Water to cover Combine all ingredients and sit overnight; drain. Vinegar:
2 cups distilled white vinegar 2-1/2 cups sugar 1 tsp sugar 1 tsp mustard seed 1 tsp celery seed Combine ingredients together. Heat until sugar is melted; cool. Pour mixture over cucumbers. Place in covered container and refrigerate for up to 8 months.
Refrigerator Pickles Leah Boyle, Durand
5 cups white sugar 3 cups white vinegar 1/3 cup table salt 1 tsp celery seed 1 tsp turmeric 1 tsp mustard seed 1 tsp dry mustard 1 gallon medium cucumbers, sliced 4–6 small onions sliced Mix together sugar, vinegar, salt, celery seed, turmeric, mustard seed, and dry mustard. Pack cucumbers and onions in jars. Pour liquid over cucumbers and onions, filling the jar no more than 3/4 way full; do not cover totally as you will need room to shake liquid. Shake refrigerated jars every day for two weeks time, at which they will be ready to eat.
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Cold Pickles
Diana Madero, Mauston
6 cups cucumbers, sliced thin (do not peel) 3 medium onions, sliced thin 1-1/2 to 2 cups green peppers, sliced thin 3-1/2 cups sugar vinegar, to cover 2 Tbsp salt Place vegetables in 4 to 5 quart ice cream bucket. Mix sugar, white vinegar and salt thoroughly. Pour over veggies. Cover and refrigerate. Frequently push veggies down into liquid and stir. The cucumbers will shrink down. Leave in refrigerator for 24 to 36 hours until veggies have shrunk. Distribute evenly in smaller containers (1 qt. jars) making sure liquid covers veggies. Keep refrigerated. They may last up to a year or more if kept refrigerated. Take out what you need and put jar back in refrigerator. Enjoy!
Refrigerator Pickles Rosemary Riga, Ellsworth
1 cup onion, sliced thin 6 cups cucumbers, sliced thin (not peeled) 2 cups sugar 1 cup vinegar 1 Tbsp celery seed 2 Tbsp salt In a large bowl or ice cream bucket, combine cucumbers and onions and sprinkle salt over them and then mix to coat cucumbers and onions. Let stand 30 minutes or longer, then rinse. Put cucumbers and onions back in the bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the sugar, vinegar and celery seed and pour over the cucumbers and onions. Mix to combine. Refrigerate. Will keep 6 months in fridge if covered.
Ice Box Pickles
Kris Hanson, Wauzeka
1 tsp salt Water 3–4 cups cucumbers, peeled and sliced 1 green pepper, cleaned and slivered 1 large onion, sliced in rings 2 cups white sugar 2 cups vinegar 1 tsp celery seeds 1 tsp mustard seeds In a large pan, add salt and water. Mix in cucumbers, green pepper, and onion, and let sit overnight. The next day, drain but do not rinse. Mix sugar, vinegar, celery seed, and mustard seed together; mix well, until sugar is dissolved. Add cucumber slices, sliced onion, and slivered green pepper to the syrup. Store in a plastic container in refrigerator. Enjoy!
REQUESTS from our
READERS An anonymous reader is looking for recipes for crusted pork tenderloin. If you can help, have a request of your own, or would like to submit a recipe for publication, please write to Wisconsin
Energy Cooperative News, What’s Cooking? 222 West Washington Ave., Suite 680, Madison, WI 53703-2719 or contact us via our website, www.wecnmagazine.com. Thanks!
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That’s Fan-tastic!
COLLECTOR’S ANTIQUE APPLIANCES TELL THE STORY OF ELECTRIFICATION Stefan Osdene is a fan of electric appliances. A big fan. Owner of Cambridge Gold and Antiques, Osdene deals in all sorts of vintage items, but the electric appliances are what sparked his interest. The walls of his store are lined with every kind of electric appliance imaginable, and the entire upstairs is a mini-museum filled with the most unique and special items from his vast personal collection, acquired over three decades. You’ll see everything here from old electric hair dryers and irons to malt makers and motors. And fans. Lots and lots of fans.
