Sheyenne: Sept. 30, 2024

Patti Clifton kept a vehicle appointment in Carrington last Friday. While the car was being worked on, Patti and Deanna Erickson had lunch and a visit at Pizza Ranch. Later, Patti did some shopping before returning to Sheyenne.

Dianne Hanson called bingo for Sheyenne Civic Association Saturday night, Sept. 21. Bob Hanson and Kathy Albrecht sold cards and Darlene Kolstad served the lunch. Since blackout did not go, $250 will be the amount for Sheyenne Fire Department on September 28.

Patti Larson was surrounded by other Sheyenne residents when she gave blood at the Vitalant drive at the Catholic church in New Rockford last Thursday. Eunice Throlson was a volunteer at the registration table. Vitalant will be back in New Rockford on November 8.

It was good to see another generation of Sheyenne 4-H youth helping serve the roast beef dinner at the Steam Threshers in New Rockford on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 21 and 22. Peter and Patti Larson took in the steam show on Saturday. There was a nice crowd that day and the 4-H building was full of people enjoying a delicious meal out of the wind.

Katrina Christiansen, N.D. candidate for the U.S. Senate, visited with area residents at the Steam Threshers in New Rockford on Sunday. That is her second campaign visit to Eddy County after she also attended the Sheyenne Stampede on August 17.

Stan Kruger and Patti Larson processed five dozen ears of corn for the freezer last Saturday morning at the Kruger farm. They have worked as a team cutting corn off the cob quite a few times over the years, so the operation doesn't take long at all.

Peter Larson flew his Cesna 182 to Enderlin last Sunday morning for a pancake feed fly-in. It was a nice morning to fly, as it wasn't foggy, hazy or windy!

Nephew Eric Anderson and Madi Cherwinski stopped to visit Patti Larson on their way for bow hunting on Friday.

Monday, Patti Clifton kept an appointment in New Rockford. Later, she road along with Jan Loe to Devils Lake where Jan did some business at the DMV.

Two Sheyenne natives were among those invited to speak at the inaugural North Dakota Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) Conference on the NDSU campus on Wednesday, Oct. 18. The conference brought together academic and agriculture community stakeholders to engage in discussion on growing horticulture and floriculture crops inside greenhouses. As vegetable production faces challenges in drought-stricken regions, large companies are looking north for viable locations for indoor growing environments.

Jeremy Lewis, son of Dave and June Lewis, presented on his work to develop and hone techniques for growing vegetables inside high tunnels at the Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College in New Town. He also shared about the extensive community garden space that the college facilitates.

Joanna Larson, owner of Prairie Gates, spoke about starting a small business and working to develop a market for high value crops. She took many questions from the audience about her farm stand and cut flowers as the academic community was trying to learn about challenges that farmers face developing these markets in North Dakota.

Many presentations were linked through themes of “food sovereignty,” which may be at least partly defined by how well a community can determine the quantity and quality of the food that they have access to. Notably, the United Tribes Technical College presented about their completion of the first net-zero greenhouse to be operated by a tribal college. The greenhouse will be a learning space and supply produce to their campus café. Additionally, the Mandan Hidatsa Arikara Nation’s Native Green Grow project was presented to attendees. That project is designed to capture Bakken flare gas to heat and power large hydroponic greenhouses for commercial scale production near New Town.

Technical conversations about developing CEA programs were led by professors from the University of Arizona and University of Minnesota. NDSU’s Dr. Jia, professor of agriculture and biosystems engineering, and Dr. Hatterman-Valenti, professor of horticultural sciences, hosted and organized the conference. Other local attendees included Mike Ostlie, Director of Carrington Research Extension Center.