Home Care In Wellman, IA

There are no menus, booths or even walls at Stone Wall Pizza. That's the point.

At this unconventional pizzeria on Julia McNurlen's farm just north of Wellman, diners gather almost every Friday night throughout the summer for food, conversation and an unimpeded view of the surrounding rolling green hills.

It's part of a growing trend of 'pizza farms,' pop-up restaurants of sorts that offer outdoor dining across the Midwest.

At Stone Wall, patrons bring their own chairs and beverages and pay $10 for all-you-can eat pizza, baked in a hand-built brick oven that sits behind the McNurlen family home. On the first Friday of the month, a local musician provides entertainment under the twinkle lights strung between the trees. On nights with no music, cicadas and crickets keep up a gentle chorus. On chilly nights diners can gather around a firepit in the middle of the lawn, and when it gets too cold, they move into a barn.

McNurlen grew up on this stretch of country road — her grandparents used to own the farm, which she and her husband moved back to over seven years ago. Her father and brother work the surrounding land, and her children, ages 9 and 2, play on the same grass she did as a child.

'It's a lot of work being out in the country, but it's so worth it,' she said. 'I just love sharing our view and what we have with others.'

Her husband Mike McNurlen is a mason, so five years ago he built the wood-fired oven from salvaged red bricks. The couple also own a food truck with a second pizza oven inside that they take to local celebrations and festivals.

The ovens are fueled with hickory from a saw mill Mike's uncle runs. They use the bark-covered sides of wood the mill can't use but which are perfect for heating the ovens to between 700 and 1100 degrees, hot enough to cook each pizza in two minutes.

On a live music night, Stone Wall serves anywhere from 75 to 200 pizzas. McNurlen makes the dough and sauce from scratch and tops them with seasonal ingredients that change weekly. Her favorite is the Sweet Summer pie, with fresh tomatoes, sweet corn and bacon.

She started slinging pies four years ago, following in the footsteps of Geyers Oven, on Dave and Anna Geyer's farm near Oxford, where pizza nights have been a tradition since 2005, supplementing their flower cutting business. The Geyers gave the McNurlens advice when they started up their operation, and the two refer people to each other. The Geyers hold their pizza nights on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month, from the end of May through the end of September. The setup is similar to Stone Wall's — people bring their own chairs or blankets and pay $12 for the pizza buffet, which comes with a cooler of tea or juice. Anna Geyer serves up both classic pizzas like pepperoni and seasonal pizzas, topped with whatever is growing on the farm.

'We try to do something new and a little bit out of the ordinary. Last week it was caramelized onion and elderberry with a cheese blend,' she said.

She also likes making fruit dessert pizzas. Recently that has been peach, and soon they're switching to apples, all grown on the property.

The pizzas are proving popular — Geyer said last year her average pizza night attendance was 250, and this year it has been 400.

'It's hard for me to always know why it's so magnetic for people, but it seems to be that way,' Geyer said. 'What I love about this space is the beauty of nature. The nature and the people are really quite lovely'

Last Friday, longtime Iowa City friends Marilyn and Darel Truitt and John and Janet Tiffany gathered for dinner at Stone Wall. They have been eating out together on Friday nights for almost 50 years. Usually they try restaurants in town, but they were enjoying this different dining experience.

'It's just nice to be outside,' Darell Truitt said. 'It's more fun than going to a restaurant.'

IF YOU GO

Geyer's Oven

Where: 1259 Rohret Road SW, Oxford

When: 5 to 8 p.m., second and fourth Thursdays from end of May to end of September

Cost: $12 per adult; pay what seems adequate for children

Groups of 10 or more are requested to call ahead

Information: (319) 325-6609, geyersovenbreadandpizza.com

Stone Wall Pizza

Where: 3297 320th St., Wellman

When: 5 to 8 p.m. Fridays, May 6 through Oct. 28. No pizza Sept. 9 or Oct. 7. Live music Oct. 7.

Cost: $10 per person

Groups of 10 or more are requested to call ahead

Information: (319) 530-3239, stonewallpizza.com

WELLMAN

Melissa Rediger is in a sweet spot, but it didn’t happen overnight.

As she tells it, the origins of Jo & Co, her handmade gift shop in downtown Wellman, date back 23 years to when her first child was born and she was “trying to think of a way to be a stay-at-home mom and make some money.” She purchased a torch and started crafting glass beads, which she sold on eBay and at craft shows.

Like many creatives, her medium evolved over time, and so did her life. When the youngest of her four kids entered school, she became a teacher, first teaching kindergarten at Mid-Prairie, and now a guidance counselor at the high school. A couple of years ago, she bought a laser engraver and started creating designs in wood.

Although she doesn’t have a background in art or craft, her creative work has become “a passion,” she says, and that is evident when you step inside Jo & Co, an industrial-rustic shop filled with her own creations and those of a few fellow makers. Shelves and tables are filled with personalized cutting boards, signs, and wall art; decorated thermoses and tumblers; and colorful earrings, bookmarks, and sweatshirts.

“My brain is going 100 miles an hour all the time,” she says. “I probably need to find a niche and focus on one thing, but it’s so hard for me because I just want to do it all.”

