The Farming Families Magazine (SD)—May 2021

May 2021 | www.AgeMedia.pub

Faith / Family / Friends / Farming

of Hutchinson County

Meet

LEE FRIESEN

Lee Friesen is the author of "If A Farmer Gets A Pickup."

Story on page 6.

SPECIAL ISSUE

THE GATHERING SPOTS A visit to the community hubs of yesteryear.

PART ONE: DEPOTS and DOWNTOWNS Eagerly awaiting the arrival of the train at Freeman's depot.

Photo courtesy Heritage Hall Museum & Archives.

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ADVERTISING SALES Garrett Gross, AGE Media (515) 231-9367 garrett@agemedia.pub © The Farming Families, Age Media & Promotion The Farming Families is distributed free exclusively to the farmers, ranchers and producers in rural southeastern South Dakota. 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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5

HUTCHINSON COUNTY FAMILY

MEET LEE FRIESEN: FARMER-TOYMAKER-WRITER

By Bob Fitch

If you give Lee Friesen five hours of tractor time, he will design a new toy. If Lee designs a new toy, it may inspire a comic. If he creates a comic panel, it will nudge him to write a new story during airport layover time.

Olivet area farmer Lee Friesen keeps his entrepreneurial and eclectic mind occupied with everything from sheep, cattle and the corn crop to analyzing crop insurance models to designing toys and a wheelchair-accessible tractor cab to writing comic panels with little life lessons to authoring a children’s book.

The children’s book is called If A Farmer Gets A Pickup and is modeled on circular tales such as the award-winning childhood favorite If You Give a Mouse A Cookie. Lee wrote the book based on his own life-long experiences in farming. “Always on the farm, you want one thing. When you finally get it, there’s always something else you need as a result of getting the first thing. When you buy a new disc, you discover your current tractor isn’t quite big enough. So you have to get a bigger tractor.

When you get the bigger tractor, you might have to build a bigger shed to put it in.

Lee Friesen farms west of Olivet.

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The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | May 2021

“People love how real the story is.

While it wasn’t meant to cause any

heartbreak, I’ve had people tell me it’s brought them to tears. They see how wanting another thing and another and another has caused them to get overextended or something to that effect. Then they’ve had to get rid of things and experience how hard that was. It’s satisfying that it has an emotional tug on people. To me, that means a lot.”

Mostly, though, the story is recognized as fun with a little bit of silliness and a little bit of education for youngsters. “I routinely get letters from people who thoroughly enjoyed the book,” Lee said. “They like finding the hidden rubber chicken on every page.

One gentleman came up to me and said ‘Your book has caused me a lot of trouble. Every morning and every afternoon, my daughter runs up with the book and we’ve got to look at every page until we find that rubber chicken.’”

A number of customers have ordered the book as a gift for a grandchild – only to find they wanted to keep the first copy and, consequently, have to order another one to give as a gift. There are a couple extra pages at the end of the book where adults and children are encouraged to write their own story.

Lee said, “I firmly believe that every person has a book or a story within them. Whether it’s of interest to one person or thousands, stories need to be told.

If you’ve got a story, write it down. Even if you never meet them, your story might be one your greatgrandchildren will appreciate down the line.”

Age Media Qtr Page Color 7-12-19.pdf 1 7/12/2019 11:22:43 AM

Seth, Michelle, Aidan, Addisyn and Lee Friesen.

When people order If A Farmer Gets A Pickup, Friesen usually sends along a small booklet which includes a collection of his “Murphy’s Law Farm” comic panels. “For years, we’ve joked that this place is Murphy’s Law Farm. If it can go wrong, it will wrong. And if it goes wrong, it will go wrong big – and it will go wrong often.

“When I look back on some of the things that have happened out here, you almost have to find the humor. When I was a kid, we borrowed a tractor from a neighbor. It had a cab, something we didn’t have. There was no air conditioning, but it had a radio in it. I started the tractor up and headed to the field. And, of course, I started tuning in a radio station. Fifty feet later, I was through the fence. Fortunately, I didn’t do any damage to the tractor, but who knows how long I spent fixing the fence?

