Country Acres South - August 6, 2022 by Star Publications

Saturday, August 6, 2022 | Country Acres South • Page 1

Country Saturday, August 6, 2022

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p o r c t s e d l o s orld’ products The w s industrial hemp, sells

Galaty grow

PHOTOS BY KATE RECHTZIGEL

a (Above) Ted Galaty stands in one of his fields with farm his at 27 July hemp of out walking stick he made near Zumbrota. Galaty grows six acres of industrial hemp.

BY KATE RECHTZIGEL | STAFF WRITER

ZUMBROTA Twenty minutes north of Rochester along Highway 52 lies a 10-acre industrial hemp farm, the sole purpose of which is to educate and inform others about hemp. “There are thousands of things you can do with hemp and I’m never going to have all the knowledge,” Ted Galaty said. “I decided to get into this industry because I am a lifelong learner and I am going to be educating myself and others about industrial hemp for a very long time.” Galaty is a retired educator with a master’s in education from Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan and an undergraduate degree in Health & Wellness from St. Olaf College in Northfield. He was an advisor for the Medical Laboratory Science and Occupational Therapy programs at the University of Minnesota before

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retiring in 2019 to focus on the farm and business. Before coming to Minnesota, however, Galaty grew up in California, just outside of Los Angeles. “Out of all my relatives, I never thought I’d be a farmer,” Galaty said. The farm, otherwise known as Willow’s Keep Farm, is a turn of the century dairy farm which was started in 1919. Ted and Tricia Galaty bought the farm in 2015 to use as the place for their haunted attraction, Fright at the Farm, which takes place in October. “In our fields we were growing corn for a corn maze and a pumpkin patch,” Galaty said. “I got to the point where I was tired of growing corn. I knew about hemp, and Minnesota had an Industrial Hemp pilot project.” In 2018, it still wasn’t federally legal,

(Left) Hemp, otherwise known as Cannabis Sativa, has been an agricultural crop for 10,000 years. Ted Galaty grows the fiber variety on his farm in Goodhue County. (Below) Oil and soap are some of the products Ted Galaty and his family make.

but the Minnesota Department of Agriculture allowed farmers to become licensed to grow hemp for educational and research purposes. At the end of 2018, however, the farm bill was signed which stated anything below 0.3% delta 9 tetrahydrocannabinol in the cannabis plant was considered hemp and was legal to grow and sell.

Galaty page 2

This month in the

COUNTRY:

Watch for the next edition of Country Acres on August 20, 2022

Tooled to perfection Chatfield

Connecting farm to table Kellogg

Houston County Fair Caledonia

11 More than yard work Red Wing

Page 2 • Country Acres South | Saturday, August 6, 2022

Galaty

Mark Klaphake, Editor mark.k@dairystar.com Grace Jeurissen, Editor grace.j@star-pub.com Diane Leukam, Writer diane@saukherald.com Kate Rechtzigel, Writer kate.r@dairystar.com Jennifer Coyne, Writer jenn@dairystar.com Sarah Colburn Staff Writer Christine Behnen Freelance Writer

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“We worked with the Department of Agriculture and then when it became legal, we decided to go full into hemp, no longer growing pumpkins or corn,” Galaty said. Involved in the daily operations of the farm is Galaty’s wife, Tricia, and one of their four children, Mel, as well as some friends who help with the store and work on the farm. The family works together to help in the store and maintain the crop throughout the year. Tricia also makes candles, soaps and bath bombs from the processed hemp seeds. “It is a small family business,” Galaty said. “But I am working with a lot of farmers and those in the agriculture industry.” Hemp, or Cannabis Sativa, has been an agricultural crop for 10,000 years, and ancient pots made from hemp cord dating back to 8,000 BCE have been discovered in modern-day Taiwan. “Archeologists have found written text on hemp paper and burial excavations have discovered hemp clothing buried with people who

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PHOTOS BY KATE RECHTZIGEL

Ted Galaty checks over his hemp crop on July 27. Galaty plants in May and harvests at the end of October.

