Squirrel Breaks Tractor!!??
Titus Torkelson (far right) is pictured with (from left to right), Elias Torkelson (his brother), Brent Torkelson (Dad) and Nels Dennis (cousin).
A little squirrel can certainly have the power to complicate a farmer’s day and damage his big John Deere 8320 tractor. Readers who enjoy the Milennial Farmer and other farm videos on YouTube, will want to see Squirrel Breaks Tractor!!??, the premiere farm video of Titus Torkelson, a college student and farmer from Foxhome, Minnesota.
Readers may not be familiar with Torkelson, though he has strong family connections to Karlstad. The son of Brent and LeeAnn Torkelson of Foxhome, he is the great-grandson of the late Leslie and Ruth Andersen and Alpha Melby of Karlstad. His grandparents Leon – a 1964 Karlstad High School graduate – and Helen Andersen – a 1966 Greenbush High School graduate – grew up in this area. In addition, he has a variety of Andersen and Wikstrom relatives in the Karlstad area.
When COVID-19 restrictions prohibited Torkelson from returning to Minnesota State University Moorhead after spring break, he made the most of the situation by creating a YouTube channel.
“What could I add to the dynamic of farming?” the fourth generation farmer asked himself.
Starting a YouTube channel is definitely in the line of interest of Torkelson, who is a music and entertainment industries & technology major at the university.
He said starting the YouTube channel was “not too hard.” It was simply a matter of going to YouTube, signing in with a Google account and following steps.
He said the filming and editing (putting together 80 individual clips to make a 35 minute video) was the most work.
The video tells the story of a day in the life of Torkelson Farms, which included having to splice a wire, which was broken by the previously mentioned squirrel, before a day of planting corn and soybeans.
The background music is really special; it includes original compositions by Torkelson and his brother, Elias Torkelson.
He offers a “tour of my office,” explaining a variety of gadgets in his tractor cab. He shows the plant monitor, which tells how many seeds are being planted per acre, noting that an acre is about the size of a football field. He tells about changing the settings on the tractor’s computer when he switches from planting corn to soybeans.
He talks about “farmer slang,” mentioning that “trash” in farmer slang means too much leftover residue in a field from last year’s crop.
Other relatives making an appearance in his video, include his brother, Elias; cousin, Brock Dennis; and dad, Brent Torkelson.
He has plans for a couple of other videos. One has to do with burning cornstalks in a field they hadn’t been able to work. Another has to do with “a big family effort” when they had three tractors going at the same time.
Torkelson said his life is one of “farming, faith and family.”
“With the melody of music,” added his mom, LeeAnn, who was also present for the interview.
Read the full article in the June 18 issue of the North Star News.
