Over the last couple of years, Jackson County has put itself on the map as a center of excellence for horsemanship. Not only does the county have a strong 4-H horse program, but another community organization, the Jackson Saddle Club, has put in immense amounts of time and work in to promote horse shows and build a love of the sport.
“The saddle club has been around since the ’50s or ’60s,” said club secretary and treasurer Cathy Holthe. “I joined it in 1990.”
Her daughter, Jade, is now the president of the club. Like her mother, Jade Holthe has been riding horses ever since she was a small child. Now, she’s helping instill that lifelong passion in local youngsters and others interested in horsemanship, as well as her own daughter, Zayda.
“We work a lot with 4-H kids, we set up clinics for people and we do events and shows together,” Jade Holthe said. “We also do fundraising events.”
The club recently hosted a fundraising event for a man injured in an accident. The club has hosted many similar events in the past, usually to raise funds for someone in need of help or for a local cause.
“We’ve raised money for people who’ve had accident or are in need of surgery and we always try to pick someone local,” Jade Holthe said. “We raised more than $1,400 for a family this year.”
Numerous club members have received state and national accolades for their work. Sadie Hotzler won the title of Junior Miss Rodeo Minnesota and Tanner Christoffers won the title of Miss Teen Rodeo Minnesota 2021. Christoffers previously won the title of Junior Miss Rodeo Minnesota in 2018.
The saddle club is registered as part of the Prairie Saddle Club Association, itself part of one of the largest national horsemanship organizations, the Western Saddle Club Associations.
But racking up accolades like that requires a lot of work, the Holthes said, and the saddle club certainly puts that in — as do its members. The horse arena at the Jackson County Fairgrounds in Jackson was largely built by the club, which has continued to invest in the facility.
The response from local 4-Hers has been resoundingly positive.
“It used to be pretty small but, as of now, most 4-Hers involved in projects have joined,” Jade Holthe said.
The club’s various shows and events attract participants from outside the county as well and, come county fair time, plenty of people bring their animals in front of crowds there.
While the arena certainly impresses participants, the Holthes say, it’s the ethos of the club itself — friendly, caring, hardworking and always willing to applaud a good show — that leaves the strongest impression.
“People comment on how much they like to come here and how friendly everyone is,” Jade Holthe said. “We always cheer for people if they’re new, especially the younger kids.”
Jade Holthe is already teaching her daughter, who is nearly 2 years old, to ride horses. Like her mother and grandmother, little Zayda Holthe is a natural.
“She’s already in the club,” Jade Holthe said.

 

A former Iowa farmer is helping save lives across the globe.
Greg Stout and his wife, Vicky, farmed near Washington, Iowa, but together decided they would go into mission work, ending up in Nicaragua. While there, one of the first things he did was help rural village people dig a well. The well produced a good volume of water but proved unsafe to use for anything.
“Greg came back to Iowa and one of the first things he said was, ‘We have to do something about that,’ and he did,” said Julie Battern of Arnolds Park, Iowa. “Greg invented a simple means to create chlorine to use to purify water in underdeveloped countries, especially the rural villages.”
Battern and her husband, the retired Rev. John Battern, met and married while both were students at Buena Vista College in Storm Lake, Iowa. The Rev. Battern served as a United Methodist Church minister in many communities throughout Iowa over his years in ministry and one of those communities was New Sharon, Iowa. And that is where the Batterns met the Stouts.
“Greg Stout created this device to simply and quickly create chlorine using basically two teaspoons of ordinary table salt and a small, sturdy plastic cup, which is equipped with titanium electrodes at the bottom connected to a 12-volt battery by two battery cables,” the Rev. Battern said. “The table salt is placed in a small plastic bottle, shaken up and poured through the plastic cup with the electrodes hooked to the battery. That process results in the creation of enough chlorine — about 6 ounces — which can then be used to treat 250 gallons of unsafe water making it clean for use in cooking, to drink and for other safe water needs.”
The ministry Greg and Vicky Stout started 15 years ago grew into Safe Water International Ministries — or SWIM for Him — and continues to grow today, touching the lives of hundreds of thousands of people living in third-world countries that previously suffered from lack of safe water, causing major loss of life and much disease.
Yet still today, 20 percent of the world’s population lacks access to safe water, which equates to 1 billion people.
“In fact, 25,000 people die every day from diseases related to water,” the Rev. Battern said. “And as many as half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from waterborne diseases.”
Additionally, contaminated water accounts for 80 percent of all diseases and claims the lives of 5 million children a year.
The SWIM for Him water purification kit includes the hard plastic cup with titanium electrodes and battery cables, a chart for adaptation of the chlorine for different water situations, a solar panel to provide power to operate the device when 12-volt battery power is not available and instructions in its use. The cost of each kit is around $300.
“Typically, a village pastor or chieftain keeps possession of the water purification kit and does the work to create the chlorine,” the Rev. Battern said. “In all the kits that have been distributed I have only heard of one failure. Titanium lasts forever and the kits come with a chlorine test unit to make sure the water is being disinfected.”
The Rev. Battern is one member of the six-member board of directors of SWIM for Him. He is available to speak to any group about this ministry ranging from boys’ clubs to churches and church groups to community service organizations. He travels some distances to give his presentations.
“Julie and I will be taking a mission trip for SWIM to Africa in October of this year,” he said. “We will be taking two suitcases full of 50 water purification kits. Each kit will take care of the safe water needs for 1,000 people.”
So, in the three countries in Africa the Batterns will travel to — Kenya, Uganda and Malawi — the safe water needs of 50,000 villagers will potentially be met.
“This is life changing for the village people in these third-world countries,” Julie Battern said. “The people come joyful and happy to have safe water, yet having so little, they are so generous with what they do have and are so grateful. Providing for their water needs opens the villagers up to hearing God’s message of salvation.
“Prayers for our October mission trip to Africa and the ministries of SWIM are very much appreciated,” she said. “SWIM’s mission is to share Christ’s Love through water and his word.”