lived over thousands of years ago,” Galaty said. “It’s not in perfect condition, but you can still see it.” Hemp is an annual herbaceous flowering plant, and there are three different varieties consisting of the seed, fiber and medicinal varieties. All of which have major benefits; both to the soil, various industrial trades and human health. “It is easy on the soil, detoxifies, sequesters more carbon, produces more ethanol than other crops and is friendlier for the environment,” Galaty said. “Another product that

can be made from hemp is plastics. Hemp plastic degrades in five to 10 years as opposed to thousands of years.” It does use up a lot of nitrogen in the soil, so I add manure from the quails we raise on the farm and I get leftover brewer’s yeast from South X Southeast Brewery in order to maintain nitrogen levels, Galaty said. The health benefits come from using the medicinal varieties of hemp which are grown for the flower. These medicinal hemp plants are grown in a controlled-environment, and the benefits

include improving the functioning of the immune system and mitigating pain. “Hemp reacts with the endocannabinoid receptors in your body,” Galaty said. “There are over 500 compounds in the plant and 140 of them react with our bodies. Cannabidol, for example, goes to the cannabinoid 2 receptors and keeps inflammation at bay, while THC goes to the cannabinoid 1 receptor, in the brain and makes people feel better.”

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Ted Galaty holds out hemp seeds on July 27. This seed is from the first crop he grew in 2018.

Saturday, August 6, 2022 | Country Acres South • Page 3

Galaty

from page 2 Galaty, however, grows the fiber variety of hemp which uses the outer part of the stalk, or fiber, has a different growing style and lower levels of THC. The fiber can be used to make clothing or canvases, while the inner part, or hemp hurd, can be used for flooring or cabinets. “You need a processing plant to process this commercially because you have to basically strip the stalks of the fiber,” Galaty said. “But it makes sense for me because I am having people walk through the crop, I turn it into walking sticks, animal bedding and mulch.” The first year, he tried growing hemp for the seed, but later stopped because of limited processing plants. This crop grows 6-feet in height and produces large seed heads which can produce up to 6,000 pounds of seed per acre. “Hemp seed does not have the CBD or medicinal value, but it is highly nutritious,” Galaty said. “It has 26% protein, and it is high in omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.” Galaty plants his seeds in the spring around the end of May with a seed drill, similar to what one would use for corn and soybeans, and grows the plant until late October. “Most farmers are going to harvest in the middle or late September,” Galaty said. “But I leave mine up longer because of our agritourism. It’s all really dependent on the weather, it is frost resistant, but once you get a hard frost, the leaves fall off and it dies.” He has a total of six acres all grown in two fields on the farm. One field for the hemp maze, and the other for the can-

na disc golf attraction which is new this year. The growing season is similar to a traditional crop in that hemp can be affected by weather damage, drought, various pests and weeds. For example, the pest that could stunt growth is the Eurasian hemp borer, and the weed that affects it is the giant ragweed. “Hemp does fairly well as it is a fast-growing crop,” Galaty said. “But there are still all the stresses that a traditional farmer has.” Hemp is also very drought resistant, but does need water to grow, Galaty said. Mature plants can reach over 15-feet in height, and to harvest Galaty uses a sickle mower. “This is the hardest part of the growing process,” Galaty said. “Anything that is rotational is going to bind because the hemp is the fiber variety. So, if you were to use a combine, it would start wrapping around and eventually get to the point where the stalk binds and can actually cause fires.” From their plant, the family makes and sells hemp seed oil candles, soaps and bath bombs; hemp tea blends, walking sticks, mulch, animal bedding and works with various labs to produce medicinal products. The family sells online, over social media and in their on-farm store. They ship their product to all 50 states and get most of their customers through referral. “It works well,” Galaty said. “Most of the people coming here are looking for alternatives. We provide them with the information, they take the product and are amazed at the relief. It really does sell itself.” Other products that could be made include hempcrete which is one part water, one part hemp hurd and one part lime, Hemp Shield deck pro-

tectant, biodegradable plastics, ethanol, nutritious products such as protein powders, hemp hearts and hemp seed oil and many other products. “Henry Ford even made a hemp car in 1940’s,” Galaty said. “He took a sledgehammer, hit the car and the hammer bounced off and didn’t even leave a dent.” Over the years, industrial hemp has had its fair share of challenges. One being the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 which placed heavy taxes on all hemp sales and led to an accelerated decline of the entire hemp industry. “It demonized the whole plant,” Galaty said. “What’s interesting is that people in other countries never stopped growing hemp and they have robust industrial hemp industries today.” From 1942-1945, however, the Japanese occupied the Philippines Islands during the Battle of Corregidor. At that time there were more than 60,000 acres of industrial hemp grown in Minnesota with seven textile mills as is seen in the 1942 film ‘Hemp for Victory’, Galaty said. “You needed hemp for webbing, backpacks, canvas on trucks, tents, ropes on ships and the United States Department

