From pharmacy to farm - celebrating agriculture with new children's museum - Ginger Claussen

Paul Yeager   Hi, this is Paul Yeager and The MtoM Show podcast, a production of Iowa PBS and the Market to Market TV show. We're going on a field trip to a museum that's under construction in a farm community in Minnesota. And the idea for this podcast came via email. So if you have something you think we might be interested in, send me an email at Paul.Yeager@IowaPBS.org. You can also send the show an email anytime you want MarkettoMarket@IowaPBS.ORG. So back to Benson, Minnesota and the Mini Sota Agriculture Children's Museum. We are going to talk to Ginger Claussen. She started her career as a pharmacist. She's been a farm wife. Now she wants to be running a children's museum based on agriculture. She has a whole lot of help in the community, as well as a moms group. We're going to hear about how this group has been motivated and what their goal is for their museum. And maybe you can stop by once they get it built. So we're going to go on a field trip as I said, with Ginger Claussen.  Ginger you can try with the spring colors both in the shirt and the flowers behind you. But look out that window to your right. Is the snow still there?

Ginger Claussen   Not in this direct spot that I'm sitting but if I look on the other side of the house, yes. Just little piles, little piles.

Paul Yeager   Are you your lifelong Minnesota resident?

Ginger Claussen   Yes, I am actually right now sitting in my parents house. I live across this mud bottom lake three miles away, where I said you guys have to take care of the kids because I have three year old triplets. They turned three a couple weeks ago and a one year old. So you would have a lot of noise in the background if I want to stay at home. So I'm actually in my childhood home right now. And I currently live three miles away.

Paul Yeager   Alright, hold on, hold on. So the triplets are older than the one year old. Did I get that right? Yes. Okay. See, normally some will do it the other way. They'll say The triplets are it we are not going to do this again.

Ginger Claussen   No, we are kind of a different, different setups. So I my husband and I had to do IVF after years of different trials and errors, and I mean not errors, but no success. So we did IVF we did a two embryo transfer, one spontaneously split. But also so my boys are identical. And I have a girl, but they missed talk on the first ultrasound. So I thought I was having twins for about six weeks. And then they found the third baby. And yeah, so I have triplets.

Paul Yeager   Are they? That's one of those surprises. I've been in the room for two. And I'm not twins, but two different children. And yeah, that would be Hey, we went to the doctor. I remember how he is we said to now it's three.

Ginger Claussen   Yeah, I called my dad and it was like Dad, it's triplets. He's like, Oh, honey, Oh, honey, no, no twins is fine Francis by and we're just so blessed. I said, Dad, I have an OB standing on each side of me right now looking with an ultrasound. I'm having triplets. And he didn't like talk. I said I need you to tell mom, everyone is healthy. We are doing great. But yeah, that was a our parenthood start off.

Paul Yeager   So children are, you know a major part of your life and you want to make it sounds like you want to keep making children a part of your life off the farm but yet with a twist. What What inspired you to mix it all together.