“At the time, it wasn’t a funny thing. When my dad found out, he really didn’t say much. He was always good that way. He said to get the fence fixed and get your job done and make sure you tell the neighbor what happened so he can check things over. It could have been a lot worse.” Lee’s father was the late Dr. Leroy Friesen, a long-time veterinarian based out of Menno. Lee’s mom, Donna, was the business manager for Friesen Vet Clinic.

“The Murphy’s Law comics are not meant to be fall-down, milk-squirting-out-of-your-nose funny. The concept of May 2021 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

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Back-to-back pages from the book "If A Farmer Gets A Pickup."

Murphy’s Law Farm is more in the motivational moment that goes with it. How do you respond when something inevitably goes wrong?

People have written back to me saying their life has been mirrored in the panels. One lady in Missouri asked me: ‘Are you a psychologist?

We’ve been farming for 40 years and every one of those comics has come in to play here in our lives.’”

Murphy’s Law Farm started as Lee simply telling stories to his kids.

In the tractor and when traveling, he started making lists of all the things that have gone wrong on the farm. “One thing led to another.

At first, I thought I should make an article series out of it, but then took it a step further to a comic series. I write ideas down all the time. I have lists on my phone and on my computer to use for future comics. If I’m out choring and I see something amusing or thoughtprovoking, I’ll write that idea down.

Sometimes the ideas are fun or funny and sometimes they’re motivational.”

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The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | May 2021

Lee said he can barely draw a stick person so he has a network of artists who create the drawings to go along with the scenario in each panel. His daughter, Addisyn, frequently helps by adding color and other finishing touches to each panel. Addisyn is finishing up eighth grade at Menno Public Schools. Russian-born Vartan Ter-Avanesyan illustrated If A Farmer Gets A Pickup.

Lee graduated from South Dakota State University and moved to the farm, but he also put his degree in agricultural education to work by teaching in Scotland and Menno for 13 years. During those years, he also earned a master’s degree in computers from Dakota State University.

“During the time I was teaching, I started a little business in farm toys. I had licenses with John Deere, CaseIH, Agco and a couple other companies and started making collectible items.” Inspired by toys his grandfather had made, Lee began designing schematics

of toys scaled down from real machines in the marketplace.

Working with a broker, he’d then meet with manufacturers in China and provide the details of what he wanted. The manufacturers would create a prototype which then needed to be run by the licensing departments at John Deere or one of the other equipment companies.

His company, Lone Tree Creek, successfully produced several different snowmobile toys plus did 40 different designs of keychains, watchfobs, mugs, tokens and a John Deere checkers game.

“We had plans to do many more things, but the economy collapsed in 2008 which hit us real hard.”

In addition, the equipment manufacturers were moving away from license agreements with small companies. But the urge to create toys hasn’t disappeared. His oldest son, Seth, has a degree in mechanical engineering from SDSU. Father and son have started brainstorming, designing and engineering new toy

models through 3D printing and spincasting using zinc and pewter with vulcanized rubber molds.

Lee and Seth are also developing a wheelchair-accessible tractor cab and related ancillary items such as PTO, hydraulics and a wagon hitch which a farmer will be able to hook up from the cab. “For someone who has physical limitations – or is someone like me who just doesn’t want to get out of the tractor – you can do it all from the tractor and it’s safer that way,” he said.

One installment of “Murphy’s Law Farm” and the related motivational moment.

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Lee’s wife, Michelle, works in IT for Avera. Most of her work is done

For several years, Lee Friesen’s company Lone Tree Creek was a licensed manufacturer and distributor for John Deere toys and collectibles. Lone Tree Creek was also licensed by several other manufacturers.

He also owns Reuhl Products, a historical toy company.

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Aidan is wrapping up his freshman year at SDSU. Besides farming, he also sells Big Gain Feed (just like his grandfather did at Friesen Vet Clinic) and Legend Seed.

Lee and Seth Friesen are designing and engineering a wheelchair-accessible tractor cab.

from home. Their middle child, Aidan, is the farmer in the family.

“He’s primarily in charge of the livestock (sheep, goats and cattle) and wants to farm when he’s done with school. He also hopes to go to veterinary school,” Lee said.

