A Farm in Service to the Lord and Life

BRADSHAW, Neb. – The first-generation, German immigrant farmer, Edwin Heinze, had a plan.?He headed to the implement dealer to rent a John Deere 7800 to drive to Diane Epp’s house.?It had just snowed, and the tractor tracks were the first to press into the white, frozen expanse on a York County, Neb. country road.???

“It was a total deception,” Edwin said, looking back with a chuckle.?“I had never farmed with anything that new and I haven’t since.”??

But that day he did, because he was picking up the gal he wanted to ask to marry.?He wanted it to be a surprise.?His cousins had urged him prior to talk to her dad, and what better way to pop the question than in a new tractor.?Edwin and Diane knew they were meant to be together early in their relationship.?Diane was still in college, but they were motivated by farming goals, and both shared a dream to have a family someday.?With a momentous tractor drive underway, Edwin was certain the timing was right.????

“Everyone was looking out the curtains of our previously converted one-room schoolhouse,” Diane recalled about the curiosity of her parents, Alvin and Kay, and brother Calvin.?“We had officially started dating just before starting my senior year in high school.?I met Edwin after one of the games when we would get something to eat in York earlier in the year.?One of my friends previously worked with him at Wendy’s and thought we would be a great match.”?

“He was my first and only love,” she added grinning.?“I heard he played organ in church and thought to myself, ‘He must be a good boy.’”?

Diane said yes and the implement dealer didn’t charge rental costs on the tractor either, since the trip had been a success. ?Today, Edwin and Diane reside in rural Bradshaw.?Their farm dreams are well underway too.?The couple, surrounded by conventional agriculture, has also made the decision to plant organic crops.?The yellow farmhouse atop a rolling hill also has a family inside that has expanded to a daughter, Mila, and son, Aaron.?

How the Heinze’s arrived in York County though, is an extension of a story that starts to unfold during WWII in Germany.?Edwin began, “My Grandfather Richard in Germany worked in the iron ore mine, particularly ramped up for the war effort.?My father Kurt was 14 years old at the time and the military knocked on their door and my Grandmother Amalia answers.?They said, ‘We need your son for military service.’?My Grandma said, ‘You made a mistake.?He’s only 14.’?They told her they had not made a mistake and forced him to serve in the Hitler Youth for six months.?Then he got to come home again.?When he was 16, he was drafted into the Germany army.”?

The communists kept invading deeper into Germany. The areas where both Edwin’s parents were from in Germany turned into Poland because the Russians were pushing the Polish people into the area that used to be Germany, “Since my grandfather was instrumental in the function of the iron ore mine, the Russians would not let him leave.?Without proper management and experience, the mine would have filled with water and been a total loss.?So, my grandparents were stuck on the communist east side.?My father, after the war, was on the west side and did sneak back over numerous times to visit his parents.?He did try two times to get my grandmother across the border to the western, non-communist side.?But both times they were fired upon and stopped.?One time he snuck on a train, locked himself in a bathroom, and counted the stops until he knew he was in his hometown and ran home to visit his family after the war.”

While Kurt’s rescue attempts were futile, his drive to free the family line remained strong within him.?His mother had even tried to leave Germany when she was 19, but her father apprehended the letter she tried to send to sponsors in the United States.?When Kurt, through correspondence between east and west Germany, told his mother years later that he was going to try and make it to the U.S., his mother repeated what her father had told her years before, “We’re all going or none of us are going.”?

This time, (albeit extremely difficult), he went against his mother’s words and at 22-years-old made the trip to the United States and immigrated to Texas, then New York, and then eventually to Nebraska.?It was this bold, painful step towards freedom that shaped the family’s life for generations to come.???

Kurt had earned his master painter certification in Germany and took those skills with him to work in the United States.?Kurt’s younger brother came to the U.S. as well and the brothers began doing construction work in Texas, later building houses in Long Island, New York. Kurt was working a $2 an hour union job, 60 hours a week and then built a house in his “spare time,” Edwin said.????