Fear to Fascination
“As a young kid, I was very much afraid of fans,” Osdene said. “I was afraid that I was going to get sucked into a fan and chopped up, especially after seeing ‘Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’.”
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That fear, he said, turned into an obsession that led him to seek out ventilating fans in the local businesses he’d visit. It was during a family vacation to Florida, when Osdene was about 7, when his fear of fans turned into appreciation for them. The family visited the Edison Museum in Fort Myers on that trip, and Osdene began to see fans in a whole new light. “I saw a brass-plated fan in every room,” he said. “I was hooked. I was just smitten with brass fans. There’s something very beautiful about a piece of machinery that’s 120 years old and still has aesthetic beauty and function.” Osdene bought his first fan at a thrift store when he was 8 years old. Shortly after he bought his first of what would be many brass-plated fans, an Emerson, which Osdene believes made the finest electric fans ever.
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WISCONSIN FAVORITES Over time, Osdene picked up more and more fans, becoming a bona-fide collector like his father, an avid stamp collector with a special focus on stamps from all reaches of the British Empire. “He encouraged me to collect,” Osdene said. “The fans were the first things, but then I picked up some electric toasters, and I got into electrical history. Over time I started to collect any and every kind of electrical appliance. Anything with a cord on it—the stuff that effectively tells the story of electrification.” Osdene’s father grew to share his son’s interest and began collecting old appliances himself. Between the two, they amassed an impressive collection, all of which came under the younger Osdene’s watch when his father passed away in 2011.
Landing in Wisconsin
Given the Dairy State’s rather prominent role in
the history of electrification (Osdene noted that the second electrical power station in the United States—after Edison’s Pearl Street Station—opened in Appleton in 1882), it seems only natural that he found a permanent home for his collection here. Osdene came from his native Virginia to Wisconsin in 2006 to study art history at UW–Madison, attending graduate school on a full scholarship and earning a doctorate in art history in 2014. While attending graduate school, Osdene visited antique stores and operated an antique business from his home. The antique stores he explored yielded lots of great finds, due in part, Osdene said, to the state’s strong history of manufacturing and industrial production, as well as Wisconsin being a birthplace of several iconic small appliance brands. Racine is home to Hamilton Beach and Oster Manufacturing Company, founded in 1910 and 1924, respectively.
And Racine, he noted, is only about an hour from Chicago, home to Sunbeam, “probably the single most famous maker of mixers and small appliances.” “I would see stuff that just blew my mind,” Osdene said. “It knocked my socks off. I found so much early wonderful stuff that you don’t see anywhere else. ” Eventually, it made sense for Osdene to find a building that could serve as a home base for his business and personal collection. He settled his business in Cambridge because the village is safe, located close to Madison, and had a building available on Main Street that’s a perfect fit—a 1902 red brick building with a rich history of its own. Osdene moved several truckloads of his electric appliance collection and other items to his “new” building and opened the storefront in January 2017. The upstairs museum display is open to visitors, although still a work in progress.
Opposite page: Stefan Osdene collects all kinds of small electric appliances, but electric fans are still his favorite. Inset: Osdene holds a 1931 mixmaster stand mixer, made by Sunbeam. 1. This 1940 Wahl Hand-E Vibrator Massage promised “a stimulating massage for face, scalp, and body.” 2. Early household electric appliances were designed for their aesthetic appeal as well as function. 3. Osdene’s collection includes a number of unique electric cigarette lighters. 4. Before automatic-defrost refrigerators were available, items such as this Howe’s electric defroster helped keep fridges and freezers clear of ice buildup.
