E-Ride Safety, Fargo Cider and a Degree 50 Years in the Making

Welcome to Wednesday's Main Street on Prairie Public. I'm Craig Blumen Shine. Glad that you are spending time with us today. Coming up in just a bit, Prairie Plates looks at a former Fargo Shed that's become a lively destination for creative ciders, small plates, live jazz, and vintage markets. Historian Dr. Tom Eason remembers Lawrence Waldron and at age 75, lifelong Cullum Farmer and agricultural leader Bart Schott. has earned his college degree fulfilling a promise he made 50 years ago after a family tragedy interrupted his education. But we begin Main Street today with Prairie Beat, electric bikes and electric scooters. They're becoming commonplace on sidewalks and streets. Well, as Paul Harvey would once say, good day. I'm Eric Detheridge. And I'm Danielle Webster. Welcome back again to another episode of Prairie Beat. Our weekly news podcast from us here at Prairie Public, Danielle, what is on the beat this week? Well, so this week, nothing breaking per se, but kind of a topic that might be on many people's minds, especially during the summer months. A couple weeks ago, you actually suggested that we talk about electric scooters and bicycles. It's like you're interested in. Yes. Now I get to be the old man that I've become. and do the Get Off My Lawn episode. Yelling at a cloud. Yeah, but now I get to talk to you, dear listener, and rant along with you because maybe you've almost been run over by one of these things. But, man, the kids in my neighborhood, they're just zipping around on these e-scooters and e, quote, unquote, bikes that go so darn fast. And I've heard accidents with those things can get pretty bad. You can just imagine that. I mean, these things are practically many motorcycles on the sidewalk, for goodness sake. Yeah. I've seen a few in my neighborhood, too. E-bikes, I know I've seen quite a bit, but the electric scooters are also pretty prolific. I feel like I've seen kids riding them to school, things like that, maybe even off to the Cheyenne River with some fishing poles. And I know it seems a little bit like it's the wild wild west out there, and maybe it is to some extent. But there are, in fact, some rules that we do have to follow when it comes to these quote-unquote vehicles. Sergeant Jacob Maas, J-A-C-O-B-M AHS. So Sergeant Maas has been with the Fargo Police Department for about 12 years, and he told me the last five years or so they've really noticed a prolific increase in these types of vehicles around town. He says that has to do with, of course, you know, how easily and readily they are now available, both in stores, and you can also get them online. And they come in all shapes and sizes, too. And each of these vehicles fit into different classes that have sets of rules that apply. North Dakota law has actually three different classes of e-bite. and some specific things to look out for to help you determine if it falls into that. The bike, it needs to have operable pedals, needs to have a seat, and the electric motor can't be more than 750 watts. And then there's three different classes for those, and that has to do with how the bike is propelled with that electric motor, so whether it can be propelled with pedal assist or with throttle assist or a combination of both. And then depending on those,

classifications, the top speed as well. So up to 20 miles per hour for class one and class two and up to 28 miles per hour for the class three bike. He also made sure to point out that with these e-bikes, specifically the same rules of the road, so to say, apply to these vehicles as to regular bikes. So you can ride them in the street or on the sidewalk. That's interesting. And up to 28 miles per hour. Yeah. I mean, that seems pretty fast, but what about these scooters? In Fargo specifically, the rules are pretty strict, actually. So there's a local ordinance for motorized scooters. The top speed that's allowed is 15 miles per hour. So if your scooter can go faster than that, it's just straight up illegal, technically. And these things you can use on sidewalks, except the sidewalks on Broadway and downtown Fargo, you're not supposed to drive them there at all, period. And you can't drive them in the street. That certainly does seem to make sense. So Danielle, did start? Sergeant Moss say they hand out a lot of citations for people riding these things. They really are quite a shock to see when they just whizz right past you. It seems like they're going way faster, certainly, than 28 miles per hour. So he says they do have interactions with people on these vehicles. They focus a lot on education and safety. It's a pretty new phenomenon, I think. And the prevalence of them, of course, is far ahead of our collective consciousness of them. So as that catches up, people will be needing to. know what's allowed and what the risks can be as well. Like I was saying before, you can go pretty fast on these things. Largely, I mean, you're limited to like your helmet. So some of these devices, our city ordinances, require certain people do wear helmets, specifically our motorized scooters. If you're under 18, you have to wear a helmet. And then for those class 3 e-bikes, if you're under 18, you have to wear a helmet as well. But we recommend everybody wears a helmet for any of these devices. Well, a helmet seems, sorry for this, like a no-brainer. I really don't care who you are or what kind of device you're driving. A helmet is always a good idea because... Head injuries are just incredibly serious. Yeah, I also spoke to an emergency room physician at Essential Health in Fargo here. His name is Dr. Christopher Anderson. And he agreed with Sergeant Moss about the last five years or so, really seeing these devices explode and popularity. But then in his line of work, they do tend to see those injuries that are related to them. A lot of different of the injuries that you can get are more minor, you know, the scrapes and bruises and even broken bones, things like that. But he does say that a recent bulletin put out by the... The American College of Surgeons in 2024 addressed head injuries. They cited in February 2024. U.S. researchers reported a 49-fold increase in e-bike riders with head trauma nationally over the last five years. That's a pretty startling statistic. And they included some graphs in this bulletin. And, you know, the e-bike collisions really did start. kind of almost exponentially increasing starting in around 2022. And so we've seen quite a few since that time. And that's just to the people riding the bikes and the scooters, my goodness, what about the pedestrians? What about the pets who were on a leash who were walking and they get into a collision with these speeding devices? I imagine that's going to make insurance rates go up. I mean, you could just like, you know, you could just count in dollars and cents. The kind of things that without some sort of regulatory control.