Ginger Claussen   So um, I actually I'm a pharmacist, I went to pharmacy school, I got my doctorate in pharmacy at North Dakota State University. And I went home, I came back to Benson to take over my parents pharmacy, and the new triplets came. And they were actually born on April 5 2020. And that was exactly when the world shut down. My water actually broke on Wednesday morning and I had them on Sunday. I was in labor for a lot of days. But my husband did not leave my side because he wasn't sure if he would be able to get back in the hospital. Like there were no masks when everything started and then everyone was masking by the time I delivered and the rules are changing every single day. So COVID happened and and that that was a huge shift in the pharmacy world. The vaccines were rolling out but as a small independent pharmacy we we weren't even on the list again. Some until the very end. And, and another other things changed in the pharmacy world but it also changed in my role. I had triplets. Um, so it was after I found out I was pregnant with my miracle baby Jethro. We did not have to do IVF with him that I said, Okay, Mom and Dad, I I'm saying what I never thought I would say but I'm not gonna buy the pharmacy. And, and they were totally supportive and everything. They've always told me, ginger, you do not have to buy the store, you do not have to buy the store. I wrote in my kindergarten book that I was going to be a pharmacist in by the store. So this, you know, 27 years of going exactly the way I was supposed to shift it. And so, we sold the business, we were an independent thrifty white pharmacy, we sold to corporate and they ended up moving to a different building. So my parents building the store that I went to every single day after school and stayed until close, has been sitting empty for over a year, which is really, really hard for me. And so this is where the Children's Museum comes in. I went to otter Cove Children's Museum in Fergus Falls with my friend Bailey, and I pull up. It is downtown downtown Fergus Falls, and it's a huge brick building, like cinderblock building. And I look at Bailey who's never been to the pharmacy, like we're meeting halfway for this playdate, right. I said, Bailey, this is the exact same building as my parents pharmacy. I said my head is reeling. I mean, Otter Cove, oh, it's so beautiful. And it's Lake themed because Otter Tail County has the most lakes and all of us in the county. And so I'm just like, my head is reeling. And this is six months into my stay at home mom thing right? In one calendar year I went from, I'm gonna buy the pharmacy to I'm not gonna buy the pharmacy to I was a part time pharmacist at the corporate pharmacy that bought out my parents store, to I want to be a full time stay at home mom. And so I was like, six months into the stay at home mom gig. I was like, Bailey, I just can't I just can't start a children's museum. I mean, that would be crazy, right? Just wild. So that was in July. And then harvest happened, you know, my husband farms and they do silage and haylage for the Riverview Dairies. They do corn and sugar beets and they do some custom work for people who aren't going to get their crops out in time or who need a little help, you know, that farming community that helps them out when they need. And so it was the end of November and it was date night, right? We had a babysitter. I'm going to told Tom okay, just get in the car. I want to I want to show you something. So we went to my parents pharmacy, I still have the key on my keychain, right? And I said, Tom, I want to start a children's museum, and I want it to be farm themed. And he goes, Okay, how are we gonna do that? So that's the whole progression. I mean, it went from my, my childhood home and this is really a labor of love for me to this is to give back to the community that I thought I would be giving back to in a different way. Right. I thought I would be taking care of these people through the pharmacy, which right now I'm not I'm not saying I'm never gonna be a pharmacist again. My license is still active. My I'm still keeping up with my CE and so he said, Okay, how are we going to do that? So I started at contacting my friend, Kelly Michelson. She, her and I weren't really close, but I knew that at one point, she was in this motivated moms Facebook group. And so I text her I said, Hey, Kelly, is that motivated moms group still a thing? She goes, Oh, no, no, that died with COVID. Okay, I said, I have this idea. Like I know at one point you said you wanted to start a children's museum and Benson this motivated moms group tried to do that. But there just wasn't a spot for it. And there wasn't a you know, enough motor behind it, right.

Paul Yeager   I mean, like a physical building. There wasn't enough of a there wasn't a physical part. The idea was there just not you. Okay, I guess

Ginger Claussen   there was not a location in town that would be able to do that at a price that they could, I mean, they looked into what was available and it just wasn't, it just wasn't there. And she goes, I sent her my hand drawn notebook drawing of what I wanted to do. And she goes, I love it. Let's do it. So she resurrected this Facebook Group. And we had I think it was over 40 local moms in this Facebook chat. And she was just like, Hey, Ginger has this crazy idea to do and her parents in the building her parents still own. And does anyone want to do this with us. And there was an outpouring of ideas and support and love. And so we had four general meetings with anyone who wanted to be invited. And this this Facebook chat was open. So anyone who wanted to join could join in on the conversation. And we were I mean, plucking anyone out of our contacts that we thought would be a good fit into this. And we have four general meetings. And then we formed our board. And our board has had, oh, I think six or seven meetings now. And now we have our nonprofit, our 501(C)(3) application has been submitted. And just two weeks ago, we started fundraising. And April is grants month and we have submitted more grant applications than you can imagine. But and this is, here's where we're at. I mean, it's been really, really cool. And I will say, our board, you know, at our general mom's meeting, we wrote down like our dream team for this board, right? And we we kind of over overthought the amount of people we would want to have on this board. So when we went through our like, first line of people we could think of, and then you know, we had second and third, and all great people, but just who we thought would be our best fit. When we went through the first round and got mostly yeses. We said, okay, and then we were trying to like pick a meeting date, and it was like, nobody can meet ever. It's like, okay, we're not going to the second round. We're just sticking with the people we got and finding time.

