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Outfitting wagon-train travelers was big business in St. Louis in the mid-19th century. The bustling Mississippi River town was the launching point for many adventurers who were headed west to unsettled areas of America. Blacksmiths were essential for repairing and equipping the covered wagons that would carry these pioneers and their possessions into unknown, often untrodden, territories.

This historical setting marks the beginning of Laclede Chain, which has origins dating back to 1854, making the company the oldest chain manufacturer in the U.S. The business started in a St. Louis blacksmith shop, where skilled craftsmen produced breast chain, trace chain and anti-spreader chains to support those loaded, westward-bound wagons. The chain was all formed by hand with a blacksmith’s hammer and individually welded links that were joined over a hearth and bellows.

Some 166 years later, transportation chains are still a mainstay of Laclede Chain’s operations, but the manufacturing methods have been modernized and the product line has greatly expanded. Around 1 million links of chain are produced every day by Laclede employees, who churn out dozens of different types, grades and sizes of chain for all kinds of uses.

Laclede products, many of which are available through MFA, include chains for transportation, cargo control, agriculture safety, trailers, overhead lifting, construction and even marine applications, along with the appropriate fittings and accessories such as hooks, snaps and connectors. No matter the chain, the process begins the same—with raw, American-made steel, which arrives at the factory in rolls of wire rods in various diameters to accommodate Laclede’s wide variety of chain products and sizes.

“We take great pride in the fact that we manufacture in the U.S. and are part of the backbone of our economy,” said Tim Riley, Laclede president and CEO. “We’re also proud to supply a lot of product to others who make up the backbone of America, like truckers and farmers and construction workers. This country can’t run without them.”

Riley has been at the helm of the Laclede since 2019, taking over the job when his father, Jim Riley, stepped into the role of chairman of the board. The elder Riley, who had a background in manufacturing steel tubing, and a group of investors bought the chain company from bankrupt Laclede Steel in 2001 and began operating it as a separate entity. Jim became majority owner in 2010, along with partner Steve Heuett.

“The chain side of Laclede Steel was a small but profitable part of that company,” Tim Riley said. “My dad, together with some equity funding and some private partnership, was able to pull that out and create a new company, keeping the name, Laclede. He recognized this kind of diamond that was inside of this large corporation, and it’s been a great relationship ever since.”

Today, Laclede employs 200 people and operates four facilities, including a 160,000-square-foot factory in Maryville, Mo., where most of the products are manufactured. A smaller plant in Vicksburg, Miss., opened in 2011 to make some of Laclede’s traction chains. A warehouse in Vancouver, Wash., distributes the traction products, which include tire chains for all types of vehicles. The management, administration, accounting and sales teams operate from Laclede’s main offices in St. Louis.

“We’re the only chain manufacturer that’s not part of a larger corporation,” Riley said. “As a privately owned company, we’re very family oriented, and we encourage an entrepreneurial spirit among our employees. We like working with customers such as MFA who also have that mindset.”

That familial atmosphere, combined with the company’s focus on quality and service, help set Laclede apart in the marketplace, said Tim Catlett, director of materials at the Maryville facility.

“I suppose that’s a popular answer, but we really do focus on making sure we have a quality product and are able to provide exceptional service to our customers,” Catlett said. “If I look at all of the conversations we have and the things we do here every day, that’s what consumes most of our time.”

In all aspects of its operations, Laclede emphasizes continual improvement, said Chief Operating Officer Robert Nupp, who’s been with the company for 14 years. Recently, he’s been working with management at the Maryville and Vicksburg facilities to help implement a program called the “2 Second Lean,” which emphasizes small improvements to make big differences.

“It’s a concept where all of our employees try to improve what they do by two seconds every day,” Nupp said. “Those small improvements add up over time, and we get to be a much better organization by doing that. It’s also about unlocking untapped potential of employees who have great ideas that perhaps haven’t been heard. The best way to grow is to innovate, be creative with what you’re doing and find ways to do things better.”

One of the newest innovations for Laclede is the introduction of a Grade 120 chain, which is 20% stronger than the next strongest chain on the market, Nupp said. Another recent addition, inspired by an employee suggestion, is a powder-coating process to finish chains and accessories for ATVs in the same paint color as the vehicle’s manufacturer. Laclede has also created a line of high-visibility painted chains, specifically targeted to the construction industry.

“Having these bright colors is absolutely critical on a construction site where there’s a lot of equipment moving around and things being lifted overhead,” Riley said. “We’ve been using the tagline, ‘Safety you can see.’ We’re very focused on that. No matter what industry you’re working in, it’s vital to be able to get home to your family each night.”

The company’s successes don’t come without challenges, Riley said. Sourcing steel is one of the toughest tasks, he explained. Laclede is at the mercy of fluctuating commodity markets in acquiring its domestic-made materials.

“We always have to play the steel markets, which go up and down, up and down,” he said. “With steel rod, especially, there are only a few suppliers, so we’re really limited in our choices.”

Finding new employees is another perpetual struggle, Riley continued, with Laclede competing with other manufacturing industries for a limited labor pool in Maryville’s rural setting. The company recruits from area schools and participates in national Manufacturing Day activities each year, giving students a glimpse into Laclede’s operations and job opportunities.

For those who do find careers at Laclede, longevity and dedication are common denominators. Many of the company’s employees have an agricultural background, Nupp said, bringing with them a work ethic and mechanical aptitude that are advantageous for the chain manufacturer.

“We have a lot of people who have worked with us for 10, 20, 30 years or more, which you don’t always see in manufacturing,” Nupp said. “A lot of them are currently farmers or previous farmers, which is a huge plus for us. They’re part of the community, and so is Laclede, which is important to the culture that we’re trying to build within the organization.”

For more information about Laclede Chain Manufacturing Company and to see a video of the chain-making process, visit online at lacledechain.com. To learn more about Laclede products available through MFA, visit with the personnel at your Agri Services or AGChoice location.
Just blame it on the kid.

Really, it’s the baby goat’s fault, Michelle DeLong is quick to explain when she

describes how she and her husband, Marc, got into the direct-to-consumer dairy business.

“I had a bottle kid, and I needed milk,” she said. “I asked Marc to bring home one of the Jersey cows his parents had kept when they sold their dairy a few years earlier. She produced 8 gallons a day, and I only needed half a gallon for my goat. I was making cheese. I was making yogurt. But I couldn’t use it all.”

She advertised the excess milk on Facebook and quickly sold out. The demand snowballed. Seven years later, the DeLongs are milking nine Jersey cows and eight to 10 Nubian goats twice a day in a Grade A-level dairy on their 120-acre farm in Marionville, Mo. The fresh, raw milk is bottled and sold straight from the farm.

“This was not the plan in life,” Marc laughs.

He was raised on a commercial dairy farm, just a few miles down the road, where his parents, Ron and Patty, raised high-quality, award-winning registered Holsteins and Jerseys for more than 40 years. Well respected in the industry, the DeLongs are members of the Missouri Dairy Hall of Fame and showed their cattle across the country with multiple champion titles to their credit.

Michelle was raised as a “city girl” in nearby Springfield but discovered a love of horses when she was given her first one at age 14. After graduating from Missouri State University in 2006 with an animal science degree, Michelle moved to rural Marionville and bought her own farm, which she named Eagle’s Wings Ranch. She added several more horses, a couple of donkeys and eventually goats.

“My neighbors had some goats, and I realized how much fun they were,” Michelle said. “So I put together my own mixed herd. I had about 70 goats before Marc and I got married in the spring of 2011.”

Michelle met Marc when she went to work on the DeLong family dairy, where she helped milk the 50-cow herd twice a day to supplement her second part-time job as a substitute teacher. Ron and Patty decided to get out of the labor-intensive dairy business and focus on beef cattle shortly after Marc and Michelle were married, but the newlyweds didn’t want to take over the milking operation. They did, however, keep a few of the family’s best Jersey heifers, which had been carefully bred and selected for their high-quality genetics.

But re-entering the dairy business wasn’t in the plans—yet. Marc had established his own beef operation, Camelot Cattle Co., and Michelle was content to raise goats and horses. That all changed after they brought home Quickie, one of the reserved DeLong Jersey cows, to produce the milk Michelle needed for that orphaned bottle kid.

“Once we saw the interest people had in buying our extra milk, we realized there was a need to fill,” Michelle said. “We added more cows, and it just kept picking up speed. The business organically became what it is today.”

After they were married for about a year, the DeLongs started the transition to registered Nubians. If they were going to raise goats, Marc had said, they were going to do it right. They began with four well-pedigreed does and have built the herd to around 30 today.

“Out of all the breeds I had raised, I liked Nubians the best,” Michelle said. “They have fantastic personalities, they absolutely adore people, and I love their floppy ears. They produce sweet milk with higher butterfat. Plus, they’re the only dairy goat considered dual-purpose and can also be raised for meat.”

The Nubians and Jerseys are milked together twice a day, every 12 hours, in an 1850s-era barn converted into a simple yet effective dairy facility. The goats are milked two at a time with a portable tank milker. The cows are milked three at a time with automatic milkers attached to pipelines that flow into a 90-gallon, stainless-steel tank in the adjacent bottling room. There, milk is filtered and cooled before being dispensed into sterilized half-gallon glass bottles and chilled in an industrial refrigerator.

In general, there are concerns about the safety of raw milk, which hasn’t been pasteurized to kill potentially harmful bacteria, and some states ban its sale altogether. But Missouri law allows the sale of raw milk as long as it goes direct from the farm to the consumer. The DeLongs are adamant that their meticulous handling and management practices keep Camelot’s products safe and nutritious. Michelle also completed a Dairy Goat Quality Production course in 2018.

“You start with the best-quality dairy animals and keep them healthy, happy and clean,” Marc said. “Then you have to handle the milk correctly, with the proper sanitation and cleanliness. Our milk is never touched by a human hand, from the time it leaves the parlor until the time it goes into the bottle. And the quicker you get the milk cooled down and keep it cold, the better.”

For added safety and sanitation, the DeLongs don’t allow milk customers to bring their own containers. Instead, they require a one-time bottle deposit collected with the first purchase.

“Where a lot of raw milk dairies go wrong is not getting their bottles sterilized or letting people bring in their own jars or jugs,” Michelle said. “We don’t do that. We know our bottles are clean and sterilized, so for liability’s sake, we only sell our milk in them. The more we can control the quality, the better it will be for everyone.”

Sales are made on the honor system by customers who are vetted before they are allowed to buy from the farm. They leave their empty glass bottles on the store’s counter, write down what they are buying and put their payment in the designated cash box.

“Customers can come whenever it’s convenient for them,” Marc explains. “The store is open 24/7. They can usually take care of themselves, but we have our phone number posted on the refrigerator if they need us for anything. There’s always someone here on the farm.”

One of those loyal customers, Karen Brazda of Marionville, stopped by on a recent Friday afternoon to get a half gallon of Jersey milk to treat family visiting from Texas.

“You can taste the difference,” she said. “It’s really sweet and creamy, and when it’s ice cold like this, right out of the cooler, there’s nothing like it. We made ice cream with it this summer, and you don’t have to add any extra cream or anything. It’s so good.”

In total, Camelot’s nine milk cows are producing about 40 gallons a day. Each goat averages 1 gallon per day. The DeLongs have a market for nearly all of it. Raw Jersey cow milk is $2.50 per half gallon, and Nubian goat milk is $4 per half gallon. Michelle also uses the milk to make soaps and other skin-care products.

“We don’t advertise,” Michelle said. “Our business has grown mostly by word of mouth. What’s the saying? Build it, and they will come? We built this, and they just keep coming. We have some really great customers. Some even drive from a couple hours away to get our milk.”

