The Farming Families of Lyon County-December 2019

of Lyon County DECEMBER 2019

Meet the

KIMBERLEY Family

Will holding Oliver and Ashlee holding Sullivan.

FAITH

/

FAMILY

/

FRIENDS

/

FARMING

Photo by Laura Marie Photography & Design

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The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | December 2019

of Sioux County PUBLISHERS Garrett and Mindy Gross, AGE Media IOWA MANAGER Bob Fitch, AGE Media DIRECT ADVERTISING INQUIRIES, STORY SUBMISSIONS AND OTHER CORRESPONDENCE TO:

712-551-4123 bob@agemedia.pub © The Farming Families, Age Media & Promotion The Farming Families is distributed free exclusively to the farmers, ranchers and producers in rural Sioux and Lyon Counties. All rights reserved. Content in this magazine should not be copied in any way without the written permission of the publisher. The Farming Families assumes no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or photographs. Content in articles, editorial and advertisements are not necessarily endorsed by The Farming Families and Age Media & Promotion.

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FITCH FOR FARMING FAMILIES

MISSED A FEATURED FAMILY STORY IN 2019?

Bob Fitch

Good stories make for a good magazine. We’ve been lucky to have met some pretty great families over the past eight months. Special thanks to the following families we’ve been fortunate enough to feature in 2019.

SIOUX COUNTY, FEATURED FAMILIES May – Winterfeld, Sioux Center June – Leusink, Orange City July – Ver Mulm, Rock Valley August – Ronsiek, Hawarden September – Tiedeman, Hull October – Ten Napel, Ireton November – Van Maanen, Doon December – Van Otterloo, Rock Valley LYON COUNTY, FEATURED FAMILIES May – Meyer, Lester June – Daren Winkowitsch, George July – Taylor and Kaleb Heyer, Rock Rapids August – Van Regenmorter, Inwood September – Leuthold, Rock Rapids October – De Boer, Little Rock November – Twedt, Larchwood December – Kimberley, Inwood

In addition to our monthly “Keeping Local History Alive” story, we’ve featured rural entrepreneurs, nonprofit organizations who are making a difference in our communities, and the businesses who support the magazine with their advertising.

I’ve also felt privileged to write stories about several rural houses of worship: Grandview Covenant Church, Lebanon Christian Reformed Church, Hope Reformed Church, and Peace Lutheran Church.

If you missed one of the featured family stories or one of the “Focus on Faith” rural church stories, I’d be glad to email you a digital copy of that month’s magazine. Just let me know what month or what story by emailing me at bob@agemedia.pub.

A reminder: If you know a retired farmer or others who want to receive Farming Families every month, we do offer an annual subscription for $50. Email me and I’ll be glad to send you the subscription form.

Finally, because of the success we’ve enjoyed in Sioux and Lyon counties in 2019, Age Media & Promotion is excited to launch The Farming Families of Plymouth County in January.

I hope all of readers and advertisers had a great Thanksgiving and best wishes for a very merry Christmas!

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SIOUX COUNTY FEATURED FAMILY

A FAMILY IN THE WINNER’S CIRCLE

by Bob Fitch Lanae Davelaar; Kati Sokolowski; Rick Davelaar; Kim, Warren, Harvey, Joanne, Joel, Merlin, and Nolan Van Otterloo.

Photos by Brett Davelaar, BD Photography.

After 57 years in the harness racing world, the Van Otterloo family of Rock Valley has got fans from here to the east coast.

“We had a groom out in Delaware who told me: ‘I’ll take a Van Otterloo horse any day of the week. They know what they’re supposed to do and they are behaved. They were taken care of right and were taught how to win,’” said Kim Van Otterloo. Her dad Harvey said, “The trainer in Chicago told us one time: ‘I don’t know what you’re doing, but whatever it is, don’t change.’”

Kim, Nolan and Warren Van Otterloo are partners with their parents Harvey and Joanne in Van Otterloo Stables. Harvey started in 1963 as a driver of

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The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | December 2019

horses owned by Dr. Mouw, a veterinarian in Rock Valley in those days. “I worked for him for a few years, then I got one of my own and then just gradually worked up. As soon as the boys were big enough to get on the cart, then they were driving. They grew up on ponies since they were just little characters.”

Harvey said, “There was kind of a circuit. I’d take my twoweek vacation and we’d take our camper and just go.” Nolan said, “We used to race every weekend. You’d go to Sioux Center, Humboldt, Oskaloosa,

Whatcheer and Des Moines.

We’d pack up the horses and equipment on Friday, get there at night, feed the horses, put up our tent, race them, pack up Saturday late afternoon, and come home – and do it all again the next weekend.

