DASSEL, Minn. - Meeker County's Farm Family of the Year honorees, Dave and Katie Hendrickson, smile when they discuss farming.
Dave is third generation to farm the Dassel-area cropland and he raises seed and commercial corn, soybeans and wheat on nearly 200 acres.
Katie is a Twin Cities native. She moved to the area for her job as an occupational therapist first working in Cosmos and now in the Glencoe, Silver Lake and Lester Prairie school districts.
They married in 1990 and have three children: Levi, Hannah and Ruth.
"This has been a huge learning experience for me," she said. "I don't always have the right names of the equipment, but I can define what it does. And if you get stuck, the kids and I can pull you out."
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She has embraced country living and farming. It's an adventure she shares with her Twin Cities family. They often visit during the summer and at holidays to snowmobile, detassel corn and do whatever work needs to be done.
Dave's grandparents, Ed and Anna Hasti, moved to the farm in the 1920s to a diversified operation. In 1945, Dave's father, Levi, returned from military service after World War II and purchased the farm from his in-laws. He and his wife, Edna, farmed 90 acres, milked cows and had two chicken and brooder houses.
Levi constructed a round-roofed building to house cattle. He'd intended it for his milk cows, but, when he got a job in town, Levi sold the herd in 1957. He also rented out the land. Levi died in 1962.
Dave, meanwhile, also got a job in town following high school. For almost two years he worked at an implement dealership.
In 1971, he started farming.
Dave met Katie when he worked as a mechanic at Faribault Foods and farmed.
Dave grows corn seed for Dahlman Farms. He plants and sprays the crop and Dahlman's handles the detasseling and harvest.
He's often sought by his neighbors and others for his mechanical abilities. Dave repairs and readies equipment for fieldwork and harvest. Dave has moved the shop out of the garage to the barn's cement floor. He has made a large working bay complete with hoists. He's added air conditioning for his for comfort and to keep equipment from rusting.
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Katie tells how she's often offered repair suggestions while visiting the shop. Many times her ideas work.
"I just look at it a little bit differently," Katie said.
Katie admits she was terrified the first time she had to drive a gravity box filled with grain to town.
