SVM Ag Magazine - Spring 2025 by Shaw Media

A local farmer coaxes herbs and veggies from rockwool and water. When a photo opportunity knocks, a Dixon photographer opens the barn door.

Forreston High FFA helps people discover their blossoming talent. There’s a lot of inFARMation packed into census numbers.

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16 On your Mark, get set, grow

A Carroll County business owner does more than just sell seed and feed, he likes get to know the people who grow.

4 Mr. Clean Greens

Growing food doesn’t have to be a dirty job, just ask a local farmer who can coax herbs and veggies from rockwool and water.

10 ‘It’s real America’

When a photo opportunity knocks, a Dixon photographer opens the barn door to tell the stories of farmers and their families.

23 Making a splash of color

The Forreston High School FFA has worked out a nice arrangement: Giving people a chance to discover their blossoming talent.

28 100 years of inFARMation

When it comes to census reports, ag is just a number, but those numbers have a lot to say about our area’s farm history.

rop farming has long been a big part of Michael Koster’s life, always striving to find better ways to get the most out of what he grows.

That ever-growing curiosity has led the Sterling farmer down a different path recently — but it wasn’t a dirt path.

Koster has tapped into the world of hydroponics, a soil-free system where plants are grown primarily in nutrient-rich water, and since dipping his toes in the water, he built a two-bay, gutter-connect greenhouse on his property last year, planted his first seeds in June, and recently begun selling a variety of his leafy greens at local markets.

Koster has grown at least 16 types of vegetables and herbs: lettuces such as regular and red buttercrunch, Batavia, bicolor oak leaf, and mini red and green romaine; as well as arugula, basil, bok choi, chives, cilantro, kale, kohlrabi, parsley, spinach and watercress.

Hydroponic growing is a more efficient way of delivering nutrients to the plants, Koster said.

“The biggest difference is that the plants are grown in water instead of soil,” Koster said. “If you put a plant in soil, the only way you can deliver nutrients is to just dump it on the soil and it becomes the plant’s responsibility to try and reach the nutrients in the soil. We put the nutrients in the water and the water is constantly going to the plant. The nutrients always are available to the plant when they need them.”

It also adds a level of comfort to customers who prefer the transparency of waterbased growing, knowing exactly what’s going into their greens, as opposed to the uncertainty of unknown elements that can come from soil-based growing.

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ALEX T. PASCHAL/APASCHAL@SAUKVALLEYMEDIA.COM

“You’re not subject to any contaminants that’s already in the soil,” Koster said. “We’re enclosed here. When stuff is growing out in an open field, you’ll have an animal or a bird that poops on the stuff and it only gets washed off somewhat and gets sold, and that’s a common way E. coli gets into produce.”

Customers also appreciate being able to get fresh greens all year.

“It’s nice to supply the community with a fresh, clean product that you can get year-round,” Koster said. “One of the biggest advantages we have here is the freshness at which we’re able to deliver our product to our customers. When we sell at the farmers every week, what they are buying Saturday morning had been harvested on Friday.”

Koster’s crops can be found on Saturdays at the Twin City Farmers Market in Sterling, as well as at County Market grocery stores in Sterling and Dixon, Oliver’s Corner Market in Dixon, Polo Fresh Market, and Country Lane Market in Tampico. They can also be found in restaurant kitchens at

Sales • Farm Management Market Evaluations

Lee County

Fresh greens, compliments of the house ... No soil and less toil, the hydroponic process is clean and green, with trays of sprouts and a hand-picked harvest taking the place of fields and farm machinery.

Arthur’s Garden Deli, in Dixon, Sterling, Rock Falls and Rock Island.

The climate-controlled greenhouse measures 44 feet wide by 128 feet long and can hold up to nearly 10,000 different plants. The entire system comes from Cropking of Lodi, Ohio.

The process begins on a table in a room attached to the greenhouse; seeds are planted in moistened rock wool in large trays placed under a clear domes and controlled lighting, where they germinate and begin to grow. A heating pad under the trays helps create humidity.

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18+/- Acres. S23 of Marion Twp. Located on Amboy Rd W of Amboy w/ 15+/- tillable acres, 4BR/2BA Farmette, 3 car garage & variety of outbuildings. Tenancy open 2025.