We used to love it. The older I get, the harder it is to do that.”

Harvey said, “We used to go to Owatonna, Minn., and Marshall, Minn., St. Peter, Wheaton – all those towns.”

All that travel created a legacy of fun family memories: Ordering 45 McDonald’s cheeseburgers in the drivethrough to go with their sweet corn; kids riding in the back of Dad’s little red truck with a tarp over the top of it; trying to find a dry place to sleep when it rained; having the Owatonna cop let them sneak into the tractor pull; coming to know the Iowa State Fairgrounds like the back of their hands; and just meeting many other great people in the racing game.

“I’ll never forget that time in Des Moines,” said Harvey. “We got there about 1:00 in the morning. The kids set the tent up on a slant and they put the door to the top. And it poured and poured that night, and then it rained some more. The next morning I stuck my head out of the camper and here was a big bubble on that tent. Those kids came out of that tent just soaking wet, just laughing their heads off.”

The highlight of Harvey’s time behind the reins came in 1981 driving a horse named You Know Who. “One year I won the championship race at the Iowa State Fair with a horse I owned with John Harmelink.

That horse was tough to drive, but he could go. I was one

Cheryl, Robert, Chris and Eric have their business meetings “on the island.”

Harvey Van Otterloo with Blaze.

nervous cat that day. I knew I had a chance to win it.”

In harness racing, horses race at a specific gait (a trot or a pace).

They pull a two-wheeled cart called a sulky occupied by a driver.

North American harness races are restricted to Standardbred horses which tend to be more muscled and longer bodie d than the Thoroughbred. They also typically have more placid dispositions, as suits horses whose races involve more strategy and more changes of speed than do Thoroughbred races.*

Most harness races are one mile long and start from behind a motorized starting gate. The horses commence pacing or trotting and line up behind a hinged gate mounted on a moving motor vehicle, which then leads them to the starting line. At the line, the wings of the gate are folded up and the vehicle accelerates away from the horses.

The driver carries a light whip chiefly used to signal the horse by tapping and to make noise by striking the sulky shaft. As the race nears the three-quarter mile

December 2019 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

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Kim said it’s fun to see the family’s teamwork pay off.

“Seeing the progression, when you get to the winner’s circle and they’re doing what you thought they could do … that’s rewarding.”

Nolan traced their advancement from a racing team to being more trainers and breeders back to a horse named Janimal.

“Janimal was a little crookedlegged horse with a huge heart.

He was the start of something for us. When they brought him home, I said ‘what did you buy that crooked-legged thing for?’

He had rough hair and offset knees. But he ended up being quite a horse.”

Son Warren holds the reins and son Darwin holds the trophy after Harvey Van Otterloo won the harness racing championship at the 1981 Iowa State Fair with the horse You Know Who.

mark, the drivers implement their tactics for advancing their positions – going to the lead early; circling the field; moving up an open rail; or advancing behind a horse expected to tire. Harness horses accelerate during the final quarter-mile of a race usually ending in an exciting and close finish.

These days, the Van Otterloo horses race primarily at Running Aces Casino & Racetrack in Columbus, Minn., on the northern side of the Twin Cities. “It’s really nice to be able to bring your horses to Running Aces,” Kim said. “We have a trainer who takes care of them there. We go up there and help out and come back home. It’s nice to have them in one spot.”

After Harvey retired from the sulky, Nolan took over driving the horses in Iowa races for many years. Today, Nolan is the primary trainer, putting the

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horses through their paces on the small farm on the northwest edge of Rock Valley. But it’s a team effort because all three siblings have other full-time jobs. Warren works for a local farmer, Nolan trucks livestock, and Kim works for Hope Haven.

Before retiring, Harvey worked full-time in maintenance at a local factory.

Kim said, “We fit it in. Our jobs are kind of flexible in case we have to do training during the day.” Nolan said, “For us, it wouldn’t be feasible for this to be a full-time job since we don’t live close to a track.”

While non-family-members are now at the reins on race day, the hard work at Van Otterloo Stables is what gets the horses to the winner’s circle. “The horses are just like any other athlete. These horses need a base, their training miles,” Nolan said.

The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | December 2019

Warren said, “I can remember his first race. Nolan drove him and he came off the track and said ‘I think we’re going to eat our words.’” Janimal ended up being undefeated in Iowa races.

Nolan said, “We kept growing from that point. We get the horses going good and then we try to sell them.”