Her creations may be diverse, but the look is cohesive, brought together with the refinished furniture of a fellow Mid-Prairie teacher and fragrant handmade soap bars by a local soapmaker. And thus she arrived at “Jo & Co,” her own middle name coupled with the ‘company’ of other vendors.

Rediger was on the leading edge of the revitalization of Wellman’s downtown business district when she opened her shop in April 2023. Although there is interest in unused downtown storefronts, many building owners remain reluctant to lease or sell. Fortunately for her, the shop space that looked right for her was inside a building owned by her father-in-law – and her contractor husband was able to transform it from a Rotary club meeting room to a chic shop by burning some weekend and midnight oil.

It can be a bit lonely out there without neighboring retail shops to help draw customers. Rediger looks forward to the opening of Simple Happiness, which is expected to open in time for Rural Road Trip’s Holiday Edition on Nov. 17 and 18, in the former Starbeck-Miller building just a few steps down the street. For now, she is keeping her day job and limiting her store hours to mostly Saturdays as she grows her business.

“There are days when I get a little bit discouraged,” she admits. “I’ll be open for three hours, and maybe only one or two people come in. It can be like, What am I doing? Is this going to work? But then the next time a lot more come in, and people are like, ‘This is awesome.’ Then it helps boost what I’m doing.”

Right now she is in a sweet spot of having employment to support her family, and a hobby of creating beautiful things and running a shop in her spare time.

“I don’t know where [my creativity] comes from, it just kind of came out of nowhere,” she says. “I do feel like the Lord has just blessed me with that and in the position I’m in at the high school. Having something for self-care and that I enjoy doing is really important, so I’m very thankful for that.”

Visit Jo & Co at 218 8th Avenue, Wellman on Nov. 11 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Nov. 17 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Nov. 18 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Nov. 24 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and Nov. 25 from 4 to 7 p.m. For more information, email [email protected] or visit online at joandco.live.

Keywords

Wellman, Iowa, downtown, retail, business, Jo & Co, gifts, creative

Iowa Capital Dispatch

A southern Iowa military supplier that has been accused of endangering U.S. troops and contaminating Union County groundwater is now locked in a legal battle over the cost of cleaning up the manufacturing site.

The site in question is the Wellman Dynamics manufacturing plant in Creston. For decades, Wellman Dynamics has done business as an aerospace supplier that manufactures large magnesium and aluminum castings for the defense industry.

Court records indicate that in 2018, while mired in bankruptcy, Wellman Dynamics was purchased by the newly formed entity WDC Acquisitions. As part of that purchase, WDC Acquisitions assumed the responsibility of cleaning up the site, which had been heavily contaminated in the mid-1960s by the site’s then-owner, Hills McCanna Co.

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Hills McCanna had allegedly discharged radioactive material containing thorium, as well as waste acids, chlorinated solvents, wastewater treatment sludge, and various heavy metals into the soil and groundwater at the company site in Creston.

In 1967, Hills McCanna was acquired by Wallace & Tiernan Inc., which operated the site until 1969, during which time the site continued to be contaminated through the release of hazardous substances into the soil and groundwater.

In 1969, Pennwalt Corp. acquired Wallace & Tiernan, but the release of hazardous substances allegedly continued. From 1970 to 1976, thorium-containing wastes from specialty castings manufactured by the company were buried on site. In addition, an on-site, industrial-waste landfill was used in the 1970s for the disposal of other forms of waste, including foundry sand and treated magnesium waste.

In 2022, the Pennsylvania company Arkema acquired Pennwalt.

Federal lawsuit targets latest plant owner

As a part of a newly filed lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, WDC Acquisitions alleges that Arkema, as the successor to past owners of the plant, owes a duty to WDC to dispose of solid and hazardous wastes in a manner that prevents their release into the environment, and that it has failed to remediate all known contamination in a timely and effective manner.

The lawsuit claims Arkema is now responsible, in whole or in part, for the release of the hazardous materials at the site, and it seeks to recover WDC’s unspecified expenses related to the cleanup. The lawsuit seeks a court order holding Arkema liable for those costs. Arkema has yet to file a response to the lawsuit.

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The current dispute over the responsibility of dealing with decades-old contamination may be tied to last year’s acquisition of WDC by TRM Equity II, a Michigan-based private equity fund that takes over companies and imposes operational changes of its own design.

Within days of that sale taking place last year, the Department of Justice announced it had reached a settlement with WDC Acquisitions over allegations that it endangered U.S. troops by failing to conduct contractually required testing for parts in military aircraft and had also falsified test results. The company agreed to pay $500,000 to settle the case.

The settlement amount was based not on the actual claim of damages, which was close to $30 million, but on the company’s limited ability to pay damages. The case was initiated by Wellman employee Bradley Keller, a lab technician for quality control in Wellman’s metallurgical laboratory.

Find this story at Iowa Capital Dispatch, which is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: [email protected].

WELLMAN, Iowa (KCRG) - A club at Mid-Prairie officially welcomed customers to The Thrift Shop on Friday.

