End of the Summer Checklist

August. How can it be August already??? When I think of August I think of the Iowa State Fair and the start of school. Without the state fair this year the next thing on my list is school, which means summer will be officially over. Then the next thing you know it will be time to start getting things ready for harvest season. There is already a chopper box getting worked on in our shop. Before I get too far ahead of myself I decided to make a top five to do list everyone should do before summer ends.

The number one thing most farmers like to do when they get a free moment or even if it is while they are traveling from one farm to the next is to road farm. Road farming is driving around and looking at the crops while comparing fields. It involves slow speeds with lots of gawking and swerving while looking at the crops. I usually offer to drive so the farmer can get a better look. I’ve learned to drive slowly and just agree with all of his ramblings about whether I think that hay needs to be sprayed again or if I see the yellow tint to the alfalfa leaves. The next thing on the list that you can even combine with the first one is going to get some ice cream. Some of the best ice cream shops are only opened during summer and you have to make sure to get your share before the season ends. You can bet if I’m driving while road farming we are stopping for ice cream every chance we get! I have learned to bring my own cash because Farmer Dad’s often forget to bring their billfolds or if they do happen to have it with them, there is probably only a dusty dollar or maybe two in it. Another thing on my to do list for this time of year is to watch the aerial crop duster spray. They are just starting to come around right about now. I love watching them fly over low and turn and come back. The next must do summer thing is stop and buy lemonade from a stand set up in a yard in town anytime you see one. Nothing better than getting a cold glass from a youngster and asking them about their day. My brothers stopped at a stand set up on a corner in Miles last week after checking cows. Best lemonade ever from a cute little five year old. Last not but not least and if you haven’t already, be sure to eat some locally grown sweet corn. Nothing beats a hot summer day and delicious sweet corn. Shucking the corn on the picnic table while drinking some fresh lemonade just sounds magical to me!


These are only some of the amazing things Iowa has to offer during the summer. While this summer may look a little different then most, that doesn’t stop me from making the most out of it because before I know it I will be stuck behind a desk at school again. Last week I was in Fort Dodge at the state softball tournament. If you didn’t follow along on social media, be sure to check it out on the Northeast website. Have a wonderful week, enjoy the rest of your summer, and be on the lookout for road farmers! 

- Kesley Holdgrafer

State-Bound Rebels!

This farm girl is headed to Ft. Dodge! It was all smiles over at the Goose Lake Softball Diamond on Monday, July 20th as the Northeast Rebel Softball team punched their very first ever ticket to state. The Rebels played Iowa City Regina in the Regional Finals and won 2-1 in a true pitcher's duel. This is the Rebels first time in school history to make it to state in softball to compete and we couldn’t be more excited and proud to be traveling to Ft. Dodge for the state tournament July 27th-31st to represent our great community!

If you were at one of our games this year, you would have noticed the energy levels for our games and our team was unmatchable. For each game we had a theme and would decorate the dugout accordingly and wear silly outfits during batting practice. You could catch us in the dugout wearing funny hats like cheese heads and cowboy hats with crazy light up glasses and even wigs with a scuba mask. For the regional final game to make it to state the theme was “Christmas in July” and we went all out. We all came wearing Christmas sweaters and T-shirts, Santa hats or silly tree hats to batting practice. Not only that but we decorated the dugout as well. We had a miniature Christmas tree all lit up and of course a magical Elf on the Shelf watching over us in the dugout with paper snowflakes hanging from the ceiling.


As you can surely tell, my Northeast High School softball team and I are super excited to be headed to the 2020 Girls State Softball Tournament being held for the 50th year at Harlan and Hazel Rogers Sports Complex in Fort Dodge, IA. I am even more excited that I will get out of a couple days of cattle chores and baling. If you get the chance to road trip out and watch us or keep up with us on social media making history, be sure to also check out our fun dugout entertainment along with the great softball being played. Go Rebs!

 ~ Kesley Holdgrafer

Ice Cream!

