Tag: Glen Ullin

We got the beet | September 13, 2023

Well, September is upon us.  Try as I might to get an extra month of June, the boys are now back in school and harvest is underway in the Red River Valley.  Since about 50% of the readers of North Dakota Nice are from places outside of the state (hullo, everyone!), I thought I might tell you a little bit about harvest since I have never harvested anything and am therefore qualified to do so.

I’m pretty sure when non-North Dakotas think about North Dakota they imagine wheat fields, buffalo, and snow, which is all correct.  Here’s another thing to add to that list: North Dakota is one of the top producers of sugar beets in the United States.  What are sugar beets, you ask?  Imagine the type of beet you’d put in a salad or borscht, suck out 50% of the color, stretch it into the shape of a child’s football, and then Google it because that is a terrible description.  Sugar beets, as the name suggests, are made into sugar.  While the American South thinks of sugar coming from cane, 55% of sugar consumed in the U.S. comes from beets.

The reason why I, a person who has never grown nor harvested sugar beets, feels capable to write a story on sugar beets is 1) hubris, and 2) because East Grand Forks – the Minnesota town bordering Grand Forks – is home to one of American Crystal Sugar’s factories…or processing plants…or something.  Despite the fact that I know a bunch of people who work for Crystal Sugar and sugar beets are a big part of life in North Dakota, I’m not actually sure what goes on inside the facility.  It’s like Willy Wonka, except that you can run into the Oompa-Loompas at bar bingo and you probably could have asked one of them for a tour before this moment but you’re 99% certain there aren’t any chocolate rivers in there so your interest is low.

Like I said, sugar beets are a big part of life in North Dakota.  We (not me) grow them.  We (not me) harvest them.  We (not me, but not for lack of trying – more on that in a moment) transport them to Crystal Sugar.  We (not me) process them.  We (definitely me) enjoy the granular, caloric fruits of all of their labor.  And we (me) get the luxury of smelling them.

During harvest, Crystal Sugar hires temporary drivers to haul beets from the fields to mountainous piles next to the factory.  Driving beet truck is an awesome job because you make a ton of money for only a couple of weeks’ work, and so you often hear of Grand Forksers using their PTO to haul beets to pay for their new boats or Christmas presents or whatever.  It’s such a coveted role that you often need to know someone to become a driver.  There are a few jobs I have always wanted to do but have never gotten the chance: Disney World Princess; 1950’s diner waitress; and Beet Truck Driver.

For about a month, the streets of Grand Forks are bustling with these temporary drivers moving tons and tons of beets in open-bed trucks.  As you might expect, beets come out of the ground covered in dirt; and when beets get jostled in the back of the truck, they shake dirt all over the road.  When dirt shakes out onto the road and is then driven over by vehicles, it hardens into bumpy piles – giving the top pile of any given truck of sugar beets the chance to hop to freedom onto the roads.

Here’s something fun about sugar beets!  When they get smushed, they stank.  Not stink; staaank.  When I was a kid, there was about a two-week period when Grand Forks was filled with the…unique…aroma of processing sugar beets.  Today, Crystal Sugar has some kind of magical filter to keep our town smelling like town, but those freedom sugar beets are there to remind us of what once was.  (Fortunately, Grand Forks cleans them up pretty quickly.)

Every year, the University of North Dakota hosts Potato Bowl USA, a multi-day event which includes a french fry feed (North Dakota is 5th in the U.S. for potatoes), a football game, and a parade.  My 8-year-old didn’t want to attend the parade because he, apparently, wanted to break his mother’s heart, and it turned out we missed more than marching bands and Tootsie Rolls because American Crystal Sugar handed out bags of sugar.  Not candy containing sugar.  Not sugar beets.  Bags of sugar.  Then that same 8-year-old later had the audacity to ask if we could make muffins and you know what, kid?  We couldn’t; we were out of sugar.

Just kidding; we had sugar.  We made muffins.  We ate our muffins, and then biked out to a nearby corn field (North Dakota is 11th in corn production) because it was a beautiful September day in beautiful North Dakota.

