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A Soybean Home Makeover How a Wisconsin family turned their farm’s crop into a sustainable interior redesign
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hen you think about home décor, the soybean might not immediately come to mind. But for Tony Mellenthin and his wife Katie, the crop has long been a cornerstone of their lives – Tony’s family has been farming soybeans for three generations in western Wisconsin’s Eau Galle. Mellenthin Farms covers nearly 10,000 acres of land, primarily with fields of soy. Through his work with the United Soybean Board, Tony met Tracy Hutson, the host of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” who collaborates with the organization. Last year, he casually mentioned that he and his wife were expecting a third child, and Hutson quickly offered to give their nursery a makeover. “A month later, Tracy asked me about it again, and I told her point-blank, ‘To be honest, Tracy, I thought you were doing one of those Midwest Nice things, where you offer and hope I don’t take you up on it,’” Tony says. “And she said, ‘No, I meant it 100%.’” The couple took her up on the offer. Hutson was inspired to use a plethora of soybean-based products to completely remake the nursery.
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Those soybean-based products provide a more sustainable alternative to those made with petroleum. They promote healthy soil, and their use supports the many family-owned farms like the Mellenthins’ across the United States. Soy’s use as a clean-burning biodiesel, such as in transportation, heating and generating
electricity, also reduces lifecycle carbon dioxide emissions by as much as 86% compared to petroleum diesel, according to data from the Environmental Protection Agency. In Wisconsin, soy delivers a significant and lasting economic impact. The crop generates over 6,000 jobs, with nearly 2,000 family farmers across the state, and over $2 billion in total annual revenue. What started as a oneroom nursery makeover quickly turned more ambitious. Tony and Katie spoke to Hutson about their two daughters, ages 5 and 1, along with the baby on the way, and Hutson realized that there was more work to be done. “I thought it was going to just be the one room, but by the time I started really thinking about it, thinking about their other little girls, I thought that I just had to remake rooms for all of them,” Hutson says. “I couldn’t help myself.”