THE LAND — OCTOBER 29/NOVEMBER 5, 2021
www.thelandonline.com — “Where Farm and Family Meet”
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Fall harvest time builds memories and traditions As a farm kid, my favorite and would frequently season was fall. It was not spend weekends with us or the vibrant colors that my grandparents. would appear on the trees The farm was a place that as they prepared to dress gave everyone a purpose. down for winter; or the From the youngest to the dropping temperatures oldest, everyone could be which left little fingers and tasked with something. noses red; or the cozy meals Whether it was keeping the DEEP ROOTS that were ready to serve at combine or tractor drivers a moment’s notice. Those By Whitney Nesse company, delivering field are the things that I love meals, sorting cattle, or about fall now. As a child, what I loved hauling in round bales of corn stalks, most about fall was the way harvest if one wanted to work a task could be drew in people from near and far, all found. for the same goal: bringing in the There were usually so many kids crops. For me, every weekend in the around that there wasn’t room to be late 1980’s through the 1990’s, our lonely. I can remember endless hours farm felt like its very own bustling with cousins and friends rearranging community. small bales of straw to build forts and My family lived one mile (as the equal amounts of time played in our crow flies) from my grandparents and swing set fort — using it as a pirate the two farm sites were connected by ship. As everyone got older, buzzing a field road. I loved that field road. It around on my grandpa’s three-wheeler was the place I learned to drive a and in my parents’ John Deere Gator tractor and a truck, where I learned were at the top of the list. Thankfully, to shoot a gun, and where I lost the there was nothing more serious than a keys to my grandpa’s Yamaha threefew minor broken bones and many wheeler. That field road is the place stern warnings from parents with where our little dachshund lost her those ventures. life and is home to “the big hill” which My favorite fall memories include served as our halfway point. From getting rides in full gravity boxes from spring through fall, the field road was the field up to the house. Sitting on the main highway which connected top of a golden mound of corn, digging the two farms. My mom and grandma, both experts in the kitchen, were my fingers and toes into the cool kernels and burying my legs all the while continually feeding a crowd each squealing with glee as the wagon weekend during the fall. They were slowly swayed back and forth behind not only feeding their own families, the tractor top the list. And the fun but were most often feeding cousins didn’t stop when the tractor parked and friends as well. Our town-dwelleither! ing cousins and friends loved the busy-ness of the farm during harvest Part of the fun was staying in the
North Star Ag Expo announced Tradexpos has recently announced the first annual North Star Ag Expo will take place July 26-28, 2022. This new outdoor farm show will be held at the Ritchie Bros. Auction site, located four miles north of Owatonna, Minn. just off of I-35. The North Star Ag Expo will offer farmers and ranchers an opportunity to meet with industry leading ag companies. As an addition to the show, the University of Minnesota will hold seminars on July 26 from 1-4 p.m. and July 27 from 10 a.m.-noon in the Ritchie
wagon as long as I could as the corn flowed out into an auger below. My dad never let anyone stay in too long (except one time when my brother ended up flowing out the bottom of the wagon with the corn — but all’s well that ends well). A sure mark of a well-spent fall day was finding corn, straw and dirt in obscure places. Pockets, shoes, cracks and crevices are places that seem to house foreign objects well. Even now, with my own kids, I can tell when it has been a good day by the amount of roughage that falls to the floor when they are getting ready to bathe. Where we live, harvest time has changed a bit. Gravity boxes have been replaced with semi trucks and trailers, our field road has been plowed under, my dad no longer raises livestock, my grandparents have both passed away and my cousins are widely dispersed across the country. But change does not always have a negative connotation. My dad and brothers are still farming the same pieces of dirt that left a gritty film on my skin as a kid. My
husband and I are raising our family and livestock on the same farm site where my grandparents raised their family and livestock. My children are learning how to drive tractors and trucks, shoot guns, ride four-wheelers, build forts, play in piles of corn, sort cattle and experience the circle of life as we birth and bury loved animals. We are fortunate to live a mile (as the crow flies) from both of my brothers and their families and we still have my parents and one of my sisters’ close by as well. Harvest time still offers a purpose and sense of community. Anyone who wants to work can be given a task, my mom is still an expert in the kitchen and I think of myself as her protege. Each fall I make new memories with my family and friends, never replacing the memories of my childhood, just building on them. Whitney Nesse is a sixth-generation livestock farmer who is deeply rooted in her faith and family. She writes from her central Minnesota farm. v
Sustainable agriculture grant funding available ST. PAUL — The Minnesota Department of Agriculture anticipates awarding up to $250,000 to demonstrate and publicize the energy efficiency, environmental benefit, or profitability of sustainable agricultural techniques or systems, from production through marketing.
The Agricultural Growth, Research, and Innovation (AGRI) Program’s Bros. Auction indoor auditorium. All Sustainable Agriculture Demonstration seminars will be free to attend. Grant program will accept applications Parking and admission to the North through 4 p.m. on Dec. 9. Star Ag Expo is free. The gates will Applicants may request up to $50,000 open daily at 9 a.m. and close at 5 p.m. per project. The first $25,000 does not on July 26, 8 p.m. on July 27, and 4 p.m. need to be matched by the applicants. on July 28. For requests between $25,000 and Tradexpos also presents the North $50,000, applicants must provide a American Farm and Power Show which dollar-for-dollar match on the amount is held at the Four Seasons Centre in above $25,000. Owatonna every March. Funding will be awarded in 2022. This article was submitted by Projects must last two to three years Tradexpos, Inc. v and grantees must be willing to share
what they learn with others.
Projects are published annually in the MDA’s Greenbook, which provides a summary of each project along with results, management tips, locations of previous projects, and other resources.
Past grants have funded a wide range of projects, such as exploring farm diversification; cover crops and crop rotation; conservation tillage; input reduction strategies; and alternative energies such as wind, methane, and biomass.
Applicants must be Minnesota residents, and projects must take place on Minnesota farms.
For more information, visit https:// www.mda.state.mn.us/business-devloans-grants/agri-sustainable-agriculture-demonstration-grant
This article was submitted by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.v
