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Serving rural Benton County, Morrison, Mille Lacs & Kanabec counties.
BENTON AG Plus
Sauk Rapids Herald
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2016
The Christmas tree farmer
A sÉoČťk tÉ tÉe sÉsÉeÉ Wimmers dealing with after effects of Ărst snowstorm by MISSY MUSSMAN STAFF WRITER
PHOTO BY JENNIFER COYNE
Pete Svihel owns Peteâs Christmas Trees and Greenhouses near Foley. Svihel has grown trees for 35 years.
Svihel grows, sells Ăve evergreen varieties by JENNIFER COYNE STAFF WRITER
FOLEY â Pete Svihel is a simple man; and for 35 years, he has run a simple business â Peteâs Christmas Trees and Greenhouses. âIâm the type of person who loves to watch grass grow,â Svihel said. âItâs the simple things I enjoy and trees Ăt right into that.â Since 1988, Svihel has grown and sold Christmas trees and uniquely decorated wreaths with his wife, Karen, at their home near Foley. However, the wintertime endeavor began seven years prior, after Svihel graduated from college with a degree in horticulture and landscape. âI wasnât a Rhodes scholar, but my mom knew I liked to
LITTLE ROCK â The after effects of the last Fridayâs blizzard are still being felt in the Royalton area. âThe Ărst storm of the season, and it was a big one,â said Amy Rutledge, the manager for corporate communications with Minnesota Power out of Duluth. Many lost power over the weekend, but even though the power is back on at Peggy and Bob Wimmerâs dairy farm, they did not come out unscathed from the storm that left nearly 4 to 5 inches of snow. A cover on the motor of their Harvestore completely blew out Nov. 18. Bob and Peggy milk 108 cows with their son, Adam, near Little Rock. The storm began the morning of Nov. 18 with rain, which soon turned to sleet and eventually wet, heavy snow. After the Wimmers Ăn-
mow lawn and work in the garden,â Svihel said. âShe encouraged me to go to school for that kind of work.â âThat Ărst year after graduation I needed an income in the winter,â Svihel said. The young entrepreneur purchased 100 Christmas trees and sold them in a vacant lot near Foley. Soon after, Svihel and his wife began their life together. A few years later, in 1987, the Svihels purchased their current property and began farming shortly after â growing hundreds of trees on 20 acres of land. Today, Svihel spends his days tending to young saplings, maintaining Ăelds of mature pines and Ărs, and welcoming guests to his Christmas tree farm. In a given year, Svihel sells by NATASHA BARBER nearly 500 trees of all varieties STAFF WRITER â Scotch pine, White pine, Balsam Ăr, Colorado Blue spruce ROYALTON â Aland Fraser Ăr â either pre-cut though blustery winds and heavy wet Ăakes of the seaPeteâs sonâs Ărst snowfall had some continued on pg. 3B farmers combatting weatherrelated problems Nov. 18, when the sun rose on Saturday, Doug Popp was smiling. His familyâs wind turbine had produced its best day ever. With sustained wind gusts of up to nearly 45 miles per hour as near as Brainerd, the Jacobs wind turbine, which sits on Windy Creek Acres along the western Mississippi River basin, produced 230 kilowatts (kW) in a 24hour period through 7 inches of accumulated ice and snow. The previously logged record was a mere 214 kW. Doug and Jane Popp and their two children Emily and Nicholas live on the 220 acre property which houses
PHOTO BY ELIZABETH BETHKE
Peggy Wimmer stands next to a motor that was damaged from a power surge during a blizzard Nov. 18. The Wimmers were attempting to mix feed for their of 108-cow herd when Ăuctuations in their power caused a surge build up on their farm near Little Rock.
ished morning chores, the power began Ăickering on and off. âWe didnât let it go very long. It was less than 10 minutes before we shut the power down and ran the generator,â Peggy Wimmer said. The Wimmers kept their generator running for nearly 23 hours.
âIf we would have been milking, it would have shut the milk pump down,â Wimmer said. âThere wouldnât have been enough power in the Ăickering to start that 10hp motor back up again. It couldâve done some damage by blowing out the motor, but thankfully we werenât milking then.â
But during evening chores, the Wimmers had a problem. When they started Ălling the mixer for evening feeding, Adam pushed the lever to engage the motor, but it tripped the breaker. Once the breaker Wimmers continued on pg. 2B
Best day ever
Poppsâ turbine produces record in midst of blizzard
PHOTO BY NATASHA BARBER
The Popp family (from left), Emily, Doug, Jane and Nicholas, live on Windy Creek Acres between Royalton and Bowlus. A 150-foot wind turbine and 72 solar panels help offset the familyâs electric bill. On Nov. 18 in the midst of a blizzard, the turbine generated its most energy in the nearly ten years its been erected.
a small Holstein dairy farm along with many of the childrenâs hobby livestock like a miniature pony, peacocks, pot-bellied pig, goats and chickens. They milk in a tiestall barn and plant a rotation of corn, soy beans, alfalfa, wheat and rye. The family installed their turbine nearly
ten years ago with federal and Minnesota Power grant help. âIt was always windy here on the hill,â said Doug Popp of the property heâs lived on since 1976. âWe wanted to do our part to capture the wind that is here and to save a little on the environment for the kids and future
generations.â After attending a meeting about wind energy in 2005 and learning of a small scale turbine installer named Joe Straley out of Avon, Doug had an assessment performed Popp continued on pg. 2B