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The upstairs display room of Stefan Osdene’s Cambridge Gold and Antiques brings to mind the downstairs retail store once operated by the Wisconsin Electric Cooperative (WEC), the statewide association serving Wisconsin’s electric co-ops, known today as the Wisconsin Electric Cooperative Association. The retail store, offering all the latest electric appliances, opened in 1942 on the ground floor of WEC’s headquarters at the time, on East Wilson Street in Madison. Thanks to an extensive purchasing network WEC had established before wartime restrictions were placed on the manufacture of consumer goods, the WEC store carried some items that were hard to find at the time, making it a popular stop for Madison shoppers. Ultimately, cooperative managers determined the store was not in the spirit of the WEC bylaw stating that “all operations of the cooperative shall be on a cooperative basis, not for profit, and for the primary use and benefit of its members.” It was closed in 1944.
Functional and Aesthetic
Osdene sells and buys antiques and offers free appraisals. He does most of his business online or over the phone, so the storefront is open by appointment only. He also welcomes visitors who simply share his interest in and appreciation of antique small appliances and would like to wander through the upstairs display, studying the individual items. He can help fellow collectors track down individual items they might be seeking, or direct collectors to resources for any other needs, such as restoration work. Not that much restoral is often needed, given how sturdy most of these appliances are. Osdene pointed out that most of the items in his collection still work. Most use direct current instead of alternating current so they may not work easily, he said, but with the right adaptations, they will work. “What I find really intriguing about these items is the fact that they can still be functional so many years later,” Osdene said. “They have an heirloom quality in terms of manufactur-
ing expertise, the engineering. They’re built to last. You can’t say that about a lot of products today.” In addition to their functionality, the early small appliances were created with embellishments that complemented the design trends of the day, another quality Osdene finds appealing. “These were mass-produced products, but there was a really strong emphasis on industrial design, and not just on industrial design but on ornamental design,” he said. “There’s an aesthetically pleasing sort of feel. They weren’t meant to be just a utilitarian product. They were meant to kind of blend in with the household.” If you would like to see for yourself, give Stefan a call at Cambridge Gold and Antiques and arrange for a visit. You might just become a fan yourself.—Mary Erickson Cambridge Gold and Antiques is located at 143 West Main St., Cambridge. It’s open by appointment only; call Stefan Osdene to arrange, 607-339-1212. Osdene can also be reached via email, stefan_osdene@yahoo.com.
Among the more distinctive electric appliances in Osdene’s collection are (1) a General Electric porcelain-based toaster made in about 1909, the first model of electric toasters to be commercially produced; (2) an electric iron made by Carpenter in St. Paul in the 1890s, the first model of electric irons to be commercially produced; (3) and a fully restored electric oven made by Simplex in Boston in about 1908–1911.
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YOUNG MEMBERS
Kids and Critters March 2019 1. Sarafina meets a newly hatched chick. Photo submitted by Nicole Walter, a member of Jackson Electric. 2. Brantley and his pals Dexter and Dutchess are ready for a day in the snow. Photo submitted by Erica Beilke, a member of Central Wisconsin Electric.
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3. Why the long face? Katie meets a giraffe at the zoo. Photo submitted by Kim Angell, a member of Central Wisconsin Electric.
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4. Ami and her dog, Tiger, are all dressed up and ready to go. Photo sent in by Roxy Bruner, a member of Riverland Energy.
Upload photos directly
to the new wecnmagazine.com through the “Submit a photo” tab. Send photos of kids with animals, along with a brief description, to WECN Magazine, 222 W. Washington Ave., Suite 680, Madison, WI 53703.
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Please include the name of your electric co-op. Photos will be returned. If in good-resolution, electronic format, photos may also be uploaded via wecnmagazine.com through the “Submit a photo” tab. By submitting, sender implies that he/ she has rights to and owns the image, and grants WECN permission to use the image. By submitting, the parent or legal guardian also authorizes us the right to publish the image.
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CLASSIFIEDS MISCELLANEOUS
COLLECTOR BUYING WAR SOUVENIRS: German, Japanese, U.S. weapons, medals, helmets, daggers, swords, military items. 715-213-4565. WANTED: DEER TAGS, BACK TAGS. Trapping, bear, hunting, and fishing licenses. Otter, bobcat, fisher tags. Any old traps. David Schober, W4234 Rock Creek Rd., Loyal, WI 54446. 715-255-9284.