Nothing beats ending a long hot summer day of hard work with some cold ice cream. July is the heart of summer so it makes perfect sense that July is National Ice Cream Month. In 1984, President Ronald Reagan designated July as National Ice Cream Month and the third Sunday of July as National Ice Cream Day. This year that day is on July 19th. There is nothing better than a great excuse to eat ice cream. I will be celebrating with ice cream treats all month!

Everyone loves ice cream and in America the average person will eat approximately 23 gallons a year! Everyone also has their all time favorite spot to get their ice cream from as well. Whether it’s a local ice cream shop, a favorite gas station, or even a well known fast food place. What sometimes gets forgotten is the also delicious homemade ice cream and the great family time spent watching and waiting for it to mix.

Every year I feel like there are always hundreds of new unheard of flavors to choose from. Did you know you can buy cilantro and lime ice cream or sour cream? After making the decision of which new flavor to try, then you realize there are also multiple ways to serve your ice cream, in a bowl, as a sundae, in a shake, a malt, multiple toppings, dipped in flavors, the choices go on and on! Even a simple cone can get confusing as you can also choose a sugar cone, a frosted cone, a waffle cone or waffle cone with frosting and sprinkles. So many decisions!


If you couldn’t already tell, ice cream is one of my favorite treats of summer. No matter what kind you choose, enjoy National Ice Cream Month and National Ice Cream Day by splurging on a delicious cool treat at your favorite spot. I know I will! 

~ Kesley Holdgrafer

Talking With Your Hands

If there is one thing I have learned from living on a farm and being surrounded by farmers for seventeen years is that farmers love to talk. They love to talk to each other about everything from the weather to detailed stories about their many farming experiences. From years of just sitting and watching these conversations develop and grow I have noticed that farmers love to talk with their hands. Both hands. No matter what type of conversation it is their hands are always moving. Their hands are the illustration to the great story that they are telling. Some stories even become a complete aerobic workout!

If they are giving you directions their hands are most definitely moving while they are talking, pointing, and describing each and every turn. They are pointing out the turns you will take while the other hand will represent a house or a shed that you will turn by. Before you know it a map was just made in the sky by the motions of their hands.

It’s crazy because even while the farmer is on the phone they still talk with their hands. I don’t think they quite understand that the person on the other end of the phone can not see their silly hand motions. Where things get really interesting is when the farmer is talking on the phone while driving. Somehow they still manage to talk with their hands even if it is just small hand gestures while still holding onto the wheel, and I just hope they are not driving a stickshift! They might need another hand to accomplish all of that.


The next time you witness farmers talking, step back and take a minute to enjoy the entire story. The hand gestures, the detailed directions, the weather forecast predictions, the specifically explained description of the broken part they need right away and of course their opinion on the markets! You can learn a lot by just sitting back and listening to their conversations. I often wonder if they could even talk without their hands? Of course they could, it may just not be as entertaining!



~ Kesley Holdgrafer

State Fair 2021!

As most of you probably know the beloved great Iowa State Fair is cancelled this year. The state fair is one of my favorite things to look forward to all summer. I love exhibiting 4-H projects, watching shows, competing in fun fair contests, and of course eating tons of delicious fair food especially if it is on a stick. Without a fair this year, it means that my to do list for next year's fair will be twice as big as I will have to make up for all the stuff I will miss out on this year.



First thing on the list is getting a bucket of cookies. These fresh, still hot and melting in your mouth delicious chocolate chip cookies are the best thing to eat while walking around the fair looking at everything it has to offer. I’m sure by next year there will be tons of new foods to try since every vendor has a whole nother year to think of new ideas to freeze or fry to put on a stick for easy walking, gawking, talking, and of course eating while participating in the people watching pro-sport which the state fair is famous for. I could watch all the funny people at the fair for days but then I realize they are probably watching and laughing at me also as I just felt a big chocolate chip chunk still stuck to my lip from my snack a few hours ago.



