Writing a new chapter

Paul Queck, his wife, Abbey, and their two children were huddled up in theri basement May 21. That’s when an EF4 tornado struck their home, located east of the “six mile corner” south of Fontanelle, and the house was lifted off its foundation and strewn all over the famstead.

Hardly anything was left in the tornado’s wake.

While the span of time after that day has been a challenging one, Queck says harvest starting has been a positive step in the right direction.

Paul’s grandfather, Bob, was born on this farmstead. He told Governor Kim Reynolds, when she visited after the tornado, that a new chapter was beginning. The Quecks have been able to see all that unfold.

On that visit, Reynolds applauded the stength of Iowans despite tragedy.

One barn has been built on the property, and more structures are to come, a symbol of that resolve and strength.

“The biggest thing is getting into [contractor’s] schedules because they’re already swamped too,” Paul Queck said. “We’re waiting on a building to show up. Once it shows up it will get put up, insulated, and then we will start on the house portion of it.”

The farmhouse where Bob was born, built in 1925, will soon be replaced by a house-shop combination, that has become known as a barndominium, 60 by 120 feet in size.

“They’re going to build a house in the north end of it, then in the south end, it will be a shop,” Queck said.

Queck says the point the farm is at post-tornado has brought him some closure.

“We’re getting to a point where it’s going to be liveable here, usable and not look like a disaster zone,” he said.

Queck farms with his dad, Steve. He grew up near Peru in Madison County, and the Quecks farm there, here and many places in between. At the time of the tornado, on the 320-acre plot by where Paul and Abbey live, there were still beans to be planted, meaning seed was one of the items lost from a shed that was destroyed.

Every structure on the farm was either damaged or destroyed. Field equipment lost included a combine head and header trailer. Choring equipment lost included a couple of tractors. Every section of fence on the farm had to be replaced.

Queck says the only headache of the insurance process was that it was time consuming.

There was also the initial cleanup.

“We had several crews who brought side-by-sides for several days picking stuff up [out of fields]. They even found calves. As far as up here goes, it was the same sort of thing, keeping anything that’s of value and getting rid of the rest,” Queck said, “just trying to get it back to a non-disaster state.”

The Quecks are now about a quarter of the way done with harvest. Harvesting beans on Paul’s home place was on the docket for this week.

According to the Oct. 15 crop and conditions report for Iowa, 45% of corn for grain had been harvested. About 81% of the soybean crop had been harvested. Both are ahead of schedule, compared to last year and the last five years.

“Harvest has been relatively smooth. Yields are ‘near exceptional’ for corn and beans,” Queck said. “The corn’s almost too dry already, so you won’t have any dryer expenses. We’re into the end of May and early June-planted beans. They’re coming out at like 11% (moisture), so that’s not too bad.”

While the last chapter of life has been a difficult one, Queck says the future looks bright moving forward.

“We’re fortunate enough to have the opportunity to rebuild probably better than it was, and most people don’t have that opportunity,” he said. “I would rather not have to rebuild it the way I want it and deal with it the way it was, but here we are. We don’t have much of a choice in that matter. That’s a silver lining, that you can design and build it how you want. You’re starting fresh.”