Every year during the first full week of November, they travel to the Standardbred Mixed Sale in Harrisburg, Penn., looking for the right additions to their small herd. Some horses in the industry can sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Nolan said, “You’ve got to know your system. If we went out and bought one of those high-priced horses, first of all, my wife wouldn’t let me back in the house. Honestly, we don’t even make eye contact with a horse that goes for that kind of money. Sometimes we’re described – jokingly – as ‘bottom feeders.’” Kim said, “We look for the bargains. We have our price range and we know what we’re looking for.”

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In addition to Van Otterloo Stables, Harvey and Joanne’s son Merlin also has a similar horse racing operation with his children Erica, Kyle and Joel. Harvey and Joanne’s granddaughter Kati Davelaar Sokolowski got her sister Lanae and her dad Rick Davelaar into the business as well.

Nolan said, “It’s a family thing. My kids, nieces, nephews, brothers, sisters, Dad, brother-in-law – we’re all in it. The time you spend together, the family has a lot of fun.”

Harvey said the Van Otterloo and Davelaar crews had five horses at the Running Aces championship series this year. Four of the five horses walked away as champions.

Nolan said that was a good ending to a tough year when many of their horses were sick.

BD PHOTOGRAPHY Brett Davelaar

“Our goal is to raise a quality racehorse whether we raise it from a baby or we buy it from the sales,” Nolan said.

“We put the time in – the goal is always to get them to the races and to the winners circle – and do it the right way. The reward is a good feeling with all that work you’ve put in.” *Reference source: Wikipedia

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KEEPING LOCAL HISTORY ALIVE

Photo by Gary Wann on Unsplash

Boeing B-17 Sally B at the Flying Legends Airshow 2017

DECEMBER 1942:

B-17 BOMBER CRASH LANDS NEAR NEWKIRK 2 a.m. on December a snow-covered field below.

Seventy-seven years Around 15, 1942, a B-17 “flying fortress” As the plane circled, those ago on a foggy made an emergency landing aboard spotted a church spire in rural Sioux County after its directly below, which may have December night, a radio had failed en route from been the tower of the Newkirk City to the air base south church.”

B-17 bomber crash Rapid of Sioux City. According to the Siouxland: A History of A report in the Sioux County landed after buzzing book Sioux County, Iowa: “Having Capital said: “It landed first over the steeple of no radio contact with anyone, on its belly (landing wheels the pilot, aware that his fuel retracted) on the Jake Van the Newkirk supply was running danger- Es farm in a cleared field, slid low, began to look for a along for about half a mile and church. ously clearing in the fog to attempt finally came to rest on a rise a landing. The captain ordered all crew members to bail out, but they said they would rather take their chances with the plane. Meanwhile, the pilot, flying low, saw a break in the fog and clouds and made for 12

The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | December 2019

on the Dick Van Es farm, two miles north, five miles east and another half mile north of Orange City. The plane jumped a road but went under the REA highline which skirts the road.

It dove neatly between the

From the Hawarden Independent.

From the Sioux County Capital.

highline poles, took down a light fence and stopped in a stubble field.”

The Sioux County history book said two men were left guarding the plane and the other six members of the crew set out in the darkness to find a farmhouse.

“After walking eastward for about one quarter of a mile, they came upon a farmhouse. They knocked at the door and were shortly greeted by Henry Ver Doorn, who, being informed of their plight, invited the airmen inside. The captain was soon in contact by telephone with the air base at Sioux City, informing them of their position and circumstances. Meanwhile, Mrs. Ver Doorn prepared coffee and sandwiches for the men.”

Ver Doorn then drove the crew to a hotel in Sheldon. “The next morning officials from the air base arrived to survey the damage and decide how to get the plane out of the field. Finally, it was thought best to repair the damage and fly the bomber out, rather than to dismantle it and truck it to Sioux City,” said the Sioux County history book.

The report in the Sioux County Capital said: “The four propellers of the plane are badly bent but otherwise the bomber looks unharmed except for the bottom turret. Mean-looking machine guns stare the visitor in the eye and the curious are kept back about 50 feet from the plane. The fortress is closely guarded but

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can be seen for a good mile as it rests on top of a rise. The high, single tail looks as a big as a house from a distance.”

The report in the Rock Valley Bee said: “The men on guard became quite adept at parrying questions as to why they crashed, where they were going and so on. When someone suggested that they had run out of gas, one of them intimated that they didn’t have their gas ration book along.

One story was that the pilot had just missed hitting the spire of the Newkirk church.”

The Sioux County history book said a runway had to be constructed over the frozen field. “For this a road grading machine and caterpillar tractor were used. A tent large enough to house thirty men was put up

From the Rock Valley Bee.

and provisions were brought in for their needs. Guards were stationed around the area to keep the curious away. During January the weather turned bitterly cold. One day some women belonging to the Hospers American Legion Auxiliary treated the men with hot oyster stew and homemade pies.”

