The Muench Bunch

Aug 29,2023  Farmer Turned Dealer.. Article by Farm Equipment.com     Mark Muench, a fifth-generation farmer in Ogden, Iowa, opened a Salford dealership in his farm shop in 2012. In 2009, Mark Muench of Ogden, Iowa, was getting frustrated about the lack of development for tillage equipment. He felt that it was one aspect of agriculture that had come to a standstill as far as new developments and improvements go. After trying Salford tillage equipment, he felt like he was getting closer to what he wanted. Fast forward to the fall of 2012, and Muench is running a Salford dealership out of his farm shop. He sold his first machine in 2013. Today, he says that his Salford dealership is the largest single-location dealership in Iowa, and that they sell more parts than any dealership in the state. “I had been strip-tilling corn on corn for a few years, and I was having trouble managing corn residue,” Muench says. “That’s why I bought the first Salford, to chop up the residue. I wanted to redu

The more Jayden talks about her home in Texas, the more I am thankful to live in Iowa. Everything there is either trying to poke you, bite you, sting you, or poison you. There are so many creepy crawlies. Scorpions are prevalent and like dark places in your home. Ester sprays regularly for them. Jake and I encountered two in the lodge when we visited in May. That gave me the creeps and I always walked in sandals or shoes in the house and checked my sheets at night. Next there are swarms of  fire ants! They bite with a vengeance, you swell, they itch like mad, form a white head boil, pop and scab. Jayden has had plenty of encounters with then and several ant bites. Some while feeding her horses, some if standing still too long outside, and some have come up her bathroom drain. To my absolute horror, Jayden informed me that in the building of her new home, the pest exterminators came and sprayed seeing many black widow spiders. Ok first off I am terrified of spiders, and black widow spid

 After watching the twins all day, Mark and I drove to Des Moines to get Jayden from the airport. It was fun to see her little pregnant belly forming. We ate at The Iowa Machine Shed. My meal of parmesan encrusted pork was beyond delicious! Friday morning Grandma Mawgee came to visit Jayden. In the evening, we had the Koellner wedding rehearsal dinner. Jayden was invited and at the last minute, due to people not being able to attend, Mark and I were invited. The little ones practiced riding in the wagon. What a bunch of cuties! Saturday evening was the big wedding. Sunday we went to Ames for church, El Azteca for lunch, and then to Mark's Grand Community fundraiser held at our neighbors. Mark stayed home from church in order to help with setup. There was food catered from Lucky Pig and light snacks and drinks, and live music. Monday everyone told Jay goodbye. We met mom in Ames for lunch at Culvers and had nails done. I then took Jayden to the airport at 2.

 We have celebrated a family wedding each year and this year there were two. Jayden was married in March and this time my niece Maggie was married. It is so exciting to gather all our family together to celebrate a marriage. Out of the entire Muench families, everyone was in attendance except Noah. It has been fun to watch the families grow with the new baby additions. The nieces and nephew have been so much fun to watch grow up and now many of them are parents. My boys, Rylie, and Jaynie are the only left of the 11 cousins to be married. Maggie and Trevor were married in Webster City at the country club at a lovely outdoor wedding. It was a bit warm with a lovely sunset. Everything was beautiful. Jayden was asked when we arrived to hand out programs and to help watch the babies with Jaynie during the wedding. She had her hands full with the babies. Everly was the flower girl and the 3 little baby boys were the ring bearers. After riding down the aisle, they sat on a blanket during the

August the 18-23 the heat was on! It was high 90's with high humidity. It was the unbearable hot heat that hits you the second you walk outside. The air is thick and heavy with humidity. You sweat within minutes and being outdoors feels terrible. One day the temperature was 96 with the heat index of 117! Every morning by the time I did chores, I was stinky, sweaty and needed a shower. Most days chores don't cause me to break a sweat. The grass in the mornings is so wet with dew it feels like we had a heavy rain overnight. Even the drain gutters have water dripping down. By the 25th, things were cooling down and the humidity vanished. The 26-29 the air was perfect, cool at night, warm during the day and low humidity. Jayden got to enjoy some nice Iowa days and got out of her own triple digit heat.   After a family gathering, the Ferrari's had a pool party, the cousins had a great time in the backyard pool.

  Jake finished his summer classes on August 4th and started back  up aagain on the 24th. His summer classes went well, much better than he was expecting. On day one he was signed up for 8-4 class with a full load and a hard Physics class. He was so worried and we told him to take the summer off from his Peterbilt job to focus on homework and studying. He finished well and put the extra time in to stay on track. He even contacted his homeschool supervisor Nancy for some tutor sessions. I was so proud of him for taking it serious and finishing strong. Some of his 8-4 classes were fewer weeks and most days classes got out early. Jake ended up living at home all summer even though he had the trailer as an option.  Luke stared back to high school for his sophomore year. Luke started his second year of high school as a sophomore in Ogden. He plans to be involved in FFA and join the golf team. He is excited to be driving Dad's white Chevy.  Bridget and Andrew are growing up fast. Bridget

8/13/  My niece Abby and her husband Kyle celebrated their twin boys first birthday and we attended. We planned a weekend trip with our boys to stay at a lake nearby. The twins, Hank & Walker are the cutest and so funny. Abby thanked everyone for coming and her and Kyle gave an emotional prayer and appreciation about when the boys were born so early and how far they have come. They were thankful for God and all the support of family and community. Abby showed the tiny diapers the boys wore in the beginning. Today they were sitting big in their high chairs and enjoying their smash cake. The party moved along with food, cake, and singing. Ali and Titus drove down with Karen and Orrie. Titus was not real happy and did a lot of screaming. There was a large crowd form Kyle and Abby's church and some family. It was nice to be there to celebrate this milestone.  Later in the month, we got to babysit the boys. I admit, I was a little worried I wouldn't be able to handle two, double