40 +/- Acres. S33 of Nachusa Twp. Gorgeous piece with tillable & timber. Borders IDNR, CRP & tillable land. Excellent hunting, and available for 2024 season. Realtor Owned.

Ogle County

98+/- Acres. S28 of Scott Twp. 90+/- acres tillable. Located just SW of Davis Junction.

KOSTER cont’d from page 5

ALEX T. PASCHAL/APASCHAL@SAUKVALLEYMEDIA.COM

Koster’s Greenhouse grows several crops, including various varieties of lettuce, basil, watercress and spinach.

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Koster’s wife Ally and his mother Anne help with the hydroponic business. Anne works the farmers market table in Sterling and enjoys spreading the word about hydroponics, especially how the process minimizes the environmental footprint and contributes to a greener planet.

“Overall, it’s a very clean, very good way to grow vegetables,” Koster said. n Shaw Media reporter Cody Cutter can be reached at 815-632-2532 or ccutter@shawmedia.com.

MORE INFO

Koster Farms’ hydroponic crops are sold year-round at the indoor Twin City Farmers Market, 106 Ave. A in Sterling. The market is open from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday. Find @kosterfarms on Instagram, find Twin City Farmers Market on Facebook or email owner Michael Koster at mkoster14@gmail.com for more information.

Rural roots. Co-op

ometimes, the perfect photo can come out of left field — capturing an unexpected moment that comes and goes in a flash, seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary — other times, it can come out of a corn field.

As someone who’s spent time both behind a lens and on the farm, Tylor Bonnell is well-suited to taking both kinds of photos, whether they’re worth a thousand words or a thousand acres.

Bonnell, of Dixon, owns Frank Photos (Frank is his middle name), a business he started two years ago that specializes in

farm, real estate, classic car and aerial photography — but as someone who grew up helping his family do chores on the farm, it’s the ag photos that are his favorite. From planting time to harvest time, farms are fertile ground for telling stories, and Bonnell enjoys being able to help tell them.

“It’s real raw Americana,” Bonnell said. “It’s real America working, and you get to see the generations working hand-in-hand. I covered a harvest season for one family where the grandfather, who’s probably not going to be doing it anymore, is passing it down to his son and grandson, and it’s cool to get to capture that. It’s something that those people will cherish forever.”

While people and places change, photos last a lifetime, so Bonnell appreciates the importance of making his work picture-perfect.

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Bonnell takes time to get to know the people he’s shooting and come up with ideas on what images will best stand out, and during the process he gets to hear many intriguing and interesting farm stories, details that can sometimes help inform his photos.

“The scene usually lays out the composition for you, depending on what time of day you’re going to be there,” Bonnell said. “Generally, evening time you want to try to get the sun setting, and try to get all of the colors and get that kind of dreamy feeling. Playing with all of the colors and compositions are what I enjoy the most about photography, and laying out the lines and drawing toward the right place.”

In addition to standard photography, Bonnell also can shoot video clips and navigate a camera-equipped drone to take aerial photos.

Bonnell prefers candid shots over staged ones, but even if it’s something as seemingly simple as someone just standing, Bonnell can bring more out of it, working to find a good background that can evoke an emotion or tell a story.

“There’s a lot of work and passion that goes into it,” Bonnell said. “I took a picture of an old man standing, and there’s all this dust coming up from the corn going into the bins. I feel like, in that picture, you can sense the whole day. Hopefully that picture will remind you of the whole harvest, that whole couple of weeks that you’re out there.”

Laura Cary Brandi Cross Reed Hutchcraft

For Bonnell, farm photography holds a special place in his heart — the dust and dirt, the calloused hands that point to a life of toil in the fields, the lines etched into a face by the sun that a farmer sees rise and set every day he goes to work, they all say a lot about the men and women who’ve answered the call to farms.

“It’s a lot more personal of a thing shooting at a farm,” Bonnell said. “There’s an attachment. There’s history to it. I cherish those memories from being a kid, and now getting to capture that for people — for a kid who’s 17 now who’ll be 40 one day — hopefully they’ll look back at those times with Grandpa.”

Bonnell, who’s been a local car salesman for the past 15 years, hopes one day to make photography his primary focus, and the farm aspect is sure to remain an emphasis, he said — remembering and honoring his roots.

