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Marlys Gillund making Krumkake at Harvest of Hands

Krumkake is a thin cookie baked on a special krumkake iron. It is rolled on a wooden cone while it is still hot.

Marlys Gillund has demonstrated the baking of krumkake since Harvest of Hands first started. Adeline Erickson has helped her roll them for a few years. She enjoy doing it and visiting with the people who stop to watch and purchase them. This is one of her favorite Scandinavian delicacies. She likes to bake and has been baking since she was nine years old. She does a lot of baking around Christmas and gives most of it away.

Marlys also does a lot of Hardanger. This is a delicate form of open work embroidery which originated in the Hardanger region of Norway hundreds of years ago. It gradually spread to other parts of Europe, and eventually came to the United States with the Scandinavian immigrants.

Marlys bought a book and taught herself through trial and error. Everything has to be perfect so when you cut and pull threads, it all comes out right. She makes hundreds of doilies, runners, and other pieces including valances for her kitchen windows.

These two hobbies are something Marlys truly enjoys, and we at Zion are fortunate that she is able to use her gifts to help Harvest of Hands.

Mel first carved as a young boy growing up on the family farm in Anoka county. With a love of wood inherited from his Norwegian grandfather, he saved his few coins and purchased a pocket jack knife at his uncle‟s country store. Wood from old apple boxes, peach crates, and from the local forest was plentiful. He carved many of his own toys such as small animals, sling shots, toy guns, and Whirl-a-Gig wind toys.

In the late 1970s, Mel was re-introduced to carving by a co-worker at the wholesale distribution company where he worked as a farm supplies buyer. He accompanied his friend to a weekend carving show at Northtown Mall. It was there he learned to carve a stylized bird from Honduran mahogany. He went on to carve more stylized and realistic birds, and some waterfowl.

In 1987, Mel saw an interesting pattern for a Santa Claus figure with the suggestion to carve it from the trunk of a discarded Christmas tree. That kind of wood proved to be a bad choice so he used basswood, the wood preferred by most carvers. He carved two Santas in that style, giving one to his wife, Marlys, and the other to her mother, as Christmas gifts. Since then he has carved more than 5,000 Santa Claus figures of many designs. He has also carved hundreds of Christmas tree ornaments, and many other types of carvings. He has many local and out of state customers, and has given many carvings to family and friends, and to charitable fundraisers such as Zion‟s Harvest of Hands.

Mel is mostly self taught. He has taken several classes from well-known Scandinavian carving instructors. He is a member of the National Wood Carvers Association, the Minnesota Wood Carvers Association, and the local Community Education carvers group at the Buffalo Middle School. He is also active with a group of carvers at the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis.

It‟s been a great hobby that has kept an old man “off the streets and out of the coffee shops.”