PHOTOS BY KATE RECHTZIGEL

Ted Galaty purchased Willow’s Keep Farm in 2015 with the purpose of running a Halloween attraction. In 2018, he decided to start growing industrial hemp.

of Agriculture incentivized farmers to grow it because we couldn’t source it from the Philippines,” Galaty said. “At the end of the war, the mills were shut down, and the fields were burned and tilled underground.” Interestingly enough, Minnesota still has what is known as ditch weed, or leftover cannabis sativa from the war. This ditch weed was spread by birds or rail cars and can still be found on abandoned or current railroad tracks as the seed fell off and is viable for 100 years, Galaty said. Another challenge for hemp came in 1970 with the onset of the Controlled Substances Act which classified hemp as a drug, even though it doesn’t contain the psychoactive chemicals which would make it a drug. Later in 1973, Richard Nixon, who was president at the time, founded the Drug Enforcement Administration which made industrial hemp illegal until the farm bill passed in 2018. Today, in the state of Minnesota, you must have a license from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture to grow

hemp. To obtain the hemp license you have to pass a background check. The grow license costs $150 per year, plus $250 per grow location. The state also takes samples 30 days before harvest to make sure the hemp is under 0.3% THC and charges $125 per variety grown. “The rules and regulations keep changing and change from state to state,” Galaty said. “But if you want to make a living off this crop, you have to stay up to date with the laws.” New this year, according to House Bill 4065, the consumption and sale of no more than 5 milligrams of THC in a single serving with a total container limit of 50 milligrams, and cannabinoids are now legal to be present in food products and drinks, Galaty said. Galaty’s favorite part about growing hemp is seeing the reactions on people’s faces when they come out. “A lot of them don’t even realize that it is legal to grow cannabis,” he said. “They can get up close to the plant, walk through and explore it. Some of them have never

even seen it before.” In the future, Galaty would really like to see more industrial hemp farms. “I don’t want a bigger farm, but I’d like to be driving through the Minnesota countryside and see fields of hemp, processing plants and a vibrant industry like we had in 1942 to 1945,” Galaty said. “However, my goal is to continue educating and informing the public.” The Galatys recently bought a 10-acre farm in Hager City, Wisconsin, and plan to start growing more industrial hemp in Wisconsin next year. “There are less strict regulations in Wisconsin so we will be able to keep selling more of our products over there,” Galaty said. “But I see the future of this farm in Zumbrota being an oasis of what the industry could be. For example, I want to grow small plots of produce and sell it here as well.” The farm is open 7 days a week for the hemp maze, farm tours, disc golf and the haunted attraction will be open eight nights in October.

In addition to the hemp maze, Ted Galaty also planted a second field for a disc golf attraction. Due to industrial hemp using a lot of nitrogen, Galaty applies quail manure and leftover brewer’s yeast (seen in the tubs to the left) from the nearby brewery, South X SouthEast Brewery.

Page 4 • Country Acres South | Saturday, August 6, 2022

Tooled too perfec pperfe perfection perfectio perfect erfection erf erfecti fectio ctio tition iioon Frederick works leather to fit customers, horses BY SARAH COLBURN | STAFF WRITER

CHATFIELD – Donn Frederick doesn’t need to advertise; clients find him through word of mouth and his wait list for a custom-made saddle is a year-long. “I’m really picky – every saddle doesn’t fit every horse,” he said. “People have to wait for that quality and that fit.” Frederick is known for his custom, hand-crafted saddles; he also creates bridles that he designs himself, as well as, clutchPHOTOS BY JULIA MULLENBACH

(left) Leather purses are among a variety of things Donn Frederick crafts for customers. He enjoys creating one-of-a-kind leather pieces at his shop near Chatfield.

es and bags, dog collars, plier cases and the leather portion tion of beaded belts featuring stainless steel hardware. Frederick became a name known around the horse industry before the 1990s when the leather worker took his business fulltime. He’s connected with clients at the American Quarter Horse Association World Championship and events and fairs throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin. He works out of his shop at his home in Chatfield, where he and his wife, Lynn, havee lived since 1973. The couple has a 10-acre ranch and had a number of horses through the years. Frederick doesn’t ride anymore but uses his two horses, Benny and Beyonce, as models for his work. Frederick has always had an affinity for animals and said his work educating horse owners about the importance of getting a correct saddle fit is juxtaposed with his work in leather. He writes articles on

nn F the topic and fields calls from those needing an expert fit for their horse. Frederick’s leather dream officially became reality after Lynn handed him two pennies to quit his job at Sears, where he had been for 18 years.

