HELPING NEIGHBORS IS JUST WHAT COUNTRY PEOPLE DO

By Bob Fitch

Don’t underestimate the generosity or the memory of farm folks.

Twenty-nine years ago, Wade Burggraff helped his neighbors who suffered damage from a tornado which swept through the Colton area. “There was a line right across here that was taken out. I went to the neighbor’s with my dad’s skid loader to move trees and used my dad's truck to haul trees, doing all kinds of stuff.” Wade thought no more of it – because helping neighbors is just what country people do.

Fast forward almost three decades and a big wind blew into this part of the countryside again. When the derecho struck on May 12, 2022, Wade and

Jolene Burggraff’s acreage was hit hard as were many farms in the region.

“I bet we had at least 16 to 18 huge evergreens that were probably 75-100 foot tall – every one of them tipped over or broke off,” Wade said. Part of a grain bin crashed into the house and the garbage dumpster blew end over end and landed near the house.

Their daughter, Sommer, was home alone in her upstairs bedroom. After watching a tree get blown down, she moved down to the main level, but it was even more chaotic there. Glasses and dishes in the kitchen were knocked to the floor and shattered. “Yeah, that was crazy. It was not fun. It looked like a scary movie happened. All the drawers and doors were open in the kitchen,” Sommer said. Jolene said, “The house could have fallen down on Sommer or the sheds could have fallen down on the animals. We all were in a different spot when the storm hit. But we all got back here safe.”

The morning after the storm, their neighbors, Tim and Fay Ramstad, pulled into the yard and said an excavator and loader were coming in a hour – and they asked “Where do you want us?” Wade replied, “I can't afford to pay for an excavator and loader, guys.” But Tim said, “I remember 29 years ago you came and helped me, so this is payback time.” Wade said, “That’s awesome to have neighbors who would do that.”

Their son Layne “had seven of his friends from Lennox who came and helped and never asked for a single dime. They just love to help and they’re great boys,” Jolene said. Many other friends came to help and then her boss and others brought food and drinks to feed the volunteers.

Wade said, “I bet you there were 75 to 100 people here working that day. Let me tell you, that many hands can pick up a lot of branches. It was the whole community coming together just to help clean up. After Ramstad’s got done digging holes and moving trees to where I could handle it, they went to the next neighbor and the next neighbor. I mean they just kept going – and they just forgot about their own job for a week or so.” Jolene added, “We couldn’t ask for any better help than we had after that storm.”

Farm Families

Wade has been part of this neighborhood his entire life. He is one of 17 children of the late Joe and Alice Burggraff. His brother operates the nearby family farm today. With 17 children, Wade said, “Come Christmas, we didn't get much because there was just too many kids. But actually we got a lot – because there was a lot of love there.”

Wade’s daughter, Sommer, is a graduate of Tri Valley High School. She went to college at the University Center in Sioux Falls for graphic and web design. She’s works in management at HomeGoods in Sioux Falls. “I'm more of the artsy kid in the family to where I do photography and painting. I designed the brand for their acreage.”

Jolene grew up on the Lennox farm of her parents, Verlyn and Joann Muller. “We raised cattle, sheep and hogs. My brothers and my sister and I were all involved in 4-H and three of us were involved in FFA.” She took part in high school rodeo as a youth and spent a lot of time going to horse sales with her dad. “I was going to the State Fair before I was even old enough to participate in 4-H. My parents would put me on a trolley with a little pillow and a blanket. They’d come back and get me when the show was done. That’s when it was safe to do things like that.”

Her children from her first marriage, Layne and Taylor Kuper, are both veterans of 4-H and FFA. Layne will be a senior at Lennox High School, where he’s active in football, track, FFA and 4-H. He placed ninth in the state last year for dairy cattle judging. During the 2021 Lincoln County Fair, Layne showed the reserve champion market sheep; took first place in sheep showmanship; and was champion of the round robin contest. He lives half-time at Lennox with his father and also works at

Taylor graduated from Lennox High School. She started showing steers at just eight years old. Jolene said, “She was just a little girl with this 1,400-pound Red Angus steer and she was the junior points champion for South Dakota Red Angus that year.” In addition to the Red Angus, she also showed sheep, pigs and goats. “I learned some of the best life lessons that I still carry with me today and met some of the greatest people that turned into lifelong friends,” Taylor said.

Today, Taylor works as a nurse’s aide in the pulmonary department at Sanford; is training to become a registered nurse; plus has a 19-month-old son (Ryver) and another one on the way. Her fiancé, Nick Lunstra, works for Noles Dragline & Construction and they live between Baltic and Renner.

Taylor and Sommer were friends before Wade and Jolene even knew each other. The girls played competitive softball together and their parents met at the first game of the

Six years ago, Wade and Jolene purchased their home and

30 acres east of Colton. They’ve been cleaning it up ever since –and May’s derecho increased the workload. After the storm cleanup is finished, they’ll plant new trees and eventually build a new house. Wade said, “We fell in love with this place when we bought it six years ago. And then all of sudden on May 12th, the trees were gone. But, you know what, we still love it.”

Friendly Conversations

Old house or new house, record winds or a peaceful calm evening … no matter the circumstances, this plot of land where they raise sheep, run a few horses, and bale hay is home sweet home. “When we're here, there's always somebody stopping by or we go to the neighbors. We just sit and have some beers and shoot the bull,” Wade said.

Friendly conversations with their neighbors roll right into the friendly conversations they enjoy at their full-time jobs. Both Jolene and Wade work for Equipment Blades of Tea. “Our customers are easy to talk to. When we go out to the dairies, they're so willing to show you around, and they're so proud of what they have and what they've built. They know what it's like to work hard and we know what it's like to work hard. So we’re on the same level,” Jolene said. Equipment Blades is a distributor of heavy equipment wear parts, including edge systems for skid steers, excavators, bulldozers, graders, loaders and snow plows.

Jolene has worked there about four years. Her job has expanded from caring for the website and blog to now doing inside and outside sales and marketing as well as measuring buckets and equipment. Wade joined the company last November. He manages incoming inventory, organizes and maintains the warehouse, coordinates shipping, and, if need be, does welding repair on buckets.

Wade’s professional life included time as a farm hand and 32 years helping to build fire trucks, first at Willy Siemonsma’s welding shop and then at Rosenbauer in Lyons.

SQUARE BALING: FUN OR NOT?

Off the farm, winter or summer, the family enjoys spending time on their side-by-sides. In the summer, they go to lake homes owned by two of Wade’s brothers. In the winter, they like to travel to the Black Hills to snowmobile. Layne also spends free time hunting everything from pheasant, deer and coyotes to geese and raccoons. He also bow fishes in the creek.

Fun for Wade would be throwing more square bales. Running the machinery and baling hay were two of his favorite chores growing up – and is what he misses the most about not being a full-time farmer. Jolene, Taylor, Layne and Sommer all help with baling, but none of them would classify it as “fun” like Wade does. Sommer said, “With Jolene or me driving the tractor, I think Layne gets the short end of the stick on the baling deal.”

Layne didn’t disagree: “Baling hay is definitely more fun for Wade than for any of us.”

Sommer said Jolene would be lost if she couldn’t spend time with their sheep, especially during lambing season. Jolene said, “There's times I'll sit out there on the bucket and just watch and wait and just be quiet. This is probably weird, but I've always said the best place to cry is the sheep shed. If you need a good cry, you can always go to the sheep shed. I guess it wouldn't be the same if there weren't sheep in there.”