Friday, January 15, 2021 | Country Acres • Page 7
Thielke
Comedy in the country
from page 6
arranging, citizenship and baking and cooking, and they were also involved in leadership events through 4-H. One of Jara’s baking projects stands out in memory. After perfecting the recipe, baking time and temperature, she was getting ready to bring her pie crust to the fair to be judged. As any 4-Her knows, judging day can be hectic, and Jara’s sisters were also trying to load up the family’s Ford Bronco with their projects. Getting scrambled in the rush, Jara’s perfect pie crust tumbled and crumbled into pieces on the ground. As frustrated tears began to flow, Jane reminded her daughter how hard they had worked on the project. “I told her to scoop up the pieces and go to the judge and just tell her what happened,” Jane said. Jara did that, and took home a purple ribbon for it. “The judge told her, ‘It must be quite a flaky crust for it to crumble like that,’” Jane said. Jessica, the youngest Thielke daughter, completed her last year of showing in 1996, and Delroy was looking forward to taking a little break from bringing pigs to the fair every August. Soon, word got out there would be no Thielke hogs in the barn, and 4-Hers far and wide asked for a lease. “We had kids from town, from around here and not (from around here) show our pigs and have even sold pigs
PHOTOS SUBMITTED
Jane (Tjosaas) Thielke holds the duck she showed for 4-H around 1960. Thielke participated in Pope County 4-H.
through two generations now,” Delroy said. “If a kid wants to show a pig, I’m more than happy to offer (him or her) a lease.” Delroy does it for the future of the agriculture industry. “I think it’s more impactful for these kids to know about where their food comes from,” Delroy said. “I pointed to a cow [to a boy] at the State Fair one year and said, ‘that’s where your milk comes from,’ and he said, ‘no, we get our milk at the grocery store.’” While the line may get a few laughs from his peers, Delroy knows there is a more serious issue lurking beneath the surface. “(Educating future consumers is) my reason for doing it,” Delroy said. “There’s not a great chance they’ll be farmers, but there is a chance, whether it’s five or 10 years from now,
that they’ll be having lunch or sitting in the board room with someone and can share about their experience working with animals … There is a lot of false in-
formation out there, and this is something I can do to hopefully help the industry.” Today, Jane and Delroy’s daughters are grown and married with children of their own, but the family still reminisces on 4-H days gone by, spent at the county fair. “We’ve had some great luck with our grandkids in 4-H, too,” Jane said. “One grandson won Grand Champion Breeding Beef cow his first year at the State Fair.” Through their involvement with local 4-Hers and grandchildren, Delroy and Jane have been able to continue the legacy of Thielke 4-Hers. It is clear why the You know you are a You know you are a farmThielkes are such a fafarmer when you can er’s wife when you are miliar name to 4-Hers, drive a tractor for 36 hours on a first-name basis with not only for the accoevery parts man within lades, but for the joy- straight, but cannot sit in front of a TV, or 100 miles but don’t have ous memories and time in a church, for more the faintest idea who the spent with friends and than 10 minutes without local hairdresser is. family each summer. going to sleep. *Reprinted with permission from “The Farmer’s Bathroom Book,” by Marvin Jensen. COMEDY IN THE COUNTRY SPONSORED BY:
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Young Delroy Thielke shows off his prize-winning corn circa 1961. Thielke sent his crops to the Minnesota State Fair in 1960 and won four awards.
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