Restoration Company Helps Preserve The Past
By Beth Anderson
Ames Tribune
STATE CENTER - To stand on Kelly Biensen's land is to know why the farm has been in his family for four generations. The soft, rolling hills stretch for miles in shades of autumn brown and various stages of harvest. Horses dance in the paddock, and the neighbor's cows graze quietly in the fields while off in the distance, storm clouds gather across the open sky. This is where his great-grandfather, fresh from Germany, staked his claim in 1867 and began to build a home and a life along the berms of glacial sediment. Which is why when the old farmhouse started to crumble, Biensen and his wife, Nina, struggled with the decision to build a new home and tear the old one down. "We wanted to do something that would symbolize the family history and the farm," he said. "We were looking for a way to preserve what we had for the generations past and the generations yet to come." The answer was in a huge pile out back behind the barn where generations of Biensen farmers had tossed the rocks that had gotten in the way of the plow. Enter Bruce Willemsen of Pella, owner of Barn Builders restoration company. Willemsen is using the stones to build a facade around the Biensen's new home, and he is having a great time doing it, he said. "I was always the kid that came home with a pocketful of rocks," he said. The rocks are bigger these days - plate-sized shale, melon-sized quartz, breadbox-sized feldspar - and in muted shades of pink, orange and yellow, some laced with tiny fossilized shells. And each one Willemsen picks up and weighs in his hands, building a picture puzzle on the frame of the house. "He's not a rock star, but he's a rock artist," Biensen quipped. Willemsen started out in the construction business, then tried his hand at owning a cabinet shop in Pella. It wasn't a good fit, he said. "You've got to find something you like to do, and just do it," he said. Now he's gotten away from the high-tech machinery and the high overhead of the shop. He is making a name for himself in Mid-Iowa with his restoration projects in State Center, Fernald and at Living History Farms in Urbandale. "There's no machinery involved in this," he said. "There's no automation to it, just our hands and a few tools, but it sure is rewarding." That's a style Biensen can appreciate. Biensen has built the family farm into a niche producer with Eden Farms, a coalition of independent farmers that is the largest American supplier of certified Berskhire pork. "Love of history and family is so important," Biensen said. "People should always think about those things when they're making a decision." More information on Barn Builders can be found online at www.barn-builders.com. Information on Eden Farms can be found online at www.betterpork.com.