putting some kind of cap on this is going to occur as time goes on. Now, like he says, pretty startling to hear, but also if more people are tooling around on these things, that does create more opportunities for things to happen. Hopefully, some of that collective consciousness, you mentioned a minute ago, Danielle, could start catching up. It's kind of like with motorcycles, right? They wear protective clothing and hopefully helmets, although it's not mandatory in some places. Yeah. And, of course, follow the rules of the road. We all have to do that. But they do rely on other drivers to take notice of them, too. Yeah, that was one of the things Sergeant Moss said. We are more used to seeing motorcycles, probably even things like regular bikes and scooters and even skateboards and things of that nature. But the rate of speed that these electric devices can reach can be something that catches people off guard for sure. But if you're looking to drive one of these vehicles or your kids are wanting one, Dr. Anderson says there are some precautions you can take and really rules of the road to everyone. should understand before they get on that vehicle and hit that throttle. And he says the most important thing, of course, is helmet use, but there are some other factors that come into play too. Yeah, visibility also is really important. You know, where, ideally wear brightly colored clothing, you know, have some kind of, you know, light. lighting on the the bike itself to help make it more visible. I think the more you can add to the visibility, the better. And then, you know, I think the other thing is that, you know, if you're, if, if you're riding these. e-bikes on a road, you have to be knowledgeable of the rules of the road. And I do worry that, you know, we have a lot of younger and inexperienced riders who may not know all the traffic rules or all the rules that they should be following. Now, North Dakota is a pretty, you know, let's just say wild, wild west when it comes to regulation on things. It's not the first one to run into the regulatory arena. So I'm sure there's many variations when it comes to rule state to state, right? Kids, if you're under 18 and you're on these things, you're required to wear a helmet. But, you know, if you're over 18. you can make your own choices. Not seeing it. Not seeing it with kids either. So we've been talking specifically about Fargo here too, but, you know, Sergeant Maas says law enforcement is very responsive to questions about these devices. And they want to communicate about that a lot with the public. And they do so on their social media platforms. And they welcome, you know, phone calls, questions about that. North Dakota's Century Code is also easily found online. It's all free to look at that. And at the end of the day, you know, police, medical personnel.

And just people like you and I and in general, I think, you know, we all are hoping that folks are being safe with these vehicles. So while there are issues with them, clearly, they are very popular. And not just with young people, but adults and even elderly people who may use them for more expanded mobility. So there could be some great opportunities there as well. Just waiting for the law to catch up as the injuries mount, I'm sure. It will. Our producer, Tate Calloway, just told us a few minutes ago before we went to start recording Prairie Beat that he witnessed a little bit of an altercation involving an East Scooter in downtown Fargo. And I would expect some collisions, if you will, like that will just be on the rise. So just a matter of everybody understanding what the rules of the road are and the risks involved in developing, like you said, that collective consciousness. Yes, I think so too. All right, Danielle, let's zip on into the end of this episode before we sign off today. What else has been making headlines in the Prairie Public Newsroom this week? I just have never been with a student as good as Shana. I've never been with someone so confident. A student nurse at Ascentia was presented with the Daisy Award last week, which is a very prestigious honor in that field. The American Red Cross has declared a crisis-level blood shortage for the second month in a row this summer and with classes. Set to begin again later this month in North Dakota. United Way of Cast Clay is handing out backpacks filled with school supplies to kids whose families may not be able to afford them. And let's make it clear the lack of blood supplies not because of e-scooter accidents. No, it's not. At least not yet. No, not yet. Well, man, summer really did fly by once again. And this summer, perhaps it flew by on an e-bike. Thanks for all that, Danielle. I had to get one more day. Yeah, you bet. Well, be sure to tune in to Prairie Public for more news or check us out online at news. All right, get off my lawn. That's it for us. On the beat this week, I'm Eric Dethridge. And I'm Danielle Webster. We'll see you on the beat next week. Prairie Beat drops every Wednesday. Subscribe to it wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