Jersey milk is available year-round, but Nubians are seasonal breeders. On the DeLong farm, the does are bred in the fall when their milk production is slowing down. They are dry in January and February before kidding in March after about a five-month gestation. Goats typically give birth to two or three kids. The Camelot herd averages triplet births, Michelle said.

“With good management, triplets should be about average,” she added. “We’ve had several sets of quads, too. The better nutrition they get, the more the does ovulate because their body knows it can support the babies.”

Both the goats and cows on the DeLong farm are fed MFA’s Turbo 16 Plus dairy ration, purchased in bulk from MFA’s Aurora Feed Mill. This complete feed is formulated with 16% protein along with added cottonseed and cracked corn. The DeLongs also feed their cows and goats MFA minerals and provide free-choice hay—a grass-clover mix for the Jerseys and alfalfa for the Nubians.

“For milkers, especially, you want to provide enough protein to support production and enough carbs to keep the optimum amount of weight on them,” Michelle explains. “You have to find a good balance between protein and carbs so you get production without the animals losing too much weight.”

Of course, she adds, the right feed isn’t everything. High-quality milk production also takes the right combination of nutrition and genetics. Breeding premier milk cows has been a longtime priority for Marc and his family, and Michelle is taking the same approach with her dairy does and bucks, looking for the best bloodlines and traits to improve the progeny.

And her efforts are paying off. One of the farm’s Nubian does, a 3-year-old named Missy, was recently listed among the nation’s top 10 breed leaders by the Dairy Herd Improvement registry, based on official 305-day lactation records. For 2019, Missy was No. 3 in milk production and butterfat and No. 9 in protein production out of all the Nubians tested in the DHI program.

The recognition has been good for business. Michelle says all of the farm’s doelings are reserved for 2021—and the mamas aren’t even bred yet. She even has some requests for the following year.

“She’s our first one in the top 10, and that’s pretty elite,” Michelle said. “A lot of people will see that list and look up our farm. I may not have planned to be in the dairy business, but it’s different when it’s your herd that you’ve developed.”

“Just look at Missy,” she continued. “I picked how to breed her. She’s got my herd name. And she’s No. 3 in the nation. That’s a rewarding feeling.”

Over the past year, she and Marc have been preparing for an even more rewarding new adventure on their farm—parenthood. On Oct. 12, Michelle gave birth to twins, a daughter, Brielle Marie, and a son, Samuel Colt. In preparation for kids of her own, Michelle reduced the number of goats she’s milking and sold a few does to lighten the load until she and Marc find their balance as farmers and first-time parents.

“We’d just planned to have one, but God has a sense of humor,” Michelle said. “I guess if you’re going to have two, you might as well have one of each. We’re thankful for this miracle, and we know the farm is going to be a great place to raise our children.”

For more information, visit camelotcattlecompany.com or call 417-466-5436. For more information on MFA feeds and minerals, visit with your local MFA or AGChoice location or online at mfa-inc.com/feed.
This November marks 75 years since the end of WWII and 65 years since the start of the Vietnam War.

All across MFA territory, there are veterans of multiple wars going about their daily lives. Some may talk about their military service, while others wish to forget it. In this issue, we talked to two veterans willing to share their remarkable stories.

Living legend

On June 5, 1984, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of World War II’s D-Day invasion in Normandy, France, Dr. Thomas Macdonnell sat down at a typewriter and wrote his first-person recollection of that momentous day in history. He had never spoken of his experiences before, though dreams of that day had often haunted him.

“I vividly remember too much, for to talk or even think about any particular second, minute or hour gives me a gut and chest feeling, which I now know medically as ‘stress angina,’” he wrote.

Known as Dr. Tommy by most, Macdonnell will be 98 years old in January. He lives Marshfield, Mo., in the house he built with his wife, Ann, on the farm where they raised eight children together.

On June 6, 1944, Macdonnell’s boat was one of the first to hit Omaha Beach in Normandy in the top-secret Allied mission that was called Operation Neptune at the time. Originally scheduled to take place on June 5, when the moon was full and seas were predicted to be low and calm at first light, an unexpected storm delayed the mission.

“We left Portland Harbor in Dorset, England, at 3:45 a.m.,” Macdonnell said in an interview for this article. “But Gen. Eisenhower called off the mission because the channel was so choppy. We were all seasick and wet.”

Macdonnell’s boat, known as a landing craft tank (LCT), was projected to hit the beach at 6:30 a.m., but high winds drifted the vessel east. He wrote he remembered the sounds of vast numbers of airplanes as they passed overhead to bomb the French coast and the German Army forces there. He remembered hearing the U.S. Navy ship bombardment that he hoped would take out most of the German defenses. He remembered double-checking rifles and ammunition and receiving hand grenades, gas masks, life preservers and other personal equipment.

“I landed at about three minutes after 7 o’clock in the morning,” said Macdonnell, who was a machine gunner. “I started firing about five minutes after 7. By 11 a.m., the platoon sergeant had a shouting roll call. Instead of there being 25 of us, there were only 10. I’m not even sure there were 10, just very few of us left.”

Though already morning, Macdonnell described the beach that day as dark and misty.

“We were the first boat on the beach as far as I could see,” Macdonnell said. The LCT hit a mine when it landed, wounding a Navy officer and killing two men lowering the ramp.

Macdonnell’s LCT carried four half-tracks, a truck equipped with wheels in the front and tracks on the back, designed to navigate rough terrain. Each machine gun in these vehicles fired 50-caliber rounds.

“It took two big, strong, 1st Infantry Division men who had come up from Africa to load the canisters on those guns,” Macdonnell said. “I had three canisters on each side of my gun, a quarter-inch steel plate guarding me in front with an opening for sights, and four machine guns.”

Macdonnell remembered unloading the vehicles from the LCT quickly and firing at any likely target, honing in on what looked to him like a “larger coastal defense railroad gun” and two machine guns atop the hill.

“My guns fired rapidly,” Macdonnell said. “Around 2,400 rounds a minute if you held them that long. You didn’t though, just for short bursts. It didn’t take but just one blast, and I had both machine guns of the German defense knocked out.”

After a short while, one of his ammunition handlers was killed, leaving them with no one powerful enough to take his place. His lieutenant said, “you’re infantry now,” Macdonnell recalled. He and the other ammunition handler grabbed their rifles and took cover behind driftwood on the beach. The cover couldn’t save his fellow infantryman.

“It was a fairly large log,” Macdonnell said. “But it was facing the enemy instead of being crossways. A rifleman shot and killed him. Hit him right in the forehead.”

A mortar knocked out the crews of the other two half-tracks, killing all but one of Macdonnell’s friends in the process. He isn’t sure what happened to the fourth truck, he said. He didn’t look back.

“I was moving forward, when a bullet hit my left hip, and a mortar hit my buttocks,” he said. “It was a big hole, bleeding quite a lot, but I truthfully didn’t give it much concern.”

Macdonnell started up the hill to find refuge from the onslaught.

“The first place I saw that would give me some cover was a slit trench used as a latrine,” Macdonnell said. “I didn’t hesitate. I jumped in and felt the shellfire over the top of me. I remember distinctly before my right eye was a song sheet written in German and before my left was a newspaper that said, ‘Das Reich.’ It was a little messy, you might say, but it was the safest place on the beach.”

From there, Macdonnell was able to launch two rifle grenades aimed at a third machine gun. The first one was short, but the second one hit his mark. With his injuries, Macdonnell couldn’t run. He crawled to a rock where his captain and two sergeants were sheltered.

“I told them that we had to get to the observation control area, because they were blowing our boats out of the water,” Macdonnell said. “I didn’t get an order, but I did get a suggestion to stay there, where I was out of range of the Germans having a direct shot at me. But I didn’t.”

Macdonnell had noticed a light in the distance. Designated a sharp-shooter, he knew he could hit anything he could see.

“I moved into the brush where I had a straight shot at the observation post,” he said. “I could see a scope come up, just like the periscope in a submarine. I eased off a shot and knocked it out. I later learned that I took their eyes in one shot.”

Macdonnell fought like this into the afternoon. He spent the night in a large bunker with other men, shielding against sniper fire. It wasn’t until the next evening that he would be evacuated to a hospital ship. After three surgeries and three weeks in a hospital in England, Macdonnell would live to fight another day.

And fight he did. Macdonnell was transferred to the 3rd Army under Gen. George S. Patton and fought in the Battle of the Bulge, the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during the war. There, he was again wounded—this time from “friendly fire.”

“We were counterattacking close to St. Vith (Belgium), when I accidentally exploded a roadside bomb,” he said. “They didn’t give me a Purple Heart for that one because it was our bomb I exploded, but that was OK with me. I already had two.”

That incident required more surgeries and, due to his injuries, Macdonnell was removed from the fighting unit. But there was still much to be done. He witnessed the release of a Russian prison camp in Czechoslovakia, and in Munich, Germany, he helped open the gates at Dachau Concentration Camp.

“That’s where I saw bodies stacked head to foot, foot to head, about 4 feet high and just skin and bones,” he recalled. “They were taking them to the incinerator or to a large ditch.”

Though the war officially ended on Sept. 2, 1945, Macdonnell wouldn’t return to the United States until November of that year. He’d ranked highly on the officer candidate school test, and Gen. Patton was building a cadre of trained men.

“They made me staff sergeant, but when the war ended, I told Gen. Patton’s adjutant I had done all the killing I intended to do,” Macdonnell said. “I was going to go home, go to medical school, become a doctor and start saving lives instead of taking them.”

While recovering in the English hospital, he had received an acceptance letter from the University of Missouri. After earning his bachelor’s degree, he transferred to the University of Indiana Medical School. In 1950, he earned his doctorate of medicine degree and worked for the city medical department in Indianapolis where he met his wife, Ann. She was a nurse and worked alongside her husband for the 73 years they were married. She died in 2013 at the age of 87.

“I had a wonderful wife,” Macdonnell said smiling, as he recounted a story about her cooking and one of their early dates.

Over the course of his medical career, Macdonnell delivered 4,582 babies, not including twins and triplets. He opened four hospital clinics and served as a Missouri state representative, helping to pass the Clean Indoor Air Act during his time in the legislature. He farmed, raising registered Hereford cattle. He’s met former President Bill Clinton, the queen of England and even carried the Olympic torch.

Since WWII, Macdonnell has been written about and interviewed many times, but perhaps the most poignant words are the ones he typed himself 35 years ago.

“War is hell!” he wrote. “I remember many things that caused me to have bad dreams for years. D-Day morning was the hell of war, the afternoon was tragic and the restless night was filled with horror.”

Vietnam valor

About an hour south of Marshfield, Dairl Johnson, a veteran of the Vietnam War, lives and farms in Reeds Spring, Mo., with his wife, Doris. Dairl was raised on a farm in this small Stone County community, the second-youngest of 11 siblings. At that time, farming wasn’t what he wanted.

“When we got engaged, he said he would never live on a farm, and he’d never live in Reeds Spring,” said Doris, who met her future husband when she moved to the rural area from Springfield as a high school sophomore.

In 1969, four years after the Vietnam War began, Dairl’s number was called. He was drafted into the Army at age 18.

“They sent me to Vietnam for my senior trip,” he said.

He completed basic training over the summer at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., preparing him for the jungles of Vietnam.

“They called it little Korea, because it was hot in the summertime and cold in the wintertime,” he said. “They had nice brick, air-conditioned buildings, but we stayed in what I called the Gomer Pyle buildings—those long, metal ones with a dome on top. They told us where we were going, we needed to get used to the heat.”

When he completed basic training, he returned home to Reeds Spring and married Doris.

“We were married for a little over a week when he went back to base and had orders for Vietnam,” Doris said. “At that time, Nixon had said no more troops would be going. He lied.”

Prior to shipping out, Dairl received specialized training in gas chambers, nerve agents, flamethrowers and grenades among other military weaponry in Anniston, Ala. From there, he got to come home for a short time before heading to Seattle, where he could choose to board a boat or airplane. The boat took 31 days, but didn’t count toward time served. Dairl chose to fly.

