 Reminder: This weekend is the first real test of your New Year's resolution to declutter.
Even if your goal this year isn't to clean house, we have a list of eight ways that decluttering can help you kick off the year with a fresh start and achieve your new year, new you thing. 1. Reduce Stress and Be Happier That clutter in your house could be causing stress. It competes for your attention and makes simple tasks more of a challenge when you can't find what you're looking for. Research shows a direct link between high levels of cortisol (stress hormone) and the amount of stuff in a home. 2. Focus More on What Matters Most in Life Clutter is visual noise that is distracting because it's stuff not being used. It becomes the go-to pile for procrastinators. If you're set on achieving a new goal this year, you need to stay focused and not get distracted by items that might be calling out to you to be finished or "put to use". Don't let small things distract you or drain energy from those more meaningful life goals. 3. Improve Confidence and Self-Esteem Clutter also can make us feel disorganized and overwhelmed, making us feel like we don't have our life together. Each item can also carry with it a bit of guilt. Not only at the cost of the item, but subtle shame in not finishing a project or the feeling that we bought more than we need. The key is to keep what inspires and motivates us. 4. Let Go of the Past This one's a no-brainer. To move on and let go of the past, there are certain items that you should let go of as well. This is a category of clutter all to its own. These items might have a purpose, so you keep them, but they subtly affect your mood. As mentioned above, if the item makes you feel good, keep it; if it drags you down, it's time to get rid of it. 5. Being More Present and Focused Want to be more present and focused this year? Making space and getting rid of things that you don't need is a great way to start. Clutter can be a distraction and feel like another thing on your to-do list. Be in the now. 6. Get Better Sleep With so many benefits of clearing your space and grounding yourself, it's not a surprise that decluttering can improve your sleep. And getting a good sleep is important for recovery and getting recharging your body. 7. Be More Creative This goes hand-in-hand with reducing stress and finding space. When you eliminate the distractions and create a space that improves your mood, you allow yourself to be more creative and finally take on that novel or that baroque ceiling mural idea that you've been putting off. 8. Support Charity and Give Back to the Community If your resolution was to give more to charity and support your community, the Heritage Center is a great place to start. We’re still accepting donations at the north entrance of the Barn, Monday – Friday 10 a.m to 2 p.m. (donation days change in Spring). While decluttering, you might also come across a piece of local history that you might want to share. If that’s the case, please send us an email at [email protected] with a description of the artifact. There are also many other local charities that accept donations, including GracePlace, Goodwill, ReStore (Habitat for Humanity), and FiveLoaves.
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 The historic Victorian farmhouse is now filled with lights, sights, and sounds of the season. The folks at the Heritage Center have been busy decking the halls with boughs and holly in preparation for their annual Holiday open house and Christmas luncheon. Holiday open houses will be held on Saturday Dec. 2 and 9 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The flea market will also be open in the pavilion at the same time for pre-holiday sales. The center's annual Farmhouse Christmas Luncheon is set for Thursday, Dec. 14. There will be two seatings for guests 11:00 a.m. and 1 p.m. Tickets are $12 per person. Call 715-246-3276 for reservations.  Here is a Wisconsin farm girl’s story from 1922, sharply recalled eight decades later.