Paul Yeager   Okay, in this group. I mean, you have business experience in the sense of you've worked in a pharmacy, your parents ran that pharmacy, so you had that a little understanding. You and your husband farm that's a business who else has business experience in this group.

Ginger Claussen   So we have got for business, we've got Corey Claussen. He's actually my husband's cousin, but that's beyond the point. But he owns custom Roto Mold in Benson. And then we've got I'll just go through my list here of who we've got. We've got Kelly Michaelson. She's our president. She's a nurse. Katie Saterbak is our vice president. She works for Hormel. And she's huge and goats are her passion. She is just on everything goats you can think of, um LeAnn Simonson as our secretary. But we've got two financial people, both working in banks, both working with loans and agriculture. We've got Natasha Mortenson. She was an ag teacher at Morris High School for a long time. And then she is now working for Riverview Dairies. She's there, connect her to the communities. We've got school representative daycare representative. We've got a machinery representative, and then me who's just along for the ride.

Paul Yeager   Okay, that's a that's an impressive list there, ginger, but I still didn't hear anybody with museum experience. So, but I also hear all you hear people who know how to run a museum, and they have community partners, you've got the whole community partners in all of these things covered. So are we all learning on the job? Is that a YouTube video about how to run a museum that you can watch?

Ginger Claussen   Pretty much? Pretty much we so I actually met when this idea first started. I met with our mayor at the time, who was actually one of my mom's good friends and I told her about this idea. She said I love it right. And then the next person I reached out to was the founder of Otter Cove and Fergus Falls. And she has been a huge mentor to me and to us. We've also there's the village in Willmar, which is a children's museum, and they started motivated mom's group started this children's museum and in Willmar, which is about 45-50 minutes away from Benson. And we're doing exactly watching any YouTube video. There's actually there's a lot there's Children's Museum consultants whose job is to help you start a children's museum and there's a A Children's Museum Association where you for a fee can can join their group and they've got just a pile of resources on how to be intentional how to be not waste space in your museum, how every part has a purpose and a focus. And and so yeah, we're we're learning. We're just all learning everything.

Paul Yeager   Okay, the theme is agriculture. Right? And it sounds like a whole lot of people with a whole lot of experience in that. Yeah. The mentioned the the one with the dairy that connects the community to the dairy. I think a lot of dairies around the country have done a good job of like, hey, school, come visit our dairy during third period. And we'll show you the milking and, and things like that. So how do you take those on farm visits and make them in museum visits?

Ginger Claussen   So, um, if you want to look at our website, were you able to see

Paul Yeager   I did, I've been super impressed. Because you've mentioned all the names. I remember seeing it because I was impressed with the size of your board and their background. And, and I see the the game plan that you have there at least the floor plan? Yeah, different than your hand drawn?

Ginger Claussen   A little different. Yeah. Yeah, I work to make that thing digital.

Paul Yeager   So how do you make the how do you make that transition from bringing it into a centered spot?

Ginger Claussen   So the, the main purpose of any children's museum is to just play to learn through play. You know, I tell people, they think oh, are the kids just gonna, you know, walk around and look at your exhibits? I'm like, no, no, no, no, absolutely not. It is an indoor play place with an educational focus. So I'm the the dairy, right, you have the big cows on the milking parlor, and they go around and around and around. So we're making a merry go round that goes round and round and round. And then we'll have you know, information about what does this look like in the actual dairy? And how does this apply? I actually our treasurer, her dad can build anything, just absolutely anything his daughter's, I mean, we're the her sisters were the dance instructors and the flag girl coaches for the marching band, right. So he's built all these random things. And he's building the semi simulator. And I'm not talking like the screens that you can buy for a couple $1,000 To like, shift your gear. I'm talking just like a physical sit in and the kids can do the steering wheel and do the clutch and the brake and the gas and move that shift that stick shifts around. It's, it's to have the hands on but also to know like, Oh, this is what this looks like.