On January 14 with an air force colonel at the controls, the plane took off from the temporary runway “and gracefully made a wide curve toward the south on its way to Sioux City.”

Sources • “Siouxland: A History of Sioux County, Iowa.” By G. Nelson Nieuwenhuis, 1983.

• Sioux County Capital, December 17, 1942.

• Rock Valley Bee, December 18, 1942.

• Hawarden Independent, December 24, 1942.

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ENDING THE DAY. PHOTO BY BRETT DAVELAAR BD PHOTOGRAPHY

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LYON COUNTY FEATURED FAMILY

PERFECT GROUND TO GROW A GOOD LIFE

by Bob Fitch

The Kimberley family of Calico Skies Vineyard and Winery: Will holding Oliver, 4, and Ashlee holding Sullivan, 1-1/2. Photo by Laura Marie Photography & Design.

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The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | December 2019

Farming has a little bit different look on a ridge high above the Sioux River Valley west of Inwood. Will and Ashlee Kimberley make a living for their family raising crops on just seven acres of land.

The grape harvest at Calico Skies starts in August and continues until the end of September.

Will and Ashlee grow grapes at their Lyon County business called Calico Skies Vineyard & Winery. While it doesn’t take of lot of land, getting just the right plot of land is essential. “This land checked every box we had on our list – aesthetically and all the agronomic factors,” Will said.

“Everything was perfect here.

Good soil drainage is essential.

You can adjust fertility, you can spray micro-nutrients and you can fertilize, but it gets pretty hard to retroactively fix drainage issues. You can put in drain tile, but the act of doing that can rip up roots and you’re going to be spending a lot of money.

“The topography up here also helps drain cold air away from us and down into the valley so

we don’t get frost very often. If you have a vineyard in a valley, you’ve lost already – half the years your crop is going to be hit by frost,” Will said.

The Kimberley’s met while both were majoring in horticulture at Iowa State University. Will’s emphasis was actually in golf course management and maintenance. After graduation, he moved to California and became an assistant golf course superintendent at PGA West, home of the Bob Hope Golf Classic.

Ashlee later began an internship in Santa Barbara, Calif. Will said, “I got a motorcycle and every weekend I went and picked her up, and we went to wineries like crazy that whole summer. We got obsessed

with wine.” They were married in 2007 and Ashlee joined Will as a California resident. But they both knew they wanted to move back to Iowa. Will had grown up in an 800-person town near Des Moines and Ashlee is a native of Inwood.

Her parents are Damon and Susan Bahnson who farm north of Inwood.

Their obsession with wineries led them into intensive study both in California and in the Midwest. For three years, they worked on their business plan and took classes on winemaking and grape growing.

“We worked at a small winery out there on weekends. After 2 1/2 years, we had a good enough business plan and took it to a local banker here who bought into our idea. Then we

December 2019 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

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you don’t see the symptoms until September. If you’re not on a schedule, you can’t just react. If you’re not on a schedule, you don’t have a crop.” Consequently, for a lot of people who raise grapes as a hobby, they often don’t have a crop because they’re not as diligent as they should be with their fungicides.

While raising grapes for wine is an intensive activity during the season, the pressure lets up a little bit after the fall harvest – until February when pruning begins. “Pruning happens once your coldest day is past you so that whatever is going to die because of cold – branches or new shoots – is dead,” he said.

Oliver Kimberley helps with the grape harvest.

were able to get going and find the right land.”

sets down, we’re getting full sunlight.

Ten years ago – Thanksgiving 2009 – they found the spot they were looking for. They moved to Inwood in January 2010. “Then that whole summer we spent training the vines, and weed control was just constantly a hassle. Building the trellis and keeping the weeds away was a full summer’s work. It was just the two of us working that summer,” he said.

“It’s super important to be able to plant the rows exactly northsouth,” he said. “Having a gentle south slope allows you to do that. If you have too aggressive a slope, your soil under the vine is just going to erode away.

Having the perfect north-south rows is so important because of the sunlight factor. We have the exact same amount of sunlight on the east side and the west side of the vines so we get the same amount of sugars on both sides.

“It’s a sensitive enough crop that if you accidentally do 2 of 5 major things wrong, you’re never going to make it,” Will said. “We learned through our classes how often people make big mistakes at the outset that just doom them.

“The huge things are soil drainage and topography.

Gentle south slopes are good for sun penetration. It’s mostly pasture around us so there are many hours of sunlight. We are never shaded by anything.

From the second the sun comes up in the morning until the sun 20

“You’re going for even ripening so when get to harvest day, everything is just where it should be. The exact chemistry everywhere is what you’re going for which makes the wine taste good.”