Support for Prairie Public is provided by North Dakota Magazine, formerly North Dakota Horizons. For more than 50 years, the bi-monthly publication has been celebrating North Dakota's great people, places, food, events, and history. Subscriptions available at North Dakota Magazine.com. Welcome to another edition of Prairie Plates here on Main Street. I'm Rick Guion. This week we're talking about patios, ciders. Food as usual. A lot of fun. And with us this week is Breezy Hennings with Wild Terra in downtown Fargo, which is a really fun cider bar. It's eclectic, very vibrant. It's one of the places I really enjoy going to in downtown Fargo. Breezy, welcome to Prairie Plates. Thank you so much. Breezy, I need to ask you, Wild Terra's been around for a while now. How long has while Tara been open? Well, we started the construction of the building in 2016, which was essentially a shed with no windows or electricity, and then we opened after construction in December of 2017, so just short of 10 years. Why start a cider bar in Fargo, North Dakota? At the time, Ethan and I were great. We loved beer. We were beer connoisseurs, and we really, and we came from Washington State, and we saw a gap in the industry that... what Fargo had to offer. And so we brought cider to Fargo. We had to change a few state laws and some city ordinances to make it happen. But we wanted to bring something to the table that was different. I'm glad you lobbied and got that done because a lot of people really enjoy while Tara. You host a lot of nonprofits in that space. And I just think you do a lot of good stuff for the community. Thank you. It's a really unique place. How would you describe it? I mean, I think what you said is accurate. It's very eclectic and vibrant. We love art and music. And so that's a big part of the wild hair experience is we love good music. We love art. So that comes into our experiences that we bring through our festivals and events. And the way we decorate it, it's just really fun, like warm space. Because there are a lot of plants, disco ball, two levels. decor is very interesting. Yeah, yep. And a lot of the stuff is actually from the original building. So the interior wood was actually the exterior wood from the building, which was brought from a farm in 1904. So we try to make it warm and just reusing the material that was original to the building too. I think it all contributes to the hang factor there. Yeah, absolutely. Well, what's it like to run a cider bar? Well, like any business, some days it's awful, and some days it's like extremely fun and you want to keep going. It changes all the time. The industry is constantly moving and the aspects of the business are, you know, changing marketing and people's palettes. So it can be very fun. It's very difficult, but all in all, it's a great experience. And, you know, we get to have lots of tastings of cider and wine, so I enjoy that.

And there are lots of different varieties of cider. There's like Bari Weiss infused and pear cider. It's not just hard apple cider, right? Yeah, yep, just like beer. Like there's IPAs and stout. So they're the same concept. And with wine, too, the same concept with cider. So there's, you know, really sweet ciders. There's really dry. There's different infusions, whether it's like a spicy mango, havenero, or there's like really, you know, like you said, Bari Weiss focused one. So it's a variety just like beer. And do you offer other beverages there like wine? Yep. So we have a full wine bar as well. We have some beers too. And then we have some cocktails with our license. We can't have a hard alcohol. So we have some alcohol that's higher proof that's actually made from grapes. So a lot of our like cocktails are made from tequila, agave. And then we have some vodka that's actually made with grapes. And he had sake for a while. We sell a lot of sake. We love sake. So, yeah, we have sake on tap. We go through about a thousand shots of sake a month. So it's a lot. Wow. Yeah. Well, let's switch to food. What are the... latest food offerings? So right now we kind of pulled back our food menu and reconfigured it. And we're really trying to push that wine bar experience of like, you know, if you were to go to Spain or something, you just had like more of that, that small plate experience. So we're kind of starting small. We hit up Moonrise Cafe and they're providing facacia bread for us. And then we have like other things you can add on to that, like, you know, potato chips or green olives and goat cheese, just like a variety of cheese that you can add for that. And we've had Emily Driscoll on with Moonrise Cafe here in downtown Fargo. It's just another really fun spot in downtown. We're talking with Breezy Hennings today with Wildera in downtown Fargo here on Prairie Plates. Breezy, I need to ask you a personal question as a cider bar owner. What's your favorite type of cider to drink? My favorite is a French cider that we have. Eric Bordelae, it's really dry and it's like kind of bubbly, like effervescent, and it kind of tastes like as though you're biting into a red delicious apple, which I would say most people don't actually really enjoy red delicious apples, but they like that caramel-y texture that you get on the skin, and that's my favorite kind of cider to drink. I'm going to have to try that. Yeah, that's really good. Thank you for the recommendation. Well, I do have a question about cider because I think you can make cocktails with cider, correct? Yes, you can. Once it gets more into the fall season, we'll start to add more cocktails that are cider base. So that's usually like more like hot spice cider cocktails or we had some of like caramel in it too, which is really good and seasonal. Do you have like a fall apple event? We don't anymore. We did in previous years when we were collecting apples. We don't have the processing plant anymore. But for a time period, we were letting people drop off apples they had from their trees. And then we had processed them on site and then have like a festival to kind of celebrate the juice and have the press in front so kids could like use it and stuff. But we haven't done that for two years just because we're not doing the processing anymore. But that was a really fun event. It is still patio season. Your patio is very nice. Describe it a little bit for our listeners.