In mid-November, Dairl boarded a 22-hour flight bound for a country in crisis. He landed at Bien Hoa Air Base in southern Vietnam.

“That was a big holding place,” Dairl said. “There were probably 1,000 troops there, but a plane would land with 100 incoming troops, and 100 troops would get to go back out.”

He was stationed for 13 months at Phuoc Vinh Base Camp, located on the main road between Saigon and Dong Xoai.

“I was a decon specialist, that’s what they called us,” Dairl said. “We were in the chemical corps of the 1st Air-Cav (Air Cavalry) Division.”

“Agent Orange,” Doris further explained.

Dairl slept on nailed-together ammunition boxes. For a mattress, he blew up a poncho and poncho liner. Every night, he would cover himself with mosquito netting.

“We had tents surrounded by barrels filled with sand,” he said. “We called them hooches. Each hooch had a bunker next to it. That’s where we stayed.”

When asked what he could share about his war-time experience, Dairl simply said, “It was bad, and that’s about all.”

“I don’t dwell on it, and I never really talked much about it,” he added. “I tell you one thing, you learn to hear the difference between outgoing and incoming rounds really quickly. We were right next to a helicopter pad, and the V.C. (Viet Cong) would shoot rockets in trying to hit that helicopter. Sometimes the rockets would take out half a hooch or land in front, so I would sleep at the end closest to the bunker. I remember someone saying to a new guy, ‘If you can beat ol’ D.J. to the bunker, then you’ve really done something,’ because I was fast.”

While in the jungle, Dairl wrote letters to his wife and family, but in the spring of 1970, there was a long stretch of silence.

“We didn’t hear anything for over a month,” Doris said. “No letters, nothing. My dad went through the Red Cross to try and find him. After it was over, we found out he’d been in the invasion of Cambodia, and he couldn’t tell anybody. Our families didn’t have a clue what had happened to him for six or seven weeks. It was rough. It’s a good thing we were young. If we would have known then what was going to happen, we probably wouldn’t have made it nerve-wise.”

“Young and invincible,” Dairl put it.

In December 1970, he returned to the Bien Hoa Air Base— this time as one of the 100 outgoing troops. It was easy to distinguish the new from the old then, Dairl said.

“You could tell they were scared,” he said. “They were pale white, had clean clothes on and didn’t know what was ahead of them. We were all that way at one time.”

Dairl arrived back in the States around Christmas by way of Oakland, Cal. When he and the other soldiers got off the bus to go into the airport terminal, there was a crowd of people standing around.

“It was kind of sad in a way,” Dairl said. “A guy standing next to me and said, ‘Look. There’s a crowd. They’ve come to cheer us on.’ Another guy said, ‘No.’ When we unloaded the bus, the sergeant told us to keep our head down and not to say anything. People would throw things at you and stuff, but that’s just the way it was back then. You just didn’t tell anyone you were in Vietnam.”

Inside the terminal was a large mirror. It had been over a year since Dairl and most of his fellow soldiers had seen their full reflection—something so basic yet inextricably intertwined with identity.

“In Vietnam, we had a piece of stainless steel that we carried around, and it was just large enough to see your face,” he said. “When we unloaded in Oakland, we would all just stop and look ourselves over in that mirror—you didn’t hardly recognize yourself. We were tan, and we were skinny.”

Back stateside, it took a while for her husband to acclimate to post-war life, Doris said.

“When he first got back, we were staying in a little cabin, and deer season had started,” she said. “The guns started going off, and he got under the bed. It took about five years for him to calm down.”

Dairl finished out his two-year active-duty obligation in Anniston, Ala., with his wife.

“I had the option to extend my time in Vietnam for four months,” Dairl said. “They called it short orders, and if you did that, you could end your active duty early, but I’d seen too many do that and not come back.”

In June 1971, the couple moved to Springfield, Mo., and Dairl worked in construction while Doris went to work at Zenith Electric Corp. After a while, though, the construction work dried up, and Dairl was laid off.

“I came home from work one day, and he said, ‘I bought a farm,’” Doris recalled. “I said, ‘You did what?’”

Dairl was paid for his time in Vietnam, but those checks went in the bank, slowly accumulating. He didn’t need money in the jungle.

“I used the money I’d saved up to buy this original 40 acres in ’72,” Dairl said. Shortly thereafter, he went to work for the Paul Mueller Company in Springfield, which produces a variety of stainless-steel products such as dairy milk tanks and beer tanks.

“Another day, I came home, and he told me he had purchased 10 head of cattle from the neighbor,” Doris said. “Again, I said, ‘You did what?’”

Dairl admits his perspective on life changed after the war. He recognized his upbringing was an idyllic life. He wanted to farm, and he knew how to raise cattle and put in the work it takes to be successful.

He seized opportunities for additional farmland as they arose. When a neighbor passed away, Dairl sold calves and bought the surrounding acreage while still also working nights in the manufacturing plant. In 1975, when Doris was pregnant with their only son, Dairl’s dad died. Dairl was able to buy half the homestead, again paying for the land with cattle sales. Later, he found 1,000 acres in Webster County near Marshfield and knew that was his shot to make it as a full-time farmer.

“At 18, I never thought I’d be where I am,” Dairl said. “But after Vietnam, I realized this is paradise.”
It’s pawpaw season across MFA territory, and now’s the time to seek out these tasty native fruits. They are usually found in rich soil, on steep slopes, in valleys and ravines and in the understory of larger groves of trees.Ozarks banana. Hillbilly mango. American custard apple.

It’s been called by many different names, but the tropical-like pawpaw is now officially known as Missouri’s state fruit tree, thanks to a successful lobbying campaign by a group of fourth-graders who learned a civics lesson in the process.

“This project started during the presidential election in 2016,” said Mary McDevitt, who teaches at New City School, a private elementary school in St. Louis. “We study government in fourth grade, and we decided hold our own vote to elect a new state symbol for Missouri. I brought in some pawpaws from my backyard for the kids to try, and they got so excited and wanted to put it on the ballot.”

“The irony is that the pawpaw didn’t win in the school election,” McDevitt added with a laugh. “The kids voted to name the Labrador retriever as the official state dog.”

But McDevitt and her fellow pawpaw proponents weren’t ready to accept defeat, convinced the idea was worth pursuing outside the classroom. They started writing letters regularly to their state legislators, calling for the pawpaw to be named Missouri’s state fruit tree.

Their persistence paid off. The cause was eventually endorsed by Karla May, who was then state representative for the St. Louis district that included New City School. May was elected to the state senate in 2018 and brought the pawpaw bill with her. As the legislation made its way through the system, some of the students even had an opportunity to testify before the Missouri House of Representatives and several committees in support of their bill. McDevitt said it was an “incredible experience” for everyone involved.

Chuck Lay, retired MFA Incorporated communications director, points out pawpaws he found on his property outside Columbia. The trees usually don’t get much taller than 30 feet.After a two-year process—during which the fourth-graders turned into sixth-graders—the bill was passed by the state senate and signed into law by Gov. Mike Parson in July 2019. McDevitt, May and several of the students were on hand for the signing ceremony.

“Our focus for social studies is ‘citizens making a difference,’ and we learn how we can advocate for ourselves and our communities,” McDevitt said. “This was a way to put those lessons into action. The students really saw how government works, what it takes to pass a bill and why it can take so long for us to see change in our society. That was a huge takeaway for all of us.”

Interestingly enough, the bill also designated the hellbender salamander as the state “endangered species,” to raise awareness about its alarming decline in numbers. The pawpaw and salamander joined the list of more than two dozen state symbols, including a state tree (flowering dogwood), state animal (Missouri mule), state dessert (ice cream) and state amphibian (American bullfrog).

The law gives the pawpaw much-deserved and long-overdue prominence, said Patrick Byers, University of Missouri Extension horticulture field specialist, who has extensively studied the fruit’s potential during his nearly 30-year career in advising Show-Me State farmers.

“The pawpaw is one of those hidden gems of Missouri,” Byers said. “There is a core group of aficionados who’ve known for decades what a wonderful fruit this is, but certainly the designation last year really raised the consciousness in the public’s mind. People are looking for interesting, unique experiences and place-based foods. What could be a better example than pawpaws?”

Native to midwestern, southern and eastern areas of North America, the pawpaw is the only temperate member of the tropical Annonaceae family, which also includes the custard apple, soursop and cherimoya. Seldom reaching heights taller than 20 to 30 feet, the pawpaw tree grows in colonies and can often be found in creek and river bottoms, at the base of wooded bluffs, in ravines and valleys, or in the understory beneath larger trees.

“Pawpaw trees are widely found across Missouri, and when you start to look for them, you can definitely find them,” Byers said. “They like rich soil and moist areas, so that’s why you frequently see them growing along streams and rivers.”

Pawpaw fruit is now in season, typically ripening anywhere from August through October. The fruits can vary in size but typically are about 6 inches long and 3 inches in diameter. Their thin, greenish-yellow skin hides a soft, fragrant, yellow center with a creamy, custardy texture. The tropical taste is often likened to a banana, pineapple or mango. When fully ripe, pawpaw pulp can be scooped out of the skin with a spoon.

Because of the fruit’s highly perishable nature, pawpaws are usually not found in stores and only occasionally at farmers markets. Most of the time, the best way to enjoy them is straight from the tree. Pawpaws can only be kept two to three days at room temperature or about a week if refrigerated. The pulp can also be removed from the skin and frozen for use in recipes. Pawpaw is often substituted for banana in baked goods and desserts such as muffins, breads, cookies and pies, Byers said.

“It’s hard to describe the flavor, but pawpaws are just delicious, and it also has a somewhat unique texture that’s unlike other fruits,” he said. “You can also make some fabulous products with it. For example, I worked with a restaurateur near Springfield to supply his restaurant with pawpaw, and he made this most amazing pawpaw ice cream. He said it was wildly popular.”

Ripe pawpaws are best eaten immediately or within a few days of picking because they are highly perishable. When unripe, the fruit has an unpleasant taste. You’ll know they’re ready to eat when the fruit is slightly soft, similar to an avocado. The pulp has a custard-like texture and a sweet, tropical flavor that is described as a mix of banana, mango and pineapple.Pawpaw production may be an untapped enterprise for farmers, Byers said, and MU Extension has some long-term projects under way looking at possible uses and agronomic considerations for growing these native fruit trees on a commercial scale.

“We’re always looking for crops that might be profit centers for our farmers, and I think pawpaw is one of those crops,” Byers said. “We can certainly grow it in Missouri. In fact, we can grow it very well. But before a farmer jumps in and plants a pawpaw orchard, they need more information. We are working to answer some basic questions related to profitable pawpaw production.”

As for finding wild pawpaws, Missouri Department of Conservation Naturalist Alex Holmes offered some advice and caution to would-be fruit foragers during a virtual presentation on Sept. 3. While pawpaws grow in many parks and conservation areas, regulations may prohibit picking fruit, he warned, so check before you collect. He also encouraged pawpaw pickers to only take what they plan to use.

“Pawpaws are enjoyed by Missouri wildlife, too,” Holmes said. “You don’t want to steal food from the bears and raccoons—they rely on this, too. We can go to the store and buy mangoes, but they can’t.”

Holmes also offered tips on how to tell whether pawpaws were ready for harvest. A ripe pawpaw will be soft, similar to an avocado. A pawpaw picked too early can be placed in a paper bag to ripen, he said.

“One thing that I like to do is walk through the woods like a gorilla and shake the trees,” Holmes said. “When the pawpaws break off the branches and fall to the ground, you know they’re ripe. You’ll know right away when you open up a pawpaw and smell it. When they are unripe, there’s a dirty-dishwater sort of smell to them. Ripe pawpaws, on the other hand, have a wonderful, fruity smell.”

