Loaves and Fishes students visit Hartland Colony as 2017 summer feeding program concludes

Loaves and Fishes concluded last week in Chinook. A staffer with the Chinook Schools System suggested, as a bonus for the kids, "The summer feeding program in Chinook could meet the kids in the summer feeding program at Hartland Colony." Both schools are in the Chinook school district and the principal at Meadowlark Elementary is also the principal at the colony's school. About 20 kids and chaperones boarded a bus for the 30-plus mile trip north to visit the colony.

The Hartland Colony

The Hutterite colony's name comes from 'hart,' which means 'deer.' One of the students at the colony said, "When our people first moved here there were lots of deer in the area," Started in 1999 with a group from Hilldale Colony, there are now 74 people living at the colony. The colony is seven miles from the U.S.-Canada border. One of the seventh-grade students in the colony school said, "We farm right up to the fence on the border." A chaperone noted, "My cell phone just gave me a message, "Welcome to Canada."" The colony is definitely in north country.

The facility is well-kept and self-sufficient. It's a grain, dairy and egg production operation. When we arrived to visit the colony, we were greeted by German teacher and colony member Jake Kleinsasser. The regular teacher is Nick Turner, who lives in Havre. There are currently four students attending the school. When the children complete eighth grade, their formal education ends.

Before lunch Kleinsasser was helping a group of women and girls prepare vegetables to sell at the Havre market coming up on Saturday. A new egg production facility, which will eventually have 45,000 chickens, had just come on line. The eggs are being hauled to Great Falls where they are distributed. A milk truck picks up milk every other day at the colony from its dairy operation.

While families live in individual 'apartments,' meals are eaten communally in a well-appointed dining hall with an institutional grade kitchen. The adults eat first, with men on one side of the dining hall and women on the other. After the adults, the children are fed. Our group ate with the other kids-three of the students in the Hartland Colony School and three visiting girls from other colonies. The visitors said they were 'babysitting' while at the colony. Before and after every meal there is a prayer of thanks offered.

After lunch we did a tour of some of the facilities. In the dairy operation Kleinsasser, and two seventh grade boys, explained a large circular concern with milking stations. The cows enter the circular milking area and are at about waist level for the workers on the floor, who attach the milking machines. When milking is completed, the machine automatically detaches. One of the seventh graders, who said he helps in the milk parlor, demonstrated a 'computer' on the milking machine that tracks the production of each cow and keeps a history of it.

Kleinsasser said, "This machine was installed when the colony opened and it's still pretty much state of the art."

We saw the huge vegetable garden maintained by the colony. There was a great variety of plants and there were many fresh vegetables from the garden served with lunch. Kleinsasser said, "Because of food laws we can't drink the milk we produce here, it's not pasteurized. Just like you, we buy our milk at the store."

Both groups of kids seemed interested to learn about each other. It took a little while for them to warm to each other, but soon they were visiting and sharing information. Some of the kids from Chinook said they had been to the colony on a prior field trip through their school. The Hartland students knew the bus driver by name and greeted him when he exited the bus.

It was a fun and educational outing and an opportunity for students from both schools to learn about their neighbors. When you get right down to it, kids will be kids and figure a way to communicate about the things that are important to them.