I took the photo above at Cans 4 Corn.  What is Cans 4 Corn?  Well, you’d better watch my North Dakota Today segment (below) to find out.  (Also, it’s a fundraiser to benefit the Salvation Army courtesy of the Sproule Family and 3 Farm Daughters)

This week on North Dakota Today we talked about Cans 4 Corn and Foster Grandparents.  Check it out!  (Valley News Live)

You are going to LOVE this story about North Dakota’s Teacher of the Year, Ivona Todorovic, a beloved educator in Grand Forks (formerly of Bosnia). (North Dakota Nice)

This year’s Minnesota State Fair award-winning artisan cheese at the comes courtesy of Cows and Co. Creamery out of Carrington. (News Dakota)

In North Dakota-adjacent news, Happy 106th Birthday to McIntosh’s Hilma Stadsted!  I hope she got that birthday baked potato! (Valley News Live)

GAH, I FOUND THIS STORY TOO LATE.  If you haven’t been to a powwow, BE SURE to mark your calendars for next year’s UTTC 54th annual powwow. (KX Net)

Speaking of powwows, this is a cute story about the “Frybread Diva.” (KFYR TV)

Grand Forks’ Hal and Kathy Gershman are helping to make the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library a reality. (Fargo Forum)

North Dakota’s Boyfriend, Josh Duhamel, has a new reality TV show with his longtime buddy, Bob. (Hot 975 FM)

Glen Ullin’s Harper Wetzel is headed to Disney World, courtesy of Make-A-Wish. (KFYR TV)

Grand Forks’ James Lyon’s 1933 Franklin Olympic is now back home. (Grand Forks Herald)

Okay, this is not a nice story, but it’s a nice story (warning, it’s a little gruesome).  When West Fargo’s Kolby Hunsicker crashed his motorcycle, several good Samaritans stepped in and probably saved his life. (Grand Forks Herald)

Fargo’s Katie Stensgard is a mother of four and the winner of the Jiu-Jitsu Masters World Championships in Las Vegas. (KFYR TV)

Want to hang out with the Kosiors and support Altru’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit?  Kyle and I are the emcees of the 2023 Altru Gala on September 23! (Altru)

As a reminder, I’ll be appearing on North Dakota Today on Monday mornings. Tune in, and send me the people and stories that are nice.  Thank you in advance!

ALSO as a reminder, Kyle now has a North Dakota hockey podcast on Pulltab Sports. It’s called “North Dakota After Dark” and he hosts it with our friends Kelly and Corey. Episode 8 with Andrea Reynolds is now up. Click here to listen.

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Socks | October 29, 2020

I don’t think North Dakotans are under any misapprehension that it gets cold around here; there is, however, some inconsistency as to when it happens.  I personally don’t officially acknowledge winter weather until two things occur: 1) I turn on the furnace; and 2) I need to wear socks.

A few days ago, our digital weather systems – we have two, one in the front of the house and one in the back, because my husband doesn’t trust the sun – both read 24 degrees.  A gentle dusting of snow was beginning to fall from a blue-grey sky.  I was working diligently at our dining room table, wearing both a sweater and a sweatshirt.

“Do you think we should turn on the heat?” My husband, Kyle, asked, blowing on his hands as ice crystals began to form in his coffee.

I looked at the thermostat.  We had turned it from “Cool” to “Off” a while back in our annual fall-time ritual where we make a big show of opening the windows and forcing our children to breathe fresh air.  The digital reader on the thermostat was frosted over, but I’m pretty sure it read 62 degrees.

“No, it’s supposed to warm up,” I said.

“When?”  Kyle asked.

“Well, springtime, for sure,” I said, as a family of penguins waddled through the room.

For someone who goes out of her way to avoid mild inconveniences, I will live with refrigerator-like temperatures in my home if I think there’s even an inkling of a chance for 50-degree weather in the next 30 calendar days.  The thing is this: once I turn on the furnace, I’m acknowledging that I’m cold.  Cold is such a subjective feeling when you’re a North Dakotan because 30 degrees in October is glacial and 30 degrees in March is hot enough to cook an egg on the sidewalk.  Using that logic, my theory is that if I don’t know that it’s cold, it’s not cold.