“I really want to capture everything in their best light and preserve memories, anything from the farm activities to the farm itself and the families who are tied to those properties for generations,” Bonnell said. “Those memories stay for a long time.” n

Shaw Media reporter Cody Cutter can be reached at 815-632-2532 or ccutter@shawmedia.com.

NORTHERN ILLINOISAGMAG

ark Maidak knows what it takes to get something to grow, not just in his fields but at his business, too.

Maidak is the owner of Mark Seed and Feed, where farmers will find seed, feed and plastics, along with a fellow farmer who strives to help his customers get the most out of what they buy at his business, a commitment that’s built a strong customer base for more than a decade.

Mark Seed and Feed has a seed and agriculture plastics warehouse in Mount Carroll, and feed store in Milledgeville. The business, which he runs along with being a grain and hog farmer himself, began as just a seed supplier in 2011 before adding plastics in 2014 and feed in 2021.

After spending 15 years with the University of Illinois Extension, Maidak went into business selling a single brand of seed to a couple of dozen farmers. Nearly 14 years later, he has customers who come from all over the Midwest to get the seed and feed they need.

“It was just a basic farmer-dealer seed selling business with a single brand, and from there I worked hard

get people interested, and they were wanting additional products and not just that single corn brand,” Maidak said. “By listening to customers, you end up being interested in meeting their needs, and that’s what I’ve tried to do.”

Seed offerings include alfalfa, corn, soybean, grass, oats, forage mixes, pasture mixes, sorghum, millet and seed for wildlife plots. The feed stock includes those for beef and dairy cattle, goats, rabbits, hogs, horses, lambs, sheep, poultry and pigeons. Plastics include bale film, grain bags, net wrap, silage bags, oxygen shields, bunker covers and twine.

MARK cont’d to page 18

The inventory comes in a variety of brands, allowing the business to cater to a wide range of customers. Maidak and his staff often get customers looking for just one or two things in particular, but they enjoy sharing with them everything else the business offers. Not everyone is fully aware of what it can offer, he said. Each location has a cluster of sign boards that give customers a rundown of Mark Seed and Feed’s lineup. “I can go to a store and get one thing, but not be real aware of all of the different things that the store may have,” Maidak said. “A lot of times, us farmers will focus on the thing we need and go get it, and it’s really up the business that we’re working with to educate us with what they can help us with in other categories. Unless they sit down and look at the board, sometimes they can forget all of the different things we can offer them.”

Maidak doesn’t simply sell his products, he gets to know them. He has demonstration plots in Mount Carroll; one grows 27 different varieties of alfalfa, and another has 30 different varieties of grasses. He’ll take what he observes from them and enjoys sharing them with his customers.

“We’re constantly maintaining those plots and learning from each season with those products,”

Maidak said. “We need to learn more about what we sell. That’s something that we need to try to do. I think people realize that when they visit with us that they can get this help in making their decisions for their operations.”

Not everything has been easy for Maidak. When he first started his business back in 2012, he was forced to take it for a dry run first. The product wasn’t the problem, nature was. He had a single seed brand that he trusted and customers were willing to give it a try too, but that summer turned out to be very dry, not the kind of growing conditions Maidak had hoped for. Despite a bumpy start, many of his customers stuck with him and tried again the following year, to much better results.

When he started out, Maidak had set his sites on getting nearly 200 farms to buy his seeds. Only a small fraction took him up on his offer, but like the seed he sold, business started to grow.

“That first year I went to 198 farms,” Maidak said. “Many were willing to visit with me, and some were very happy with what they were doing. There was a lot of good conversation. There were 28 farms that went ahead and tried some of the product that I was offering, and that first year they planted was an extreme drought year [2012]. It wasn’t a good summer to go try someone’s new product, but things worked out well enough that 26 of those farms bought again for the next year.”

Prophetstown Farmers Mutual

Says Mark’s Seed and Feed owner Mark Maidak: “I can go to a store and get one thing, but not be real aware of all of the different things the store may have” — not so at his business. Boards in the shop show the wide range of products he carries, along with prices.

