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www.driftlessjournal.com | news@driftlessjournal.com | 563-382-4221 | Tuesday, October 17, 2023 | Vol. 5 Issue 42
The ‘Wagon Wheel’ of sustainable pasturing
Nettle Valley Farm practices barn-pasture hybrid pig farming
By Kate Klimesh Nestled outside of Spring Grove, Minn., is Nettle Valley Farm, a pastured livestock farm operated by Dayna Burtness and Nick Nguyen. The duo is raising pastured pigs with a focus of ensuring the animals can remain active and happy the duration of their long summer at the farm. Dayna hosted a Practical Farmers of Iowa Field Day Sept. 9 at Nettle Valley and shared years of trial-and-error experiences and best practices with farmers looking to expand their operations – or quite possibly try the ag life for the first time. What set the field day apart from most was the explanation of the “Wagon Wheel” – or barn-pasture hybrid model for pasturing pigs – allowing them a more-varied diet and greater physical environment, which can help them be as happy
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Ghost hero? By Don Hilleshiem, Waterville Adult Nonfiction THIRD PLACE
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H ME & Harvest Edition Ossian family enjoys backyard oasis
Foraging in the verdant pasture in rural Spring Grove, Minn., are plump, happy pigs pleasantly spoiled and watched over by farmers Dayna Burtness and Nick Nguyen. They enjoy the pasture filled with extra nutrition from the growing plants. The electric fence is moveable, and allows Burtness to set a different, fresh pasture area every so often to sustain the quality of the land and the health of the animals. This is part of the wagon wheel approach to pasturing pigs. (Driftless Multimedia photo by Kate Klimesh) This autumn marks nine years in the home Andy and Trisha Smith of Ossian built and one season enjoying their newly-finished backyard oasis – a retreat that includes a composite deck, swim spa, pavilion, built in fire pit and stone landscaping. The couple are pictured with their children Colton, Brayden and Trinity and pups Zeus and Bella. (Driftless Multimedia photos by Samantha Ludeking)
By Samantha Ludeking With a son and a Dachshund in tow, it was 2013 and Andy and Trisha Smith were looking to relocate back Andy and Trisha Smith built their Ossian home in to northeast Iowa 2013. in search of their Inside the “forever home” “forever home” with room to grow. “Our realtor showed us houses in OsFast forward to 2023, they’ve grown their family to three kids and two dogs, sian, Ridgeway and Decorah,” Trisha while also creating a harmonious in- explained as the first steps the Smiths door space for their family’s needs took in relocating from Des Moines to and interests, including a home office, northeast Iowa, where the two grew up; game room, home theater, a main floor Andy in Cresco and Trisha in Ossian. When they couldn’t find a house with space for entertaining and a newthat checked all their boxes, they dely-finished backyard oasis.
cided to build – and build quickly. They purchased a lot that summer in Ossian’s Kuhn Addition, across from Silver Springs Golf Course, and were moved into their new home by January. Fortunately, they were able to live with Trisha’s parents in Ossian through the building process. In hopes of moving along quickly, however, they chose a prefabricated home. “Time was part of it, but honestly, having less decisions to make was a benefit,” laughed Trisha. The Smiths worked with Kelly
Builders of Decorah to choose and customize a floor plan that would meet the needs of the family they hoped to grow. They were able to incorporate the “must have” features they were looking for in a home – a gas fireplace, a large kitchen with pantry, a master bedroom on the main floor, along with three additional bedrooms and an office in the home and a flat driveway for kids to play. Knowing that she
Smith home
e had owned our house in Lawler a couple of years when the ghost made his presence known. It started one night when the wife and cat were napping on the couch and I was in my chair watching TV. Suddenly there was the sound of a ceramic lamp smashing on the floor. The wife jumped up, the cat raced out of the room, and I turned to the lamp, thinking I had knocked it off the table, but it stood there unbroken. That night after we’d gone to bed, we heard the sound of the front door slamming over and over and the kitchen table and chairs sliding around. This went on every night until we met a woman who had lived in the house and told us the ghost’s story and name. The next time the sound of the door and the furniture started downstairs I shouted, “George, can you hold it down please? We’re trying to sleep.” After that we never heard the door or furniture again. But then when we were in bed we’d hear footsteps come up the stairs and down the hall to our room, the sound of the door opening, a pause long enough for someone to look in to make sure everything was alright, then the sound of the door closing. Then the footsteps moved to the youngest daughter’s room and her door was opened. Then down to the oldest daughter’s room, the sound of the door, and footsteps down the hall and back down the stairs. This went on until one morning when I was working a swing shift at Beatrice Cheese in Fredericksburg. The wife wanted to take the oldest daughter to Decorah to see her parents but wanted to leave the youngest home because she’d been up all night and had just gone to sleep. I told them to go ahead. I didn’t have to be back to work for four days, so I’d sleep until she woke up. I’d been asleep a couple hours when I woke to a child yelling, “Daddy, Daddy!” Thinking the wife was home and the oldest daughter was calling, I checked the driveway, but the wife’s car wasn’t there. I walked into the youngest daughter’s room to find her in her crib with the sheet around her neck
Ghost hero?
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