04-27-02 Saturday.pdf - The Sheridan Press

Business
B8
THE
SHERIDAN Press Saturday, April 27, 2002
Bait Operation
By Steve Miller
Managing Editor
RANCHESTER — Feeding the livestock
at Art Nordstrom’s place takes a
different turn from most Wyoming stock
operations.
Alfalfa’s part of the diet, but it’s
ground up and put in a trench every few
days to feed more than 3,000 head — in a
4-by-8-foot space at Tongue River Bait.
Nordstrom and
General Sales Manager
Randy Kouf opened the
bait shop April 1.
The shop offers the
usual bait menu, but the
worms — varieties for
fishing and varieties for
gardeners — are what
Nordstrom will talk
about with the most
enthusiasm.
Nordstrom has
wanted to start a bait
shop for more than 20
years.
“I was always too
busy working construction,
and never was situated
in one place long
enough,” he said.
“Randy and I have been
talking about it. Now
that I’ve kinda retired,
everything fell into
place.”
He said there was a
lack of adequate information
when his interest
was first hooked.
“Now, information is plentiful,” he
said, “about worms in particular.”
“I’ve always been interested in it —
how they multiply, how they survive. It’s
interesting. You take a night crawler,
he’ll go down to 10 feet and live up to 10
years in the right environment.”
Kouf says the area has a “huge
demand for quality bait” and shares his
enthusiasm about the worms.
He said they have avoided the
Canadian variety of night crawlers. “All
By Steve Miller
Manager Editor
Fast. Big. Results.
Former special education teacher
Jim Bydlon has teamed with the
Processing and Cognitive
Enhancement program to help
children hurdle barriers to learning.
Students, who must be at least
6 years old, enter one-hour sessions
three days a week for three
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our night crawlers come from a supplier
here in the United States,” Kouf said.
But a new breed has come to town —
from Belgium.
“I’m excited about the new night
crawler,” said Kouf. “(It’s) a leatherback.
It’s so tough. For fishermen tired of feeding
the fish, get these and start catching
fish.”
The Belgium worm is not as big as its
U.S. counterpart, said Nordstrom.
It, along with the red worms the shop
offers, can be used by
gardeners.
“You can use
red worms and the
Euros, too,” he said.
“They are good tillers
and a smaller worm.
The night crawlers go
deep. The Euro and red
worm work the top two
feet of soil.”
Kouf says
interest in obtaining
worms for gardens and
flower beds has risen
the last few years.
“They have
become really interested
in being able to keep
something in the garden,”
he said. “Worms
not only compost the
material in the garden,
but also aerate it so
they don’t have to till.
“These worms
do both. Everything the
worms eat is nutrientrich.
They are fantastic
for the garden.”
Nordstrom gets his worms from an
Indiana worm farm and tucks them into
beds at his shop.
The bed is 4 by 8 feet and about 8
inches high. One variety of peat moss is
ground and mixed with another variety
and put in the bed. Moisture is monitored.
“We can put in 3,000 to 4,000
worms,” said Nordstrom. “We feed alfalfa
meal and worm feed and mix it with
water and pour it into a trench. We do
that every three to four days.”
Nordstrom said if 1,000 worms are put
The Sheridan Press/Christopher Pfuhl
Randy Kouf shows that their business
is crawling with inventory.
months.
Bydlon offers free testing of the
children to diagnose what may be
preventing learning.
“Why aren’t they learning?” is
the question the program seeks to
answer, Bydlon said.
According to PACE information,
the screening evaluates attention,
short-term memory, longterm-memory
retrieval, processing
speed, sound blending and visual
and auditory processing.
A training program is then
developed.
“We want fast, big results,” he
said. “Those are the tools that need
to be developed to make learning
easier and faster.”
Parents are included in the process,
he said.
“Sessions are three days a week
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Above, Tongue River Bait owner Art
Nordstrom (left) and Sales Manager
Randy Kouf offer Euro worms as an
alternative to a night crawler. They say
the Euro, from Belgium, is a tougher
and smaller worm than the standard
night crawler (right). They also offer
redworms and the Euro for gardeners.
in a bed, they’ll double in 30 days.
