Midwest Livestock Service

got really dry. I put a lot of fir trees out and we lost 99 percent of those. The following year, I replanted and then we had about 15 inches of rain in less than 10 days. So then they all drowned. The only thing that was really taking was spruce trees. I also went back to pine trees because I knew they were more resilient and take adversity so well. I still plant some fir, but it's just too dry unless you have some kind of daily watering system.” Fortunately, Christmas trees aren’t the only part of their business. When they moved the operation to Lennox, they added a greenhouse to grow annual flowers and vegetables in the spring from seed or tiny cuttings. “We actually start the plants in our house on heating mats under grow lights in an unused room. We call it ‘the library,’” Claudia said. “Tomato varieties are our specialty. We have 4050 varieties of tomatoes and 20 varieties of peppers.”

TOMATOES FOR TUITION

The inspirational roots of their business trace to Tim’s dad, A.J. Wassom, who was an attorney. A.J. frequently planted trees from the Soil Conservation Service and the family usually had a 1-acre garden. “I just kind of enjoyed it as a kid,” Tim said. Enjoyment blossomed into a small business during high school. His family lived on 57th Street in the 1960s and 1970s, long before Sioux Falls sprawled to the south. During his elementary years, Tim spent several years at the public schools in Sioux Falls, Harrisburg and Lennox – his family never changed homes, but the district lines kept moving. During the Lennox years, he was the first-on and last-off the bus, spending 3 hours in transit daily. He finally asked his parents if they

Tannenbaum Tree Farm is located northwest of Lennox. Photos courtesy of Claudia Wassom.

could try something different. In 8th grade, Tim enrolled as the first Protestant at St. Joseph’s Cathedral School; then was one of the first Protestants enrolled at O’Gorman High School. His journey to O’Gorman brings the story back around to growing plants … “In my second year at O’Gorman (1973), I took a $25 savings bond and I bought tomato transplants at Cliff Avenue Greenhouse. I had 500 plants and sold the fruit at $5 a bushel for canners and 50 cents a

Providing Feed and Vet Supplies for over 30 years. We also provide consulting services for feedlot cattle and cow calf pairs.

Check out our website at midwest-livestock.com to see the di erent vendors we carry. | Follow us on Facebook as well! Contact us at 712-477-2355 or at midwestl@alliancecom.net

Claudia Wassom designs and creates wreaths, swags and containers for the holiday season.

pound for slicers. I used the income to pay tuition, which was $500 for the year. I ended up growing and selling tomatoes to pay for my tuition for 3 years.” Few people were raising tomatoes back then. “There were no farmers markets, but a lot of people still liked to can tomatoes. I'd have a little ad in the Shoppers News and then my dad would drive me around on Saturday morning and I would deliver 5 pounds here and 10 pounds there, especially to the older women who lived in apartment houses. I had some restaurants who would buy my tomatoes and I used to sell them to the Tea Steakhouse.”

GROWING TOGETHER AT HIEBERT’S

After high school, he went to South Dakota State University, starting with a major in pre-dentistry. But he changed to horticulture with an emphasis in plant pathology. That led to a 30-year career with Hiebert’s Greenhouse, a wholesale operation which grew spring annuals, Easter lilies, fall mums and poinsettias. (Hiebert’s became part of Natural Beauty in 2012.) Tim became the head grower at Hiebert’s. He and Claudia met there and she later became the company’s production manager, working there for 20 years. “We know all the ins and outs of the greenhouse world, forwards and backwards,” she said. They’re very self-sufficient today, doing all the growing and greenhouse construction themselves.

Claudia didn’t grow up interested in plants. She had a retired uncle who bred horses and had a riding school. She started riding (Englishstyle). Her interest in animals grew and she earned a master’s degree in animal science.

The rest of her back story isn’t a typical South Dakota tale. Her mother was a native German who was working as an interpreter in Canada. She married an American and Claudia was born in Nebraska. But when she was 3 months old, her mother divorced her father – and mother and daughter moved to Hannover, Germany, which is where Claudia grew up. Her first language is German, but she’s always had dual citizenship.

EDUCATING THEIR CUSTOMERS

Tim and Claudia sold their spring crops at a farmers market in Sioux Falls from 2011-2016. They tired of transporting product to and from the market and, in 2017, they built a second greenhouse and started selling from their acreage. They enjoy sharing their knowledge of plants and growing techniques. “We try to make people happy by educating them. Some people really know nothing, especially new gardeners. When Covid hit, people wanted to have their own garden and teaching some of them was like we started with the invention of the wheel. They really soaked that up.”