Extraordinary Living magazine

05/09/2026

Firefighters Fight Fear of Falling

Nancy Edmonds Hanson

When firefighters race across town on emergency calls, the first thought is automatic: Fire! But in a majority of cases, the 911 alert may involve no flames, no heat, no hoses. Instead, it may be about falling.

In Fargo, Moorhead and West Fargo, as in the rest of the nation, the most common reason to dispatch fire crews is rescue. Assistance calls represent more than half of the 911 calls channeled to fire departments. While a portion are strictly medical – heart attacks, for example, or diabetic hypoglycemia – the most familiar are the kind immortalized in that vintage TV commercial: “I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up.”

But falls are no laughing matter – not for families, not for the fallen, and certainly not for metro-area fire departments, whose EMS-trained firefighters are responsible for handling home emergencies.

“Falls are the number one thing – lift assists and falls,” says Mike Miller, who coordinates risk reduction for the Moorhead Fire Department. “Not all of them involve injuries. Sometimes someone has tripped on a loose throw rug or can’t get out of the bathtub by themselves, and there’s no one around who’s strong enough to help them. They just need us to lift them up.”

But that’s not the whole story. Sometimes those falls mark the gateway to losing the ability to continue to live at home – a more serious issue than getting them back on their feet. If more help in daily living seems to be required, it’s firefighters who are often the first to spot it.

Read more about local firefighters' emergency medical rescue work and safety tips in the summer edition of Extraordinary Living magazine. It's on newsstands now. Or read the story online at https://www.thefmextra.com/firefighters-fight-fear-of-falling/

05/09/2026

Cook up a Memory --
Grandma Called Them 'Hen Fruit'

Kelly Wambach

Easter is behind us. The season of new beginnings is here. Well, maybe. Looking out my window to-day it looks more like early December than early April, however there are some of the usual signs of spring if you look hard enough he sounds of geese migrating, birds singing, the power of the sun, and the country roads are for the most part, a mess!

Living in the country can have its disadvantages, but for me the advantages far out way the disadvantages. There’s nothing like the peace, the quiet, and the privacy you have living in a rural area.

Another plus is the space and ability to keep my critters. Five goats to maintain my pasture land and twenty three chickens to keep me and a few friends in fresh farm eggs. There really is nothing like a farm fresh egg for breakfast.

Growing up, chickens were al-ways a part of the landscape. I say landscape, because for the most part the chickens were free to roam. Most of the hens nested in the comfort of the coop, but there was always one or two who needed to strike out on their own. This of course made gathering eggs a bit of a challenge. It required a little stalking on our part.

Most of the time we were able to follow these hens to their secret nesting spots and sn**ch the eggs, but there was always one or two that were just a little smarter than we were. If they managed to evade us long enough they might surprise us with a family of little chicks. The new little hens that made it through the summer were next year’s layers, and the new little roosters usually shared a reserved spot at the Sun-day dinner table.

Read more of Chef Kelly's column, including Grandma's recipe for Egg Custard, in the summer edition of Extraordinary Living magazine. Your free copy is on newsstands now. Or read online at

Easter is behind us. The season of new beginnings is here. Well, maybe. Looking out my window to-day it looks more like early December than early April, however there are some of the usual signs of spring if you look hard enough he sounds of geese migrating, birds singing, the power of the sun, and....

05/09/2026

FM Science Museum set to break barriers and ignite curiosity

Michael Stein

Among area residents who visit science museums in, say, St. Paul or Chicago, it’s a good bet that many have thought “this would be great to have in Fargo-Moorhead.” Fortunately, for the past several years, a group of community leaders and experts in the field has been dedicated to turning a dream into reality with a center that focuses on every aspect of our lives and the world around us. The Fargo-Moorhead Science Museum (FMSM) exists in name and a new office location on South University Drive in Fargo.

FMSM’s Executive Director Jessie Rock oversees the multi-faceted effort to make the dream a reality, bringing several years of experience as a paleontologist and science educator, including 14 years at NDSU’s former geosciences department.

From outreach to institution

Rock said the efforts to bring hands-on science to a wide range of interests and age groups have been limited. “We are very strong in the arts here, but we don’t have a dedicated science museum,” she said. “We have colleges, universities, and other outreach partners across the community doing incredible work, but pop-up events and camps aren’t enough. This is our opportunity to build a place where adults and children alike can explore and engage with hands-on science year-round.

Throughout her years as a graduate student and university lecturer, Rock said she was regularly called on to do outreach, particularly in grade school classrooms.

