There is no doubt in my mind that if you are a tourist, this is the best time to be in North Dakota. Those long, boring Interstate drives aren’t so bad in late July.
Why? Because there is so much growth and vibrancy. It’s just too good to ignore.
I ran into a friend in a Minot restaurant recently and we were talking about how good the canola crop looks this year. All of that bright yellow all over the North Dakota countryside is something to behold.
But as the canola is winding down, the flax is blooming with it’s lavender blossoms making for a unique prairie checkerboard.
My friend and I talked about how this looks from the sky. It would certainly be the time of year to be on a flight that crosses the state. You’ll never see anything better. We have the yellow of the canola, the lavender of the flax and the green and brown of the turning cereal grains. There’s the checkerboard.
And then, throw in a few livestock here and there and it’s easy to see why North Dakota is such a powerful agricultural engine for the United States. Sometimes it gets even better. If you’re traveling by air or by car, you’ll sometimes run across a red barn right beside a canola field. Something like that can really add to the need to get a photograph.
All this looks great and is certainly photogenic and this is a part of nature that we get to enjoy every summer. But the reality of it is, when the crops look this good, there’s a pretty good chance they are.
My friend, who is also in his 60s, said this is one of the best crops he has ever seen in northwestern North Dakota. It stands to reason. We’re well ahead on rainfall average and it seems that hot and sunny come after a good rain, which we don’t always get here.
Now, we’ll just have to wait and see what the yields bring us this fall.
Agri-tourism has been on the rise in North Dakota. Ten years ago, it barely existed and most people didn’t know about it, at least not in this state. That was something for the California vineyards or the cherry orchards in Washington.
Recently, however, more people in the rural part of the state are picking up on the fact that agri-tourism can be beneficial, not only to the large 640-acre sections of canola, but to the small vegetable and fruit producer who is looking for another stream of income.
There’s no doubt this is growing in North Dakota, but it’s not limited to the pretty blossoms that some of our crops produce.
There has been a recent revival, if you will, in the community of Sheyenne that is situated between New Rockford and Devils Lake. Joanna Larson, who is a young woman with a lot of ambition, has transformed a vacant gas station into a community grocery and for all intents and purposes is doing very well.
How does this fit into agri-tourism, you may ask? Part of Joanna’s business plan is to have fresh fruits and vegetables from northern Eddy County available in the store.
Because Sheyenne is located on U.S. Highway 281, there is plenty of traffic through town. And in a community of about 180 people, Joanna is proving this can be done and can be successful in the smallest of communities in North Dakota.
She’s already had some high-profile guests that have given her incredible media exposure which only helps the cause. She started out with a bang.
Just as the Devils Run Car Show was getting started in Devils Lake at the end of May, Joanna had many of the classic cars drive through and/or stop at Farmers Grocery in Sheyenne, which still looks like a Sinclair station. Perhaps it was a photo op, but you have to admit, it was pretty clever.
Vern Thompson of Minnewaukan, who is running for ag commissioner, has been in Sheyenne to speak to crowds gathered at Farmers Grocery. His pitch has been to convey the importance of these types of businesses and how they can help sustain our small communities.
The bottom line is it takes young people like Joanna Larson to develop an idea and run with it. Most often people will support it if it’s a benefit to the local community and it certainly is in this case. Joanna has put Sheyenne back on the map.