For those who have never tried pawpaw, now might just be the perfect time find out what all the fuss is about, Byers said.

“Pawpaw has a lot going for it. It really does,” he said. “We just need to further share the story of pawpaws, both with farmers and consumers. There are so many people excited about the pawpaw now, and it’s gratifying to finally see this unique, native, locally grown fruit gain so much attention.”
With more farmers looking for ways to add value to their operations, agritourism takes many forms and is a growing industry across the United States. Photo by Allison Jenkins.
1Cover Pumpkins MFAedit 400 1Cover Pumpkins MFAedit 400

Ava Montgomery, who will be 7 in October, evaluates the blueberry crop at John and Linda’s Fruit and Berry Farm in Bates City, Mo. This is her first time at a U-pick operation, and she said she would like to make blueberry pie.
2 MFA3057edit 2 MFA3057edit

Contrary to their farm’s name, John and Linda don’t only offer fruit and berries on their farm. Garden produce such as green beans, tomatoes and onions along with flower varieties also are available for picking.
3 MFA3133editedit 3 MFA3133editedit

John and Linda have run their U-pick fruit and berry farm for 21 years. Here the couple are pictured in their orchard where apples are ripening for the fall season.
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Mallory Montgomery and her son, Daniel, pick blueberries at John and Linda's Fruit and Berry Farm on a Thursday afternoon in mid August.
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Ava Montgomery, 7, attempts to show her brother, Daniel, 3, how to put blueberries in his bucket.
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While at this time of the year, the blueberry crop is starting to dwindle, Ava Montgomery quickly became a pro at spotting the intermittent clusters.
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Daniel Montgomery posed for a photo holding out one of the berries he picked from the bushes.
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Though Ava Montgomery dutifully placed her berries in her bucket, Daniel ate nearly every berry he collected. That's just part of it, John White said. "It's all part of the experience." While Ava would like to make blueberry pie, when Daniel was asked what he would like to make, he answered, "Pasta!"
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Daniel Montgomery ran through the grassy aisles between the blueberry patch and the apple orchard to catch up with his sister.
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Maintaining the grounds of this 10-acre property takes constant work. "People don't realize you still have to weed the strawberry patch year-round or plant more trees," Linda White said. "It's constant work." Here, John is tending to the blackberry bushes, cutting them back because the season was over.
11 MFA3201editedit 11 MFA3201editedit

The U-Pick farm also offers visitors the opportunity to pick flowers.
12 MFA3417editedit 12 MFA3417editedit

Nearing the outer border of the farm sits a shed where John has left harvested onions. This is one of the many non-traditional U-Pick options the farm offers. They will also pick for customers who may not be able to do so themselves.
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Linda White points out the many different apple varieties available for customers to pick.
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This is the juicer John inherited from his father. During apple and pear season, the couple makes sweet apple cider for customers to taste and purchase from fruit that falls from the trees.
15 MFA3181editedit 15 MFA3181editedit

Linda White rings up the Montgomery family’s pickings at the register while her husband, John, bags the produce. The couple run the business out of their house. Customers are asked to call in advance, and a buzzer system lets the couple know when someone arrives.
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The Rasa Orchards retail market sits along Highway 24 near Lexington. It's eye catching front exterior acts as a beacon for visitors and locals alike.
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Rasa Orchards has grown through its three generations. It now encompasses approximately 170 acres.
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All of the fruit in the orchards must be picked by hand. The work is labor intensive, said Norman Rasa, who owns and opertates the orchards with his brothers, Bob and Edgar.
19 MFA4324editedit 19 MFA4324editedit

Weather is a big deal for apple production, Ruby Rasa said. She is married to Edgar Rasa and operates the retail market most days. "Right now, these cool nights are making the apples look wonderful," she said. "They're adding color. Cool nights and warm days puts color on the apples."
20 MFA4177editedit 20 MFA4177editedit

Apples are handpicked in the orchards and loaded into these large plastic bins, where they are then transported to the packing house.
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The large apple crates are lifted onto the production line via forklift where they are then lowered into circulated water for washing.
22 MFA3605editedit 22 MFA3605editedit

Once the apples are washed, they move down the line where bad apples and stems are sorted out.
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The apples receive a second wash and are then coated with a small amount of wax, which is the same wax used in candy bars.
24 MFA3635editedit 24 MFA3635editedit

The apples are then sorted by size according to their weight in grams. The apples on this side all weigh the same amount and will be packaged in boxes to go to stores.
25 MFA3771editedit 25 MFA3771editedit

Ashley (Rasa) Zeller helps out at the family factory. Though she works night shifts as a nurse, Ashley came in to help sort and package apples. Every apple is weighed by grams. On this side, apples of all the same size are placed in boxes, while on the other side, apples of mixed sizes go into 3-pound bags.
26 MFA3742editedit 26 MFA3742editedit

The apples are hand stickered for the produce aisle with the Rasa family name and barcode.
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Some bad apples may still make it through the machine. On this side of the line, they are further inspected and sorted for any blemishes or bad spots.
28 MFA3886editedit 28 MFA3886editedit

Norman Rasa watches from a platform that gives him a vantage point over the entire line. It is only the second day of the 2020 season and from here he can slow down or stop the line to allow for his employees to catch up.
28 MFA3893editedit 28 MFA3893editedit

On this side of the line, apples that are not uniform in size by weight are bundled into 3 lb. bags. Here, David Rasa is pictured running apples through the bagger after having fixed an issue. In addition to helping at the orchard, David also helps manage the 600 acres of row crops and 120-head of cattle the family owns.
29 MFA3862editedit 29 MFA3862editedit

Norman Rasa, right, and his son, David, pause for a moment amid the hustle and bustle of apple-packing season inside Rasa Orchards’ warehouse. David will be the fourth generation to manage the orchards outside Lexington, Mo.
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Edgar Rasa, who is 84 years old and the middle of the Rasa brothers, drives by the front of the retail market on his tractor.
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Ruby Rasa runs the retail market during the season. The retail market has been the face of the business since the late 1980s. Here, they offer produce from the orchards as well as Ruby's own garden and farmers they've partnered with to sell items like honeycomb and jam.
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In addition to apples, Rasa Orchards planted 5 acres of peach trees. Their peaches are also available for purchase in season at their retail market.
33 MFAedit 435 33 MFAedit 435

This year’s theme is “Jesus Walking by Sea of Galilee,” from Matthew 4:19. It depicts the well-known verse in which Jesus says to Simon-Peter and Andrew, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”
34 HamptonCornMaze DJIedit 437 34 HamptonCornMaze DJIedit 437

Larry and Evelyn Hampton stand at the entrance to the 8.1-acre corn maze they’ve built on their former dairy farm in Marshfield, Mo. They started the maze in 2007 to add income to their pumpkin patch and greenhouses, which they started in 1992.
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Children who visit the Hampton Corn Maze also get a free ticket to ride the farm’s whimsical cow train.
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When visitors arrive, they will take a half-mile hay ride down to the maze. "We may not have what a lot of people have," Larry said. "But the life we have is worth billions."
37 HamptonCornMaze MFAedit 440 37 HamptonCornMaze MFAedit 440
With more farmers looking for ways to add value to their operations, agritourism takes many forms and is a growing industry across the United States. Photo by Allison Jenkins.

Ava Montgomery, who will be 7 in October, evaluates the blueberry crop at John and Linda’s Fruit and Berry Farm in Bates City, Mo. This is her first time at a U-pick operation, and she said she would like to make blueberry pie.

Contrary to their farm’s name, John and Linda don’t only offer fruit and berries on their farm. Garden produce such as green beans, tomatoes and onions along with flower varieties also are available for picking.

John and Linda have run their U-pick fruit and berry farm for 21 years. Here the couple are pictured in their orchard where apples are ripening for the fall season.

Mallory Montgomery and her son, Daniel, pick blueberries at John and Linda's Fruit and Berry Farm on a Thursday afternoon in mid August.

Ava Montgomery, 7, attempts to show her brother, Daniel, 3, how to put blueberries in his bucket.

While at this time of the year, the blueberry crop is starting to dwindle, Ava Montgomery quickly became a pro at spotting the intermittent clusters.

Daniel Montgomery posed for a photo holding out one of the berries he picked from the bushes.

Though Ava Montgomery dutifully placed her berries in her bucket, Daniel ate nearly every berry he collected. That's just part of it, John White said. "It's all part of the experience." While Ava would like to make blueberry pie, when Daniel was asked what he would like to make, he answered, "Pasta!"

Daniel Montgomery ran through the grassy aisles between the blueberry patch and the apple orchard to catch up with his sister.

Maintaining the grounds of this 10-acre property takes constant work. "People don't realize you still have to weed the strawberry patch year-round or plant more trees," Linda White said. "It's constant work." Here, John is tending to the blackberry bushes, cutting them back because the season was over.

The U-Pick farm also offers visitors the opportunity to pick flowers.

Nearing the outer border of the farm sits a shed where John has left harvested onions. This is one of the many non-traditional U-Pick options the farm offers. They will also pick for customers who may not be able to do so themselves.

Linda White points out the many different apple varieties available for customers to pick.

This is the juicer John inherited from his father. During apple and pear season, the couple makes sweet apple cider for customers to taste and purchase from fruit that falls from the trees.

Linda White rings up the Montgomery family’s pickings at the register while her husband, John, bags the produce. The couple run the business out of their house. Customers are asked to call in advance, and a buzzer system lets the couple know when someone arrives.

The Rasa Orchards retail market sits along Highway 24 near Lexington. It's eye catching front exterior acts as a beacon for visitors and locals alike.

Rasa Orchards has grown through its three generations. It now encompasses approximately 170 acres.

All of the fruit in the orchards must be picked by hand. The work is labor intensive, said Norman Rasa, who owns and opertates the orchards with his brothers, Bob and Edgar.

Weather is a big deal for apple production, Ruby Rasa said. She is married to Edgar Rasa and operates the retail market most days. "Right now, these cool nights are making the apples look wonderful," she said. "They're adding color. Cool nights and warm days puts color on the apples."

Apples are handpicked in the orchards and loaded into these large plastic bins, where they are then transported to the packing house.

The large apple crates are lifted onto the production line via forklift where they are then lowered into circulated water for washing.

Once the apples are washed, they move down the line where bad apples and stems are sorted out.

The apples receive a second wash and are then coated with a small amount of wax, which is the same wax used in candy bars.

The apples are then sorted by size according to their weight in grams. The apples on this side all weigh the same amount and will be packaged in boxes to go to stores.

Ashley (Rasa) Zeller helps out at the family factory. Though she works night shifts as a nurse, Ashley came in to help sort and package apples. Every apple is weighed by grams. On this side, apples of all the same size are placed in boxes, while on the other side, apples of mixed sizes go into 3-pound bags.

The apples are hand stickered for the produce aisle with the Rasa family name and barcode.

Some bad apples may still make it through the machine. On this side of the line, they are further inspected and sorted for any blemishes or bad spots.

Norman Rasa watches from a platform that gives him a vantage point over the entire line. It is only the second day of the 2020 season and from here he can slow down or stop the line to allow for his employees to catch up.

On this side of the line, apples that are not uniform in size by weight are bundled into 3 lb. bags. Here, David Rasa is pictured running apples through the bagger after having fixed an issue. In addition to helping at the orchard, David also helps manage the 600 acres of row crops and 120-head of cattle the family owns.

Norman Rasa, right, and his son, David, pause for a moment amid the hustle and bustle of apple-packing season inside Rasa Orchards’ warehouse. David will be the fourth generation to manage the orchards outside Lexington, Mo.

Edgar Rasa, who is 84 years old and the middle of the Rasa brothers, drives by the front of the retail market on his tractor.