A long-awaited reunion occurred when Kurt’s aging parents became no use to the communists anymore and they could finally move to West Germany, Edwin said, “When they were freed to West Germany, they came to the U.S. to visit my father and uncle.”?

Kurt and his wife Klara had sold the house they built, and the entire family loaded up two vehicles and tents for a vacation all around the United States for several weeks.?Kurt wanted his parents to see the land of opportunity he had learned to embrace.?By this time, Kurt had also become a Christian and was involved with the German Church of God, a German-speaking denomination that had churches around the country and other parts of the world after WWII.???

Travels across the country led Kurt to fall in love with Colorado and he began to make plans to move there, but on the vacation, they happened to stop in York, Neb. to visit the Christian Unity Press (inside a building under new ownership that still exists on the north end of town).??

“The printing press was the publishing house of the German Church of God,” Edwin explained.?“When he stopped, they told my father they were needing people to work there.?He told them he had the ability to do the work and made a plan.?At first it was to help at the print shop and then move on to Colorado.”?

But the family stayed.?The German Church of God also owned the nursing home in York at the time and Edwin’s father started working there in maintenance and later also had kitchen duties.?He later became manager of the print shop and built a couple of houses all at the same time.?Kurt’s first wife, Klara, passed away and he would remarry Magdalena (Maggie) in 1974, who became Edwin’s mother.???

“I was born in York,” Edwin went on.?“We lived in one of the houses owned by the Christian Unity Press that were near the printing plant.?The property included five acres where we had sheep and a horse that we could show in 4-H.?While I was involved in 4-H, friends of ours that raised sheep commercially and farmed corn and soybeans asked me out to harvest.?I got to ride in the combine and that put into my mind that is what I wanted to really do, be involved with farming.”???

Near Bradshaw, Diane was growing up on a farm at the same time.?She was heavily influenced by her father and mother, who was a nurse and also hands-on in daily operations, “Both my parents worked in town full time and farmed on the evenings and weekends.?Mom would make the lunches and was also the main combine driver and drove tractors.?That is why it was very natural for me to be very hands-on with the farming when we got married.’”??

Farming dreams continued for Edwin when he was graduating York High School, “I told my dad that I was very interested in farming and at 65 years old, he told me, ‘I would enjoy doing farm work too.’”?

There was a bit of money to get started as Kurt had not used the funds he had earned after selling the house he built in New York.?Because of not having to buy a house while working at the printing press, Kurt would later decide to use the money to purchase a quarter section of land in Clay County, Neb.?At the time, German farming friends were managing the property.?But when Edwin later expressed interest in farming, it was time for the father and son duo to take over.???

“Dad said, we will go and start farming our farm.?We bought an old tractor and disc and started farming in Clay County, Neb.,” Edwin said. “Quite truthfully, those first years didn’t work too bad.?We didn’t have payments to make.?Then you begin thinking you need newer and nicer equipment, and it gets a little harder.?Then the commodity prices go up and you think you can do a little more.”?

They pressed on and Edwin said he was blessed to have his father farming by his side from age 65 to 85, “Dad continued to manage the print shop during that time and was also still helping on the farm into his early 80s.”????????

“Dad really worked hard and enjoyed helping and doing whatever his kids were doing.?He built a house in York with my brothers and a four-plex too,” he noted.?“He embraced the United States and what you can do here.?You never heard him talk badly about the United States ever.”???

In 1995, two years after Edwin’s high school graduation, Kurt told him he was going to an auction to try and buy a farm in York County.?Kurt took out a loan for that farm and his son remembers him saying, “‘This could be risky.’?I think it was an answer to prayer when a family friend offered to buy?the four-plex to pay off the 80.”???

When Diane and Edwin were married, their initial plans were to build a home and start expanding the farm near McCool Junction.?“But then an 80 south of my parents’ home became available.?Edwin’s parents were on vacation at the time and my dad called him and said the 80 was for sale.?That became an 80 we now farm,” Diane noted.?“The Clay County farm became that 80 that Edwin’s brothers now own.”?