“Teachers were asking if we could bring things like dinosaur fossils. I quickly learned that many of these teachers are struggling to teach topics such as climate change. So, they really need support—and that’s an area the museum is prepared to help with.”

“By 2018, I couldn’t keep up with the demand for outreach,” Rock said. “The FM Area Foundation was offering community grants, so I applied for funding for a trailer where I could keep a dedicated set of outreach materials and streamline my efforts.”

Read more about plans for the FM Science Museum in the summer edition of Extraordinary Living magazine, on newsstands now ... or online at https://www.thefmextra.com/fm-science-museum-set-to-break-barriers-and-ignite-curiosity/

05/09/2026

The Accidental Gardener --
Celebrate the Sesquicentennial: Plant a Crab

Ross Collins

As we consider ways to celebrate this county’s Semiquincentennial year (250th), we might find counsel from the celebrations of 50 years ago, the Bicentennial year. My mother Dorothy had a suggestion. “We give something of ourselves, I believe, when we plant a tree,” she wrote in May 1976. “A tree is a gift to those who live after us, providing so much happiness—a yearly spring message of hope, blooms and/or fruit, shade, sound buffer, changing seasonal leaf beauty.”

Where should we plant? Anywhere, but “this Bicentennial spring seems an ideal time to plant a tree somewhere—if not in our own yard, on the grounds of a school, a church, some public or private lawn.”

Perhaps you know of some Bicentennial trees that are still growing for a future generation-—that is, for us. Perhaps it’s our turn to offer the same to another future generation.

While Dorothy recommended a variety of trees, she was particularly fond of the flowering crabapple. It’s the tree that most reminds us that it’s spring, bursting into bloom in late April to early May. Whether at home or in public plantings, she said, “I can’t think of anything better to include in the plan than flowering crabapples.” And spring was the season she thought would most convince us. “While I have harped on this subject so often that I may becoming repetitious,” she admitted, “just take a look at the flowering crabs around right now and see if you don’t agree.”

Read more of Ross's garden column in the summer edition of Extraordinary Living magazine, on newsstands now, or unline at

As we consider ways to celebrate this county’s Semiquincentennial year (250th), we might find counsel from the celebrations of 50 years ago, the Bicentennial year. My mother Dorothy had a suggestion. “We give something of ourselves, I believe, when we plant a tree,” she wrote in May 1976. “A...

05/09/2026

Beyond the Front Door --
The Importance of Landscaping

Kim Schlotfeldt

The Importance of landscaping
By admin | Posted May 6th, 2026 |

Beyond the Front Door

Kim Schlotfeldt | Kvamme Real Estate
Kvamme Real Estate
https://buysellhomeskim.com

Spring is finally here and we will be moving into some much desired warmer weather after our long winter. Spring landscaping is so important not just for the appearance of your yard but for its health. Here are some tips to make your lawn look fresh and beautiful.

Clean up debris: Remove fallen leaves, branches, and winter mulch to allow sunlight and air to reach the soil and grass

Aerate and dethatch: If soil is compacted or thatch exceeds one inch, aerate the lawn and rake out dead grass to improve water and nutrient pe*******on

Fertilize and w**d: Apply fertilizer when grass be-gins active growth (typically after the third mowing) and use pre-emergent herbicides early to halt w**d growth before they mature.

Read more tips for landscaping your property in the summer edition of Extraordinary Living magazine, on newsstands now, or online at https://www.thefmextra.com/the-importance-of-landscaping/

Spring is finally here and we will be moving into some much desired warmer weather after our long winter. Spring landscaping is so important not just for the appearance of your yard but for its health. Here are some tips to make your lawn look fresh and beautiful.

05/09/2026

Ryan Mauk: Trailing Tornadoes

Nancy Edmonds Hanson

Stormy weather has fascinated Ryan Mauk for 40 years. He’s still chasing his dream.

“It goes back to when I was 5 or 6. I remember the daycare teacher trying to get us inside – there was a tornado warning,” the Fargo storm chaser remembers. “I stayed outside, staring at that weird yellow sky. It was probably my first wall cloud. I was absolutely enthralled.”

He remembers, too, his late grand-father Cal Olson showing him photographs taken during the near-legendary Fargo tornado of 1957. Those images of nature’s power have been imprinted in the memory of generations, perhaps none more than his grandson’s.