Frederick page 5

Your local residential and commercial experts since 1922 Donn Frederick uses the tools pictured to create different shapes of leather to work with. As a young boy he would use the tops of boots to make belts and little pouches.

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Saturday, August 6, 2022 | Country Acres South • Page 5

Frederick from page 4 “I woke up one morning and said ‘if you handed me two cents, I would quit my job and start tooling leather,’” he said. “Sure enough Lynn handed me two pennies out of our savings jar and I gave Sears my two-week’s notice that day.” Lynn worked in health care for a number of years before and after Frederick’s leather business began to take off. He is grateful that his wife pushed him to follow his dreams which continue to be something he looks forward to each day. For as long as he can remember, Frederick has been making things out of leather. Frederick was born in 1946 on a farm west of Pine Island. He was introduced to horses at a young age and remembers watching his dad work with many of his equine. He can still remember the stock truck, containing his favorite work horses, rumbling out of the driveway. The horses were sold around 1956. As a kid he’d work in an empty room inside the granary, spreading out all of his tools and taking strings off the fly nets to braid. He would even cut the tops off of boots and make belts and little pouches. “Anything a little boy would need,” he said. His childhood work continued into a professional career of working leather to create a perfect fitting saddle. Frederick provides saddle fitting services for horses with unique and hard-to-fit bodies. Anytime he works on a saddle, he begins with the horse, not the rider. This starts with a handmade saddle tree, which is the wooden piece underneath all of the leather that gives the saddle its shape. He ensures the fit is perfect for each and every one of the custom saddles he creates. Then, once the piece fits the horse, he begins fitting the rest of the saddle to the rider. He considers the rider’s leg length, riding discipline and exactly how they ride – often watching videos of people in action.

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PHOTOS BY JULIA MULLENBACH

(Above) Donn Frederick sketches a desert scene before applying the design to a piece of leather. He has built a strong reputation among horse enthusiasts for the quality of his saddle and bridle designs. (Left) The tools pictured are used to stamp and carve designs into the pieces of leather that Donn Frederick later puts together to form bridles, saddles, and belts among other things.

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Frederick from page 5 His leather is American-sourced, coming from Hermann Oak out of Missouri and Wickett & Craig out of Pennsylvania.

“I like to concentrate on the quality,” Frederick said. Though Frederick does a lot of saddle work and is often called to do

Donn Frederick shows a saddle he made July 28 at his shop near Chatfield. He says horses aren’t one size fits all, so it is important to get the saddle fit perfectly to the horse and rider.

saddle-fitting for others, his true passion is bridles. When he can’t sleep at night, he sketches bridle innovations. He mocks them up out of unusable leather, tries them on his horses at home, measures, takes them off, makes tiny improvements and tries them on again until they’re perfect. “I make them pretty, I make them fit so people know Donn Frederick made that bridle,” he said. For many years, Frederick focused only on stamping leather but now, he also carves leather, including images like an oak leaf on a purse. He begins by drawing an image out on a piece of film, then traces it onto the leather and uses a hand-held swivel knife to do the carvings. He paints some of the pieces, using a myriad of colors. He also uses solvent dyes. Occasionally, Frederick will even add a little bling to his

PHOTOS BY JULIA MULLENBACH

Donn Frederick’s shop wall is lined with belts, bridles, ropes and straps for people to choose from. Many are filled with unique designs crafted by Frederick.

Donn Frederick carves designs into a leather strap. He used to primarily stamp designs until he started to learn how to carve into leather.

pieces as well. He researches on Etsy and Pinterest, following all of the latest trends and styles his customers seek. He prefers the more traditional look of leather, avoiding the bling, but he adds it when needed. In the end, he just

Bridles are Donn Frederick’s favorite thing to make. He often uses his horses, Benny and Beyonce, to help make the perfect fitting bridle.

wants a great product. “I love animals and I work on their hides,” he said. “I feel good about making something pretty and long-lasting out of what we call leather.” Frederick’s work

with leather tooling has provided the horse-riding community a source to get a product that outlasts the demands of each horse and rider’s discipline.