“I never dreamt of having a bunch of farmland,” Edwin said adamantly.?“But I was dreaming of a square quarter around or near our house.”???

Then Edwin’s parents went on another vacation.?Funny how land opportunities popped up when they were gone. “We found out Cabela’s had a hunting property for sale near Bradshaw,” Edwin recalled.?“So, I called my dad again and probably about gave him a heart attack and said, ‘Dad, Diane and I are going to look at this farm with a guy from Cabela’s.’”?

One thing led to another, and the family was able to trade the land from McCool Junction for the new land opportunity.?Now they had a place to start working on their home and to grow an even bigger portion of their dreams – raising a family.?Today, the family farm consists of the quarter section they live on near Bradshaw and the 80 they traded the Clay County farm for as well as some share-cropped ground.?Alfalfa was a main crop for many years and then Clark Specialty Grain out of Gothenburg, Neb. contacted them.???

“I was part of the alfalfa association and?Jim Clark?was looking for alfalfa growers to make a transition into organic corn,” Edwin explained. “They asked if we were interested in growing organic blue corn.?We started on the paperwork, but it became too overwhelming.?They they called me again the next year and I said I wasn’t ready yet.?Then they called a third year and said they needed non-GMO blue corn that required no organic certification.?I did that contract and then they asked again about us going organic.?It was the same seed, with the same yield and that year we did the blue corn, the regular corn prices were $5 a bushel.?The non-GMO seed corn was $8 a bushel and the organic was $11 or $12 a bushel.”???

“You just have to try and control the weeds without chemicals,” Edwin said.?“They helped us through the organic paperwork and once I started doing it, it worked very well.?When we were farming conventional, I thought it wasn’t the best way and always thought there was a better way.?Now that I have changed, I would not be able to go back to the conventional way.”???

“We want to grow food as highly-nutrient-dense as possible,” Diane added.?“One thing about organic, especially since we have children now, it’s nice we don’t have to be concerned about the kids being around some of the synthetic inputs.?It’s fun being outside when they are spraying on fish and garlic and watching the planes go by right in front of us and thinking, ‘Yes, this may stink, but it’s not harmful.’”?

“Our neighbors have been great too,” Diane noted.?“They will call us and let us know when they are spraying their conventional crops.”?

“We try and work with them as much as we can,” Edwin said.?

Today, the farm continues to grow alfalfa as the base for nitrogen for the organic corn crops as well as serving allelopathic properties for weed control.?Then they rotate alfalfa, blue corn, soybeans, popcorn, and soybeans as well as intensively graze Angus cattle across a portion of the land.?They also have been able to hire Christopher Wattermann who is helping lead the farm business plan.?Prior to Christopher, Matthew Wattermann, his brother, and a friend from church, lived with them and helped run the farm during another inspirational portion of their story – adopting two children.???

“In August 2017, we invited our church family out to watch the eclipse,” Edwin recalled. “One of the families that came wanted to see our cattle.?Their daughter and sons wanted to see the cattle too.?I was out there showing them, and they were looking at the grasses and noticing different species.?They were seeing things I had never looked at or noticed.?The young people were super observant to a whole realm I wasn’t.?So, I started the ball rolling that ended up with Matthew coming to help us on the farm after his military service.”?

Initially Edwin and Diane planned on Matthew joining them in April.?Then Matthew told them he would be ready to room and board in their basement even earlier in February.?Diane said they panicked a bit, “We had no room for him yet.?So, the first day he came to work, he was insulating the walls and a friend finished a bathroom so he could have his own shower downstairs.”?

“I was scared because I was not planning to pay someone in February and March.?But I didn’t want to tell him no,” Edwin added.???

Literally less than two weeks after Matthew came, they realized why he had arrived early because they got a phone call they had been praying for.?The couple had been volunteering at the Living Water Rescue Mission in York, but yet a phone call from the Ladies Director at the mission on this Sunday afternoon was a huge surprise.