Will said their biggest enemy in the vineyard is fungal diseases.

“We have a preventative fungicide schedule. Different fungal diseases can hit you.

With a lot of them, you might get infected in mid-June, but

The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | December 2019

“We usually start pruning in late February. And by ‘we,’ I mean my wife. Ashlee does all the pruning by herself. She’s a lot faster than I am. She manages the vineyards completely except I do all the spraying.

“Pruning is one of those tough jobs in that it might be only 10 degrees out. You’re out there as long as you can stand it. It takes 9 or 10 weeks.” They have about 3,800 vines over 7 acres.

Because disease or hail or other disaster can shut a vineyard and winery down completely, most have multiple sites or buy from other growers. Prior to launching their business, they met a family in Osage, Iowa (south of Albert Lea, Minn.), who had already planted all the varieties the Kimberley’s were planning to grow. “They were coming up on their first production year in 2010, and we needed grapes in 2010, so we contracted with them to take all of their crop. That way, in August, we could start making wine. If you’re going

to open in 2011, you’ve got to start making wine in 2010.” The first year they made wine with grapes from their own vineyard was 2012.

“You can’t depend on just one specific geographical site for grapes – because we’ve had everything happen to us. We’ve had hail that really brought the crop down quite a bit; frost is a semi-common thing; we had 2-4D drift from a neighbor that had a multi-year effect on our yield. We knew that going into it and so that’s why we entered into a long-term agreement with this other vineyard.”

Will said they never sell any of their own grapes. “We’re always desperate for our crop.

We use theirs to balance ours.

We had a huge crop this year – but they had almost no crop.”

In a typical good year, Will and Ashlee’s own harvest will yield 25,000-30,000 bottles of wine. Combined with the grapes from Osage, they yield 45,000-55,000 bottles of wine.

“Harvest usually starts the second week of August with one variety that we pick underripe for the best flavor. Then there’s usually one or two weeks off. The last week of August and the following four or five weeks, we’re harvesting every week. We’re almost always done right before we get to October,” Will said.

“For us, when the crop is ready, it has to come out now. Every week you leave it out there too long, there’s massive loss. There’s not very much of a buffer.” For the first time

this year, Calico Skies hired a migrant crew to harvest the grapes. Previously, they’ve harvested with volunteer labor, but were finding that much harder to come by. Also, the migrant crew got the work done much faster. Previously, their volunteer crews of about 20 people could harvest one acre in five hours. A migrant crew of 19 harvested three acres in eight hours.

The Kimberley’s hands-on approach to both growing the grapes and making the wine represent a personal philosophy they want to maintain. Often, larger wineries will buy bottles of wine from others and put their own label on it. “But that’s something we’d never do,” Will said. “It would take the fun out of it for us.”

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December 2019 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

21

sugar and make alcohol. Most wines are 12 percent alcohol because most grapes ripen at 24 percent sugar. A lot of red wine grapes aren’t harvested until they are 26 percent sugar, turning into 13 percent alcohol.

Fur ther processing – fermentation, settling, and filtering – takes about a year.

Using a traditional dough and sauce, Calico Skies makes pizza on-site in a woodfire pizza oven Will Kimberley built himself from instructions on a YouTube video.

Calico Skies Vineyard and Winery near Inwood hosts about 24 weddings in the summer and 12-20 corporate events or parties in the winter. There’s live music every Sunday from 2-5 p.m.; a quarterly wine club event; a murder-mystery dinner show every other month; an open house anniversary party in June; a stomp festival at harvest time; and a champagne festival on New Year’s Eve.

While Ashlee is in charge of the vineyard, Will is the winemaker.

“I do everything by myself except bottling, just like she can do everything by herself except for harvest.” She has some high school students help in the vineyard in the summer and he has students help with bottling.

22

After harvesting the grapes in August and September, the clusters are run through a de-stemmer which works much like a combine to separate the grapes from the stems. From there, the grapes move through the press and into a tank. In the tank, yeast is added to eat the

The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | December 2019

Despite all the time and expertise involved in the growing and winemaking, Will said the entire success and failure of operations like theirs boils down to marketing and sales. “We feel like we have the best wine around, but that’s not what makes your business.

You have to attract people, you have to have the pricing right, and you have to control costs.

It’s not just a free ticket to have the best wine. Your employee management ends up being such a giant part of the mental work of your business.”

Calico Skies typically has several full-time and part-time people managing retail sales and events. The winery hosts about 24 weddings in the summer and 12-20 corporate events or parties in the winter.