Ruby Rasa runs the retail market during the season. The retail market has been the face of the business since the late 1980s. Here, they offer produce from the orchards as well as Ruby's own garden and farmers they've partnered with to sell items like honeycomb and jam.

In addition to apples, Rasa Orchards planted 5 acres of peach trees. Their peaches are also available for purchase in season at their retail market.

This year’s theme is “Jesus Walking by Sea of Galilee,” from Matthew 4:19. It depicts the well-known verse in which Jesus says to Simon-Peter and Andrew, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”

Larry and Evelyn Hampton stand at the entrance to the 8.1-acre corn maze they’ve built on their former dairy farm in Marshfield, Mo. They started the maze in 2007 to add income to their pumpkin patch and greenhouses, which they started in 1992.

Children who visit the Hampton Corn Maze also get a free ticket to ride the farm’s whimsical cow train.

When visitors arrive, they will take a half-mile hay ride down to the maze. "We may not have what a lot of people have," Larry said. "But the life we have is worth billions."
The definition of agritourism is almost as limitless as your imagination. Hosting farm weddings, fishing expeditions, beekeeping adventures, and yes, even goat yoga all fall under this giant umbrella. According to the USDA Economic Research Service and the Census of Agriculture, farm agritourism revenue more than tripled from 2002 to 2017. With seemingly constant market instability, more farmers are looking into this sector to add value to their operations and offer the public an invitation to experience life on the farm.

This year, when vacations and other celebrations have been put on hold, agritourism offers an outlet to get outside, put worries aside and make memories at a safe distance.

“This is probably the busiest year we’ve ever had,” said John White, who runs a U-pick farm with his wife, Linda, in Bates City, Mo.

“I guess if you can’t go to a bar, a U-pick is the next best thing,” Linda joked.

John and Linda moved 21 years ago to their current location just about a mile off of Interstate 70.

“Before that, it was just a bean field,” Linda said. “John planted a couple of strawberry patches for us and then just didn’t stop.”

John admits he may have gotten a little carried away. The couple originally purchased five acres of land and added another five when it became available. On those 10 acres, the couple grows almost every type of produce suitable for Missouri. Their season begins in April with asparagus. In mid-May, the strawberries begin to ripen, then the blackberries, and then blueberries.

“Blueberries and blackberries are basically at the same time for a while,” John said. “Then we have peaches and pears and apples and plums.”

When people think of U-pick farms, berries and apples often come to mind—green beans and onions typically don’t. But John and Linda’s Fruit and Berry Farm also offers a variety of garden vegetables and flowers for picking. Pumpkins round out their season in October.

“We have a little something for everyone,” John said. “I don’t know if that’s good or bad. It’s definitely more work.”

When John started two strawberry patches all those years ago, he said U-pick options weren’t as prevalent.

“There were a few up north and around Kansas City that did apples or strawberries,” John said. “But there weren’t any here locally. I grew up on a dairy farm near Bogard, Mo., and we used to do the farmer’s markets with my dad, who also had orchards and vegetables. As we got older, taking produce to the market became too much. Just packing and unpacking everything is a tremendous amount of work. At the time, I’d also taken a job with an over-the-road shipping company and started working weekends.”

The couple were still six or seven years away from retirement. As John looked into the future, he wanted a way to augment their retirement income. The U-pick business has done exactly that. A few years ago, the couple put a new roof on the house and painted the exterior with the money saved from previous seasons.

“It’s always something,” John said. “For instance, the brakes went out on my truck yesterday. This gives me extra, so I don’t have to cut into our retirement funds. The money that we make here wouldn’t be enough to live off of, but it does give me a supplement, and that’s the real reason we did this.”

While 10 acres may not seem like a lot to any traditional farmer, per-acre margins on John and Linda’s U-pick are significantly higher than corn or soybeans might be.

“I’ve been away from traditional farming for so long that I’m not sure what an acre of soybeans or corn is worth anymore,” John said. “My best estimate is what we make per acre here is probably five times that, but you can’t do what we do on hundreds of acres. It’s all hand labor.”

Likewise, planting takes careful planning.

“I started planting trees the first year,” John said. “A peach tree takes two to three years to get established and fruit. Even then, it will only produce a couple of peaches in the beginning. An apple tree takes four or five years to produce fruit, and every year we lose trees due to weather and diseases.”

One year, the farm lost 100 peach trees to excessive rains. Such losses have the potential to be catastrophic.

“We constantly have to plant and replant,” John said. “Because if you don’t stay on top of it, you risk getting behind and may not have anything for four or five years.”

Planning is just one of the challenges that goes along with operating a U-pick farm. The sheer amount of labor is another. The strawberry patch has to be weeded year-round, not just when the plants are producing. Blackberry brambles must be sheared. Spraying must be carefully timed and communicated to ensure customer safety. And, often, at the end of the day, good fruit is left on the ground.

Nevertheless, sometimes unique challenges present unique solutions.

“We typically don’t have much waste,” John said. “People pretty well pick everything, but I’ll go through and gather the apples that fall to the ground or may have been culled because of a little spot. I’ll wash them up, and we’ll make sweet apple cider.”

In the corner of the garage, next to the produce table, sits an old juicer John inherited from his father.

“The juice is really good,” Linda emphasized. “We’ve had people go to their car, take a sip, drink the whole jar and come back for more. Plus, the kids love it. They love throwing the apples in the juicer.”

Just a short 30-minute drive from Kansas City, the small U-pick farm gets visitors from all over the world. John and Linda recollected the countries from memory—Turkey, China, Russia, India, Vietnam, Bosnia, the Philippines.

“It’s amazing how many people from different countries come out here,” John said. “A lot are just visiting or are now local to Kansas City, and they will bring their friends and come out to pick.”

Many people have told Linda and John that this year marks the first time they’ve ever visited a U-pick farm. Mallory Montgomery of Blue Springs, Mo., is one of those first-timers. During the pandemic, she’s been working from home part-time and visited the farm in late summer with her children, Ava, who will be 7 years old in October, and Daniel, 3.

“We were looking for things to do outside,” said Mallory, as she and the kids wandered the manicured grounds. “It keeps them connected to nature. Our days are much more open now, since I’m working less and we’re all at home. We’ve been meaning to do something like this, but my son was still pretty little last season. This year he’s much more independent.”

The three started in the blueberry patch. Ava dutifully tasted one blueberry and put the rest in her bucket. Daniel “tasted” every blueberry he picked.

“We’re going to have to add another pound to our tab,” Mallory said.

That’s part of it, John said, smiling as the kids brought their buckets to the cash register, set up in the garage. At this juncture in their lives, the couple plan on running the farm for the foreseeable future.

“We’re just going to keep doing this until we can’t anymore,” Linda said.

ROADSIDE RETAIL

About 30 minutes north, Rasa Orchards’ market just outside Lexington, Mo., also attracts people from far and wide. The family has operated a direct-to-retail option for customers for nearly 60 years, but the open-air storefront along Highway 24 has served as the face of the multi-generational operation since the late 1980s.

The larger story, however, is just a little further down the gravel drive, where the Rasa packing house sits obscured by apple trees. As the drive opens up, it is obvious the scale of the operation goes beyond this small roadside market.

“We run about 2,000 to 2,500 bushels of apples through here a day,” said Norman Rasa, who owns and operates the orchard with his brothers, Bob and Edgar. Their wives and many of their children and grandchildren are also involved.

Today’s three-brother partnership actually goes back two generations to their grandfather, August Rasa, Sr.

“My grandfather planted four acres of apple trees,” Norman said. “After that we just continued to buy land as it became available.”

Since that time, the orchards have steadily grown to encompass 170 acres of trees, including five acres of peaches. Much of that expansion can be attributed to Norman and his brothers, but each generation has made its own mark on the business.

“Robert Rasa, Sr., was a very knowledgeable grafter,” Ruby Rasa said, speaking of her husband, Edgar’s, father. “You had to be back then. He actually perfected a Jonathan strain. Stark Bros. Nursery was interested, and the rights to this Jonathan strain were sold to them. The name of the tree is Jon-A-Red, a late-season Jonathan.”

Spark Bros. is a well-known name in the tree business. Located in Louisiana, Mo., the 200-year-old nursery ships trees and other plants nationwide.

At the warehouse, packing season typically starts in August and runs for roughly three months. When the apples begin to ripen, they are hand-picked and placed in large plastic bins in the orchards. Those bins are transported to the warehouse, where they are lowered into the processing line for a wash, buff and wax before they are sorted by size and packaged by hand.

It’s fast-paced, hectic work. At times, the machine jams or goes too fast for new staff to keep up. Norman, positioned at the helm of the processing line, oversees its operation, closely monitoring a computer. Occasionally, he shuts it down to allow the seasonal workers to catch up.

“Normally, we have about 50-60 employees,” said Susan Rasa, Norman’s wife, who also helps run daily operations. “But we’ve had a shortage this year. Some of our employees that typically come back every year are older and didn’t want to risk possible COVID exposure, even though we have safety measures in place.”

Rasa Orchards sells to Walmart, which distributes the apples across its retail network.

“A lot of our apples go to stores here in Missouri but also to Texas, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, just to name a few,” Norman said. “We actually have a freight advantage being located here because we can be in any big major city in about eight to 10 hours. The thing about the Missouri apples is they’re one of the first fresh apples on the market every year.”

This wholesale operation amounts to 95% of Rasa’s business, Norman said, while the retail market makes up the other 5%. Statistically, this checks out for a lot of farmers who decide to add an agritourism component. According to the USDA Economic Research Service, agritourism revenue is still relatively small when compared with total farm revenue, accounting for only 5.6% of farm-related income in 2017, the last year census data was recorded.

Ruby operates the market most days. She unequivocally considers their retail storefront to be agritourism. Many people stop as they’re driving through or find the farm on the internet and purposely make a trip. Like John and Linda’s, Rasa is a relatively short drive from Kansas City.

“We have regular customers that come from as far as Iowa,” Ruby said, as she rang out another person at the register in mid-August. It was nearing the end of peach season, and this time of year, Rasa’s customers can’t seem to get enough of the fleshy fruit, often inquiring which variety she recommends.

“The best peach is a ripe peach,” is Ruby’s consistent response, but she knows everyone has different preferences. She asks about use—if they’re making pies or jams, or if they like freestone or clingstone varieties better, explaining the difference if necessary.

“I have come down every week for the last five, and I take peaches home to people,” said Lisa Lohman of Kansas City, who has been an avid customer of the small retail market for many years. “We do this every year. We’ll freeze the peaches and use them throughout the year for everything—pies, cobblers, ice cream, smoothies.”

Lisa is only one example of the market’s loyal customer base, Ruby said.

“She comes in and buys for her neighbors,” Ruby said. “That’s what helps us more than anything else—customers like this.”

Jim and Sharon Thomas are next in line. Now retired teachers, they consider themselves regulars.

“We’re all the way from Lexington,” Jim joked, “but we’re here at least once a week.”

In the brief gap between customers, Ruby brings out more peaches from the refrigerator and straightens the shelves.

“I’ll tell you one last story,” Ruby said. “I came up here in ’68 from my home in Arkansas to pick apples, and I married my boss.” She referred to her husband, Edgar, now 84, who had driven by earlier on a tractor.

“We’ve been married 51 years,” she added.

When asked if he ever considered retiring, she laughed. “He’s a farmer to the core. He doesn’t know how to. They really don’t. It’s in their veins.”

A-MAIZE-ING ADVENTURES

In mid-September, Larry and Evelyn Hampton were just beginning to ramp up their season. The couple runs Hampton Corn Maze in Marshfield, Mo., on their former dairy farm.

Twelve years ago, after many years in the dairy business, Larry and Evelyn realized they had hit a dead end.

“We started milking in 1976,” Larry said. “And we made pretty good money milking until 1980. We bought this farm that year, and the roof caved in. You couldn’t generate enough ‘ducks’ to feed the ‘deducts.’”