Rewind back to January of 2018 and a church service where the heads of the household came up and shared what God had done for them the previous year.?Edwin said one of the dads they looked up to got up and said that as far as Bible reading, 2017 was not a great year for their family.?But the man did say he and his wife had made a list and were specifically and diligently praying for things.??

“He gave the testimony that God specifically answers prayers,” Edwin recalled.?“We went home, and Diane and I had longed for children, but had not yet felt peace about how to proceed.?Diane and I got together and said we are going to pray specifically for God’s leading in adding children into our family.?We didn’t tell anyone we were praying these specific prayers.?We prayed to God and said, ‘We think you would like us to have children, will you show us the next step?’”?

Fast-forward back to that phone call from the Rescue Mission on Sunday, March 12.?Their friend on the other end of the line said she had something to talk to them about, Diane remembered like it was yesterday, “She said, there is a couple in York who has a baby girl, and they want you to be her parents.”???

That baby girl was Mila who was three-and-a-half months old at the time.?Once the phone call happened, the couple contacted a lawyer and began the proper procedures to adopt their daughter.?At the end of March, she came home with them, but it wasn’t until September 2019 that her adoption was finalized.???

The prayers did not cease though, Edwin said, “We prayed to God and said, ‘We think Mila would like a sibling.’”??

Another call in May 2020 from nephew Jason connected Edwin and Diane to an adoption agency with a unique situation. This led to the adoption of a baby boy who was to be born in August.?He was born early though, on July 14.?The family picked him up when he was just two days old during COVID.?Balancing farm life and a new family added its fair share of stressors and joys.???

Then the couple said they connected with Del Ficke in the fall of 2018, manager of Ficke Cattle Company out of Pleasant Dale, Neb., and a founder of the Graze Master Group.?Ficke has been serving as a farm consultant for the family, Diane explained, “Shortly after moving out here, Del Ficke came into our lives too.?I don’t think we would be farming if it weren’t for Del.?We were in some serious situations.?We wanted to run the farm like a business, but we needed his expertise.?We are working with Del, and he is helping us run it like a business in ways we didn’t know how.”???

A family to love and a farm bringing soil to life through organic and regenerative practices, is now firmly rooted in York County.?An example of the American dream that continues in the hearts and minds of a first-generation German farmer surrounded by German farmers who have been there just a little longer. Once feeling out of place, the couple is now feeling the warmth of their own growing family and gaining confidence in their ability to manage their farm the way they want.???

Sure, the farm’s success is important, but as Diane said about her husband, it’s more about leading people to the light of Jesus and truth, “When we began making holistic goals for the farm, we wanted to use the farm as a ministry tool.?There are many times Edwin will say something like, ‘I am going to bring so and so with me on a cattle trip.’?I know this is such a good thing because Edwin can speak into the lives of young adults and listen to their hearts. They are comfortable with him, and he also comes away being encouraged by them.”?

One of those young people they are making a difference to is a livestock enthusiast named Leah Hipps.?She is staying with the family too and recovering from a car accident.?Hipps is raising a substantial pasture-raised poultry operation on the farm and is selling whole turkeys just in time for Thanksgiving.???

“Sometimes God gives snippets of what is going to happen,” Edwin said in closing.?“But we have to do something with those parts he is giving us.?We have to remember we can’t make things happen alone.”??

Yes, sometimes it just takes a little faith and hope.?Faith and hope need vehicles though.?Sometimes those vehicles are a father bold enough to come to the United States from Germany and a mentor or two along the way like Del Ficke who shows you that you certainly can succeed.?And sometimes, it just takes the courage to take a tractor ride and ask a Nebraska farm girl to be your bride.???

If you’re needing a Thanksgiving turkey, please check out www.nebraskaheritageturkey.com

If you would like to make some new friends on a Nebraska farm, contact:?Edwin Heinze at (402) 366-4691 or email:?[email protected]

?If you want to help the Living Water Rescue Mission, check out:?www.lwrmyork.org

And, if you would like to learn more about the Graze Master Group contact:?Kerry Hoffschneider at (402) 363-8963 or email:?[email protected] . ?Learn more at www.grazemastergroup.com

Thank you!??