ALEX T. PASCHAL/APASCHAL@SAUKVALLEYMEDIA.COM

Maidak is also planting seeds of his own, with a new generation. One of his part-time employees had a sister whose college internship program fell through. When Maidak found out, he was happy to help, establishing an internship program of his own that she could be in. The program remains in place today, and interns do more than just routine tasks; they accompany Maidak to meetings and conferences, reaching out of their comfort zones to learn various parts of the ag spectrum, beyond just their specific topic of study.

“It’s been a great addition,” he said. “It’s been nice to fit them in, and even I have kind of learned from the young people. It’s a good sharing. They get to go out to a lot of different farms throughout the summer. They don’t just sweep floors or drive a forklift and cover hours, I try to get them more into the professional environment.”

MARK cont’d to page 21

MARK cont’d from page 18

Maidak also conducts educational programs throughout Carroll County, in the field during the summer and in classrooms during the winter. The program covers a variety of ag topics and features guest speakers. The most recent program in December, at the Carroll County Farm Bureau in Mount Carroll, covered growing better alfalfa with prussic acid-free sorghum, improving cover crops and pasture grazing, new information on beef herd health and nutrition, drone spraying, and best practices in bagging, baling and wrapping. Additional classes are planned for this year, Maidak said.

Mark Seed and Feed is located at 715 Eighth St. in Milledgeville and 20 W. Commercial St. in Mount Carroll. Both locations are open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, or by appointment. Email markseedandfeed@gmail.com or call 815-718-0238 for more information.

Mark Seed and Feed also hosts customer appreciation events throughout the year, including a Christmas party for customers last year at Manny’s Pizza in Savanna. “It’s a nice way to see customers outside of the normal routine of selling products,” Maidak said. “We had a little over 100 people come to Manny’s for our annual holiday gathering, and they could bring their families, and it’s all on us.”

Getting to know his customers and helping their farms grow is what makes Maidak enjoy coming to work each day, he said.

“It’s all of the different people that we deal with, those from straight grain farms, livestock farms, and those who have different animals,” Maidak said.

“I’ve really enjoyed being able to go, when I have the time, to do some of the deliveries myself – going to all of the different farms has been really enjoyable. I’ve always enjoyed what we’ve done, from the day I started to today.

“It’s not a job, it’s more of an enjoyable pursuit.” n

Shaw Media reporter Cody Cutter can be reached at 815-632-2532 or ccutter@shawmedia.com.

For Kelly Parks, flowers are some of Mother Nature’s finest work. She’s long had an appreciation for their beauty, from stem to stamen and everything in between. Each one is like an instrument in nature’s orchestra, and Parks has had a hand in writing many of their arrangements, creating symphonies of colors.

Through the years, she’s put together many colorful creations, including ones she’s made in her 4-H club. Today, seven years into a teaching career at Forreston High School, Parks, along with students in the school’s FFA chapter, is sharing that appreciation for flowers in floral arrangement workshops throughout the school year, open to the public.

The chapter hosted a fall decor workshop in November, and a Christmas-themed one in December; its next one is coming up April 16, a few days before Easter, with arrangements that are sure to put a spring into people’s step, and on their tables. Proceeds from the costs of participating in each class help the FFA’s activities.

The workshops are part of the chapter’s outreach efforts, bringing what they do outside of the classroom into the community. Events such as the flower arrangement workshops not only help raise awareness of what FFA does, but they help educate people and give them something fun to do.

FLOWERS cont’d to page 24

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“A lot of people don’t know that an agriculture program in a school is not just made up of ag classes, and not just FFA,” Parks said. “It’s really about a whole community-type aspect. When we take the learning out of the classroom and put it in the hands of our community members, it gives them some empowerment and it helps people feel better about themselves. It’s something new and something they can enjoy.”

Erica Tryggestad trims one of the hanging flower baskets for sale at the Forreston High School FFA Greenhouse last year. The greenhouse will be open on select days starting April 25 with plants for sale and operated by students in Kelley Parks’ horticulture classes.

Knowing Parks was skilled at making flower arrangements, district superintendent Sheri Smith first suggested the idea of having the workshops a couple of years ago, but it wasn’t until earlier this school year when Parks revisited the idea and brought it up with her FFA officer team.

“We were looking at doing some different fundraising opportunities, and I brought this up to the FFA officers, and they said that it would be a good idea and we can try it,” Parks said. “It’s gone well so far, and we’ve gotten a lot of great responses from it.”

