Sara Vollmer is living out her dream.
“You can’t not love the ranch,” she says.
The Leonard native met her husband, Troy Vollmer, while both were obtaining animal science degrees at North Dakota State University (NDSU).
“We both had the same advisor,” Sara recalls. “(The advisor) told Troy, ‘I’ve been to Wing, Troy. You best find a wife before you leave Fargo.”
Troy, it turns out, was a good student.
In her 46th year of teaching, Sharon Klein remembers the first computers incorporated into her curriculum and the introduction of the internet.
Now, artificial intelligence (AI) is streaming into her classroom.
When the English teacher first encountered ChatGPT in 2023, “cheating” was her first thought, but she has changed her mind.
From the oil pumped in western North Dakota to the light switch flicked on and off many times a day, technology is interwoven into society.
When the coordinator of the writing program at the University of North Dakota (UND), Anna Marie Kinney, goes to buy a hardcover book from the store – seemingly un-technological – she drives her car with her phone’s GPS. Once there, she pays with a credit card.
I don’t remember ever watching my mother, grandmothers or great-grandmothers (how lucky am I to have memories of each!) use pressure cookers. I don’t have a lived traumatic pressure-cooking experience. Yet still, I am downright terrified of pressure cookers!
Why?
I hypothesize we suffer from the generational trauma of pressure cookers. Although I never directly experienced a traumatic pressure-cooker explosion, it’s possible the fear has been passed down from one generation of my family to the next.
Beyond supporting North Dakota’s economy and feeding the world, farming and ranching is a lifestyle – and livelihood. It is a legacy built on generations of hard work, sacrifice and success.
To protect this legacy and family farms and ranches around the state, North Dakota State University (NDSU) Extension, in partnership with North Dakota Farmers Union (NDFU), has developed succession planning workshops to help families transition operations to the next generation.
North Dakota Living was once again amazed by the photo entries for the second annual photo contest! There were 600 entries, double last year’s amount.
From North Dakota skies to North Dakota people and more, the photos captured North Dakota in all its beauty. The judges remarked how difficult it was to choose the winners.
Thank you to everyone who participated, and congratulations to the winners of the 2026 North Dakota Living Photo Contest!
The story of a professional chef in New York City moving to small-town North Dakota for love seems the perfect plot for a Hallmark Christmas movie.
Except it’s not so far-fetched for Sheri Shockman.
When Sheri joined an online dating service about 15 years ago, she was not looking for a relationship. Rather, she wanted to help a loved one who had fallen victim to an online scam.
“I went on (the online dating site) to find this scammer. Instead, I found my husband,” she says.
As Christmas lights twinkle across the North Dakota landscape, the state’s electric cooperatives are radiating holiday cheer in their local communities.
Electric cooperatives adhere to seven cooperative principles, including concern for community, year-round. But as the holidays approach, cooperatives collaborate with their members to bring a brighter Christmas to those who may otherwise do without.
Wrapped in warmth
This year, the United States has used tariffs in unprecedented ways.
In an effort to incentivize producers and consumers to manufacture and buy products in the United States – among other goals related to political negotiations and curbing the drug trade – the United States has implemented sweeping tariffs around the globe. Some target entire countries instead of specific commodities, from as low as 10% to as high as 50%.
What’s the point of tariffs? How are North Dakotans affected?