Well, Ethan and I travel a lot, and we go predominantly to like Austin, Texas, and Miami. And so we really love the scene there. So we try to bring different aspects of our travels to the patio. So it's got, you know, well, right now a lot of the plants are actually dead because it was been so hot. But usually it's like very open. We have lots of dance parties on the patio. There's music out there. There's some graffiti, which we love graffiti. And it's just a fun space for like kids, dogs, just anybody that can come and hang out. And you have live music out there, jazz bands? Yes, yeah, we love jazz. We went to Chicago and went to some amazing jazz club. We're like, we need to bring outdoor jazz to Fargo. So every last Thursday of the month, we have a live jazz band. And it's throughout the winter, too. So it's not just during patio season. It's more fun in the patio because you can be out and it's like a vibe. But we also have it in winter as well. I think Wild Terra does really have a big city vibe. It's really neat. Thank you. Let's talk now about some events coming up. I saw a disco dance event coming up tonight and then a market later on in September. Yep. So I want to really make wine a more approachable, fun drink. I think sometimes it gets a little like fancy, which I love fancy, but I want to do something just more relax and more bring a little bit of the younger generation to... appreciate wine. And so I thought like a street disco, which is really just eating and drinking in the street when there's live music happening. So I kind of wanted to have an event where it's like very relaxed. People can bring their families. They can drink and try wine. We'll have wine samples as well. So people can try different kinds of wine to see like what their preference is. That sounds like a lot of fun. I may be showing up at one of those events. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And I was going to say, too, we have our vintage market in September. Yeah, that's always fun. I like checking that out. Yeah. There's just a variety of really fun items. And the vendors are fun to talk to. Yeah, the vendors are great. So I started the first vintage market. The year that we opened, and so it's been going on nine years now, and most of the vendors, I had to really search for the first couple years, but then after that, they've come every year and they bring the best up. They curate their booths so well. So it's always, it's hard not to spend lots of money. Can someone rent out your space? I know a lot of nonprofits utilize your space. So we do rent it out. A lot of people do it for like family get-togethers, like bridal showers, birthday parties. We do the loft, and then you can actually rent the entire space out too. So we have actually done, you know, lots of rehearsal dinners. We have a couple weddings coming up. We try not to be closed down for the whole building too often, just so we're available for the community. And then for nonprofits, we do offer that to them at a cheaper rate just so they can, you know, promote their nonprofit a little bit easier. That sounds good. And where can listeners find you? Social media website? Your social media is really good, by the way. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. We try really hard to have fun. So we're online at wildtera.com. You can look at all of our pictures there. We also have our rental and our karaoke room information is there too. And this is Wildera bar on Instagram. Yes. Check out the Instagram page. Yes. It's a lot of fun.

