Growers Help Out Neighbor

Once again area rural folks demonstrated to the rest of us what it means to be good friends and good neighbors. A band of over ten Fairview area growers got together on Sept. 28 to harvest 120 acres of beets planted by Nathan Langwald. Langwald suffered an injury this summer and could not harvest his crops, so neighbors took it upon themselves to complete the harvest.

“Nathan had an accident,” says Laurie Hurley, who along with Ross Buxbaum organized the beet dig. “Sidney Sugars opened the Fairview pile grounds just for Nathan’s beets. We got started early on the 28th to get the job done.”

She adds, “We had over 20 trucks donated by growers, we had six diggers and growers brought their own defoliators to get the beets harvested.”

Three seed company representatives, Jeff Bieber, Crystal, Terry Cayko, Beta Seed, and Phil Hurley, Holly Hybrids, arranged for the respective seed companies to supply lunch for growers who helped harvest the beets. “Debbie Dahl ran her snack shack at the Fairview pile grounds,” Hurley remarks. “The three seed companies paid her to cook the meal and supply lunch for the volunteers.”

Hurley credits Ross Buxbaum with spearheading the drive to organize the beet dig for the Langwalds. Buxbaum believes neighbors helping neighbors is the only way to live a life. “Nathan and I have been best friends our whole lives,” Buxbaum comments. “We look out for each other, and I’ve helped him do some farming. When something like this happens, we have to buck up and do what we have to do to get things done. Laurie offered to help me get this organized, she took charge and started calling people about the beet harvest. She organized it.”

He concludes, “Neighbors and friends all helped. Kerry Rasmussen helped us by opening the beet pile grounds early so we could get the job done. I’m glad everyone could get together and help out a neighbor in need.”

With the exception of sunflowers, friends have already harvested Langwald’s other crops.