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2022 Houston County Fair Schedule

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Page 8 • Country Acres South | Saturday, August 6, 2022

Connecting farm to table Holst pursues life-long dream, finds community BY KATE RECHTZIGEL | STAFF WRITER

KELLOGG - Ashley Holst has wanted to be a Princess Kay of the Milky Way finalist ever since she was eightyears-old and her parents took her to the Minnesota State Fair for the first time. “My oldest brother was showing so we went and watched him, and then at the end of the day, we went to the dairy building and I watched one of the finalists get their likeness carved in butter,” Holst said. “At that moment, I knew I wanted to end up in the butter booth one day. I finally understood why it’s so important to be a Princess Kay finalist.” Holst is the daughter of Jary and Celene Holst who milk 150 cows near Kellogg. They also have a herd of beef cows and raise crops. Holst and her younger sister, Beth, also work together to take care of 20 dairy and market goats which are raised on the farm. On May 15, Holst was named a Princess Kay finalist while surrounded by some of her family listening to the announcement on a Facebook live video. Before the announcement, Holst decided to complete some much-needed fieldwork. “That morning I told my dad that I was going out to the field,” Holst said. “So, I started fieldwork and set a timer to be back to the house by 1:30 p.m.” As soon as the finalists were named, Holst called her dad who was still out planting at the time. “It was a pretty amazing feeling,” Holst said. “You prepare for that moment your entire life and then when it hits you, you don’t know how to feel and it takes over your whole body.” Holst has been involved on her family’s dairy ever since she was young. Her first job was feeding calves with her grandpa, Kenneth Holst, as soon as she

could carry a pail or bottle. Her main responsibilities today are in the milking parlor, doing herd health and overseeing matings and veterinarian checks. In the summertime, Holst’s big job is cutting hay. “That’s one of my favorite things to do because you are kind of by yourself and you set the pace for everybody else,” Holst said. Her favorite farm memories over the years have been spending time with family. “No matter if you were waking up early or staying up late, there was always a family member that you were working with,” Holst said. “We were always involved in each other’s lives no matter what we were doing on the farm.” Holst has been involved in the dairy princess program for five years, and feels the community, 4-H and FFA programs and her family have aided in helping her become a finalist this year. In fact, Holst’s immediate family, cousins and a high school classmate wrapped and decorated a selection of bales for her shortly after the announcement. “They have been amazing,” Holst said. “Growing up, I’ve had so many huge mentors in my life who have kept me in agriculture, but have also helped me focus on (realizing) that dairy is what I love. They say that when you are

PHOTOS BY KATE RECHTZIGEL

Ashley Holst was announced as a Princess Kay finalist on May 15. Holst milks cows, handles herd health and cuts hay on her family’s dairy farm near Kellogg.

crowned a finalist, your family is named a finalist. But really, this community has been named a finalist this year.” In 4-H, Holst showed, judged dairy and participated in quiz bowl; and in FFA, she served as her chapter’s president. “I started my speaking and interviewing processes in FFA and that’s really helped me now,” Holst said. “But when I was in 4-H, I developed this

dairy family who range in age from six to 10-years-old, some of which are just along for the ride, and others, keep me on my toes, challenge and push me to new limits every year. It’s really fun to get to know them, they support me in ways I never imagined and they are just as excited as I am for the next steps.”

Holst page 9

Ashley Holst stands with her parents (left) Jary and Celene. They milk 150 cows in Wabasha County.

Ashley Holst is pictured on July 11 with a line of bales that sit at the end of her driveway. Shortly after Holst was announced as a finalist, her immediate family, cousins and a high school classmate wrapped and decorated the bales.

Saturday, August 6, 2022 | Country Acres South • Page 9

Holst

from page 8 Over the course of her time spent in the princess program, Holst has attended the Honkers Dairy Night baseball game in Rochester, the Olmsted County Breakfast on the Farm, handed out cheese at various parades and talked on a number of radio shows where she was able to share her dairy story. “My favorite event will be the day I get to spend in the butter booth,” Holst said. “People will be able to come up and ask us questions as we are being carved. That’s going to be so fun because they are going to be people that I don’t know, so I am really going to be able to reach that consumer base I have never dealt with before.” After the contest, Holst plans to use up her butterhead by hosting a sweet corn feed on her family’s farm and donating some to Plainview’s 2023 Corn on the Cob Days. “My parents raise sweet corn,” Holst said.