Gardeners can loosen the topsoil, place the
worms on the soil and cover them with leaves
or compost, and they’ll work themselves into
the soil.
“Their castings are the most fertile thing
for an hour, but we expect the parents
to do some additional work
with (the children) at home,” he
said.
“We show them
what to do. We want
those results, and
that takes extra time.
Because this is nonacademic,
it tends to
build relationships in
the family.”
Bydlon was a
special education
teacher for 11 years, has a master’s
degree in special education, and is
certified as an educational diagnostician.
“In my tutoring, I thought I had
powerful programs,” he said. “But
who wants to commit to doing this
a year or two years? I wanted
Nordstrom, Kouf open Tongue
River Bait shop in Ranchester;
sell variety of worms for gardens
something much more intensive
and get fast results. This answered
that beautifully.”
The motivator for
parents to help their
children may be
pain, he said.
“It reaches a point
where the pain outweighs
everything.
‘What kind of future
does my child
have?’
“They may be
struggling in school, maybe they
are struggling in elementary
school, or a student may be older
and has encounters with the law.
Sadly, pain is a motivator.”
The program has been used in
many walks of life, according to
Bydlon.
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you can get for your garden,” he said.
Beaver Creek Bait is serving Wyoming and
parts of South Dakota.
“It’s an ambitious business,” said Kouf.
“You have to be competitive, and we are
extremely competitive.”
Bydlon helps children to overcome learning barriers
Teamed up with
Processing and
Cognitive
Enhancement
program
Worm
entrepreneurs
‘We want
fast, big
results.’
— Jim Bydlon
“This program would benefit
everybody,” he said. “They have
used it for professional athletes to
improve their batting, and batting
averages have increased. The
Portland Trail Blazers have used
it. It has been used by students
who want to improve their ACT
and SAT scores.
“Almost everyone could benefit,
but they don’t accept everyone,
either,” Bydlon said of the PACE
organization’s emphasis on goals.
“They want a commitment that
this has to be the No. 1 priority for
three months.”
He can be reached at 673-1922.
——
On the Web:
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http://masterthecode.com
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Vincent
to offer lessons
Art, violin and Spanish lessons
are being offered in Sheridan by
Christie Vincent.
Creating portraits is a 10-week
course beginning May 1 for teens
and adults.
Vincent said lessons in violin, art
and Spanish for children 3 to 6 years
old are scheduled mornings.
The classes are offered at 230
Fort Road. For more information,
call Vincent at 673-4867.
Tyson named
Sheridan Manor
Employee
of Month
Thad Tyson has been named
Sheridan
Manor
March
Employee of
the Month.
Tyson has
worked at
Sheridan
Manor for 10
months as a
certified nurs-
ing assistant.
He has
also been a
mentor for
four months.
“Thad is a great asset to our facil-
Thad
Tyson
Business
Briefs
ity and to the residents,” according to
information from Sheridan Manor.
Moore joins
The McCoy
Agency, Farmers
Insurance office
Mary (Townsend) Moore has
joined the offices of The McCoy
Agency, Farmers Insurance.
She is a Sheridan native and has
been involved in the insurance
industry 28 years. She has had extensive
experience in the personal lines
field of insurance including sales,
underwriting
and managerial.
Recently,
she has specialized
in
the commercial
speciality
programs.
She is
licensed,
obtained the
Certified
Insurance
Counselor
designation
Mary
Moore
in 1990 and has continued with
annual updates each year. She has
completed the rapport leadership
program and Dale Carnegie in addition
to numerous other insurance
educational programs.
She is past president of Insurance
Women of Northeast Wyoming and
belongs to The Home Builders
Association.
She and her husband, Richard,
own Moore Glass LLC. They have
two children, and enjoy boating,
fishing and other water sports.
The agency is at 130 S. Brooks
in Sheridan.