On my first trip to North Dakota, Greg's parents picked us up at the airport,
which is about an hour drive from the farm. All along the way I kept noticing
these huge piles of rocks around the edges of all the fields. When I finally
asked about it, I think they all thought I was nuts! They explained that the
rocks were a common and constant battle. I couldn't get over all these rocks
that continued to surface year after year, and they could not fathom having
rock-free fields like we have on our farm in Iowa!
In the early days, to remove the rocks,
Alfred drove the tractor hooked up to a
small wooden box wagon and everyone
else walked along and threw rocks into the
wagon. In later years this became a one-
person job with rock picking equipment
introduced to the market. Rick told me that
they had the oldest rock picker in North
Dakota. I assumed he was talking about the
equipment, but he was referring to Alfred!
Alfred's Rocky Battle
by Julie Letvin
26" x 26"