In 1982, with two young children at home and the farm crisis in full swing, Evelyn went to work at a local factory and Larry kept milking. In ’92, the couple added greenhouses and a pumpkin patch to further supplement their dairy income.

But in 2006, when their pumpkin crop failed for the third year in a row, it was time to head in a different direction and rework the business again.

“We couldn’t open that year because we had nothing,” Evelyn said. “One day, I told Larry we were going to look at some corn mazes.”

The couple visited several mazes in the area, and in Verona, Mo., they found an experience worth duplicating. That maze wasn’t just a path through a field. It had a design and a purpose, Larry said.

“You learned something there,” Evelyn added. “We got lost for over an hour. We actually ended up teaming up with a family with kids to answer the trivia questions they had throughout the maze. We had so much fun, we decided that’s the kind of thing we wanted to do here.”

In 2007, the couple opened Hampton’s Corn Maze with the theme “Angels on Earth.” Most of their themes are family friendly or Biblical in nature.

The maze encompasses 8.1 acres of the Hamptons’ 158-acre farm. The experience starts with a half-mile hayride to the field. Fire rings are also available for reservation, and visitors are encouraged to bring flashlights if they are interested in completing the maze after dark. There are 10 numbered stops in the maze—five in the first half, and five in the second half. At each stop, participants answer a trivia question. Incorrect answers lead you down the wrong path.

Larry and Evelyn work with The MAiZE, the largest maze consulting company in the world, based out of Utah. The company partners with “agritainment farms” to develop the maze designs, provide business support and cut the mazes for more than 260 farms worldwide.

“They have three to four people who come here from Utah every year in the early summer after the corn has been planted,” Evelyn said. “They’ll have two colors of flags and graph paper with our maze pattern. They put the flags down and mark their place. The next guy comes along with a can of paint to mark the walking path. When that’s done, they have a backpack sprayer with herbicide in it, like the kind we would normally use to spray fencerows, but it sprays two rows at once. And they do not walk. They run.”

For this year’s corn maze, Larry planted DeKalb DKC70- 27RIB, a 120-day corn that has excellent late-season appearance and standability, which is important for the maze. He purchases the seed and fertilizer for the field from MFA Agri Services in Marshfield.

“We don’t pray for pretty ears of corn like a grain farmer,” Larry said. “We pray for pretty stalks. And we want it to stay green for as long as possible, which is why we plant it in June. I want good, tall corn that’s going to stand. When the combine comes in here, if I can get 100 bushels per acre with the paths cut out, it almost pays for corn seed and my fertilizer. Yield is an added bonus.”

The year after their first corn maze, Larry and Evelyn got out of the dairy business.

“When we started the maze, the writing was already on the wall,” Larry said. “We were still milking about 40 Holsteins at that time. I loved dairying, and it really bothered me for about two years after we quit. It’s how both of our kids learned to work.”

“We both cried as they loaded up the cattle,” Evelyn added. “But through this, we’ve learned that we are people persons. With the greenhouses, it’s really busy until Mother’s Day and Memorial Day, then it’s pretty quiet. When nobody’s here, I miss it. I love the people who come here. That’s what I thrive off of.”

The maze is open to the public every weekend through Oct. 31 this year. Groups and individuals can visit by appointment on weekdays.

“If I have to start up the tractor to take two people to the corn maze, I’ll take them,” Larry said. “I probably don’t make any money doing that, but I made two people happy.”

Their customers have been good to them, Evelyn said. She keeps a scrapbook full of the previous years’ flyers, cards, thank you notes and children’s drawings the couple has received over the years.

“We may not have what a lot of people have,” Larry said. “But the life we have is worth billions.”
Ross and Lorena Blount were among Allerton, Iowa, residents who helped restore the town’s Old Time Soda Fountain. The vintage wooden shelves now house a collection of memorabilia from the original drugstore and items on display from retired pharmacist Rich Henderson. Photo by Allison Jenkins.
1Allerton SodaFountain MFAedit 308 1Allerton SodaFountain MFAedit 308

Lorena Blount serves up an ice cream sundae at the Old Time Soda Fountain in Allerton, Iowa. The shop normally opens to the public on Saturday nights, but COVID-19 concerns have kept it closed since early spring, except for a few private parties. When in operation, the soda fountain is staffed by volunteers of the non-profit organization founded to save this community landmark. Photo by Allison Jenkins.
2Allerton MFAedit 309 2Allerton MFAedit 309

Today, the soda fountain serves a variety of sundaes, sodas, malts and ice cream floats when it’s open on Saturday nights or during special events. Photo by Allison Jenkins.
3Allerton MFAedit 310 3Allerton MFAedit 310

In its heyday during the 1950s, the soda fountain was part of Meyers Drug Co., owned by pharmacists Chris Meyers, known as “Chrissy,” and his wife, Beulah, right.
4Allerton OriginalDrugstore MFAedit 311 4Allerton OriginalDrugstore MFAedit 311

Constructed in 1885, the corner building that houses the Old Time Soda Fountain in Allerton, Iowa, has been a drugstore for most of its existence. Displays of old pharmacy memorabilia pay homage to this history, including some original items from its heyday as Meyers Drug Co. Other drugstore memorabilia were donated by local retired pharmacists from their personal collections. Photo by Allison Jenkins.
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The Blounts walk toward the soda fountain building, which still has its original baked enamel Rexall sign. Photo by Allison Jenkins.
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YMCA member Dustin Holmes, left, and personal trainer Shane Midgyett, walk across one of two basketball gymnasiums at the Grand River Area Family YMCA in Chillicothe. The facility also boasts a swimming pool, world class gymnastics accommodations and a fitness center among other amenities. Photo by Kerri Lotven.
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Ed Turner stands outside Chillicothe’s Litton Agri-Science Learning Center, a 36-acre campus that includes an agricultural education building, horse and cattle barn, riding arena, shelter house, campground, lake, native area, livestock facilities and more. Photo by Kerri Lotven.
8Chillicothe MFA1749editedit 8Chillicothe MFA1749editedit

This aerial shot shows the broad expanse of the Litton Agri-Science Learning Center. The center houses multiple classrooms, a shop, a greenhouse, food lab and event spaces. Additionally, students who live in town, but want to raise animals for exhibit are invited to house and care for the animals on site.
9Chillicothe DJIeditedit 316 9Chillicothe DJIeditedit 316

Pictured here is the large swimming pool at the YMCA of Chillicothe. The money raised to build the YMCA was mostly funded by donations from family foundations. Turner considers this a project that really showed what the community could do when they were all pulling in one direction.
10Chillicothe MFA1937editedit 10Chillicothe MFA1937editedit

When the former bowling alley in Chillicothe closed, the community came to gether to donate several hundred thousand dollars to open up Fast Lanes, a 24-lane bowling alley with arcade, pool tables and bar and grill.
11Chillicothe MFA1554editedit 11Chillicothe MFA1554editedit

Jarrett Morris, 18, of Brookfield, Mo., practices at the Green Hills Golf Course in Chillicothe. Morris is a freshman at North Central Missouri College in Trenton, Mo., and plays on the golf team there. Green Hills serves as the home course for his college team.
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In 2018, The Gardens at Hedrick Medical Center opened. The $1.39 million project was constructed on 3 acres of land that is positioned between the hospital and the golf course. The healing garden is visible to almost half of the patients staying at the center and features 12 separately themed areas.
13Chillicothe MFA2321editedit 13Chillicothe MFA2321editedit

This is another view of the healing gardens. These columns feature donor names and messages.
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The Jerry Litton Memorial stadium was opened in 2012. The $4 million facility was built entirely through private donations.
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This is the original bakery where sliced bread was invented.
16Chillicothe MFA2685editedit 16Chillicothe MFA2685editedit

Amy Supple, director of Visit Chillicothe, stands outside the “Sliced Bread Innovation Center,” which is housed in the original bakery where sliced bread was invented in 1928. “During that time, there was a bakery on every corner of this block and this one was failing,” Supple said. “Frank Bench, the owner of Chillicothe Baking Company, decided he had to do something different.” Sliced bread was born.
18Chillicothe MFA2759editedit 18Chillicothe MFA2759editedit

This mural by local Chillicothe artist Kelly Poling depicts a lively scene of historic Locust Street along with the logo recognizing Chillicothe's claim to fame as the home of sliced bread. Otto Rohwedder, a jeweler living in St. Joseph, Mo., invented the bread-slicing machine and Frank Bench, owner of Chillicothe Baking Company, bought into it.
19Chillicothe MFA2343editedit 19Chillicothe MFA2343editedit

This mural depicts the Edge Mar Dairy, which was a prominent dairy in Chillicothe in the early part of the 20th century. Pictured here, one of the dairy trucks is making an early morning stop on Locust Street.
20Chillicothe MFA2354editedit 20Chillicothe MFA2354editedit

This library mural is painted on the side of the Strand Apartments building which borders the library parking lot. It includes classic literary works which appear on the shelves in the library itself in addition to children's favorites and Livingston county history.
21Chillicothe MFA2431editedit 21Chillicothe MFA2431editedit

The Silver Moon Plaza hosts events and offers a public space for residents to view movies, enjoy concerts and even rent out for weddings. Murals painted by local artist Kelly Poling flank both sides of this outdoor venue. Before his death at the age of 57 in 2018, Poling painted 23 murals, which are featured on a walking tour. Chillicothe’s arts district is named in his honor.
22Chillicothe MFA2481editedit 22Chillicothe MFA2481editedit

This photo features the full mural flanking the right side of the pavillion. Milbank Mills is Chillicothe's oldest existing buisness and it is pictured here as it appeared in 1910. Locally harvested wheat was milled into flour here and marketed under the "Silver Moon" brand.
23Chillicothe MFA2509editedit 23Chillicothe MFA2509editedit

This fitting statement, "What a person does for himself dies with him. What he does for his community lives long after he's gone," is etched into the bricks outside the Silver Moon Plaza.
24Chillicothe MFA2495editedit 24Chillicothe MFA2495editedit

This mural is titled, "Window in Time." It showcases parts of Chillicothe history including five multi-generational businesses still in existence. Though the wall appears to be brick, it is actually bare stucco. Each brick was hand-painted by Poling.
25Chillicothe MFA2501editedit 25Chillicothe MFA2501editedit

Graham's Mill and bridge, pictured here, was also one of Chillicothe's earliest businesses. The mill was operated by a water wheel on the Thompson River and produced bakers' flower and feed for livestock.
26Chillicothe MFA2541editedit 26Chillicothe MFA2541editedit

This mural shows Webster Street in downtown Chillicothe circa 1916. According to the downtown Chillicothe website, Webster Street was well traveled by visitors arriving and departing from teh Milwaukee depot on the east end of town.
27Chillicothe MFA2659editedit 27Chillicothe MFA2659editedit

This mural is two sided and features, blue heron, wild turkey and a bobcat on the Grand River and surrounding landscape. The bridge in the background was key to the success of the Pony Express because mail was transported to St. Joseph via this railroad route.
28Chillicothe MFA2887editedit 28Chillicothe MFA2887editedit

Chillicothe Business College opertated from 1890 through the early 1950s and offered a variety of professional and occupational training programs.
29Chillicothe MFA2789editedit 29Chillicothe MFA2789editedit

Titled "Railroad Boom," this mural commemorates Chillicothe as a point of convergence for the three railroads which served northern Missouri - Burlington, Wabash and later the Milwaukee Road.
30Chillicothe MFA2872editedit 30Chillicothe MFA2872editedit

This mural portrays an early 20th century harvest season. It includes a Jenkins Hay Rake which was designed, built and sold in Chillicothe.
31Chillicothe MFA2775editedit 31Chillicothe MFA2775editedit