Holst page 10

PHOTOS BY KATE RECHTZIGEL

Ashley Holst checks her goats on July 11. Holst and her younger sister, Beth, work together to take care of 20 dairy and market goats.

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ROUND BALERS Ashley Holst was announ finalist on May 15. She isced as a Princess Kay a student Dakota State University. at South

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Holst

PHOTO BY KATE RECHTZIGEL

from page 9 “So, I want to take some sweet corn and use it as a thank you to the community members. Our community around Kellogg is full of dairy people and they have been helping me achieve this accomplishment ever since I was a little, and now that I am here, I want to thank them for what they have given me.” As a finalist, she plans to connect with both consumers and producers face-to-face, answer questions and relay positive messages of dairy. “I love sharing my family’s story, how we got started, what we’re doing now, what we’re planning for the future and all the things we have done in between,” Holst said. Her experience on her family’s dairy farm has helped to prepare and make her ready for any new questions that consumers may have. As a student at South Dakota State University, Holst has also been able to

Ashley Holst works on her family’s farm near Kellogg. The Holsts milk 150 cows and raise beef cattle.

PHOTO SUBMITTED

In a picture from her childhood, Ashley Holst stands in the skid loader bucket on her parents’ farm.

work at the school’s dairy manufacturing plant. “Two falls ago, when I was a freshman, I packaged my first block of Colby Jack cheese that we had made earlier that day,” Holst said. “Now, it’s my favorite dairy product and I can really connect consumers to that farm-to-table because I have seen it all.” The most challenging part about being an indus-

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try advocate for Holst, however, is not being everywhere at once. “There are so many events I want to be at and so many consumers I want to talk to,” Holst said. “I try to find a balance between talking to both consumers and farmers, making sure they know what we are doing and that we are here to support them.” While being a finalist, Holst has learned that her time spent on the farm gives her more of a drive to share her message with consumers. “When I am at home, I learn so much about my cows and my family that I can’t wait to go share it with the next person that comes along,” Holst said. After college, Holst plans to become a large animal veterinarian and continue her advocacy for the dairy industry and the people who comprise it. “This experience will help because it will bring a face to producers and put them at ease when I come to their farms,” Holst said. “They will be able to say, ‘Hey, she’s been involved in this community for forever, and she really knows what she’s doing and why she’s here.’”

Saturday, August 6, 2022 | Country Acres South • Page 11

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yard w ork PHOTOS BY KATE RECHTZIGEL

Denny Hinck stands in front of a newly restored Wheel Horse lawn and garden tractor on July 26 at his shop near Red Wing. Hinck has 100 tractors in his collection.

Hinck collects, restores lawn, garden tractors BY KATE RECHTZIGEL | STAFF WRITER

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buy whatever I think looks nice. I bought the five Olivers from one person six years ago and then I bought three Whites from one person. Otherwise, it would take you forever to buy a set like that and I’m proba- were only made for five to six years,” Hinck said. He still remembers the time period in the 60’s bly too old to just buy one here and there.” In his collection are also rare brands such as the when a lot of companies were making lawn and garLittle Giant, Moto, Lambert, Farm-Ette, FarmHand den tractors. and a Penncraft made by JCPenney. “They are very desirable because those tractors Hinck page 12

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RED WING - Stepping into 76-year-old Denny Hinck’s shop, one can see up to 50 lawn and garden tractors manufactured between the years of 1957 and 1978. “When you get to be my age, you have to have a hobby,” Hinck said. “You age fast otherwise.” Hinck is a retired union laborer, who worked in construction, and has 100 lawn and garden tractors in his collection which are stored both in his one and two-car garages at home and at his 40 x 60 shop outside of Goodhue. “I ran out of room in my garages so a friend and I had this shop built five years ago,” Hinck said. “At one point, I thought this shop was going to be way too big, but it turns out it’s actually way too small.” The collection started in 2000 with a Sears Super 6 tractor. “I had a couple friends collecting and they said I should buy one,” Hinck said. “I had a renter that also owed me money and since he didn’t have any money, he gave me his riding lawn mower instead.” The collection has continued on ever since and includes implement brands such as Oliver, Cockshutt/White, Wheel Horse, Bolens, Allis-Chalmers, Case, International, Massey Ferguson, Minneapolis-Moline, Ford, Town and Country and others. “I don’t collect just one thing,” Hinck said. “I

Page 12 • Country Acres South | Saturday, August 6, 2022

Included in Denny Hinck’s collection is a set of Oliver lawn and garden tractors. Hinck bought all five tractors from one person.

