Jon Suntken and Tami Pralle’s shared passion for 4-H brought them together in 1979 when they were selected to serve on the Franklin County 4-H Council. Nearly 30 years later, they’re still preparing for the annual county fair and trekking to the Iowa State Fair.

“All of our children began showing bucket calves at the Franklin County Fair when they turned 5, and it’ something we did for 17 consecutive years,” says Tami. “This helped them develop a passion for showing and judging livestock. Our boys also have been involved in woodworking. Both of our boys entered the Franklin County Fair livestock judging contest in 4th grade, and two years ago they were on a team that placed second in the state for 4-H Livestock Judging. The girls have been involved in Food & Nutrition, Sewing, Clothing, Clothing Selection, Challenge, Working Exhibits, Photography, Needle Arts, as well as showing sheep and cattle.

4-H teaches and allows our children to experience many things that are important in life: work ethic, responsibility, how to start and finish projects, character development, meeting new people, public speaking, helping others and developing new friendships.”

The Sunktens have four children. Their 23-year-old daughter, Katelyn, is married to Ryan Borcherding. They live in Davenport where Katelyn is a teacher’s assistant at a daycare, and Ryan is employed with John Deere Information Systems as a Dealer Advisor. Oldest son Kellen, 19, is a freshman at Iowa State University, with a major in Ag Studies and a minor in Animal Science. He’s a member of Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity, serves on the ISU Freshman Council and is a member of the Veisha Tournaments Committee. Kendrick, 16, is a sophomore at Hampton-Dumont Community High School. He’s involved in football, wrestling, track, 4-H, FFA and RCYF at church. Kirsten, 11, is a fifth grader at Hampton-Dumont Community Middle School. She is involved in basketball, softball, band, 4-H, and dance.

“We enjoy raising our children on a farm,” says Tami. “They have the freedom to play in wide, open spaces. They learn to get along while playing and working with their siblings. They learn responsibility from doing chores. They get to experience nature and gain an appreciation for God’s creation through the birthing of animals, as well as smelling fresh cut hay, silage and fresh tilled soil in the spring.”

The family resides on the Sunkten home farm, which will be recognized in 2013 as a Century Farm. Jon started farming full-time upon graduating from high school and worked winters for 12 years at Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds. Their diversified operation includes corn and soybeans plus a cow-calf herd and a custom hog finishing operation. For the past 16 years, he and Tami have worked side-by-side with the crops and livestock. They’re proud their children also are actively involved in the day-to-day operations.

Livestock judging helped the boy develop confidence when selecting their own calves, says Tami. They spend a lot of time researching genetics and sale cattle. They A.I. their own cows, and recently started doing embryo transfers to improve cattle genetics. All of the Suntken kids wash, clip, fit and groom their own cattle. In 2012, they were able to sell some of the calves they produced to other 4-H members.

Today Kirsten helps promote Iowa beef by sharing with us one of her favorite recipes for pot roast in a crock pot. Tami also shares a recipe for grape salad with an Irish twist.

Pot Roast in the Crock-Pot

Ingredients:

• 3-4 lb. boneless chuck roast (lean)
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 pkg. dry brown gravy mix
• 1 pkg. onion soup mix
• 2 cups ginger ale

Directions:

1. Put flour in a Ziploc bag, add meat and shake.
2. Put floured meat in a crockpot, keeping the extra flour in the bag.
3. Next add the package of gravy mix and the onion soup t to the remaining flour; shake together.
4. Pour the flour mixture into a batter bowl and add the 2 cups of ginger ale; pour all over meat in crockpot. Cook on low for 8 hours.

As a corn product specialist, I always look forward to fall harvest.  It brings closure to the growing season as I get to see how some of my favorite products performed plus get a sneak peek at products that could potentially become part of Latham’s lineup in the future.  I also greatly enjoy riding in the combine with customers because I believe the “best seat in the house” is next to them.