Well, go check out Wild Terra if you're interested. It's a very fun cider bar in downtown Fargo. It's 612 Street North. Breezy Hennings with Wild Terra in downtown Fargo. Thanks for joining us today. It's been a pleasure. Yeah, thank you so much. This has been another edition of Prairie Plates here on Main Street. I'm Rick Geon. We'll talk to you next week. Still ahead on this Wednesday's Main Street, we'll meet Bart Schott. He's a lifelong farmer from Cone, North Dakota, and he just graduated at 75 years young from the University of North Dakota. That's ahead on Main Street, right after this news. This is Main Street on Prairie Public. I'm Craig Blumen Shine. A North Dakota farmer's long journey to a college degree is capturing attention around the world. At age 75, Bart Schott of Cullum has graduated from the University of North Dakota more than 50 years after beginning his college education. Along the way, life took him back to the family farm where he raised a family and became a respected agricultural leader. But the promise he made to his father and the unfinished business of college never completely left him. Now a social media post shared by his son about the remarkable journey has been viewed more than 3.3 million times. Bart Schott joins us to tell the story of the classes that haunted him, the family that helped him return, and the unexpected joy he discovered by becoming a college graduate. Bart, it is a pleasure to welcome you to Main Street. Well, thank you. I'm appreciated being on here, and thank you for the summation of what happened. Really, really nice words. Thank you. You're sure welcome, Bart. Before we get to college and everything that followed, tell us about growing up on your family's farm near Cullum. Sure, yeah. My dad farmed down there, and he had bought land from his father. My grandfather came to 1904 and started the farm. And so my dad was the one that ended up with farming down there. And then, you know, I grew up on a farm with older equipment, no cabs on tractors. We did actually put a radio on one tractor, and so it was hard work. Bart, tell me about your older brothers, some who attended UND before you. How important was education in your family? Well, my dad really stressed it. His goal and dream was to send and have his graduate all four of his sons from University of North Dakota. And my oldest brother went and got a degree in engineering. And my second brother went and got a teaching degree in science. And then he went back and got a master's degree from UND. And my third brother got a degree in business administration.

So then it was my turn. And this is about 1969. What were you imagining for your future? You know, I started out wanting to be a coach. So if I had a teacher fit right in with that, and that's what I was thinking about doing. I was also recruited to play football at UND. So that's what I thought was going to be kind of a similar repeat of high school. You know, so, but, you know, coming from a small town and a small school, I didn't realize the big jump that would be to go to the university. You eventually transferred to Valley City, and so what led you to make that change? Well, yeah, I went to U&D for a couple of years, and those freshman classes were way different than I had taken in high school and sophomore classes, and I thought, well, I'm. transfer to Valley and get more of those needed classes to graduate out of the way. I thought it would be easier down there and then transfer back. And before you, yeah, before you completed your degree then, you went to Wyoming? Yeah, I, you know, in that time period, there's a thing was called the draft. And of course, the Vietnam War was hot. And my draft number was 66. And at the current time, it was up to 250, which meant if I left college, I was going right in. You know, there was no doubt. And one of my brothers had served a term in Vietnam, and he said, whatever you do, don't go to Vietnam. So in March of 72 or 73, I can't quite remember the year, Nixon stopped the draft. And then I had a chance to do an internship. with a retail company called Pomita. And so that's why I went to Iowa. And your father then died in 1974. You returned home with your brother to plant the crop he had prepared. What do you remember about that difficult time, Bart? Well, he died of what they call now Woodermaker, and he was 60 years old, and it was such a surprise and shock to our family. My mother was 59, and she was really having a very hard time coping. And so, you know, we came together as a family, and then she asked me and my brother if we would just stay back and see the crop. My brother was a teacher, and he could get time off. And so we did. We put the crop in. And then at the end of June, I said, well, I've got to go back. I'm going to manage a new store in Gillette, Wyoming. And then my mother still was pretty grief-stricken and but still had a pretty clear head. And she said, well, you guys planted it. It looks so good. Who's going to harvest it a few gold? So he said, well, okay, you know. And God blessed her with a... Huge crop. We had 100 bushel barley. This is in 1974. And prices were good. And then she said, well, you know, if you stay, I'll rent this land to you on the fourth bushel, which meant my brother and I got a fourth of a share. Or three-fourths of the share, she got a fourth of it. That means to not many people crop share now. So with that crop, I got enough.

income to buy my dad's, half of my dad's machinery. And then I thought, well, I'm, you know, I'm a business major. I can figure that on. I'm staying. So that's what got me to say. Over the years, Bart, you build a family and a farming career and a prominent role then in agriculture. Did you ever wonder what your life might have looked like if you had remained in college during that time? Yeah, you know, it's something I kind of... thought about over the years, and there were two classes that I took that I didn't do very well in, and it just, I don't know if I should say haunted, but it tagged me all, you know, every year. My plan was to go back and we take those classes, and it never worked out. I got married, and we had a family, and the farm grew, and, of course, UND was on semesters, and, you know, that didn't work at all for farming. So when did you decide to, you know what, it's time to go back to school? Well, it's an odd thing because I had a son that came back and he, then I kind of retired from farming. And in that winter, my wife had her knee surgery. And I thought, you know what? You know what? I'm just going to, I'm going to check to see if you even have my school worker. You know, I imagine my school paperwork was in a box in a corner down in the basement, you know. So I called and they had everything. In fact, they were very encouraging about coming back. And then I called U&D and they found them, no problems. And then I decided where to go. And U&D was very open as well. But actually, Valley City had the edge. But because of what my dad had a goal for his sons, I decided to go to U&D and try to slug it out and then get those two classes out of the way. Was one of them biology? Yes. Yeah. What happened when you took your first test? Well, I couldn't retake that same biology class. I had to move up for some reason. And it turned out to be pre-med biology. You know, and this is my first college class after 50 years. And so I was a little overwhelmed. You know, I started the class. And then the teacher, my advisor said, you know, you might want to get a tutor. Wouldn't hurt you a bit. So then I asked my wife, I said, you know, I'm supposed to get a tutor. What do you think? And he said, well, I'll be your tutor. So she's a retired teacher herself, correct? Yeah, she's, well, and in fact, she was a special ed teacher. about her whole career, which I get a lot of ribbing from my son, from my friends, you know. I'll leave that one alone. Sure. So, had the first biology test, very excited. The 100-questioned test had two hours to finish it, and...