On top of the farming, toy designing, comic and book writing, Lee is a crop insurance expert. He works full-time as the delivery manager for research and development at AgriSompo North America. Previously, he worked for Diversified Crop Insurance as the national manager for a program which insured grain farms for their annual gross margin (instead of the typical approach of insuring on total bushels). However, the Canadian group offering that product pulled out of the U.S. and Diversified was part of the merger which created AgriSompo.

Before the merger and the pandemic, he traveled frequently, spending 175 to 200 nights per year in hotels, with countless hours

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The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | May 2021

spent in his car, airports, taxicabs and hotel meeting rooms. All that travel time, combined with tractor time on the weekends, allowed him the space to jot down ideas for the Murphy Law Farms comic and the book If A Farmer Gets A Pickup.

Lee said, “My kids always remind me of the projects I’ve started and haven’t finished. I joke that my mom is my literary agent.

She pushes me along to keep promoting. If it weren’t for her, I probably still wouldn’t have sold a book.” And, just like the farmer in the story, he’s not satisfied with having completed the book – he wants one more thing. “I’ve always wanted to do some public speaking and hopefully Murphy’s Law Farm and this book might lead to some of that. The motivational stuff is really fun for me.”.

If A Farmer Gets A Pickup can be ordered at www.ifafarmergetsapickup.com.

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FINANCIAL FOCUS

WHERE ARE YOU GOING AND HOW DO YOU GET THERE? From Security Savings Bank

No matter what stage of life you are in – starting out, providing for your family, planning for retirement or creating your legacy – having a clear plan will give you confidence for the future.

Benjamin Franklin said, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” The family farm is no different.

Successful families make plans. Farmers do lots of short term planning, such as what crops to plant this year or what genetics should be used.

How and what kind of nutrients should we use?

When or how should we sell? These are all short term plans that farmers need to make each year, but what about the other plans you need to make about your business – the long term plans? These

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The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | May 2021

are the plans that look at: Where are we now, where are we going and how can we get there?

Assessing your present status starts with a financial review and analysis. This should include your current financials and a retirement income analysis.

Where are you going and how do you get there are the strategic parts of the plan. What are your long term goals and what road map are you going to use to make your plan successful? This is where you look at the business structure, succession strategies, legacy or estate plan, and your retirement income needs.

When you look at structure, things to keep in mind are: control issues, profit allocation, income taxation, transferability, and liability protections. Different structures all have different positive and negative characteristics.

Succession strategies need to answer the questions: What does this business look like when I’m gone and what tools are going to be used to get the desired outcome?

The legacy or estate plan can be part of the succession plan but also looks at how the non-farming children are sharing in the success of the operation. This is often where the biggest land mines or heartaches must be addressed.

Last but not least is a retirement plan. You now run a successful business ready to be handed off to your successor, but you must also plan for your retirement. How much income will I need and what resources will be available to generate that income?

When you look at your plans, be prepared for many long discussions. Realize that having meetings to discuss these plans are good and may make you face some tough questions.

However, your plan will be better because of the challenges or questions. Depending on where you are or what life stage you are in, this plan is something that should be revisited on a regular basis to keep up with your operation and the current business environment. You should also assemble a team to help you with the strategies and tactics you will need to make this continuous journey successful. A trusted lawyer, banker, accountant and financial advisor are all people that can be useful in providing the solutions you need to meet all you planning and business goals.

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SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT

MEET MLC CONSTRUCTION AND THE MATHIESEN FAMILY Jason and Elaina Mathiesen.

Children: Jacklyn, 3, Glenda, 2, and Lena, 4 months.

BACKGROUND Jason is a 2004 graduate of Harrisburg High School and now owns MLC Construction, a fullservice contractor. Elaina is a registered nurse and is a native of Sundance, Wyo. They met when both were students at the University of Sioux Falls.

“Following college, I wasn’t able to secure a position at a couple schools where I wanted to teach,” Jason said. “After substitute teaching for a year, I went to work at MLC for the summer. That was over 10 years ago and I haven’t looked back since.”