About 20 people showed up to the first class on Nov. 6, where autumn colors from flowers provided by Country Girl Floral of Freeport filled several tables. Pumpkins from Selmi’s of Rock Falls were used as vases for each arrangement; students carved each pumpkin and scooped out the insides the day before. Floral foam blocks were used to keep the flowers in place.

FLOWERS cont’d to page 25

“A lot of people said that the flowers lasted a long time, and that they really liked it for that unique fall look,” Parks said.

Parks had help for the next class on Dec. 13 as Drew Groezinger from Clara Joyce Flowers in Stockton brought his expertise to help with Christmas-themed arrangements. Interest in the workshops had grown by that time, with around 50 people participating. Evergreen swags — arrangements that can be hung on doors or walls — were made with pine tree branches and clusters, ribbons and decorative cherries.

For the spring workshop, Parks plans to use vases donated to the chapter and will incorporate Easter lilies in the

workshop. More details will be announced on the Forreston FFA Facebook page and school website in the weeks leading up to the event.

Around 50 participants made Christmas door swags Dec. 13 at a workshop hosted by the Forreston High School FFA chapter. Drew Groezinger (back row, third from left), owner of Clara Joyce Flowers in Stockton, led the workshop.

“They’ll have a nice, fresh arrangement for Easter,” Parks said. “It’ll be bright and colorful, and something that you’ll want to put on your table. In each class, we’ve learned something a little different because flower arranging is such a large scope and there are so many different things you can do.”

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SUBMITTED PHOTO

Flower power

... Forres ton High School

FFA adviser Kelley Parks shows a flower ar rangement she made to promote the chap ter’s first floral ar rangement workshop in November.

Even though the workshops follow step-by-step instructions, each participant is welcome to be creative, which leads to another highlight of the workshops: folks sharing their personal touches and talking about what they’ve brought to their arrangements.

“I think what’s really cool about it is that everyone comes out with something a little different,” Parks said. “We start out with a plan of what we expect the flower arrangement to look like when it’s done, and then each person brings their own flair to it with that they like and dislike. We try to leave it open a little bit, so each person can have that, so it’s not a one-size-fits-all type of thing.”

In addition to horticulture, Parks also teaches plant and animal science, ag business and a shop class at the school to around 120 students, about 50 of whom are FFA members. Horticulture students each make floral arrangements as a final class project in May. Among those students will be sophomore FFA officers Cylee Kirchner and Jenna Alexander. Cylee, whose favorite FFA activities involve livestock judging, and Jenna, who enjoys veterinary science, helped out with the previous two classes and look forward to seeing what they can do with the next class.

Cylee was happy to see her mother Amy take part in the FFA workshops, making arrangements with her friends.

“My mom participated in both of them and she really enjoyed learning how to do them,” Cylee said. “I think it can be a good thing for a group of friends to come and do. My mom came with her group of friends and they always had a lot of fun and having conversation while they’re doing it. They learned from each other how they put theirs together.”

Jenna enjoyed seeing what workshop participants could come up with, she said.

“It was really fun helping out,” Jenna said. “I got to learn a lot just by watching everyone.”

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Alexander

Kirchner

The floral arrangement workshops aren’t the only horticulture outreach to the community: the school also will open its greenhouse starting April 25 for flower sales.

Parks hopes others in the community feel the same way, finding the fun they can have with flowers while enjoying the company of their friends and neighbors, and lending a hand to FFA, too. Flowers can be a balm for boredom and a salve for the soul, their colors brightening a dreary day and their fragrance like a breath of fresh air.

“I know some people like to pick up a book when they’re bored, but if I’m at the grocery store and I know I’m going to be bored the next day, I’ll buy a pack of flowers and do some flower arranging,” Parks said. “It’s something you can do in the summer and show at the local fair, which is fun for you and also helps the fair out. I really hope that people believe that they really can do something like this. It’s something that I have really enjoyed. n Shaw Media reporter Cody Cutter can be reached at 815-632-2532 or ccutter@shawmedia.com.

Forreston High School FFA chapter will host a floral arrangement workshop April 16 at the school, 601 E. Main St. Costs and event time will be announced at fvdistrict221.org and on the Forreston FFA Facebook page. Go to the Facebook page to learn more about what else is happening with the school’s FFA activities.