You know, I was just amazed by the questions and the answers, and I got 70 questions done out of 100 in two hours. And my wife was just in horror, like, you're not going to make it like that. You've got to change something. You've got to answer these questions faster, you know. And, of course, I didn't get all 70 right. So then we figured out a better way for me to study. And she strongly encouraged me to answer these questions. So I did, and her methods really worked. I, you know, I got an A at the end of the class. And really, really enjoyed that biology class. I'm enjoying my conversation with Bart Schott from Colum. He's a lifelong farmer who is now a University of North Dakota graduate at the age of 75. What degree did you pursue, Bart? What became your new goal? Well, my new goal, so I took the other class. This is a little, I have to say this, I took another class and got an A, and then my intentions were to just quit. I had gotten that out of the way, and I had a really good advisor named Angela, and she said, well, you know, I'm sorry to see you know, quit because, you know, you've done quite well so far in school. She said, how about trying another class? And I said, well, I've never thought of that. And so we decided to go for a general studies degree, and that way I could take absolutely any class I wanted to take, which, you know, I felt gave me a lot of freedom to continue. And that's kind of what got me back with even a small thought of getting my degree, because it was a lot of hard work. The two classes, I spent a lot of time trying to. trying to, you know, learn the material. You came to like history? Yes. I took a history class, U.S. history, and the instructor, he was so good. I kept my nose in the book. I'd study many words from six to seven hours a day, weekends too, and to me it was a joy to learn U.S. history that I'd do things in his class. I never knew, you know. And so, yeah, I was very attracted to history. It took all the history classes I could take because they're not all offered online, but I took enough of them to end up with a minor in history, which I'm very proud of. You're a better student at 75 than you would have been at 22? Oh, absolutely. Yeah, and I figured out the reason. Well, one thing, in 69 and 70, there were a lot of distractions on campus. For some reason, you know, Vietnam War was becoming unpopular. And every single night on the campus at U&D, there was a, well, I'm not exactly sure what you would call that, but that was that social security. You know, it was just a distraction to me because I had enough of distractions with the homework without the numbing effect of it. And now, you know, I took these classes online in my...

office and I had my good study dog with me every day. Yeah, it was a way, way different atmosphere and it was really kept me going. Take me back, Bart, if you would, to last weekend. What was graduation morning like for you? Well, to be honest with you, it was surreal because I had thought about graduating, you know, and wondering what it would be like if I could ever go back. And I've been to graduations, you know, I kind of know. And so then that morning, you know, putting my cap and gown on and wondering what to do, it was a wonderful experience at UND. The staff and the teachers around, you know, their new way of teaching over, you know, was a really, really good thing for me. And at my age, it worked. So, you know, we were told to go downstairs to meet. I'll kind of walk you through it. And then they had signs for what your degree you were getting. And you were going to that sign, and then there was a line behind you. And then that's how you followed upstairs. So it was very pleasant. And I was standing around. I had a good experience. And Andy Aramichid came down, and president of U.N.D, and he came down, found me. He shook my hand, and, you know, we visited. And then, you know, all these young students were just looking at, like, what is this all about, you know? And so I was, I didn't know, I didn't expect that to happen. And then I got to meet my advisor for the first time. She came down to where I was, and it was very, very enjoyable. What went through your mind? when your name was called? Well, I knew what was going to happen that I was going to be thinking about my dad and how pleased he would be that I graduated from U&D. And that's what I thought about when I approached the stage and was waiting to get my name called. And, yeah, it just kind of sense he was, you know, he was watching over and that he was very, very pleased and proud. What's next, Bart? What's next for you? Well... Not 100% sure. I really like studying. I like that. And so, you know, I can see something next, but I'm not quite sure what to be next. So we're still, I'm still trying to figure out. I've checked out several colleges for a master's degree, and so we'll see what happens in another month. I'm still trying to figure out what happened here, you know. So there was a post that was shared by your son about your story that's now been viewed 3.3 million times. You told me earlier you don't have any social media accounts. But what does that mean to you that people have taken a fancy to you and what you've accomplished? You know, it really astonishes me that it just seems totally out of my grasp. You know, however, I did do, I did take an English class. My counselor said, you have to take this English class. So I did. And I wrote a paper on extending your college degree for retired people. And if I can, I'll tell you the two areas I focused on. Sure. Love to hear it. Yeah. So.