I have a similar feeling about socks.

In Laura Ingalls Wilder’s book “On the Banks of Plum Creek,” as soon as the frost is out of the ground, Ma packs away the children’s shoes and Laura and her sister go barefoot until the following winter.  A recurring theme in our marriage is Kyle’s disappointment in my shoe choices.  It’s a fair concern – I once went pheasant hunting in ballet flats – but I’ve come to realize the problem is much less with the shoes, and much more with the lack of socks.  Because, like Laura Ingalls Wilder, I will only wear socks if there’s three feet of snow on the ground.

Case in point: it was snowing the other day when I dropped the boys off at school, and so I naturally put on a down coat, stocking cap, and gloves to keep warm.  I also wore flip-flops, because it’s October and not January.  When I got home, I noticed that Kyle tucked my flip-flops in the hall closet and set out my much-more-sensible-but-requiring-of-socks boots.  I have since compromised by wearing slippers, because it’s definitely not cold enough for socks.

Speaking of socks, here’s an older story of one of my chillier Halloweens.  And speaking of October, I was sitting at the aforementioned dining room table when the sun came over the trees just right and turned everything a brilliant gold – the photo is above.  And speaking of North Dakota, here’s this week’s news – about National Adoption Month, some young honorary deputy sheriffs, and ornament makers.  Read on.

November is National Adoption Month, and so the Roman Family in Jamestown is holding a toy drive to make sure that foster kids have something of their own. (Jamestown Sun)

Even though Homecoming has been cancelled, NDSU students are getting out to “Serve the Herd” around the Fargo area. (KVRR)

Seventy-two North Dakota National Guardsmen are off to Washington D.C. for a national mission. (KX Net)

Three Glen Ullin teenagers helped a deputy sheriff with an arrest, and got an award for it. (Bismarck Tribune)

Have a field photo that you’re itchin’ to share?  The ND Corn Growers Association is looking for corn-related photos for their annual contest. (Jamestown Sun)

Minot’s Nancy Pietsch has published her first poetry book. (Minot Daily News)

My sons will bypass two bathrooms to go outside to go to the bathroom, so they would be all over this fancy outhouse in Harvey. (Fargo Forum)

There are 30 children in North Dakota looking for families through Adults Adopting Special Kids, an organization which helps place kids that are older, of a minority race, in a sibling group, or have physical, emotional, or psychological needs. (KFYR TV)

Mandan 4-Hers are beading up ornaments for the State Christmas Tree at the Morton County Law Enforcement Center. (Bismarck Tribune)

A good reminder for Katie Pinke to say thank you to the people who keep us humming. (Dickinson Press)

Twelve artists have been hired to paint murals in Bismarck’s Art Alley, including Mahalia Mees, who is featured in this article by KFYR TV. (KFYR TV)

Congratulations to Shawnee Kasemen, the newly-crowned Miss North Dakota! (McIntosh County Star Tribune)

Ten North Dakotans were honored by the National Extension Association for Family and Consumer Sciences for their work on health and nutrition programs for children. (McKenzie County Farmer)

(Like the story above?  Check out last week’s tale of a rad Halloween costume.)

Nice news of the day – January 6, 2020

Happy birthday to the first North Dakota babies born in the new year: Thielen Raic Narum (Bismarck) and Katalaya Selena Foley (Fargo)!

And happy nice news day – about combating opioid addiction, getting to 50, and serving in the Mythical Navy.  Read on.

Glen Ullin’s Rhonda Schmidt is helping people addicted to opioids in Beach, Dickinson, Killdeer, and Grant and Morton counties who cannot get to Bismarck for treatment. (AP News)

Kendra Bowman’s grandparents were on a quest to visit all 50 states.  They made it to 49, with just North Dakota to go, when her grandfather fell ill and make it so they couldn’t travel anymore.  So, a friend packaged up a little North Dakota Nice to bring North Dakota to them. (KVRR)

This is a great lesson in the importance of good water – but my read takeaway here is that we have a North Dakota Mythical Navy. (Grand Forks Herald)