Lilou Bachy was one of the many students who helped open The Thrift Shop.

It’s an entirely student-run second hand store in downtown Wellman.

“I expressed interest in knowing how to run a business in case in my profession, if I wanted to potentially do it myself instead of being hired by someone else,” she told TV-9.

The idea came from her teacher.

“She came to us and asked if this was something we wanted to do because she knew there was interest in the community and the closest thrift store to here is maybe 30-45 minutes away,” said Bachy.

Sarah O’Rourke teaches Family and Consumer Science at Mid-Prairie and leads the Family Career Community Leaders of America club, or FCCLA.

“The Thrift Store can really benefit our students and our school and our community is really just the jackpot for student business,” said O’Rourke.

She threw out the idea to administration several years ago. But as with most projects, the pandemic put it on pause.

Even through the years of waiting to make this store into a reality, students like Mya Miller were eager to get involved.

“I sounds cool to say, ‘Yeah, I helped open up a thrift shop in my hometown,” Miller told TV-9.

Almost all the supplies, including the merchandise were donated by community members. And the most expensive thing in the store is $12.

Miller says this concept is not only great for her and her peers to learn the ins and outs of running a business, but it also helps community members with financial responsibility on their mind.

“If it were me and I was not part of it, I would be so excited because saving up for college and everything else, I would be really excited to be able to come here and get some really nice things,” said Miller.

Because it’s student-run, the store is open just a few days a week during limited business hours.

But the students say they hope to become successful enough to open up the thrift shop seven days a week.

Copyright 2022 KCRG. All rights reserved.

WELLMAN — For nearly a year now, the Wellman Skating Rink has been run by Wellman Recreation Manager Brenda Reasor, who took up the position last November.

In that time, the facility has undergone drastic changes. A new speaker system, floor and skate cleaning equipment, expanded concessions, early out Wednesdays and a monthly adult night are just a few examples of the skating hall’s rapid change of pace.

For the first time in recent memory, the city-owned facility is making more than it spends.

“It’s never really been self-sustaining before,” Reasor said. “That’s really been my goal, to make sure that it can make money. I have brought my retail experience in a little bit.”

Reasor, a former manager at Freeman Foods, said she stumbled into the position at a city council meeting. She had recently entered another job, but was looking for options when it wasn’t a good fit for her.

“It interested me just because I knew it would be an upbeat, energetic kind of job, which is kind of what I need,” she said. “I went into it not knowing what I was going to do, I had never even really been in the skating rink … I don’t know, it just felt right to me, and I’m kind of a spontaneous person. I felt like the position presented itself at the time that I needed it.”

Reasor said she remained thrilled with the position. While the role includes some work with municipal parks, yard waste and events, the skating rink represents the bulk of her duties.

“I literally go to work and throw parties all day, it’s great, you get to see people happy, you get to see kids having a great time,” she said. “There’s loud music and nice lights and it’s just a lot of fun. Who else can say they get to go work every day and throw parties?”

Much of the venue’s recent success stems from marketing. Reasor diligently runs a Facebook page for the rink, where she advertises its now-frequent events. This weekend (Oct. 29) the building will host a Halloween costume skate night.

“When I came into it, the only thing that I really knew how to do was market,” she said. “My goal was to get people talking about the skating rink, and it’s worked. I feel it’s been pretty successful, we’ve had people from far and wide come. On our first adult night, I had a group of 12 people from Illinois.”

The Wellman Skating Rink was a community icon before Reasor’s work. Longtime residents recall birthdays, parties and non-school nights spent circling the facility’s wooden floor.

The iconic legacy stretches back to the building’s origin, famously constructed by volunteers who traveled to Columbus Junction — where it was then a dance hall — to dismantle the building, bring it back to Wellman, and rebuild it piece by piece.

“Probably no long-haul effort ever has been made in Wellman that surpasses this one in terms of hours of labor freely given, responses to fundraising events and solicitations, and numbers of people involved in an ongoing project,” the Wellman Centennial Book says about the project, which it described as “an outlet for the energies and exuberance of youth,” that cost around $12,500 to pull off circa 1956.

Reasor said locals often stopped her around town to express their appreciation for the skating rink’s return to prominence.

“Most of them are pretty thrilled,” she said. “I feel like they’re pretty receptive. As far as the kids go, they love all the changes and the lights and that it’s really turning into a party atmosphere.”

That gratuity is reciprocated by Reasor, who said it was a new experience after her years working retail.

“It’s great for me, because I feel like I’ve never really done anything real great, it’s really nice to have people appreciate all of my hard work and efforts and tell me about it,” she said. “I just am excited that the Wellman community has been so accepting of me coming to town … I’m excited that I can make something work well and put smiles on people’s faces.”

The job comes with plenty of other perks. Other than the obvious things like city benefits, the title entails access to the building, a less tangible but much-used upside.

Reasor comes in to skate on her own time at least once a week.

“I actually prefer by myself,” she said. “It’s very much a workout, you burn a lot of calories in just an hour of going round and round and round. And it’s therapeutic in other ways, you just kind of get lost in the music and the wind in your hair, it’s great.”

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