 

Tracy area resident Jolynn Johns has been involved in quilting and gardening for decades, going all the way back to when she was a kid, growing up in Minneota.
     “When I was a child, my family had a large vegetable garden and my grandmother had huge flower beds, which I loved, and she also taught me how to quilt,” Johns said.
     After marrying and moving to a farm north of Tracy, childhood hobbies transformed into necessities, as Johns used her sewing skills to make and repair clothes for her husband and children.
     “My first sewing machine was bought at an auction for $5,” Johns said. “I sewed dresses and patched overalls and other things for my family, and I started getting plants from my neighbors for the garden.”
     In 2015, Johns, whose entrepreneurial and creative mindset led her to create beautiful flower gardens at home and launch a successful salon business, got talking with a few other ladies interested in her two passions. They teamed up that year to host the first Tracy Area Gardens and Quilts Tour.
     The tour — a fundraiser for the St. Mary’s Council of Catholic Women of Tracy —involves the selection of sites throughout the area that have beautiful flower gardens. Once people agree to participate, sites are set up for people to drive to and interact with hosts while enjoying the scenery.
     Johns came up with an idea to improve the concept — hanging quilts in the gardens, thereby adding more color and artistry to each site.
     She was inspired, in part, by the way her two hobbies developed alongside each other.
     “My quilting took off in the ’90s and so did my gardening, so they really developed at the same time,” Johns said. “I suggested hanging the quilts in the gardens, and we decided to serve pies afterward at a local restaurant.”
     Finding quilters is done the same way as finding gardeners — local people who know the craft and want to show their work are asked if they’re willing to do so or volunteer themselves.
     “We try to have 10 to 15 quilt displays in each garden and sometimes we have 70 quilts or more,” Johns said. “People can purchase their tickets at any of the sites and that ticket is good for both the tour and the pies and ice cream afterward.”
     The result of that first tour was a smashing success, bringing people who share Johns’ passion from far and wide, neighbor and stranger alike.
     “We try to bring in both local people and folks from outside the community,” Johns said. “We get people from South Dakota, Iowa and the Cities, because there are so many people who like gardening and quilting.”
     This year, organizers are adding a raffle, which will allow people to win a quilt and some other prizes as well, along with a new suite of sites, all located in Tracy. The 2021 tour will take place from 2 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, July 7.
     “We’ve got some great gardens this year,” Johns said. “We always try to keep our sites within a nice, safe driving distance.”
     Being involved in an event like this — and contributing both to its original concept and first round of sites back in 2015 — took time and energy, but Johns said it’s ultimately another way to show southwest Minnesota and beyond what the Tracy area and its people have to offer, while continuing to support two passions she’s had for most of her life.
     “The satisfaction of seeing other people enjoy what we do and having people come from out of town is great,” she said. “It’s really about being able to show our work and love for quilting and gardening.”