Prairie Ramblings

Those Long Northern Plains Winters...Are we Crazy, Courageous, or Both?

By Tracy Sayler

When the winter wind howls and the sub-zero cold is so piercing it makes your eyes water, I sometimes think about the pioneers who settled the Northern Plains. Were they crazy, courageous, or a bit of both? Imagine living on the prairie tundra in sod houses, using horses to travel 10 miles or more to get staples such as butter, sugar, and flour, no electricity or running water, going to the outhouse to use the bathroom, and long nights with few games and little to read—no wonder they had big families back then.

Of course, today’s winters are a lot more manageable than they used to be. Sophisticated technology allows meteorologists to pinpoint weather with better long-range accuracy. Cell phones and four-wheel-drive bring more confidence to winter travel. The Internet, satellite/cable TV, video games, and home movies help melt away winter hours.

Summer is so busy with yard work and other sun-and-fun activities that I actually look forward to the breather that winter provides. It affords an opportunity to do mundane things like filing paperwork that is hard to do when it’s nice outside, or steal a nap on a Sunday afternoon without feeling guilty about it.

For farmers, winter brings a little bit of everything. A few are snow birds, and head south for the winter. Some keep busy with livestock. Others work on equipment, plan for next year, volunteer, take winter jobs, go snowmobiling and ice fishing, and catch up with their reading. Here’s the take on winter from three farmers and a farm wife, in their own words:

Winter is Great
“Winter is great! I look forward to the snow and definite change in the season. It’s time for collecting my thoughts from last year and start the planning for next year. In the meantime, I hope to do some snowmobiling (I don’t ice fish), attending high school sporting events, convention attending, socializing, and moving grain. Of course, there is always the “honey do” list in the house to fall back on during the slack times. Over coffee, we have time to solve world problems (only thing is that no one else finds out about the solutions). The planning for next year seems to be a never-ending effort as I study different varieties of different crops, with different fertilizer rates and different chemicals to achieve the optimal net return for my operation. What a mouthful! Then I need to keep analyzing my equipment to determine if any changes need to be made to improve our business.” – Art Brandli, Warroad, MN

Tax Planning
“I enjoy the winter, it gives me time to get rejuvenated and by spring I am looking forward to nice days and field work. I spend a lot of time (during early winter) working on tax planning issues. On a per hour basis I think I make more money doing this than I do producing grains! (Maybe on a total dollar basis too!) I also am able to spend more time with volunteer groups and activities, thereby providing me with more social activity.” – Doug Ruud, Twin Valley, MN

Hibernation
“I think some of them are like bears. They just hibernate on the couch with their farm magazines and field maps, planning for and dreaming of spring, summer and fall. Sometimes they take a break from that routine to take one of the naps they missed during harvest. I think some just relish winter because it’s an opportunity to stay in the house and torment their wives the best ways they know how: leaving dirty dishes strew throughout the house, talking on the phone a lot and or sitting in the home office playing on their computer.” – Colette Gjermundson, Halliday, ND

Nothing Like a Nice Warm Shop
Here’s my “average” week (during the winter). Day one: Board duties - I’m on 4 boards of various types… Day two: Work in office — time to catch up on that stack of paper from last April. Day three: Haul grain — this is a little misleading because I actually spend 3/4 of the “average” day trying to get the bin site snowblowed, starting trucks and fixing everything broken down in that process. Day four: Work in shop — this is actually my favorite time of the winter. There is nothing like a nice warm shop on the coldest January day. Day five: Be Dad  — at least one weekday a week I get to be with at least one of my kids. This a great excuse to run errands, attend farm shows or repeat day four (my kids’ favorite). An added benefit of having young kids with at a farm show or the local implement is that they get treated like royalty by most everybody. Days six and seven give us weekend family time we usually don’t get much of in the busy months. As you can see, I don’t have a real exciting or exhausting schedule. It’s nice to have the flexibility to quit at 5, just like you guys in town.” – Bryan Hest, Perley, MN.

(This column was published in the Winter, 00-01 issue of “North Star Port,” quarterly publication of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority, and is reprinted with permission. Suggestions and input from readers may be emailed to tsayler@prairieagcomm.com)