REAL ESTATE
VACATION RENTAL. Cape Coral, FL. Beautiful 3 bedroom home on gulf access canal. 10,000 lb boat lift. Weekly rental or more. Call Al. 608-295-7433.
WANTED: PAYING CASH FOR WW-2 GERMAN, JAPANESE FLAGS, DAGGERS, SWORDS, GUNS. ETC. 715-340-1974.
FOR SALE: IDEAL HUNTING BASE: 3 bedroom lake cabin on Upper Clam Lake, Ashland County. Center of the Chequamegon National Forest. Includes furnishings, appliances, fireplace, boat, dock, and more. 23501 Nyberg Rd. Clam Lake, WI. See Craigslist Northern Wis. Lake cabin for sale. Call Tim 715-572-2632 or timgapen@ wctc.net. $82,000.
USED BILLBOARD VINYLS/TARPS: Sizes available: 14x48=$50, 10x36=$28.80, 10x30=$24. Expired billboard faces, hemmed. Shipping and tax not included in listed price. Vinyls can also be picked up at Jones Sign, 1711 Scheuring Road, De Pere, WI 54115. PLEASE CALL FOR AVAILABILITY PRIOR TO PICK UP 800-536-7446.
NORTH WISCONSIN REMOTE FORESTED 80 acres in Bayfield Co, 12 miles west of beautiful Bayfield. Two sides adjacent to thousands of acres of county forest land, laced with ATV, walking, hunting trails. Priced below similar properties in area. Near Cornucopia, WI, northernmost village on Lake Superior, 5 miles from winter ice caves. $1,000/acre. Please call 715-373-5252.
GOT WOOD! NEW PORTABLE SAWMILLS. We sell Forestry Equipment for the hobbyist to the professional. Band Sawmills, Firewood Processors, Skidding Winches & more. A-F County Market an authorized Hudson Forest Equipment Dealer. Adams, WI 53910. Phone Joe or Rich 608-339-6703.
FOR SALE: 4-story 290’x35’ factory. Great for manufacturing hemp, medical marijuana. 90% prestressed concrete. 2-million+ replacement cost. OSHA approved. $400,000/offers. 608582-2263. Noon-8PM CST. www.phonecoinc. com.
SEPTIC PROBLEMS: Do you have standing water on your drain field? Have you been told you need a new expensive septic system? I have an alternative that works, also comes with a warranty (no digging). Call toll free 855-7976072 or email mmtagm@yahoo.com. FOR SALE: Harley Davidson Leathers: Mens jacket size large purchased in 2008 for $452.00, full pants (not chaps) size 38 purchased same time. Excellent condition; Woman’s chaps purchased 2008, $200.00, spring jacket black and white. Call 920-826-6083 or nlapp@new. rr.com. Little Suamico.
FOR SALE: First time offered by owner, 1,200 sq. ft. 3 bedroom 2 bath, split-level ranch. Basement 75% finished. Fireplace. 2-car attached garage plus 2-car detached garage. 5 acres. 3 miles north downtown Dells. Nice quiet secluded location. Available first week in April. $209,000. Call Debra at 608-254-1843 for appointment to view.
PLANTS & SHRUBS
PREMIUM SPRUCE TREES 7-8 FOOT TALL when planted. Balled & burlapped and ready to plant. Perfect for a manicured yard or a natural fence or along a driveway. These are nicely shaped and full from all sides. $79.99 call 608-981-2169. COVER SPRUCE TREES 8-10 FOOT TALL random sizes. Balled & burlapped and ready to plant. These trees are nice but they are not perfect. Great for wildlife or blocking a messy neighbor or even making a windbreak. $59.99 Call 608-981-2169. HARDWOOD AND CONIFER SEEDLINGS AND TRANSPLANTS. Thousands available, Oaks, Maples, Highbred Poplar, Hickory, Cherry, Dogwoods, Ninebark, Cranberry, Balsam Fir, Fraser Fir, Spruce, Pine, Cedar, Food plot and grafted apple trees too, Large bareroot shade trees including Autumn Blaze. Check us out on the web at www.paintcreeknursery.com, Facebook and Youtube also. Paint Creek Nursery, Cadott, WI 715-723-2072. FOR SALE: Bare root fruit and shade trees, small fruits, perennials and shrubs. For varieties visit sunriseraspberryfarm.com. Stevens Point, WI 54484. 715-572 5381.
