By Justin R. Lessman

There are two new faces at the Jackson County 4-H office in Lakefield.

Justine Eisenmenger is the new 4-H extension educator in Jackson County; Mylee Watje is the new 4-H summer intern. Both started their new jobs on May 18.

A love for 4-H
Eisenmenger came to Jackson County as a newly minted college graduate with a long history in and deep appreciation for the 4-H organization.
A Welcome native, Eisenmenger was a Martin County 4-H member for 11 years and a Martin County 4-H intern for two. As a 4-H member, she was active in the equine project and the 4-H federation. She graduated from South Dakota State University in Brookings on May 9 with bachelor’s degrees in agriculture science and animal science.
Eisenmenger said she was motivated to seek a career in 4-H extension work by several positive role models she encountered while a 4-H member herself. 

“I was influenced by several people who had a really positive impact on me,” she said. “That led me to seek out an internship first, and then the extension educator position.”

Though Eisenmenger is new to the Jackson County 4-H extension educator position, she’s not necessarily new to extension educator work.
“Right after I started one of my 4-H internships, the educator left and I basically assumed that role for a while,” she said. “But it ended up being a positive experience and, when the position was filled, I developed a really good relationship with the new educator.”

In her first few months on the job, Eisenmenger said she has enjoyed meeting Jackson County 4-H members and their families and laying the groundwork for partnerships with the Jackson County community as a whole. In addition, she’s been busy planning a host of events and activities, including Jackson County 4-H Seeing Wellness in Motion, or SWIM, Team activities; the recent presentation day and upcoming Jackson County Fair; and a trio of summer day camps — the last of which Watje, as intern, played a major role in implementing.

Excited for the fair
Watje, an agriculture business major at Minnesota West Community and Technical College, is not only new to Jackson County 4-H, but also to Minnesota 4-H. A native of Lake Park, Iowa, Watje was a nine-year member of Dickinson County 4-H in Iowa, through which she showed cattle, swine and sheep and served as a member of the county council.
Her interest in 4-H extension work stemmed from a job-shadowing stint at the Dickinson County 4-H office.

Watje said she enjoyed helping to plan and lead the 4-H summer day camp series, which kicked off with an animal science camp on June 16 in Lakefield, continued with a plant camp on June 26 in Heron Lake and wrapped up with a “Splash Bash” camp on July 9 in Jackson.

“We really wanted each day camp to have a different topic and theme so kids could attend all three,” she said.

Watje said she has also enjoyed working closely with Eisenmenger on planning the Jackson County Fair.

“The Jackson County Fair just has such an awesome reputation,” she said. “I’m really looking forward to being a part of it.”

It’s going to be a busy year for Heron Lake-Okabena FFA Chapter member Addison Schumacher.
And it’s coming on the heels of one that was anything but laid back.

Schumacher, who recently wrapped up her junior year of high school, served as 2025-2026 chapter treasurer. This past year, she also earned her state FFA degree, won a first-place proficiency award at the state convention and was a member of a nursery landscape career-development event team that placed fifth at state and earned a prestigious gold ranking.

During her senior year of high school, she will serve as chapter president and Region 6 president, while continuing to participate in the nursery landscape career-development event.

But Schumacher said she wouldn’t have it any other way.

She said she joined FFA because it seemed like a great opportunity to meet new people and develop leadership skills. It has been that and more, she said.

“I love the people and the community,” she said of the FFA organization. “FFA has helped me with my communication skills and has taught me how to work with others.”

Though the year ahead will be a busy one, Schumacher said she’s looking forward to it. She said she plans to take advantage of every opportunity that presents itself and — most importantly — to have fun.

 

By Mavis Fodness

As the facility advisor to the region’s largest student-led livestock exposition, Tommy Norman wants all participants to the Little International event at South Dakota State University in Brookings to not be afraid to achieve their best.

The Luverne native and 2021 SDSU graduate, Norman recently finished his second year supervising the 103rd annual event conducted annually in late March. He shares the supervisory role with colleague Rosemarie Nold.

Together, they provide a faculty voice to the student-led executive committee for the two-day event.

As advisors, Norman said they like to stay as hands-off as possible to the event that is affectionately known as Little I.

“This is a tremendous life experience for those individuals involved on the executive team of Little I,” he said. “It is a year’s worth of planning and then execution of the largest student-run event on campus.”

Little I began in 1921 and features livestock-focused activities for both SDSU students and the region’s high school students.

College students gain skills in showmanship and animal husbandry by preparing and showing horses, hogs, goats, sheep, dairy and/or beef animals. High school students are invited to compete in the various competitive FFA judging events.

“Allowing students, regardless of background, to experience the ‘lifestyle’ of a livestock participant is incredibly unique,” Norman said. “Little-to-no cost, full access to our outstanding livestock facilities and the arena, the atmosphere on Friday and Saturday in itself makes for a lasting impression for the exhibitors, judges and audience.”

More than a decade ago, a lasting impression was left with Norman as a high schooler participating in the FFA judging events.

“From that day, I knew Brookings was where I needed to extend my education post high school graduation,” he said.

The 2017 the LHS graduate earned an undergrad animal science degree at SDSU, followed by a master’s degree in ruminant nutrition. As a graduate assistant, Norman worked with the college’s livestock judging team, becoming the team’s head coach in 2024 as he joined the faculty at the SDSU animal science department.
His work with livestock, specifically beef, built Norman’s unusual career path.