Today the boy enthralled by the sky is one of the Midwest’s leading storm chasers. By day a critical-care flight nurse, Ryan spends off-duty hours with an eye on the weather radar, tracking the promise of severe storms tornadic potential up and down the Great Plains. When the right forecast hints at twisters, he’s off in his hardened Subaru with his movie-grade cameras and his drone, hoping to chronicle massive meteorologic power somewhere in the forests and on the plains from his home ground south through Texas.

He started out capturing still photographs, but today the storm chaser is into action. “It was getting a little boring,” he notes, “so I decided to take it further.” Instead of posting raw footage, as most chasers do, he began producing a different kind of viewing experience. He describes it as a “fuller, story-driven cinematic experience from start to finish i

Read more about Ryan and his video shorts, "The Rear Flank," in the summer edition of Extraordinary Living magazine, or online: https://www.thefmextra.com/trailing-tornadoes/

05/09/2026

05/09/2026

Jim Shaw ... Reporting

Nancy Edmonds Hanson

It’s a tagline Red River Valley TV audiences still recognize: “Jim Shaw … reporting.”

Over 21 years on WDAY-TV and another 14 at KVRR, that crisp voice narrated countless reports on the nightly news. For another dozen, it was seen (but not heard) in more than 600 columns published on the opinion pages of The Forum.

“I’d rather write the story than be the story myself,” he says. His story, though, parallels both the path of contemporary journalism and the devotion of area audiences to their storytellers.

In March, the news of his dismissal as a columnist – the role he’s played since serious health problems led to resignation from TV in 2014 – was greeted with outrage by many regular readers.
Now, after that abrupt departure, the veteran journalist is tackling a medium far younger than those entries on his 50-year-old resumé. He continues to opine on issues of the day as a hybrid blogger/podcaster. His observations and opinions now appear every Thursday on the KFGO Radio website. They appear at www.kfgo.com/blogs-jim-shaw-on-the-record/.

Pick up your free copy of Extraordinary Living on newsstands now ... or read the story at https://www.thefmextra.com/jim-shaw-reporting/

08/25/2025

Nourishing Norwegian Roots

It’s a stellar year for folks of Norwegian descent. While shirttail relations from coast to coast are celebrating the 200th anniversary of Norse immigration to the USA, the Fargo-Moorhead crew has been celebrating the birthday of a true downtown Fargo landmark – the Fargo Sons of Norway’s Kringen Klub, a center of cultural appreciation since 1975 … and, for 50 years, a spot for good food, friendship and good fun.

Today, descendants of the Norse immigrants who began arriving along the Red River in the 1870s make up most – but not all – of the 1,250 members of the local lodge. One of 330 SoN lodges across the U.S., as well as Canada and Norway itself, the Fargo group stands out as one of the three largest, as well as one of the few to own its own facility.

Guided by the late Carrol Juven, the local lodge purchased the former home of Russ Buick, then remodeled it and decorated it with wallpaper, carpeting and décor imported from the Old Country. Carved dragons and trolls encircle doorways and abound in the Troll Lounge. Wallpaper and paintings sport lavish helpings of rosemaling, the traditional folk art that blossomed between the frigid fjords and the shores of the North Sea.

Naturally, the menu in the popular Kringen Kafé has an ethnic flavor. Along with the typical menu of burgers, sandwiches and desserts, it boasts the Lefse Crunch Burger, an original concoction featuring a beef patty between two cracker-like pieces of baked lefse, garnished with lingonberry barbecue sauce, bacon and that Norwegian invention, Jarlsberg cheese – so tasty that it won Fargo’s first-ever Burger Royale contest in 2024. Other favorites show up, too, like crispy fried potato klubb, Scandinavian soups with plenty of cabbage, and smørbrød (open-faced sandwiches).

It can be tough to find a parking space in the club’s lot on Pie Day. The Kringen Kafé is famous for its spread of pies starting at 11 a.m. on Thursdays. One recent week featured rhubarb, apple gjetost, gømmegrøt, blueberry, lingonberry rømmegrøt, raspberry rommegrot, chocolate, butterscotch and fresh strawberry. Regulars advise to get there early.

Read more about Fargo-Moorhead's Sons of Norway -- one of the largest lodges in the nation, and with what may be the widest range of programs and finest facility -- in the Fall 2025 edition of Extraordinary Living magazine. It's on local newsstands now. Or read the story at https://www.thefmextra.com/nourishing-norwegian-roots/

05/15/2025

It's on the newsstands now -- the summer edition of Extraordinary Living magazine!

2025 Summer ExtraOrdinary LivingMagazine