REACH MORE THAN 171,000 MAILBOXES EACH MONTH Advertise with us! ads@weca.coop
GEC ELECTRIC LLC: Please call (608) 792-8475 gecelectricllc1@gmail.com FOR SALE: Krakauer piano in pristine condition. Original owner. Located in Appleton – 54911. Asking $1200 but price negotiable. Phone 920-284-2945.
Classified ads reach more than 171,000 mailboxes. RATES: For non-members of Wisconsin rural electric co-ops: one insertion, $25 minimum (up to 20 words); additional words, $1.25 each. For members of Wisconsin rural electric co-ops: one insertion, $14 minimum (up to 20 words); additional words, $.70 each. Count name, address, and phone number as part of ad. Please include zip code. FOR PROOF OF MEMBERSHIP, please include your address label from your copy of the magazine. FREQUENCY DISCOUNTS: 2% discount for 3 months; 5% for 6 months; 10% for 12 months. DEADLINE: 1st of the month prior to the month in which the ad is to appear. All classified ads must be paid in advance. There is no agency discount on classifieds. Make check or money order payable to: WECA. Mail to: WECN, Attn. Dylan Pingitore, 222 W. Washington Ave., Ste. 680, Madison, WI 53703. Ph: 608-467-4599. Email dylan@weca.coop. We reserve the right to refuse ads.
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March 2019
WISCONSIN EVENTS 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 Friday Fish Fry—Rosholt. St. Adalbert Parish, 4–7:30 p.m. Fish and shrimp. Raffles. 715-592-4416. 2 Bald Eagle Day—Ferryville. Village Hall, 10 a.m.–3 p.m. Programs with a live bald eagle, other raptors. Treats, nest building, and kids’ activities. 2 Liver Feed—Menomonie. Weston Bar and Grill, 11:30 a.m.–7 p.m. Fundraiser for Irvington-Weston Snowmobile Club. 715-664-8617. 2 Chili Cook-Off—Hayward. Fish Tales Pub & Grub, 2–6 p.m. Enter your chili for free. $5 per bowl to eat. Raffles and silent auction. 715-634-3185. 2 Steak Fry—Melrose. American Legion 439, 5–8 p.m. Sirloin steak, ham steak, and swiss steak; bingo and raffles. 5 Free Pancake Dinner—Eleva. Zion Lutheran Church, 4:30–7 p.m. Fat Tuesday in preparation for Lenten season. 5 Mardi Gras Pancake Supper—Cable. United Church of Christ, 5–7 p.m. Free-will offerings for scholarships. 715-798-3066. 7 Chicken Dinner—Eau Claire. Westgate Sportsman Club, 4–7:30 p.m. All you can eat. Meat raffle starts at 5 p.m. 715-832-4548 or 715-415-7448.
9 Chili & Chicken Noodle Soup Supper— Briggsville. American Legion, 4–7:30 p.m. Adults $6; 12 & under $3. 10 Omelet Breakfast—Chippewa Falls. Lafayette Town Hall, 8 a.m.–12 p.m. Adults $7.50; children 6–12 $5; children 5 and under are free. 10 Smelt Fry—Thorp. American Legion Hall, 10 a.m.–2:30 p.m. All you can eat. Paddle raffles and annual legion raffle. 715-669-5578. 10 First Responder Benefit—Wauzeka. Century Hall, 11 a.m.–4 p.m. 5 bands and great dance floor. Food and refreshments. 608-875-5857. 11 Spring Polka Jam—Marshfield. Eagles Club, 12–5:30 p.m. Free admission and public welcome. 715-389-1232. 14 Soup & Salad Supper—Ferryville. Village Hall, 5–7 p.m. Fundraiser for new playground equipment. 16 Shamrock Shuffle 5K—Eau Claire. McPhee Physical Education Center, 8 a.m.–12 p.m. 16 Health & Safety Fair—Medford. Area Elementary School, 10 a.m.–2 p.m.