The storyteller was my mother, Helen Williamson, who grew up in this region and attended a one story country school, very similar to the Camp Nine School at our Heritage Center. I love to picture her as a sensitive young girl, so very troubled by the theft of a pin. – Sara DeLuca The Hat Pin I got my first real dolly on my seventh birthday. Until that time I had played with corncob babies wrapped in scraps of cloth, but now—a doll with facial features, life-like hair, soft body, arms and legs! I named her Emily. Mama sewed a dress for her— a plain blue serge that seemed to beg for decoration. At Christmas time we went to town, five miles by sleigh, to visit Great Aunt Bertha. She had a taste for finery—lace doilies, china cups and saucers, porcelain figurines. (No touching, Mama said.) Great Aunty also had an indoor bathroom— running water, flushing toilet—and I used it frequently that afternoon. From there I slipped into the bedroom, admired a rack of fancy hats, beaded and feathered, and a tiny cushion on the bureau studded with sparkling pins. Standing tiptoe I could barely reach. I fingered one with crystal roses, another topped by an emerald butterfly. The one that really caught my eye held a small glass bluebird and it seemed to fly into my hand, nest in my pocket. (The perfect ornament for Emily!) All the way home it poked me painfully. That night I tried it on my dolly’s dress and it looked fine. But who could I show it to? I hid the pin beneath my mattress, out of sight, not out of mind. It pricked my conscience until spring. Our Easter horse-and-buggy ride to Great Aunt Bertha’s house was long and bumpy, sharp with misery. Again the hatpin rode in my pocket. Finally I would have a chance to make things right. I watched and waited nervously, then stole, like the thief I was, into the bedroom. I had grown over winter and could reach the pincushion easily. I let the bluebird go— dropped it deep into that glassy forest. I was free. image credit: “hat pins” by Jean L. is licensed under CC BY 2.0  On Tuesday, September 12, 2017, three volunteer guides brought Heritage Center artifacts to residents of Our House, an assisted living home in New Richmond. The informal program, presented by Avalene Swanson, Wayne Tubbs, and Sara DeLuca, included a display of several household items used in decades past. Residents were encouraged to share personal memories regarding these common tools of daily living. Items included: rug beater; ball of fabric strips (used for making braided rugs); feather duster; hot water bottle; sad iron and early electric iron; sprinkling bottle (used for dampening clothes before ironing; corn sheller; ceramic crock and wooden masher; canning jar; jar of recycled buttons; milk bottle; coal and ash shovel; embroidery hoop; darning egg (for mending socks); fur muff (a fashionable means of warming the hands); World War II biscuit tin. Nine residents (ranging in age from 80 to 102), one visitor, and several staff members enjoyed sharing stories prompted by these objects. They recalled that daily chores were hard and long. Yet there was real satisfaction in contributing to the well being of family and community. Nothing was wasted. “Recycling” was not a common term in those days, but everything was well used, conserved and re-purposed whenever possible. For example, the heavy sad irons, which became obsolete with the advent of electric irons, made fine doorstops or bookends. They could also be heated in the oven and wrapped in towels to warm a chilly bed. The glass milk bottle prompted a special memory for one gentleman who grew up in Minneapolis. As a young boy, he often rode along on his father’s milk route, helping deliver bottled milk throughout the city neighborhoods. The horses knew the route well and needed little guidance. Several ladies with country backgrounds remembered bringing the cows home from pasture, feeding, milking, separating the milk, whipping the cream and churning the butter. The darning egg was well remembered. Socks with holes in heel or toe were not thrown out but were skillfully “darned” for further use. Someone recalled that mother sometimes slipped a light bulb inside the socks she was mending, which helped her make expert repairs. The Mason canning jar stirred images of large gardens, fall harvests, canning chores, colorful rows of fruits and vegetables lining the cellar shelves, “put by” for winter. Everyone recalled the chamber pot – a welcome alternative to the outhouse, especially on cold winter nights. Avalene, Wayne, and Sara also shared photographs of the Heritage Center buildings, describing the collections displayed inside. Since many residents in assisted living homes and extended care facilities are unable to tour the museums in person, it is gratifying to bring selected items to them and encourage the sharing of personal memories and a common history. Faces light up. Stories begin to flow. For this volunteer guide, it is an ample reward. - Sara DeLuca  On Wednesday, August 23, The New Richmond Heritage Center held their annual membership and appreciation dinner to say thanks to members and volunteers. Paul Mayer, the board president, kicked off the proceedings with a heartfelt thank you from the Heritage Board to the room of over 100 members and volunteers. “In June of 1899, when the cyclone devastated New Richmond, this community had two choices,” Mayer said. “They could pick up and move or they could rebuild. They chose to rebuild. That’s who we are. The volunteers and members in this room understand the importance of that legacy and are willing to donate their time, talent and treasure to make sure that is carried forward. For that, we are all grateful.”  