But as much as I love farming, fall wouldn’t really be complete without a visit with my family to a pumpkin patch!  It’s become a family tradition for my wife, Meg, and I to take our kids to Pinters Pumpkin Patch just west of Decorah in northeast Iowa.  (By the way, Decorah is a beautiful town in any season.  You can experience the area’s Norwegian heritage while site seeing.  I’d highly recommend a trip there if you’ve never been – or a return visit if it’s been a while since you’ve been there.  I know that I’m biased, but even Midwest Living magazine named Decorah as one of the top 100 best small town getaways!)

Each time we visit the pumpkin patch, our kids are sure to have a fun time.  They especially love the Giant Jumping Pillow and playing in the Corn Bin (like a sandbox but with corn kernels instead).  Other family favorites include taking a wagon ride to the pumpkin patch and feeding the goats.  There is also an amazing bakery on site.  (Just thinking about those baked goods makes me want to head there now!)

In addition to visiting the pumpkin patch, we make an annual trip to the apple orchards in Gays Mills, Wisconsin.  We enjoy making our own homemade applesauce.  This year we pressed our own apple cider for the first time!  Also this fall our family entered Clermont’s Great Pumpkin Contest for the second year.  Our pumpkin wasn’t the biggest, but it was the brightest.  That counts for something, right?  🙂

Other favorite fall activities are wild mushroom hunting and raking our leaves – and then jumping in them, of course!  We also enjoy tasting the fruits of the season.  Our pre-schoolers love to snack on roasted pumpkin seeds, and our entire family enjoys relaxing weekend mornings when we can savor pumpkin pancakes.  That’s why today we’re sharing our favorite pumpkin pancake recipe with you.  Hopefully, you’ll enjoy it as much as we do!

by Kourtney Determan, Marketing Communications Intern

Being an avid Iowa State football and tailgating fan can be especially tricky during harvest season. Our family is relatively new to this particular fall tradition, so we needed to find a way to make foods that were easy, tasty and fun.

Fruit pizza is always a favorite at our tailgate, but it’s also a time-consuming dessert.  The time it took to make this dessert each home football weekend began to wear everyone down. We started looking for solutions. Instead of baking one large sugar cookie crust, I decided to bake individual sugar cookies. In the spirit of the season, I like to make the cookies in the shape of footballs. Other cookies are in the shape of pigs because we are such a pork promoting family. Pig-shaped cookies are especially appropriate this month since October is Pork Month.

Making sugar cookies has turned from a chore into a fun time, thanks to “baking parties” with my college friends in Ames.  We  bake up a large batch of cookies and then freeze them in small freezer bags.  That way we can take out the number we need before each game, My mom, Barb Determan, makes the frosting and cuts the fruit. We make a simple frosting – cream cheese and Cool Whip. Whip these two ingredients together, put them in a sealed container, and throw it the cooler.

Next we choosefive to six of our favorite fresh fruits that differ in color, taste and texture. The morning of the game, we cut the fruit into small pieces. One thing we learned with the smaller, personal version of fruit pizza is thatthe fruit pieces must be fairly small to allow each person to have a variety. We usually put them in a relish tray for easy transport. Fortunately, we found an economical tray that is deep enough for a good amount of each fruit yet small for the ease of transport in the cooler.

At the tailgate, we set up an “assembly line” featuring a plate of cookies, the frosting and tray of fruit. Each person makes his or her own, selecting the varieties of fruit and putting as much as he or she wants on the personal pizza. We love this method for several reasons: no one now picks off the fruit he or she didn’t like;  we can offer a larger  selection of fruit choices (don’t have to leave something off one person doesn’t like); plus it divides the labor (one person bakes, one person brings the topping and fruit and everyone assembles).  It saves a huge amount of time!

Of course, we always serve fruit pizza with a pork item that is grilled: pork chop on a stick, flavored brats and even bacon or sausage for the early morning games.