8 Fish Fry—Wisconsin Rapids. St Lawrence Church Hall, 4–7 p.m. Adults $9.50; seniors $8.50. Carryouts.
16 St. Patrick’s Corn Beef Meal—Fairchild. Church of Hope, 3–7 p.m. Adults $7; 5 and up $4; under 5 free. Carryouts.
8 Friday Lenten Fish Fry— Onalaska. St Patrick’s Church, 5–7:30 p.m. All you can eat. Carryouts. 608-783-5535.
16 Hobo Dinner—Endeavor. United Church of Christ, 4–6 p.m. Free will offering.
9 Community Chili Cook-Off—Hallie. Redzone Sports Bar, 12–5 p.m. All you can eat $5. Chili registration at 1 p.m. with $10 entry.
16, 17 Quilt Show—Medford. Area High School, 10 a.m.–3 p.m. Vendors and 100 quilts. Classes and lunch provided.
9 FFA Pancake Breakfast—Richland Center. High School, 8–11 a.m. Pancake breakfast held with Spring Fling Fair. 9 Spring Fling Craft Fair—Richland Center. High School, 9 a.m.–2 p.m. Craft and vendor fair fundraiser for class of 2022. 608-647-6131.
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9 Dumpling Daze—Rib Lake. St. Peter Lutheran Church, 2:30–6:30 p.m.
17 St. Patrick’s Day Dinner & Raffle—Eau Claire. St. Patrick’s Church, 11:30 a.m.–2 p.m. 715-834-4920. 17 Pancake Breakfast—Richford. Community Center, 9 a.m.–1 p.m. 18 Blood Drive—Iola. Iola-Scandinavia Aquatic & Fitness Center, 12–5 p.m.
22 Silent Trivia & Auction—Richland Center. High School, 7–10 p.m. $5 per person donation. 23 Garden Expo—Richland Center. UW-Platteville Richland Campus, 9 a.m.–4 p.m. $12, includes lunch. 28 Ladies Leadership Seminar—Belmont. Convention Center, 8 a.m.–4 p.m. $99 per person, includes lunch and all your materials. 29 Fish Fry—Holmen. Lewis Valley Lutheran Church, 5–7 p.m. 30 Garden Expo—Rio. High School, 8:45 a.m.–2:45 p.m. Sessions, vendors, door prizes, and book/magazine swap. $20 at the door. Lunch available. 30 Arts & Craft Sale—Chippewa Falls. Senior High School, 9 a.m.–3 p.m. 30 High School Fundraising Auction—Osseo. Grand Occasions Banquet Hall, 11 a.m.–3 p.m. Lunch available. 30 Soup Supper—Briggsville. United Methodist Church, 4–7 p.m. 30 Vietnam Veterans Fundraiser—La Crosse. Charlie’s Inn, 4–7 p.m. Meat raffles, tip boards, music, food, & drinks. 30 Spaghetti Supper—Platteville. Elks Club, 5–7:30 p.m. All you can eat.
Upload events directly to the wecnmagazine.com through the “Events” tab.
Upload your April events by March 9. Wisconsin Events is a public service for our readers. Submissions should be received early in the month prior to the month in which the event will occur. Due to space limits, we may need to eliminate details, so be sure to include a phone number (with area code) where callers may obtain more info. If we receive more listings than space allows us to print, we reserve the right to select those we believe will be of interest to the greatest number of readers. Please no virtual events.
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