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NEW ELM SPRINGS COLONY MARK AND CINDY ULMER

Hutchinson County, August 2021

New Elm Springs Colony is a true farrow-to-finish hog operation with all the farrowing, nursery and finishing barns on property. They also have a plant where they mill all their own feed for both their pigs and their turkey operation. Levi Wollman takes a break from the hog operation to have fun with some children This self-reliant at the New Elm Springs Hutterite Colony. approach is not uncommon for Hutterite. The history of the New Elm Springs Colony in the area dates back to the 1870s when families first settled at Maxwell Colony, south of Menno. Today, about 100 people live on the colony. New Elm Springs has a butchering and processing facility on site and they sell a wide variety of pork and turkey products. They sell products to commercial and retail customers. Many of the butcher shop's products can be purchased at Dimock Dairy as well.

Hog boss Levi Wollman said the colony takes part in the checkoff-funded We Care program. “We have so much riding on this. Safety, caring for the environment and animal well-being are crucial to everything we do,” Levi said. Hutchinson County, September 2021

Tractor pulling is a tremendous amount of work, but Mark Ulmer relishes the thrill when he puts the hammer down. “I imagine I love the element of competition. We’ve been very successful which is probably what drives us more than anything. We entertain thousands and thousands of people with these tractors.” His tractors – Eleanor and The Weapon – finished first and second in Outlaw Truck & Tractor Cindy and Mark Ulmer and their dog, Lily. Pulling Association light super stock class. It's the third year in a row Mark has been the overall season points champion. Mark and his wife, Cindy, farm near Menno on ground homesteaded by his great-great grandfather in 1896. He said farming is their base living income, but more of his time is spent driving in tractor pulls or working on tractors for other people. The original shop his dad built in 1959 is still in use. “There has been Grand National Super Stock sitting right there. We’ve got turning lathes, drilling machines, a shaper. We can make gears and internal spines; we build couplers; we make our own transmissions and power axles.”

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SOUTH DAKOTA FAMILIES - 2021

DORIS STENSLAND

Lincoln County, September 2021

When you’re 98 years old, worked 66 years as a farm wife, written three historical novels and six other books, and had your writings featured in several national magazines, there’s really no need for an encore – except if your name is Doris Stensland.

Doris just released the second edition of her book, Our Words Are Blossoms. With the addition of previously-unpublished material, the new edition is double the size of the first edition. Our Words Are Blossoms is a collection of poetry, free verse and writings about Christian life, nature, family, special days, and remembering days past.

The first historical novel Doris wrote was 1977’s Haul The Water, Haul The Wood, which has sold more than 12,000 copies. It focuses on the pioneer life of her Norwegian-immigrant great-grandparents who homesteaded in Lincoln County in the 1870s. Much of Doris’ writing is grounded in her Norwegian heritage, her Christian faith and her decades on a Lincoln County farm. Doris’ books are available to purchase at Haisch Pharmacy in Canton and Crossroads Books & Music in Sioux Falls; plus are available to order online at www.stenslandbooks.com and www.amazon.com.

Doris Stensland.

The Wirt family. Men in back row: Jon, Travis, Adam. Middle row: Katie, Brysen, Sarah, Jovie, Braelyn, Emerson, and Melissa. Seated: Randy and Chris. Photos courtesy of the Wirt family.

THE WIRT FAMILY

Turner County, September 2021

“There are a lot of kids who join the show world. We were born into it,” said Randy Wirt, who raises livestock and grows corn, soybeans and alfalfa south of Parker with his son, Adam, and daughter, Sarah Baloun.

“We used to be a swine seedstock producer, but now we’re into producing show pigs and show lambs,” Randy said. Their other strong tie to livestock showing is the fact that Randy’s wife, Chris, works for the SDSU Extension Service and has helped hundreds of kids through her work at the Turner County Fair and in preparation for the South Dakota State Fair.

Adam said, “Showing livestock is what we do. We’re super busy in the summer, not only working on our own livestock projects, but also farming and helping our customers. It’s what we enjoy. Showing is our sport. We go hard at it trying to get those big outcomes.” In addition to their roles on the farm, Adam manages the POET Bioethanol plant at Hudson and Sarah works for Rasmussen Swine near Hurley.