Jason and Elaina Mathiesen with their children: Glenda, Jacklyn, and Lena.

Photo by Jon Klemme.

Elaina thrives on how nurses are able to help patients and their families. “I wanted to make that difference for people, particularly children and their families. I love providing the best care and compassion people need from health care professionals,” she said.

MLC CONSTRUCTION MLC Construction was started in 2008 by Jason’s parents, Tom and Becky. MLC started as a post and frame contractor for pole barns. Today they also specialize in metal and other high end roofing options as well as all other residential and commercial construction.

MLC Construction prides itself on quality material and workmanship. Jason still believes in doing business with his word and a handshake.

GROWING UP IN HARRISBURG Jason said, “Obviously the Harrisburg I grew up in was much smaller than what it is today. While it still has that ‘small town’ feel today, when I was growing up it was truly a small town. I graduated with about 64 people and we all knew one another and for the most part interacted with one another. I’m not sure kids get that now.”

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FAVORITE MEMORIES FROM HARRISBURG HIGH SCHOOL “I really enjoyed football games and all that came with that,” he said. “Another thing that was great about Harrisburg is the FFA program. I’m glad they still have a strong program to this day. I had a lot of fun and it taught me a ton of life skills that I still use to this day.”

He also fondly remembers his friends and the fun they had together.

INFLUENTIAL TEACHER AT HARRISBURG HIGH “Harrisburg was always blessed with an abundance of awesome teachers. Todd Marks really had an impact on me. Mr. Marks was my football coach, ag/shop teacher, and also my FFA advisor,” Jason said. “Not only did he teach me about classic movies and music (haha!), but I also learned a ton of life skills through his classes, stories and especially with FFA. The events and things that we did in FFA helped develop my speaking abilities and the skills to hold conversations with basically anybody – which is important in the field of sales.

“Mr. Marks also preached integrity – whether it was at football practice, in the classroom, or in his role as FFA advisor. He was certainly one of the greats and sure

stands out when I look back on my time in middle and high school.”

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FAMILY LIFE “Each day has its own story in our busy and hectic life.

My wife works on the weekends, so I turn from construction business owner to Mr. Mom on the weekends,” Jason said.

“It is very cool to see our two older girls interacting and loving on our youngest. We are blessed with very intelligent little girls. Jacklyn is the oldest and is extremely smart and extremely stubborn – which I’m sure she gets from my wife, not me. Glenda is getting old enough now to stand her ground against her sister and they like to butt heads.”

The family enjoys the great outdoors, going for walks, or “adventures” as they call them. Jacklyn likes going to work with Jason. “When the guys are working a Saturday in the summer, she loves to bring them doughnuts or bagels or something like that for breakfast or lunch. I think it’s just so she can help eat the treats. The zoo and butterfly house are also high on our list of places to be.” Jason and Elaina both enjoy hunting and taking their side-by-side for rides around the countryside.

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Elaina said, “Lately, it seems our family tradition is for one of us to have surgery during Thanksgiving week. I had hip surgery while Jason has had a couple shoulder surgeries. And Jacklyn had her tonsils out during Thanksgiving week. Hopefully we’re over and done with this tradition.”

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The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | May 2021

ESSENCE OF THE COMMUNITY Internationally-known Australian artist Guido van Helten painted this mural on the grain elevator in Faulkton, S.D. The Faulkton Area Arts Council works to ensure art has a strong presence in the community and helps draw visitors to the area. Faulkton is located in central South Dakota and has a population of 830.

PHOTOS BY JON KLEMME.

May 2021 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

19

SPECIAL ISSUE

THE GATHERING SPOTS |

TURNER COUNTY

PART ONE: DEPOTS and DOWNTOWNS: A visit to the community hubs of yesteryear.

The train depot in Centerville. Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

Very early days in downtown Centerville. Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

The depot at Chancellor when the town was still wide open to the prairie.

Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

The inside of Ortman’s Mercantile in Dolton. Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

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The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | May 2021

General store at Hooker. Today Hooker is little more than a ghost town with two or three homes and a line of trees on the old railroad bed. Hooker is located northeast of Viborg on a gravel road. Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

The depot at Hooker in 1900. Pictured are Elluis, Kelly and Henry Johnson; and Ole Jacobson. Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

The depot at Hurley in 1902. Photo from Hurley centennial book courtesy Heritage Hall Museum & Archives.