There’s live music every Sunday from 2-5 p.m.; a quarterly wine club event; a murdermystery dinner show every other month; an open house anniversary party in June; a stomp festival at harvest time; and a champagne festival on New Year’s Eve. “We also do bingo once a month. It’s actually become one of our biggest things,” Will said. “We get between 200300 people each month to come. It’s called Wine-BingoPizza. It’s a pizza buffet and people drink a lot of wine. It’s

ends up being a fun thing. It just works as an easy thing to do with people you like.”

Using a traditional dough and sauce, they make the pizza on-site in a woodfire pizza oven Will built himself from instructions on a YouTube video. “There are things that are a passion of ours that we do partially for the success of that individual thing, but partially we do for our brand. Like our wood-fired pizza … you can make pizza a million ways that are cheaper than wood-fired pizza. But when we were trying to figure out what kind of food we wanted to do, that’s what we ended up liking. Even though it’s more work, it makes us stand out. That’s what makes it fun for us,” he said.

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On May 6, 2020, Will and Ashlee will mark 10 years from the day they planted their first vines. “We’re doing well enough that we’re happy with our direction. And it’s fun. It’s a good life.”

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December 2019 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

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FOCUS ON FAITH

Pastor Bill Loefke Lutheran Church leads worship in the Peace Lutheran Church altar area which was recently refurbished. The altar, lectern, pulpit and baptismal font – all originally built by Don Winterfeld’s grandfather – were refinished and restored this year. Also refurbished was the cross behind the altar which was originally crafted by Dave Heuer’s grandfather. In addition, the church completed other technological, electrical and carpeting improvements. Photos by Marissa Rehder.

PEACE LUTHERAN CHURCH:

PLANTING SEEDS BY FAITH

by Bob Fitch

Dave Heuer’s family has been worshipping at Peace Lutheran Church for about a hundred years.

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The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | December 2019

While that legacy is important, he and other church members are more focused on the future and ensuring Peace continues to be welcoming for generations both young and old.

“What’s good about the church? I’d say pretty much everything. We’re all believers in Christ and we all get along extremely well,” said Dave, who lives with his wife Sandy in Rock Valley. The church is located in Sioux County’s Plato Township and he believes one of its strengths is drawing from several different communities including Sioux Center, Rock

Valley, Hawarden, and the local farm population. The spirit of the German immigrants who rallied together to create the church in 1891 lives on. “When there’s a time of trouble, we all band together and take care of that issue.”

Unlike some rural co n g re g ati o n s , P e a ce ’s membership is diverse in terms of age. Pastor Bill Loefke said, “I’d say we’re blessed with a lot of little ones. When you’re walking out here in the narthex after church, you’ve got to be careful because you’ve got these knee-high or younger kids toddling around.”

Trent Rehder of Hawarden represents the fifth generation of his family to attend Peace.

“We have three small children we bring to church. One thing that really sticks out to me is how comfortable our girls

are here. They’re comfortable around everyone in church. It’s a lot more fun to bring a child to church when they’re excited about it.”

Trent’s wife Marissa agreed.

“Our kids and other kids know they’re loved when they walk in here. They’ve got aunts and uncles and cousins here. Even the people who aren’t direct family members pick them up, carry them around church, and love on ‘em. It’s a very unique atmosphere.

“It’s an emotional thing, it’s a spiritual thing,” said Marissa.

“It’s not just an individual place to come to worship. I really believe people come here not only for the spiritual aspect but for the emotional bond with each other, with the way we worship. This church renewed my faith.”

Pastor Bill said, “One of the important pieces for me as a pastor is to make sure everyone has a voice. When you’re 20-30-something, you tend to be focused on raising your children. Typically the older, well-established members are going to step up financially if there’s a big project. But that doesn’t mean that the younger people and their ideas aren’t important and amazing.”

Dave said that the church has added new technologies as a way of transitioning from one generation to the next.

Peace Lutheran has updated all of its sound equipment and added high resolution television screens in the sanctuary, narthex, the basement and kitchen.

Pastor Bill said, “The same technologies used in the business world today can be harnessed for the church. It also gives a way for the younger people to use their skills and make them feel part of it. We want to give people permission to play out their dreams, talents and abilities.”

Bridging generational communication gaps has played an important role in the church’s success. “You must communicate in good faith where you’re both speaking and listening,” Pastor Bill said.

“People in all age groups are figuring out what their role is and where their place is and how they can contribute, not only to the church today, but to the church a year from now and 10 years from now.”

Pastor Bill Loefke

He praised leaders like Trent, who was the youngest church council president he’d ever worked with. “And it turned out that the council and Trent’s work was amazing. We did a lot of things and moved in a really great direction. I’m thankful December 2019 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

25

that the congregation saw fit to give him that opportunity.