This image depicts the Leeper Hotel showing two renderings of the building 80 years apart and recognizes other local treasures lost to time. The hotel was a prominent cornerstone in Chillicothe.
32Chillicothe MFA2795editedit 32Chillicothe MFA2795editedit

The "Millnery Ghost Sign" is a recreation of ean earlier sign exhibiting the building's many uses including a hotel, barber shop, pool hall, lawyer's offices, grocery store, furniture store, women's dress store, undertaker's parlor, millinery and brothel.
33Chillicothe MFA2807editedit 33Chillicothe MFA2807editedit

The Citizens Bank and Trust mural was painted in April of 1994 and shows the newly remodeled lobby circca 1907. The bank was established in 1889 and has served the citizens of Chillicothe and surrounding areas for more than 100 years.
34Chillicothe MFA2817editedit 34Chillicothe MFA2817editedit

The Palace of Fashion mural is located in the approximate same location as the original storefront and shows the early 1900s women's apparel and hat store. According to the Downtown Chillicothe website, "the mural uses a french technique of trompe-l'ceil (trick the eye to create the illusion of a once existent uppper level staircase and balcony."
35Chillicothe MFA2843editedit 35Chillicothe MFA2843editedit

This mural is supposed to have a 3-D appearance and was designed by Sherwood Patek whose family owned and operated Midland Tile and Brick for over 35 years. This brick plant was in operation until the late 1900s.
36Chillicothe MFA2901editedit 36Chillicothe MFA2901editedit

This mural displays Webster Street circa 1916. This street was well traveled due to its proximity to the depot.
37Chillicothe MFA2856editedit 37Chillicothe MFA2856editedit

This was Poling's 60th and last mural before his death. Chillicothe has a strong arts community with much support from local individuals, organizations, the schools and the city. Honoring this tradition, the Cultural Corner Art Guild commissioned this mural to pay tribute to Poling himself, insisting he portray himself somewhere in the painting. Here, he can be seen on a ladder, painting the side of the building.
38Chillicothe MFA2629editedit 38Chillicothe MFA2629editedit

The historic Nodaway County Courthouse is a striking focal point of the Maryville square. Several new businesses have opened in the downtown area in recent years, and others are in the works. This aerial view of the town shows MFA Agri Service’s feed mill towers in the distance.
39Maryville DJIedit 346 39Maryville DJIedit 346

Josh McKim, executive director of Nodaway County Economic Development Corporation, helps lead growth in Maryville, Mo., by attracting new industries to the area and encouraging small businesses to set up shop in the town.
40Maryille MFAedit 347 40Maryille MFAedit 347

Taybrin Oglesby arranges clothing at Blue Willow Boutique on the town square in Maryville, Mo. The upscale women’s apparel store was established in 2016 by entrepreneur Stephanie Campbell, who had recently relocated to the area from Kansas City and wanted to invest in her new community. The shop has been successful, Campbell said, and she has plans to open more businesses in downtown Maryville.
41Maryville BlueWillow MFAedit 348 41Maryville BlueWillow MFAedit 348

This aerial view shows the wind turbines installed by the Tenaska corporation that dot the rural landscape in and around Maryville. Though the project hasn’t been popular with some residents, the company annually contributes some $15,000 to the community.
42Maryville DJIedit 349 42Maryville DJIedit 349

This is another view of the wind turbines at sunrise. This project is just one example of the risks the town of Maryville has taken to invest in their future. "Over the last five years, we've had nearly $150 million in commercial and public investment beyond the two wind projects, which totaled $600 million," said Josh McKim, executive director with Nodaway County Economic Development Corporation. "We have to invest, and we've got to take risks. If we don't, what's the point? Small towns won't be here in a hundred years without those investments."
43Maryville MFAedit 350 43Maryville MFAedit 350
Ross and Lorena Blount were among Allerton, Iowa, residents who helped restore the town’s Old Time Soda Fountain. The vintage wooden shelves now house a collection of memorabilia from the original drugstore and items on display from retired pharmacist Rich Henderson. Photo by Allison Jenkins.

Lorena Blount serves up an ice cream sundae at the Old Time Soda Fountain in Allerton, Iowa. The shop normally opens to the public on Saturday nights, but COVID-19 concerns have kept it closed since early spring, except for a few private parties. When in operation, the soda fountain is staffed by volunteers of the non-profit organization founded to save this community landmark. Photo by Allison Jenkins.

Today, the soda fountain serves a variety of sundaes, sodas, malts and ice cream floats when it’s open on Saturday nights or during special events. Photo by Allison Jenkins.

In its heyday during the 1950s, the soda fountain was part of Meyers Drug Co., owned by pharmacists Chris Meyers, known as “Chrissy,” and his wife, Beulah, right.

Constructed in 1885, the corner building that houses the Old Time Soda Fountain in Allerton, Iowa, has been a drugstore for most of its existence. Displays of old pharmacy memorabilia pay homage to this history, including some original items from its heyday as Meyers Drug Co. Other drugstore memorabilia were donated by local retired pharmacists from their personal collections. Photo by Allison Jenkins.

The Blounts walk toward the soda fountain building, which still has its original baked enamel Rexall sign. Photo by Allison Jenkins.

YMCA member Dustin Holmes, left, and personal trainer Shane Midgyett, walk across one of two basketball gymnasiums at the Grand River Area Family YMCA in Chillicothe. The facility also boasts a swimming pool, world class gymnastics accommodations and a fitness center among other amenities. Photo by Kerri Lotven.

Ed Turner stands outside Chillicothe’s Litton Agri-Science Learning Center, a 36-acre campus that includes an agricultural education building, horse and cattle barn, riding arena, shelter house, campground, lake, native area, livestock facilities and more. Photo by Kerri Lotven.

This aerial shot shows the broad expanse of the Litton Agri-Science Learning Center. The center houses multiple classrooms, a shop, a greenhouse, food lab and event spaces. Additionally, students who live in town, but want to raise animals for exhibit are invited to house and care for the animals on site.

Pictured here is the large swimming pool at the YMCA of Chillicothe. The money raised to build the YMCA was mostly funded by donations from family foundations. Turner considers this a project that really showed what the community could do when they were all pulling in one direction.

When the former bowling alley in Chillicothe closed, the community came to gether to donate several hundred thousand dollars to open up Fast Lanes, a 24-lane bowling alley with arcade, pool tables and bar and grill.

Jarrett Morris, 18, of Brookfield, Mo., practices at the Green Hills Golf Course in Chillicothe. Morris is a freshman at North Central Missouri College in Trenton, Mo., and plays on the golf team there. Green Hills serves as the home course for his college team.

In 2018, The Gardens at Hedrick Medical Center opened. The $1.39 million project was constructed on 3 acres of land that is positioned between the hospital and the golf course. The healing garden is visible to almost half of the patients staying at the center and features 12 separately themed areas.

This is another view of the healing gardens. These columns feature donor names and messages.

The Jerry Litton Memorial stadium was opened in 2012. The $4 million facility was built entirely through private donations.

This is the original bakery where sliced bread was invented.

Amy Supple, director of Visit Chillicothe, stands outside the “Sliced Bread Innovation Center,” which is housed in the original bakery where sliced bread was invented in 1928. “During that time, there was a bakery on every corner of this block and this one was failing,” Supple said. “Frank Bench, the owner of Chillicothe Baking Company, decided he had to do something different.” Sliced bread was born.

This mural by local Chillicothe artist Kelly Poling depicts a lively scene of historic Locust Street along with the logo recognizing Chillicothe's claim to fame as the home of sliced bread. Otto Rohwedder, a jeweler living in St. Joseph, Mo., invented the bread-slicing machine and Frank Bench, owner of Chillicothe Baking Company, bought into it.

This mural depicts the Edge Mar Dairy, which was a prominent dairy in Chillicothe in the early part of the 20th century. Pictured here, one of the dairy trucks is making an early morning stop on Locust Street.

This library mural is painted on the side of the Strand Apartments building which borders the library parking lot. It includes classic literary works which appear on the shelves in the library itself in addition to children's favorites and Livingston county history.

The Silver Moon Plaza hosts events and offers a public space for residents to view movies, enjoy concerts and even rent out for weddings. Murals painted by local artist Kelly Poling flank both sides of this outdoor venue. Before his death at the age of 57 in 2018, Poling painted 23 murals, which are featured on a walking tour. Chillicothe’s arts district is named in his honor.

This photo features the full mural flanking the right side of the pavillion. Milbank Mills is Chillicothe's oldest existing buisness and it is pictured here as it appeared in 1910. Locally harvested wheat was milled into flour here and marketed under the "Silver Moon" brand.

This fitting statement, "What a person does for himself dies with him. What he does for his community lives long after he's gone," is etched into the bricks outside the Silver Moon Plaza.

This mural is titled, "Window in Time." It showcases parts of Chillicothe history including five multi-generational businesses still in existence. Though the wall appears to be brick, it is actually bare stucco. Each brick was hand-painted by Poling.

Graham's Mill and bridge, pictured here, was also one of Chillicothe's earliest businesses. The mill was operated by a water wheel on the Thompson River and produced bakers' flower and feed for livestock.

This mural shows Webster Street in downtown Chillicothe circa 1916. According to the downtown Chillicothe website, Webster Street was well traveled by visitors arriving and departing from teh Milwaukee depot on the east end of town.

This mural is two sided and features, blue heron, wild turkey and a bobcat on the Grand River and surrounding landscape. The bridge in the background was key to the success of the Pony Express because mail was transported to St. Joseph via this railroad route.

Chillicothe Business College opertated from 1890 through the early 1950s and offered a variety of professional and occupational training programs.

Titled "Railroad Boom," this mural commemorates Chillicothe as a point of convergence for the three railroads which served northern Missouri - Burlington, Wabash and later the Milwaukee Road.

This mural portrays an early 20th century harvest season. It includes a Jenkins Hay Rake which was designed, built and sold in Chillicothe.

This image depicts the Leeper Hotel showing two renderings of the building 80 years apart and recognizes other local treasures lost to time. The hotel was a prominent cornerstone in Chillicothe.

The "Millnery Ghost Sign" is a recreation of ean earlier sign exhibiting the building's many uses including a hotel, barber shop, pool hall, lawyer's offices, grocery store, furniture store, women's dress store, undertaker's parlor, millinery and brothel.

The Citizens Bank and Trust mural was painted in April of 1994 and shows the newly remodeled lobby circca 1907. The bank was established in 1889 and has served the citizens of Chillicothe and surrounding areas for more than 100 years.

The Palace of Fashion mural is located in the approximate same location as the original storefront and shows the early 1900s women's apparel and hat store. According to the Downtown Chillicothe website, "the mural uses a french technique of trompe-l'ceil (trick the eye to create the illusion of a once existent uppper level staircase and balcony."

This mural is supposed to have a 3-D appearance and was designed by Sherwood Patek whose family owned and operated Midland Tile and Brick for over 35 years. This brick plant was in operation until the late 1900s.

This mural displays Webster Street circa 1916. This street was well traveled due to its proximity to the depot.

This was Poling's 60th and last mural before his death. Chillicothe has a strong arts community with much support from local individuals, organizations, the schools and the city. Honoring this tradition, the Cultural Corner Art Guild commissioned this mural to pay tribute to Poling himself, insisting he portray himself somewhere in the painting. Here, he can be seen on a ladder, painting the side of the building.

The historic Nodaway County Courthouse is a striking focal point of the Maryville square. Several new businesses have opened in the downtown area in recent years, and others are in the works. This aerial view of the town shows MFA Agri Service’s feed mill towers in the distance.

Josh McKim, executive director of Nodaway County Economic Development Corporation, helps lead growth in Maryville, Mo., by attracting new industries to the area and encouraging small businesses to set up shop in the town.