After incoming board members were elected, each member shared committee achievements for the past year and how all the support and participation from the community had made an impact. Many thanks go to those individuals and businesses who contributed to the event. Dessert Sponsor – Culver’s Door Prize Sponsors: First National Community Bank, WESTconsin Credit Union, Bremer Bank, New Richmond Golf Club, 45th Parallel, Shoots & Stems Floral, Countryside Plumbing & Heating, New Richmond Utilities, Westfields Hospital & Clinic, Bernard's Northtown, General Beer Northwest, Covet, Fantastic Sams, Garden Expressions, New Richmond Dental, Simply Staffing, Table 65, Xcel Energy, WITC, Angela Olson Law, Beth's Jewelry Shop.   It would be tackled on a Saturday
When all four daughters were at home to help. Mama ran the job, rewarding speed and sunny dispositions with sweet-smelling chores like pegging clothes out on the line, or gathering in. That wasn't me. I usually sorted dirties in great heaps upon the kitchen floor, never mastering the complex rules concerning weight of fabric, color, odor, depth of dirt. Towels go in this stack, Mama said, unless they're red or purple -- those make a separate load -- they won't be colorfast. Sheets, pillowcases here, school clothing there, except for underwear. Check crotches carefully. The stained ones get a special soak and scrub. Now start that tub of whites – no, not those smelly shirts -- they'll wait till near the end. And barn pants, overalls, go last. The sorting, soaping, dashing, wringing, bluing, rinsing, wringing, rinsing, wringing again, the hanging, drying, taking down and folding up consumed our day. We finally saw the last foul load of overalls go in. Oshkosh B'Gosh went churning in a gray-blue soup garnished with straw. They crawled up through the wringer, somewhat cleaner, though I wondered how. Their buckles caught between the rollers, made them gasp and stall and fly apart. An easy fix, said Mama, to my great dismay. The washer drained out slowly, clogged by a silty mix of soil chaff, manure and broken buttons, stones and screws and God-knows-what-men-put-in-their-cuffs-and-pockets. We made pancakes for supper, too weary for the usual roast or stew. That was some job we did today! chirped Mama. Don't you feel good? We rolled our eyes and sighed, Sure do. --Sara DeLuca  Our farmhouse telephone looked like a creature born of wood and wire. Square-headed, it was fitted out with bulging silver eyes, a long black beak connected to a flaring mouth, a pair of mismatched ears – cylindrical receiver dangling down the left side, short metal crank protruding from the right. It shrilled all day from its position on the kitchen wall, a different ring for every family on the party line and there were twelve of them. We knew them all. LONG-LONG-SHORT-LONG – that brought four daughters running hopefully. The calls were usually for Mama, who fluffed her hair out with a nervous hand, tucked in her blouse and smiled as if her friends could spy right through the snout. - Sara DeLuca  A longtime Heritage Center tradition continues with volunteers sharing bits of history in each of the buildings with area school children. This spring, approximately 960 children plus teachers, assistants and guests visited from New Richmond, Amery, Barron, Cornell, Hudson and Somerset. The tours begin in the Pavilion with an introduction to early New Richmond, farm life and the 1899 cyclone display. Camp 9 School is always a favorite, probably because it is most connected to their lives. Other popular buildings are the Immigrant Cabin, Ubet Store, History Shed, Bell Tierney Farm House and the Blacksmith Shop.  Volunteer involvement is key to the success of the tours. Prior to "tour season" a training was held for new and continuing guides which included a "walk about" in all of the buildings with a brief description in each building. This spring, twenty people graciously shared their time as a guide or shadowed another guide. New guides are always welcome.
Heritage Center tours are not just for children. CONSIDER A TOUR. Schedule a guided tour in one of our buildings or several buildings. Our guides can easily adapt a tour to accommodate your family or organization. There are many areas and opportunities for volunteers at the New Richmond Heritage Center. Send an email to [email protected] with your area of interest. Heritage Center Celebrates |
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