Paul Yeager   I was looking through my phone this morning, because I had taken my son both sons I've taken to the Smithsonian's when they were in fourth grade that was our trip in DC. And I was thinking I was I was looking for a specific picture. And I and I stumbled around a farm display and one of the Smithsonian's where it was a picture of a farmer and then it was his story. But I also remember you mentioned these displays and play the merry go round they have a kitchen or apart like a grocery store shopping to understand where the food is sourced. Yeah, how off how important is the story not just how a semi works but also understanding where food comes from.

Ginger Claussen   Yes, that is a huge part of us we have a whole pillar about it. So local impact, we want to show explore our local agriculture products go and demonstrate how they make their way back into the community. So we've got the semi simulator of the kids are bringing here to this to their we've got a grocery store and this idea came from Otter Cove but it's conveyor belts from you know we hope a cheese factory and an edible crop processing but for them to physically use the conveyor belts to get it in that grocery store and and we're gonna have little fake blocks of cheese that's a bomb guards because that's what river view cheese Riverview milk from the cows turns into and you know, fuel fiber and food show all the different ways that that corn and that you know, all these different crops come back in. Because I think it's really easy to say, oh, you know, we've got just a bunch of corn around us. Yeah, it just goes. Okay, well, where does it go? And this is me speaking. I did not grow up on a farm. I grew up in the pharmacy. Like I can tell you a lot of things about that. But my children, you know, I should start with Uh, my husband and I have been together since we were juniors in high school, right? So I've been like learning a little bit and a little bit of that, just like you would with any, any partner you have. You know, I don't know what a finance director does. But if I married to one, you know, you're gonna learn a little bit about what that job title means. Well, that's me, I'm just little learning a little bit about, you know, the job title farmer and what that means. But these kids I have, oh, my gosh, Paul, you cannot imagine how obsessed they are with farm. Like, it is ingrained deep. So I'm learning everything through their eyes. And so that's, that is my focus. I am learning through their eyes, and I'm putting it in a museum.

Paul Yeager   Well, it's, it's like your own market study. Yeah, go to other museums, you're like, Okay, this one worked really well. You're writing into your tape recorder, or you're writing on a piece of paper of what worked, I mean, you're able to do it, and, and so then you can kind of tailor and understand, okay, one year old, two year old, three might go better here, 4, 5, 6 over there. And you still have those nine to 12 year olds that you still want to be able to capture. So how do you get every different age group to understand and get the most out of this creation.

Ginger Claussen   So the north end of the building is kind of our older kids section, right? The tractor tires with the corn pit and climbing domes and the excavators. And we've got wall separating that because my one year old will go into that corn pit and put every kernel of corn he can physically fit into his mouth. And so we've got little, like half dome windows for my one year old to be able to look into the big kids and see that play. But also, okay, the big kids can climb, they can be rough, they can move, they can run, they can jump and get that energy out that we so need. And then we've got our platform with the tile slides. I mean, yes, we'll have a couple of kiddie slides in the underneath. But that's, that's a big thing, they're going to climb up those towers, they're going to roll down those slides. I'm really, really hoping that I can get to sprayer arms. So Benson in case case, and Benson makes sprayers so I'm like really out of focus to get a couple sprayer arms from case and I want them welded together into monkey bars and a huge foam pit underneath, you know, so we've got these these big things right, these big, and obviously, I mean, the semi simulator is going to be exciting for them too. And we've got, you know, our fake little parts store so you can go and I'm hoping to have like just a little very small tracker suspended in the ceiling. So they can be underneath that tracker and hammering on things and doing what they want with it. I've got a wall that I'm it's just going to be blueprints, right, it's going to be this big chalk wall with a blueprint of a combine or a blueprint of, you know, an 8R or whatever you want it to be. And the kids are going to be able to draw in their modifications, they're going to put new things in there. Because I can tell you my husband's heated and cooled seat and the mini fridge in his combine. I'm sure a nine year old thought up that because those I mean, just wild ideas. But the one of the really great things about the building is that it is wide open. So if I'm over with the one year old, or the My three year olds at the toddler tables, right? If we're sorting our tractors into red and blue, and you know, green, I can still see across the whole building, if I have my nine year old niece with me, I can still see her I can still engage with her. I can make sure she's okay. But I can I can be there with who needs more help at the time. I mean, obviously, it's going to be a safe environment. We're getting the rubber floor poured in that's at a lot of parks. So that when there is that rough and tumble, which there will be I mean, like I keep telling people this, this children's museum is going to be my children are going to be able to play there. And let me tell you, my boys, my husband has said for years, these boys form tackle with precision and absolute just form that you cannot teach. Right. So if it can withstand my kids as they're growing up, it's gonna be able to withstand anyone's,

Paul Yeager   all the kids that would come through and you do the exact same thing. 