Trent and Marissa and others like them have brought ideas and a refreshing spirit.”

Radio ads, a strong website and social media presence, and live-streaming sermons on Facebook has also led college students to visit Peace looking for connections with their Lutheran heritage.

Pastor Bill said qualities such as the message, the music, and the people have brought visitors to the church. Peace Lutheran has also been a refuge for hurting people. “As there is stress or strife that rises up in other congregations, people have shown up at our door. And they’ve ended up joining us for the very reasons we’ve talked about. We welcome them at the door and welcome them into this fellowship. I’ve sat with

Peace Lutheran Church focuses on its future through strong programs for youth and a welcoming atmosphere for young families.

some people in my office for two or three hours just letting them tell the pain of their story.

It gives meaning to the word sanctuary. A sanctuary church is where you’re safe and where you can come to heal.”

Peace Lutheran has active outreach and benevolence efforts, supporting missionaries in Africa, Alaska and Colorado.

Plus the church supports local ministries such as Love Inc. and The Banquet. Marissa said the congregation has provided school supplies and backpacks to children in need in Sioux Center, Rock Valley and Hawarden. In addition, they provided additional supplies this year to the West Sioux district where she works.

The church has a long tradition of donating to the local food pantry on Thanksgiving Eve and participates in Operation Christmas Child. There’s a special reverence for the veterans buried in their cemetery and they annually participate in Wreaths Across America in December. Peace Lutheran Church has multiple Bible study groups, a growing Sunday school program, and a resurgent youth program.

Pastor Bill especially enjoys wo r kin g with Le b a n o n Christian Reformed Church and the Carmel Reformed Church on a National Day of Prayer service held on a rotating basis amongst the three congregations. He grew up on a dairy farm in western New York. His wife, MaryAnne Nelson, is a retired Lutheran minister.

Peace Lutheran Church is located in Plato Township northeast of Hawarden, south of Rock Valley, and west of Sioux Center.

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The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | December 2019

Peace Lutheran Church traces itself back to the early 1870s when German settlers arrived in northern Sioux County. At first, the immigrants gathered together for worship in homes and schoolhouses. But, in 1891, a

mission pastor helped establish Peace Lutheran Church in Plato Township and, in 1892, the first resident pastor was called.

The church building was built on two acres of land donated

by Hans Moeller Sr., one of the original members of the congregation. The same land is still home to the parsonage, church building and cemetery.

When the church building was destroyed by a tornado in 1902, the congregation persevered and rebuilt.

The first services in English were provided around 1905, although all services weren’t changed from German to English until World War I; and the church constitution wasn’t translated to English until 1929.

In 1951, the congregation had its largest membership with 301 baptized members. So, in

1952, a daughter congregation, Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, was established in Rock Valley.

Peace and Our Savior’s shared a pastor from 1952 to 1982.

While membership fell during the dark days of the 1980’s farm crisis, Peace Lutheran carried on. “We’ve been bigger and we’ve been smaller. But the good Lord always puts it together for us,” Dave said.

“It’s the same thing here – you can choose to plant seed or you can choose to keep the seed in the bag and it never hits the ground. Then what happens? Nothing. Or you can step out in field. You walk and you plant seeds by faith.

And trust God for the rest. But you walk faithfully. It’s true as parents, as church members and farmers.”

Pastor Bill said growing the church is much the same as the challenge farmers face growing a crop each year. “In the spring, a farmer goes out in the field with a handful of seeds. He can minimize his risk to some degree, but he’s not in charge. At the end of the day, he’s totally dependent on the quality of the seed, the weather conditions, the time of the planting, and the amount of rain.

Children singing during a worship service at Peace Lutheran Church.

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December 2019 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

27

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

John Wallenburg, Double HH plant manager, showcasing an array of Double HH products.

MANUFACTURING WITH A MISSION

by Bob Fitch Many local farmers are familiar with Double HH Manufacturing and its distinctive red-handled hitchpin. It was the first hitchpin with a heavy-duty, red plastisolcoated head and wide grip handle. In recent years, their Lockease pin has gained great popularity.

But did you know the income from Double HH Manufacturing helps support the ministry of Hope Haven, a charitable organization based 28

in Rock Valley? Hope Haven was founded in 1964 as a Christian charity to provide services to people with disabilities in its community. It provides a variety of services and supports in Iowa and Minnesota including but not limited to: employment planning, job placement and support, intermediate care facility, residential care facility, home based habilitation homes, residential-based supported community living for children,

The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | December 2019

supported community living hourly drop-in services for children and adults, supported living services, as well as respite for children and adults.