Taybrin Oglesby arranges clothing at Blue Willow Boutique on the town square in Maryville, Mo. The upscale women’s apparel store was established in 2016 by entrepreneur Stephanie Campbell, who had recently relocated to the area from Kansas City and wanted to invest in her new community. The shop has been successful, Campbell said, and she has plans to open more businesses in downtown Maryville.

This aerial view shows the wind turbines installed by the Tenaska corporation that dot the rural landscape in and around Maryville. Though the project hasn’t been popular with some residents, the company annually contributes some $15,000 to the community.

This is another view of the wind turbines at sunrise. This project is just one example of the risks the town of Maryville has taken to invest in their future. "Over the last five years, we've had nearly $150 million in commercial and public investment beyond the two wind projects, which totaled $600 million," said Josh McKim, executive director with Nodaway County Economic Development Corporation. "We have to invest, and we've got to take risks. If we don't, what's the point? Small towns won't be here in a hundred years without those investments."
Small towns and rural communities are continually looking for ways to strengthen their economies, provide better quality of life and build on local assets. Agriculture forms the foundation in many of these communities, and farm profitability has declined over the past few years, presenting even more challenges. But we found three towns—Allerton, Iowa, and Chillicothe and Maryville, Mo.—that are not only holding their own but also finding ways to thrive.

Twelve years ago, the people of Allerton, Iowa, population 550, restored what is now the Old Time Soda Fountain.

“Once the town decided the soda fountain was worth saving, everyone got behind it,” said Lorena Blount, a retired English teacher. The restoration is just one example of how Allerton residents have worked together to improve quality of life, as measured by an Iowa State University research project.

It took a few years for volunteers to restore the former drug store and malt shop building, which features a 1952 soda fountain fronted by a classic red counter, padded round stools and a few tables.

Since it opened in 2008, volunteers young and old have served customers every summer Saturday night. The place was hopping until this year, when it remained closed because of COVID-19 concerns. The Blounts and other volunteers are committed to reopening when the pandemic subsides.

“Something about the space encourages sociability,” Lorena said.

She and her husband, Ross, began working with communities as Peace Corps volunteers in West Africa decades ago. Ross, a retired minister and farmer, rents out his cropland these days but continues to raise cattle and hay and is a member of MFA Agri Services in Corydon. He’s also president of the board of directors of the non-profit Old Time Soda Fountain. Supporters contributed more than $40,000 and countless hours of elbow grease to restore the building. A retired druggist filled the shelves with his collection of old medicines, and an Allerton school alumnus donated an automated red-and-white awning for the storefront.

When Allerton schools closed in 1966, students transferred to Corydon, six miles away, and many young people have moved away to find jobs. But Allerton roots run deep.

“Allerton school alumni have been generous in donating as a monument to their youth, when they hung out at the soda fountain,” Lorena said. Last year, eight students from Corydon High School volunteered to work at the fountain alongside the usual older cadre.

This isn’t the only example of how Allerton citizens—current and former—keep the town going. In the 1980s, locals dismantled a large building in Ames, free for the taking, and reassembled it in Allerton. The Centennial Building now hosts events for up to 400 people. Lorena co-directs a community play that draws 1,000 people at three performances each spring.

Allerton is shrinking smart

David Peters, who has authored research on 99 towns in Iowa, cites Allerton as an example of a small town that’s “shrinking smart.”

“Allerton’s population dropped by over 15% in the last decade,” said Peters, a University of Missouri graduate and associate professor of sociology at Iowa State University. “However, it also experienced a large rise in quality of life over the same period.”

In his role as an Extension rural sociologist at Iowa State’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Peters works with colleagues to survey one town in each Iowa county every five years. They ask residents to rate their hometown’s quality of jobs, medical services, schools, housing, government, and child and senior services—subjective issues compared to wage and employment data that economists usually gather.

“We were surprised to discover that a strong social infrastructure, rather than economic or physical factors, determines whether residents report greater quality of life,” Peters said.

As he explained, some thriving towns in the study are growing because of natural amenities such as lakes, rivers or woods, or because they’re near large cities. Other places, like Allerton, are shrinking in population, but residents are committed to building quality of life. The Blounts call it “social capital.”

“The good thing about social infrastructure is that it’s inexpensive to create,” Peters said. “For example, the odds of recruiting a manufacturer are pretty slim. By contrast, investing in social infrastructure almost always pays a dividend, making your town more attractive to new residents and businesses.”

Ross Blount agrees with that conclusion, pointing to Allerton Mayor Doug Downs, who serves with young people on the town council and welcomes everyone to voice their opinions. The same is true with Fire Chief Greg Fortune, who drew in young volunteers to bring new life to the fire department.

“I like what Dr. Peters says,” Ross added. “It doesn’t take a lot of money to build quality of life. In Allerton, it has also required a balance of young and older volunteers.”

Allerton isn’t perfect, Downs admits. “We have some old houses and buildings that need to be torn down,” he said. “But we make everyone feel welcome.”

Chillicothe builds strong foundations

With about 9,700 residents, Chillicothe, Mo., has grown by more than 2% since the 2010 census. It’s larger than Allerton, but it’s still a small town in Andrew McCrea’s book.

A farmer, agricultural leader, speaker, broadcaster and author, McCrea published “The Total Town Makeover” in 2019. In the book, he portrays Chillicothe as a place that succeeds in part by raising funds through foundations.

“Chillicothe is known as the birthplace of sliced bread,” McCrea said, referring to Chillicothe Baking Company, the first baker in the world to sell sliced bread to the public. “Perhaps the next best things to sliced bread are Chillicothe’s family foundations.”

McCrea, who raises cattle and row crops in Maysville, Mo., and serves on his local MFA Agri Services board, has spent much of his broadcasting and speaking career visiting rural communities across the United States. He lists steps that towns like Chillicothe often take to succeed:
- Endowments or foundations provide seed money for projects.
- Leaders pull together in one direction.
- Leaders communicate short-term and long-term goals to the community.
- Leaders build momentum through social media and other efforts that reach out to people who have moved away.
- Townspeople commit to building a positive culture, including such simple gestures as smiling more.
Ed Turner, a Chillicothe real estate appraiser, serves as president of the Chillicothe Industrial Development Corporation and other boards. He remembers attending a 1989 meeting of local bankers, lawyers and accountants where the idea of forming foundations to keep wealth in the community began to blossom.

The leaders decided the community needed a YMCA.

“We went to the national YMCA for help, and they said towns of our size are not usually successful,” Turner said. “They suggested we start as a storefront and use churches, parks and school facilities to host activities.”

Chillicothe surprised the national Y staff by raising $150,000 for the storefront in six weeks. Within two years, five foundations formed to support building the Y’s own facilities, and Turner ran a campaign that raised $3 million.

Today, the local YMCA’s 6,000 members enjoy two gyms with weights, exercise machines and a walking track. The Y also built a swimming pool, a football and soccer complex, and branches in two nearby towns.

“The Y was a springboard,” Turner said. “People could see what philanthropy could do for a community.”

Today, McCrea reports, 19 family foundations and trusts support Chillicothe, and additional foundations fund the community, hospital and schools. Farmers, who often have wealth tied up in land, were among those forming family foundations. Federal law requires foundations to spend 5% of their assets each year or risk being taxed. “Do the math, and that’s a sizable amount of money that goes back into the community every year,” McCrea said.

In addition to the Y, the community built a 24-lane bowling alley, an 18-hole golf course and the Litton Agri-Science Learning Center. Turner said Chillicothe has also revitalized its downtown, attracted a large solar farm and other industries, and commissioned 26 murals that draw in tourists. Sales tax receipts grew by 9% in the first four months of the latest fiscal year, he added.

“A lot of communities have the same opportunities as Chillicothe,” Turner said. “But if you don’t have everyone pulling the same wagon, it won’t happen. You have to fight people who say ‘We used to do it this way.’ You need what I call The Big Mo— momentum—and you need to bring young people into leadership positions.”

Maryville stands its ground

Many successful towns in McCrea’s The Total Town Makeover benefit from being trading centers for surrounding rural communities and farmers. The author says Maryville, Mo., population 12,000, is one example, describing the town as “a hub for economic activity in northwestern Missouri.”

While Maryville’s population declined slightly in recent years, leaders are working to continue to attract business from the region.

“Surrounding counties and communities are an important part of our economic viability,” said Josh McKim, executive director with Nodaway County Economic Development Corporation, which created a revolving fund to move projects forward throughout northwestern Missouri.

Tenaska recently installed a 100-turbine wind farm near Maryville and contributes $15,000 a year to the community. Another wind farm also cropped up in the area. Kawasaki Motors Manufacturing Corporation’s Maryville plant continues to grow, McKim said.

“Over the last five years, we’ve had nearly $150 million in commercial and public investment beyond the two wind projects, which totaled $600 million,” he said. “We have to invest, and we’ve got to take risks. If we don’t, what’s the point? Small towns won’t be here in a hundred years without those investments.”

Maryville has seen its ups and downs. Some big box stores left town, but McKim says that local retail has seen a resurgence as a result. One such entrepreneur is Stephanie Campbell, who in 2016 opened Blue Willow Boutique, a women’s clothing store, on Main Street across from the historic Nodaway County Courthouse. The Kansas City native relocated to Maryville with her fiancé, Kent Yount, and says she wanted to do more than just reside in the community. She wanted to invest in it.

“Maryville is an awesome place with great people, but we needed more places to shop,” Campbell said. “The downtown is the heart of any community, and Maryville deserves to have a great downtown. Everything else succeeds when the heart is strong.”

Business has far surpassed her expectations, Campbell said, and she has since acquired adjacent space to expand her retail shop and storage and opened a second Blue Willow location in nearby St. Joseph. She and Yount, along with other partners, also plan to open a craft brewery on the Maryville square. They’ve purchased a vacant corner building and are in the process of renovating it into a taphouse with second-story apartments.

“I firmly believe in this community and the potential for small businesses like ours to succeed,” Campbell said. “We can’t compete with the big-box stores, but we can do what they can’t do, and that’s have a relationship. My small business friends and I all invest in this community—schools and ball teams and kids. All of those things are important for a strong, healthy town.”

Compared to other rural places, Maryville has a young population, McKim said, with a median age of 24. Northwest Missouri State University, which has more than 7,000 students, also boosts Maryville’s economy.

“We have actively engaged with young professionals and university students when planning for the future,” McKim says. “We’re doing well with our sales tax and unemployment numbers. Our goal is to see population growth in the region. Hopefully we’re doing things right.”

Coping with COVID-19

The economies of Allerton, Chillicothe and Maryville seem to be stable, despite the COVID-19 pandemic and the agricultural downturn.

Darin Crackenberger, manager of MFA Agri Services of Chillicothe, reports that MFA business is steady. “We placed tables in front of checkouts to encourage social distancing,” he said, “and in some cases we bring items out to people who park out front.”

Jared Grimes, assistant manager at MFA Agri Services of Maryville, added that Missouri MFA stores were shut down for 30 days at the beginning of the pandemic, but were then deemed essential businesses and sales mostly returned to normal. “We’ve changed our daily habits, keeping social distance and wiping down surfaces frequently,” he said.

Iowa State’s David Peters confirms that so far, rural places have been more fortunate than urban areas.

“Most of the towns in our study have been largely unaffected by COVID,” Peters said. “Few wear masks, and most think the pandemic will bypass their town. I pray they are right, because if COVID-19 comes, it will hit them hard as most have many older residents. The larger economic impact—a downturn in international trade and commodity prices—would also hit agriculture hard.”

Stephanie Campbell, owner of Blue Willow Boutique in downtown Maryville, said that while the pandemic has hurt many small businesses, it has also caused many consumers to shop closer to home.

“I think you’re seeing a kind of renaissance across the country,” she said. “Especially with the pandemic, people are returning to who they know, like and trust. They want to see us all still be here when this is over.”