Hinck

from page 11 “If they didn’t sell, they quit making them,” Hinck said. In fact, the Olivers in his collection were only made in 1972 and all the wheel horses were made before 1974. Most of the wheel horses in his collection were made in the years 1957 and 1974, those made in 1957 and 1962 are Hinck’s favorite. “The older wheelhorses are harder to find and they look nice,” Hinck said. “The 1967-to-1973-wheel horses look nice too, but they are more common.” After the wheel horses, however, Hinck likes the Olivers and the odd brands. “Then after that it’s kind of pick and choose,” Hinck said. A few tractors in his collection, such as the Massey Fergusons, were made for a number of years. They made them from 1963 to 1977, he said. Today, none of these tractors are still made and sold on the market. “All the companies went to newer models,” Hinck said. Each tractor in Hinck’s collection could be used for a variety of different lawn and garden tasks such as mowing lawn or tilling. “You can use all kinds of stuff on them if they have a 3-point hitch,” Hinck said. “And then the wheel horses have 4 horsepower all the way up to 20 horsepower.” Surprisingly, all of the tractors in Hinck’s collection still run, and

PHOTOS BY KATE RECHTZIGEL

Denny Hinck talks about one of the tractors he is currently working on in his shop near Red Wing. Hinck and his brother, David, work together to restore all of Hinck’s tractors.

Hinck starts them up once a month. “I put some on the shelves with a forklift,” Hinck said. “Those ones are just missing gas and batteries.” To find the different tractors, Hinck looks through magazines, hears through word-of-mouth, attends different shows and has a friend search the internet. He has traveled to South Dakota, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, different parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Wyoming for tractors. “You see a lot of country from traveling and picking out lawn mowers,” Hinck said. When purchasing tractors, Hinck buys around five a year and searches for any tractor that strikes his eye. “It’s mostly just for enjoyment and something to do,” Hinck said. “I come out here and I spend three to four hours of my day working on tractors. In the winter when it’s cold, I collect coins.” His brother, David, also collects and has around 20 to 25 tractors. “He was one of the people who wanted me to start collecting and then he said I was a lot of competition,” Hinck said. “That’s because I bought a lot of stuff that my brother and a friend passed on. Now, they are downsizing and I’m the last one still collecting.” In addition to collecting himself, David also helps Hinck with restoring all of the tractors in his collection. “That’s kind of how they got me started,” Hinck said. “I’m not mechanically inclined so he

said that he would help.” Hinck tears the tractors down and cleans the grease off, while David sandblasts, and paints primer and a finishing coat on each tractor. And then the pair is able to put them back together. “All of the body work has been done on most of my tractors and they practically look better than when they were new,” Hinck said. “I just got one wheel horse done and had seven guys out here on Sunday, and five of them wanted to buy it.” Hinck said that while restoring is costly, it is something he would rather have done. “I like when they are all done,” Hinck said.

“You can have the originals, but I enjoy restoring and it gives me a summer hobby. One of my friends said to me one time, ‘You’re never home,’ and I said, ‘Why would I be, I just need to eat and sleep

there.’” Hinck’s favorite memories from collecting have been meeting new friends and traveling. “I have been all the way out to Gillette, Wyoming and to Sturgis, South Dakota,” Hinck said. “I’ve been to so many places and I have met a lot of nice people.” In the future, Hinck

plans to downsize and sell a few tractors on auction. “They will be my more common ones,” Hinck said. “And then I can move my ‘better tractors’ from town out here.” He also plans to buy a few more and hopes to add the Town and Country 114 to his collection. “They are harder to find and I have all the 14-horse tractors except that one,” Hinck said. “But, if another tractor comes along and strikes my eye, I’ll buy it.”

The Wheel Horses in Denny Hinck’s collection were made between 1957 and 1974.

Collecting tractors is Denny Hinck’s summer hobby. He has around 50 in his shop outside of Red Wing. The other 50 are stored in his one- and two-car garages at his house.