Since 1994, Hope Haven International Ministries has provided more than 126,000 wheelchairs to people in 109 different countries. Wheelchairs are collected throughout the continent and sent to wheelchair workshops in the Midwest. Volunteers in Iowa,

Minnesota, and South Dakota – along with inmates from the South Dakota State Penitentiary – manufacture, rebuild, and repair donated wheelchairs to nearly new condition.

The Double HH story began as an outgrowth of the vocational training and employment work done by Hope Haven's Work Training Center (WTC) For many years , Hope Haven WTC performed light machining, assembly, and packaging work for local manufacturers in the Rock Valley area. “One of the manufacturers we worked with was Kooima Machine.

They had a hitchpin they were making for the local farmers.

Our supported employees put the rings for the handles in, and painted it,” said John Wallenburg, Double HH plant

Double HH has come a long ways from their first hitchpin (left) to today’s wide variety of sizes of hitchpins with their heavy-duty, red plastisol-coated head and wide grip handle. Their Lockease pin (center) has gained great popularity in recent years.

manager, who started working for Hope Haven in 1978.

Wallenburg said in the early 1970s the core of Kooima’s manufacturing business was moving in a different direction.

“So owners of Kooima said, ‘why don’t you take this on?’

and they gave us the hitch pin to manufacture and sell. And they also gave us a couple machines.”

Initially, the hitchpin was sold direct to farmers in the area.

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(712) 722-2501 | 153 N Main Ave., Sioux Center, IA 51250 December 2019 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

29

Double HH maintains an integrated manufacturing/distribution operation, where persons with disabilities work alongside other employees.

design. With that information, Hope Haven employees developed the pin with the larger handle and collar, plus the red plastisol, for a unique appearance.

Based on that same farmer input, the pin was heat treated to improve wear and overall field performance.

In 1998, Hope Haven's Work Training Center became Double HH Manufacturing, and moved to a new building in the industrial park, Double HH started off with about 30 employees, many of whom had disabilities. Currently the company has 62 employees.

Double HH maintains an integrated manufacturing/ distribution operation, where persons with disabilities work alongside other employees.

“The hitchpin kind of exploded from there. We started getting requests for quotes from other people who asked if we could make a certain type of pin. We started out small and unique, and now we’re producing about 400,000 of these hitchpins a year,” Wallenburg said.

The ag market makes up about 40 percent of their sales. In addition, Double HH serves a wide variety of 30

manufacturing industries and partners: agricultural, industrial, heavy-duty trucks, vehicle hitch manufacturers, metal fabricators and much more. The company provides components for various markets including recreational vehicles, military equipment, physical fitness machines, and railroad locomotives.

Some pins and related products are no longer economical to make in the U.S. and so are purchased from overseas and resold by Double HH as a service to their customers.

However, the organization is well-positioned to continue to thrive because of the level of personal service provided and the ability to develop and custom-produce new products. “We can cater to unique situations. And many people want to be face-toface or at least be able to have easy communications over the phone,” said Wallenburg.

“When push comes to shove, you’ve got to get the parts out the door, and that’s how you keep your customers coming back. That customer relationship is so important.

Working with people who know you care, they appreciate that,” he said.

The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | December 2019

Not many businesses, let alone not many nonprofits, can point to a track record of stewardship such as that maintained by Double HH over the past 21 years. Through the economic ups and downs of the last two decades, Double HH has contributed to the mission of Hope Haven through its strong revenue and by providing an avenue for employment for persons with disabilities .

“Hope Haven and Double HH want to help our supported employees reach their fullest potential. They take a lot of pride in their work and there is a lot of pride for them when they get that first paycheck,” Wallenburg said. Hope Haven believes employment is an important facet of any person’s life; it is not only a way to make a living, but also a way to make friends, meet social needs, and contribute to the community.

FROM THE KITCHEN CANDY CANE COOKIES From 1960 cookbook of Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Inwood Mrs. Walter Matzen

INGREDIENTS: • 1 cup soft shortening (1/2 butter) • 1 cup sifted confectioner’s sugar • 1 egg • 1 1/2 tsp. almond • 1 tsp. vanilla • 2 1/2 cups sifted flour • 1 tsp. salt • 1/2 cup crushed peppermint • 1/2 cup sugar • 1/2 tsp. red food coloring

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix soft shortening, confectioner’s sugar, egg, almond and vanilla. Sift together and stir in flour and salt. Divide dough into halves. Blend in red food coloring into half the dough. Roll each color dough into a strip about 4 inches long. Place strips side-by-side, press lightly together and twist like rope. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Curve top down for handle. Bake about 9 minutes. While warm, sprinkle with mixture of peppermint and sugar.

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