My focus was on people that didn't complete their degrees. And because we live in Real North Dakota, health care is important and so are teachers. And so I focused on a group of people that had their LPM degree and wanted to go back and become a nurse. And so I wrote about that and I interviewed a hospital. administrator about that and she encouraged me to keep going with it and then I interviewed a care facility guy and he said you know to me he said they could go back and he said you know what their salary would go way up if they desired to get there and I talked to some LPNs and you know their biggest fear was what's the tuition you know how much is it going to cost me to do this and so those those questions I put into a paper as well as teaching. I interviewed the principal of our school and another educator and they need teachers. And so I tried to encourage people that thought about teaching or wanted to go back, but finishing their degree with an education background if they didn't have it to help rural America in. and teaching. And so I all lit it out. Of course, I got A in the paper. And then I showed it to our senator, Robert Earp, because he's well connected to education that's part of what he does as a senator. And he said, hey, we got to get this going. So I'm hoping next session is he gets a bill out and a pass and gives the Department of Education some direction on. on what to do about tuition waivers. And he said to me, he said, well, how much of a tuition raiseer do you want? And I said, Robert, let's ask for free. He said, well, yeah, that's probably a good place to start because it's all about compromise. Then we sent a proposal to the DPI and we'll see how that all ends up. But that's the next step I took. Be a wonderful legacy. Bart Schott of Colm earned his bachelor's degree in general studies from the University of North Dakota last weekend, more than 50 years after beginning his college education, and a social media post shared by his son about the accomplishment, as we said earlier, has now been viewed 3.3 million times. Bart, congratulations on keeping your promise and finishing what you started. I think it's so inspirational, and I'm just so pleased that you were able to join us today. Thank you so much for joining us on Main Street. You're welcome. Sleepy Hollow Theater and Arts Park in Bismarck presents a night of great jazz featuring Scott Prebis and Friends August 13th at 7 p.m. outdoors at Bud's Corner Gazebo in the Park. Ticket information is available at shtap.org.

This is Main Street. I'm Craig Blumen Shine. In 1907, agricultural scientist Lauren Waldron offered practical guidance to homesteaders confronting the unfamiliar conditions of Western North Dakota. In this Plainspoke essay, historian Dr. Tom Easern explores Waldron's enduring lessons about livestock, soil, crops, and trees. Lawrence R. Waldron authored scores of scientific papers and technical bulletins, but he also wrote more than 100 articles for the Dakota farmer. He took the public obligations of a land-grant scientist seriously. Although he is mainly remembered as the anchor of our first generation of scientific wheat breeding, I want to tell you about his previous life when he was the father confessor to the last generation of homesteaders on the Great Plains. the catechism for that movement was waldron's nineteen o seven bulletin hints for homesteaders he wrote his fascinating treatise forgotten today as superintendent of the dickinson substation for agricultural research wrote it specifically as a guide for newly arrived homesteaders in an unfamiliar semi-arid land hints for homesteaders is full of surprises Walden was a crops guy, a plant breeder, writing for guys with plows, homesteaders. But the first piece of advice he gives them is that a farm without livestock, he says, is one-sided and underdeveloped. Successful farmers will find their success depending fully as much upon animals as upon plants. A few good years may make grain farming seem an almost ideal method, Waldron warns. For continued prosperity, the aid of the farm stock is quite essential. Farm animals not only help to tide over in bad years, but they afford steady help to the grain-producing power of the soil. Livestock, crop rotation, soil conservation. to pursue a course contrary to this means an inevitable depletion of the soil which will make the farmer and the state poorer in the end waldron admonishes the newcomers who are rapidly breaking all the land owned by them with the purpose of making it a grain farm are making a fatal mistake As soon as possible, once established, homesteaders needed to get crop rotations in place that not only sustained animals but also relied on them. The trend of the day was to practice what they called dry farming, which relied on fallowing, that is, leaving fields idle some years, and deployed intensive tillage to preserve moisture in the soil. Waldron was not a fan. Instead of fallowing, he says, raise some row crop. It's like corn. Cultivate it to knock back the weeds that came with raising wheat. And forget trying to get a grain harvest from the corn. Let the stock eat it forage.