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The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | May 2021

The train depot at Dolton. Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

Downtown Hurley during a celebration. Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

Yesteryear and today on the north side of the Main Street in Hurley. Spomers Market, the bank and a bar are seen in the yesteryear photo, while the photo from today shows Spomers is gone, but the bank, the bar and mid-street parking remain. Yesteryear photo courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

Looking south on Marion’s Main Street. Photo from the Marion centennial book A Tale of Three Cities courtesy Heritage Hall Museum & Archives.

The theatre in Marion. Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

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May 2021 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

23

SPECIAL ISSUE

THE GATHERING SPOTS |

HUTCHINSON COUNTY

PART ONE: DEPOTS and DOWNTOWNS: A visit to the community hubs of yesteryear.

The train depot at Dimock. Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

The train depot at Freeman. Courtesy Heritage Hall Museum and Archives.

Looking south on Freeman’s Main Street. Courtesy Heritage Hall Museum and Archives.

The train depot at Menno. Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

24

The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | May 2021

The Rardin house and the bridge over 12-Mile Creek in Milltown. Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

A view of Main Street in Menno from yesteryear and today.

Several building facades are still the same. Yesteryear photo courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

The old Hutchinson County Courthouse in Olivet. Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

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A birds-eye view of Parkston. Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

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Looking west on Main Street in Parkston in 1909. Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

Fair week in 1911 at Tripp. Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

26

The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | May 2021

The St. Charles Hotel in Parkston. Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

Downtown Tripp. Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

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May 2021 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

27

SPECIAL ISSUE

THE GATHERING SPOTS |

LINCOLN COUNTY

PART ONE: DEPOTS and DOWNTOWNS: A visit to the community hubs of yesteryear.

The train depot at Lennox. Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

Looking north on the Main Street of Lennox. Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

Birds-eye view of Lennox in 1914. Photo from The History of Lincoln County.

Worthing’s railroad depot. Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

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The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | May 2021

The train depot at Harrisburg. Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

Big Shawnee Diner, Spomer’s Market and the grain elevators in downtown Harrisburg.

Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

An aerial view of Fairview along the Big Sioux River.

Above and below: East Wheelock Street in downtown Hudson. Yesteryear photo courtesy city of Hudson.

May 2021 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

29

The train depot at Hudson in the 1940s. This depot building has been re-located to the threshing bee grounds at Granite, Iowa. Photo courtesy city of Hudson.

The railroad depot at Canton. Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

The Gale S. Ward Banking House in Canton.

Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

Above and below: Yesteryear and today in downtown Canton.

Moe’s Department Store in Norway Township near the location of Lands Lutheran Church. Photo from The History of Lincoln County.

Soldiers returning home to Worthing in 1899.

Photo from The History of Lincoln County.

30

O’Tooles Bar was the predecessor of The Tea Steakhouse. Photo from The History of Lincoln County.

The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | May 2021

A 1912 photo of Shindler which was located south of Sioux Falls on Highway 11. Photo from The History of Lincoln County.

SPECIAL ISSUE

THE GATHERING SPOTS |

MINNEHAHA COUNTY

PART ONE: DEPOTS and DOWNTOWNS: A visit to the community hubs of yesteryear.

The train depot at Baltic. Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

The town of Colton. Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

Grain elevator and store at Ellis. Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

An organizational meeting in Renner for rural electrification. Members of the following families were in attendance: Trobac, Flamoe, Moen, Peterson and Brende. Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

The American Legion dugout and municipal band stand in Garretson. Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

Split Rock Creek Park and Dam at Garretson. Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

May 2021 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

31

Above and at right: The quartzite buildings in Dell Rapids continue to make downtown a beautiful gem among South Dakota cities.

Scene inside a general store in Dell Rapids. Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

The depot and grain elevators at Dell Rapids. Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

Businesses in Sherman. Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

32

The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | May 2021

Downtown Humboldt. Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

A view of the Humboldt business district. Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society.

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May 2021 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

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