Another one of my favorite things to do while at the fair is compete in the fun fair contests. Whether it’s egg rolling, cow pie throwing, or even a yummy pie eating contest it is so much fun to enter, compete and of course EAT! (However, do NOT eat the cow pie). Last year I was at the fair for twelve of the best days of my summer. I was a grandstand usher and my friends and I tried to enter and do as much as we could each day. I think it came from all the years my parents drove my brothers and I to the Iowa State Fair to enter the pedal pull contest. We have lots of hardware and fun trophies from the sweat, determination, and teeth clenching competition from our pedal power. I am very sad to hear the 2020 fair is cancelled but I do look forward to next year with even bigger and better expectations. The Iowa State Fair has been around for 165 years and only includes 5 cancellations of the event. The last time the Iowa State Fair was cancelled was during World War 2. I realize this was not an easy decision to make. I plan to take this year to practice my egg rolling, cow pie throwing, people watching skills and make 2021 the best fair yet!

 ~ Kesley Holdgrafer

Summer Heat

As we reach the middle of June, we are officially in the heart of summer. Long, hot, and humid days are here and nothing beats coming inside to the cold air conditioned house after being outside working on the farm. The big question though is how do farmers do it? How do they continue to work out in the heat? Farmers love what they do. It can either be negative temperatures with below zero windchill or boiling hot temperatures and they would still choose to be outside on the farm then anywhere else.

Everybody knows that on a hot day you must continue to drink lots of water in order to keep from getting dehydrated. For a long day in a baler or anything else, farmers are sure to bring several full, plastic water bottles or even a big jug of water, pop, or Gatorade. Sometimes though, farmers are in a huge hurry and they rush out of the lane so fast they forget their water or they only grab one, which will definitely not last them a full day. As soon as the farmer realizes they forgot something to drink, they usually become super thirsty and begin to search the whole cab for a hidden bottle. Truck and tractor cabs can fill up with many empty water or pop bottles if not cleaned out regularly. If they are lucky enough, they might find one with some old water still in it. The problem is that water is always warm and you have no idea who drank from that bottle before you. If you are extremely lucky, there just might be an old can of pop that has rolled around so long it has no label left and the aluminum is covered in dirt. Without a label you can not tell if it is a diet or regular Pepsi, or even what year it expired. At that point though, it doesn’t really matter because you are super thirsty and it is better than the alternative of not drinking anything at all.


I hope everyone has a safe and amazing summer, and farmers, do not forget to bring plenty of fresh cold water and pop for a long summer day in the field. 

~ Kesley Holdgrafer

The Art of Saying Goodbye

The art of saying goodbye. When you think of saying goodbye you probably imagine a quick hand wave, a hug, or a few words and out the door you go. There’s tons of different ways you can say goodbye to someone after a visit, however when visiting with a farmer, saying goodbye is really a fascinating journey.

If they are visiting inside the house they will probably sit at the table for a long time talking about stories and this year's crop. Then when they eventually feel it’s time to leave, they will start heading to the door and saying goodbye. Once at the door they will again begin to share another story that leads to another and starts a whole new conversation. If they bring up the weather then you're really going to be there a long time because farmers can talk about the weather forever. Talking about this spring's weather, upcoming weather, remember the weather that year, imagine if the weather was like this instead. They can go on and on. Once you finally say goodbye again and reach the fresh air outside it might actually be goodbye unless it’s nice out and they follow you. Then you might end up telling more stories leaning against your truck until you officially say a final goodbye, start your vehicle and actually leave. Saying goodbye in the Midwest truly is an art. You can actually say the words many times, but until you are officially in your vehicle heading down the lane and onto the road, this process can take hours to accomplish.


Farmers are cooped up in the tractor all spring planting and doing tons of other things alone. They have been pretty busy and haven’t done a lot of chit chatting with neighbors. When the time does come when they meet up again, a lot of stories can be shared. It can take awhile for the final goodbye to be said. With that being said I am super excited to say goodbye to spring and hello to summer. Bring on the hay equipment, balers, tedders, and rakes. It’s going to be a great summer!


~ Kesley Holdgrafer