Ginger Claussen   My son, Own, if he doesn't break something, it comes to us and then we break it. I mean, like, that is the test that things are going through for this children's museum.

Paul Yeager   It sounds like you're tapping into what agriculture is around you. But it also sounds like you're tapping into the manufacturing and a greater understanding of what goes on. You mentioned the case facility and you're like, oh, that's what they make there. So it's also a better community awareness. You're borderline getting, you mentioned the blueprints, you're almost talking about the  STEAM or the old STEM. Yeah, science and the technology, engineering, and manufacturing in there.

Ginger Claussen   Yes, we are. Um, I, I, I'm not embarrassed to say but I'm conscious to say, I didn't know Benson did all of the I mean, I have grown up. I'm 30 years old, I have grown up in this downtown building. And I'm still learning some things that are are able to be done in Benson. I mean, if I don't know about it, or in our surrounding communities, you know, Hancock DeGraff, Swift Falls, you know, we're we've got the little towns around us, too, as has been since you know, 3300 people are, were the big metropolis. Yes. Um, we're, I'm learning about what people are doing around. And it's amazing to me, we have Abner sales in Benson, and going to North Dakota State University. You know, I know a lot of North Dakota people and my husband went there as well. But there are friends of ours that literally can throw a rock into Montana. And they're ordering products from Benson. I mean, that's just amazing to me. And, and I really want to showcase that that, you know, we've less people are growing up on family farms, right? We hear that over and over and over again. But because you didn't grow up on a family farm doesn't mean you can't be involved in the farm community. I mean, we can we still need engineers, we still need people who have innovative ideas. And I think sometimes when you have that outside perspective, right, like, you go into the farm, and you say, Oh, why don't you do it that way? And they're like, well, oh, I didn't like didn't even think of like, they have a different knowledge base than you. So maybe you're being bringing something to the community. And, and it's for everyone to learn it. I mean, it's not a daycare center, you don't drop your kids off and leave, you are playing with them, you are interacting with them. And I promise you, the adults are going to learn something, too.

Paul Yeager   So 3300 people, your community, for sure, would be all on board, in the sense of we're all coming through once. But how do you get it to extend you mentioned those surrounding communities, and I think of when my mother has the grandkids all week, we want to go over to here and go see big bud and independence? Or what do I do, you're gonna be able to tap into some of that. So marketing will be important, but getting those return visits and, and programs. So to keep things I guess the word is fresh in a museum, you still have to rotate things through.

Ginger Claussen   Absolutely. So we have got kind of the middle of the building is our rotating sim center, right? The corn pits not moving the platform with the slides, that's not going any more. That's good. That's got to be a hearty into the ground. But our middle section is really what's going to be moving. And so I have friends who have a Christmas tree farm in Morris, you know, which is a half hour away. And they are so excited. They're like, Oh, we're going to come to an exhibit on Christmas trees, you know, so that'll be seasonal. And and I've talked with some different Ag teachers in the area. And they said, the best thing you could do is follow the Ag in the Classroom calendar and and make your exhibits with that. Because then we could get some students to come in and do a little presentation for the kids on a Tuesday during third period, like you said, and get you know, I've met with one school board, I've got three more to go that I want to talk to you and say we're totally open to partnering any way you want. But we want this to work with you. A huge, a huge theme we've had through this whole fundraising process that we've started is we don't know what we don't know, how can we help each other grow? And so I want to know about your club or your hobby or your you know, anything and I want to help you grow that but I want you to help me to how can I how can I help you and and my mom she's been canning forever, right? Huge vegetable garden that I said I would never have. I have the canning I said I would never do. I do and she wants to do an exhibit on canning and and I'm like Oh mom, no one's gonna want to hear about this. But I have all these friends that are like ginger. I need you to teach me how to vegetable garden and I'm like, didn't your mom like make you pick the green beans on Saturday mornings?