Growing up in town, Norman’s exposure to the beef industry began as a grade-schooler as a beef project participant through the Rock County 4-H Program. His great-uncle, Lowell Jauert, and past Rock County 4-H’er Cody Sherwood became mentors to Norman.

“They introduced and then drove my passion for livestock. Calving, working cows, reproductive physiology work or showing, they made sure I was a part of it,” Norman said. “It really wasn’t until college — after being recruited by the collegiate judging coach at the time — that I opened my mind to the opportunity of being on the other side of the microphone in the show ring.”

The experience of traveling across the U.S. for livestock shows and competitions allowed Norman to change his approach to life.

“I think it is easy for people to say, ‘I am still trying to find my path in life’ or ‘find the reason I was placed here.’ That was me prior to participating on the judging team,” Norman said. “People built me to where I am today, but during freshman and sophomore year, I was still unsure how to share the skills obtained through my upbringing.”

He never thought his upbringing would lead to a career as a college professor and livestock judging coach. The combination allows Norman to share his experiences and lessons learned by from his involvement with the livestock industry.

The classes he teaches reflects the opportunity for any student, regardless of the lack of a farm background like Norman’s, to experience what shaped him today.

Norman’s introductory classes to animal handling and husbandry, livestock evaluation, animal science and marketing along with assistance as a guest lab instructor brings him into contact with a wide variety of students.

“I want them to find knowledge in my classrooms and a person in their corner outside the classroom,” he said. “Everybody needs people in their corner, including myself, which is free-of-charge not always granted.

His Little I co-advisor Rosemarie Nold what one of those people who was in Norman’s corner. She helped form his personal philosophy that he shares with his students that there is no “ceiling” in one’s goals.

“She instilled being your own harshest critic will bring you beyond your foreseen ‘ceiling,’” Norman said. “Big picture or small picture, I enjoy working through the process with students and reminding them of the greatness they are creating within their roles, regardless of the hiccups here and there.”

By Mavis Fodness

Twice a month, a community group with a funny name meets at the Marshall-Lyon County Library on C Street in downtown Marshall.

The group’s name, Fellowship of the StRings, is derived from the fantasy novel by J.R.R. Tolkien “Fellowship of the Rings.” The name combines the love of literature and interest in the fiber arts by library workers Jenny Parkhurst and Kaia Nowatzki.
The two, who have worked together for the past four years, discovered a shared interest of the needle arts and started Fellowship of the StRings as part of the library’s community outreach programming.

Membership is not limited to a specific needle art and has a purposely broad focus.

“We felt it was more inclusive — you have quilters who deal with thread, you have crocheters who deal with yarn or some types of fiber that’s been put into string — and allows space for less common string arts,” Nowatzki said.

Fellowship of the StRings, which began in January 2025, currently has 15 in-person members and 45 online followers on the group’s social media site of the same name.

The site describes the group as “every day folks who dabble in the fiber arts or who otherwise want to learn the many journeys that a simple string can take.”

The group welcomes those who knit, crochet, embroider, felt, macrame, spin, weave, quilt and anyone interested in broadening their knowledge in the fiber arts.

As a result, Parkhurst and Nowatzki organized last year’s lesson titled “Farm to Fiber,” which gave members plenty of hands-on experience in processing sheep’s wool into usable yarn.
The start-to-finish lesson began with experiencing the sheep shearing process through pictures and videos taken by a local sheep owner. With the donated wool, members cleaned, washed and dried the wool by hand. They then carded (straightening the wool’s fiber through a manual combing process) and treading the fibers into a spinning wheel.

Adding color to the yarn was discussed.
“You do have the option to dying it before you spin,” said Parkhurst, who began working at the library seven years ago. “You can dye it as wool or dye it as yarn. There’s not a wrong way of doing it.”
As children, Parkhurst and Nowatzki were introduced to sewing, embroidery, crocheting and knitting.

In college, Parkhurst broadened her interest in fiber by joining a living history group. There she learned to make thread by using a drop spindle. Parkhurst is often seen with transportable pocket-sized rod and disk.

“I have been known to be waiting in line for an appointment and have my drop spindle out. It’s starts a conversation,” she said, frequently pulling out a second drop spindle for others to try spinning.

At home, Parkhurst works with a spinning wheel, an activity Nowatzki said she’s just beginning to master. Nowatzki also appreciates where the natural fibers originate.

“I like that I can make my own yarn,” said Nowatzki, who grew up in Luverne and currently lives in Marshall. “I like being able to take fiber from an animal and turn it into something you can utilize and make things.”

Sheep’s wool is not the only material utilized by Parkhurst.

She’s been experimenting with other animal hair on her acreage near Russell.

“Over the last four years, I’ve started spinning wool out of different breeds of sheep,” she said.
Parkhurst has spun wool from llamas, alpacas and a camel. She’s also experimenting with spinning fiber from plants.

As a community reference, the Marshall-Lyon County Library has many how-to books thanks to the interest shown in the Fellowship of the StRings.

Parkhurst, who is one of the library’s collections assistants, has curated various books and reference materials on fiber arts to be checked out by patrons. Nowatzki, in the library’s customer care, can search for any of those reference materials.
As for the Fellowship of the StRings, the group meets the second and fourth Mondays of the month from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the library.
The interest shown in the first  “Farm to Fiber” lesson means more will be offered.

“We didn’t get quite as in-depth as we wanted to with the process because we had a lot of fiber to process,” Nowatzki said. “There’s definitely interest in the area.”