Katie Ryan-Anderson

Some people say they sense their deceased loved ones. They see them in a cardinal, smell them in a soup recipe or hear them in a Johnny Cash song.

Tony Fisher and his family will sense his grandfather with every row tilled on the family farm near Ypsilanti.

Described as “neat, orderly and innovative,” Tony’s grandparents, the late Darwin and Helen Fisher, kept an organized farmstead – where every item has a place. Many of the items are original Darwin purchases and still in use on the Fisher family farm today.

In “Cinderella,” the fairy godmother waves her wand, turning a pumpkin coach into a carriage. The pumpkin served as a vessel – helping Cinderella find her prince.

Like the fairy godmother, one woman's pumpkins help people find Jesus.

For two decades, Cheryl Erickson planted seeds in the ground. She hoped they’d grow to the heavens, or rather, help people find heaven themselves.
 

Rhonda Gilbertson-Evans wrote those words in a poem called “Why I Do This Work.” The poem explains her reasons for serving people experiencing homelessness, including a man dear to her heart.

“It’s not that easy for many of our community members who are homeless. Some hills are unsurmountable,” she said.

Cottonwood Cider House is rooted in family – both blood relatives and the family that exists only in rural America.

For Stacy Nelson-Heising and her husband, Dan Heising, the fourth-generation farmstead provides for their family. It also provides a place for the community to gather and connect.

Also on that day, the “Dakota Spotlight” podcast shared what sounded like an outlandish story from a North Dakota bar.

Podcasts are like radio shows popular in the 1940s and 1950s. Unlike radio, however, podcast listeners download episodes to their tablets or smartphones and listen at their convenience.

The “Dakota Spotlight” podcast spans four decades and five North Dakota communities. Each season is a quest for answers regarding the strange or mysterious deaths and disappearances of North Dakota residents.