Paul Yeager   well, and it frankly sounds like if you have rotating programs, I mean, you mentioned moms and stuff. I think my mom teaches that she's taught the grandkids how to make the apple pie crust. There are things that we have lost between us and generations hear that we might not know how to do that we could that somebody else in the community might benefit from. Yeah, well, that's the place. It's a continual learning of, oh, this week, it's It's Joellen's apple pie. Okay. Yeah, those are always good. I'm aware of that. And then if it's it's Joellen's canning class, or whatever. Yeah, absolutely. That's the adults need to learn to you know. 

Ginger Claussen   I know, I know. And, and I have this friend. Sue Bailey, who I met at Otter Cove, she has a flower farm that she started three years ago. So she's like, I would love to do just soil blocking classes, or you know, just anything. She's excited, because we have a room that is going to be for getting dirty. I mean, I consider my parenting Scott style kind of free range chicken, right. I am not great at laundry, but I do a lot of it. They my kids are dirty all the time, just all the time. And and not everyone parents like that. And not everyone thinks about parenting like that. And so let's have a space where the kids can get covered in mud and dirt. And we'll do the same thing that we do at home. You've got the air compressor hooked up. And before they go in the house, or before they leave the building. Yeah, spray them down with the air compressor. And they love it. Right.

Paul Yeager   That might be become the most popular thing is if they can start playing with the air compressor. You know, they look like WreckIt Ralph or something when he's going down the road.

Ginger Claussen   It is that so I buzz cut my boys hair. And that is the favorite part is the leaf blower that we'll use for that or their compressor? Yeah.

Paul Yeager   Okay. As we wrap up here, how can someone assist you did mention 501(C)(3), you have that so someone could write a check if they want, or someone has an idea what should they do to offer their services wherever they may be around the world.

Ginger Claussen   So right now, our 501(C)(3) is submitted, we have not been approved yet. So we have a fiscal host, the Robert Sonsteng Foundation, in Benson, the checks can be written to them and mailed to our PO box, which is 75 in Benson. But really the website is our hub of how we are getting information out right at the bottom of every single page on our website. It says stay rooted in our community and watch us grow. put your email in there and you will every I try every two weeks, you know, because we're doing a lot right now. When we slow down with things, it might become a monthly thing. But that's telling you every update we can you know, and on our website, there's a Contact page, you can join a committee, you can tell us your ideas, you can tell us your thoughts. Type it in right there. So really our website is just where you're going to be.

Paul Yeager   Right website is again, tell me the website: 

Ginger Claussen   MiniSotamuseum.org and Mini Sota is m i n i s o t a museum.org.

Paul Yeager   Fantastic Ginger, I appreciate this so much. You don't seem very excited about it. So I'm glad you were able to ramp it up a little bit for it.

Ginger Claussen   I know I really had to put on a face for you today. I just I have been told though today that my father in law, his his goal has been to get a kid on Market to Market. And my my brother in law's like, oh God, Ginger is gonna be the favorite kid now now, you know, like, just, we're just all gonna be gravy after this.

Paul Yeager   Hey, we're here to help. We appreciate it and invest on the museum. And hopefully, the next time we're up in your country. We'll stop in and see how things are going in the physical sense.

Ginger Claussen   Yes, we are hoping we're running it as hard and as fast as we can. We're trying to you know, the average Children's Museum takes four to five years to start we're trying to do in in 18 months. And I will say are motivated mom. First meeting was the end of November. So we've gotten a lot done in this short amount of time so far. And we're not planning on slowing down anytime soon.

Paul Yeager   All right, Ginger Claussen from Benson, Minnesota and the Mini Sota Agriculture Children's Museum. Thank you so much. Thank you. You can like or subscribe anytime you want on our YouTube channel at Market to Market show new episodes of this podcast come out each and every Tuesday. Thank you so much. You're watching we will see you next time bye bye.