More stock and more forage. That meant more manure to build soil fertility and structure so important in those light West River soils. Finally, get a legume. Alfalfa was attracting attention those days into the rotation to fix nitrogen. And while you're looking to the future, Waldron says every new settler and old settler should plant trees. Plant lots of them. Plant them close together. Cultivate them, clean as a cornvale. Turn a furrow. Let one man lay the seedlings in, and two come alongside with spades to cover. Or let a man walk a line with the spade, inserting it and tilting it to make a slice in the ground for each seedling, and another man should walk behind, stick a seedling into every hole, and stomp it in. Cottonwoods were not a good choice for such plantings. Plant green ash, American elm, soft maple, and most of all, says our guide, it is suggested that every other tree be a box elder. These are the fast-growing trees and will act as nurse trees to the other kinds. Now, I'm not saying Lawrence Waldron was a poet, or that he consciously incorporated literary flourishes into his technical writing. And I'm surely not saying he was full of himself, but since he didn't say this outright, I will. L.W. Waldron was the box elder of West River homesteading. The nurse tree planted to shelter and nurture the others. I'm putting that metaphor into my literary rotation. Dr. Tom Easern is a distinguished professor of history at North Dakota State University. His essay, Hints for Homesteaders, is part of the Plainsfolk series that you can hear at prairie public.org.

If you're listening to the 3 p.m. broadcast of Main Street catch up on the news and stories from around the world, the nation, and here at home on all things considered. That's up next on Prairie Public. And if you're listening to us during the evening broadcast, keep it here for Travel with Rick Steves. That follows Main Street on Prairie Public. This is Dakota Datebook for August 12th. Chief Giles Goose, also known as Joseph, was an Arikara Scout, soldier, and mail carrier, whose life reflected the rapid change on the Great Plains. Between 1870 and 1882, Goose served as a scout for the U.S. Army, while military posts lined the Missouri River. During this time, he guided and protected settlers and traders traveling along this route, the primary transportation and trade corridor. in eighteen seventy one he was appointed head of a small band consisting of fifteen lodges and around one hundred and five members at the grand river agency before the community was later relocated to the standing rock reservation one of his most significant roles as a scout came in eighteen seventy four when he accompanied lieutenant-colonel george custer's expedition into the black hills in search of gold alongside 61 other native scouts representing the Crow, Mandan, Hidotza, and Erika. Goose was the one who informed Custer of a cave that would later become known as Ludlow Cave, a site that is archaeologically and culturally important to multiple native nations, including the Hidatsa, Crow, Erika, Cheyenne, Asiniboine, and Sue. By that time, the cave had already been vandalized by members of Custer's expedition. Goose later served with Custer during the Battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876, where he was wounded in the hand. He and the other scouts were assigned the dangerous task of chasing off the Dakota's horses, as well as relaying messages when it became clear that Custer's men were in trouble. After his years as a scout, Goose worked as a mail carrier between Fort Rice and Fort Bennett. He also enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving from 1891 to 1893 as a corporal in Company I, 22nd Infantry, a unit stationed at Fort Yates that was composed entirely of Native American soldiers. He was among the relatively few native veterans of his era to receive a military pension. Even in his later years, Goose frequently returned to the Black Hills in search of gold, making the journey many times before his death. On this date in 1915, the Oaks Times reported that Chief Giles Goose had passed away in Corson County, South Dakota. He was buried at Fort Yates. Today's Dakota Datebook was written by Grace Kaiser. I'm Merrill Pepcorn. Dakota Datebook is produced in cooperation with the State Historical Society of North Dakota, with funding by the Study ND, North Dakota's largest lifelong learning community. Should Democrats run a progressive candidate for president? Yes. At least that's what progressive Congressman Ro Khanna says. What does that mean? It means we need America's next new deal. Ro Khanna on his party's future and his own. On the next morning edition from NPR News. Starting at 4 a.m. Central, right here on for a. public.

And that's it for this Wednesday's Main Street. We are deeply grateful that you've spent time with us. Tomorrow on the show, federal grant delays are threatening fair housing services in North Dakota. We'll take a closer look with a monitor and introduce you to the North Dakota Monitor's newest reporter, Jack Dura. And what are the ramifications of META's glasses? We'll investigate with our tech expert, George Peck. That's ahead tomorrow. on Main Street and we look forward to you're joining us again.