July 2023 issue of the Farmworx Magazine

July 2023
→
A SALUTE TO WOMEN
IN AGRICULTURE:
Q&A with Emily Lawler & Hillaree Meyer
→
MAKING COVER
CROPS PAY:
5 Practical Tips
→ INVISIBLE
ASSETS:
The Untold Story of Iowa's
Ag Drainage Systems
→
RIGHT ON Q:
Speed Herrig Shares
Top BBQ Tips
→
SCOTCHEROOS - AN
IOWA DELICACY

July 2023
contents
Free Publication by Dudley Printing. 515 4th St. Rockwell City, IA 50579
If you would like a free copy sent to you, please email us at farmworxmagazine@gmail.com
Publisher - Jason Major
Graphic Designer - Teri Marsh
Advertising Account Executive - Dianne Julian
Editorial Content - Darcy Dougherty Maulsby
→
4
making cover
crops pay:
5 Practical Tips
→
12
Right on q:
Speed Herrig Shares Top BBQ Tips
→ 6
invisible assets:
The Untold Story of Iowa's Ag
Drainage Systems
→
15
scotcheroos- an
Iowa Delicacy
→
10
a salute to women
in agriculture:
Special Q&A feature with Hillaree Meyer
→
11
a salute to women
in agriculture:
Special Q&A feature with Emily Lawler
Page 2 July 2023

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Page 3

e
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James Hepp hosted a “Profitability with Cover Crops” program in June near Rockwell City.
Making Cover crops pay:
5practical tips
By Darcy Dougherty Maulsby
There’s a lot of “feel good” talk today
about the role of cover crops in
row-crop agriculture. Science shows
they offer many benefits, from increasing
soil organic matter to reducing
soil compaction, erosion and
nutrient runoff.
While cover crops are a long-term
investment in improved soil health,
do they really pay? Approximately
70 people gathered at Hepp Farms
near Rockwell City to find answers
during a “Profitability with Cover
Crops” pogram on June 9.
“I think the focus on return on investment
(ROI) is a big reason why
so many people attended,” said
Hepp, 33, a first-generation farmer
from Rockwell City, who grows
1,400 acres of corn, soybeans and
cereal rye with his family. “With cover
crops, I’ve learned there’s no $100
silver bullet for success. It takes ten
$10 solutions to make the system
work.”
Cover crops are different from
cash crops like corn and soybeans,
which farmers sell for profit. Cover
crops’ primary job is to improve the
soil. They are seeded into fields to
provide a “living mulch” between
growing seasons to protect the soil
from erosion and nutrient loss. Cover
crops can also help smother weeds,
manage pests and diseases, and increase
biodiversity on the farm. Depending
on the type of cover crop
seeded, the plants either winter kill,
or they are terminated before the
next cash crop starts growing in the
spring.
Making cover crops work means
investing extra time and attention to
detail, but it’s paying off for Hepp,
who offers his top 5 tips for success:
1. Start small. Hepp began with
80 acres of rye cover crop in 2020.
He was inspired by Keith Sexton,
who has a crop-share arrangement
with Hepp and had dabbled in cover
crops. “Planting into rye is scary, and
you’ve got to go on faith,” said Hepp,
whose rye was hip-high when he
planted non-GMO soybeans into his
first cover crop. “I couldn’t see anything
behind the planter, but everything
worked fine.” There was also
no yield drag at harvest. This encouraged
Hepp to expand his cover crop
acres to 120 acres in 2021. He now
manages 460 acres of cover crops.
“If you’re new to cover crops, start
with some acres that will be plant-
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Page 4 July 2023

July 2023
First-generation farmer James Hepp
ed to soybeans the next spring. It’s
more difficult to screw that up,” said
Hepp, whose goal is to have all of his
soybean acres in cover crops.
2. Try different seeding options.
Late summer (mid-August to early
September) is an ideal time to seed
cover crops. “When we’ve seeded
cover crops into standing corn at
that time, I’ve had 3-inch-tall rye going
into harvest,” Hepp said. “Running
the combine over that is nice,
because it’s like driving on turf.” To
seed his cover crops, Hepp has used
aerial seeding from an airplane to
hiring a local farmer with vertical tillage
equipment. Hepp is looking into
drone technology for seeding clover
and other cover crops. He also has
an air seeder he can put on his Hagie
high-clearance applicator and is
studying the best way to make this
work.
3. Test your results. In late May
2023, Hepp clipped a 3-foot by
3-foot sample of his rye cover crop
and sent the sample to Regen Ag
Lab in Pleasanton, Nebraska. (Regen
Ag Lab provides accurate, reliable
testing services surrounding
the principles of soil health and regenerative
agriculture.) The results
shocked Hepp. “Along with 2.2 tons
of dry matter, the sample showed
110 pounds of potassium and 22
pounds of phosphorus,” said Hepp,
who noted that’s enough potassium
to produce 85-bushel-per-acre soybeans.
“This wasn’t even my best rye
cover crop, but the tests showed the
rye has scavenged a lot of nutrients.”
While many of Iowa’s rich soils
contain abundant nutrients, the
chemistry and composition of certain
soils can make it tough for plants to
absorb these nutrients. Beneficial
soil microbes linked with cover crops
can help “unlock” this natural fertilizer.
“These nutrients are in an organic
form that’s like a slow-release fertilizer
that feeds the crops,” Hepp said.
In some cases, this can help lower
the fertilizer bill, or it allows farmers
to reallocate fertilizer resources for
more timely, strategic applications.
“I’ve cut back on dry fertilizer applications
and am using more liquid, foliar
feeding during the growing season,”
Hepp said. “This allows me to ‘spoon
feed’ my crop the nutrients it needs,
when it needs them.”
Cover crops also help suppress
weeds, which can help reduce herbicide
applications. “I try to do only one
post-emerge herbicide pass, if I can,”
Hepp said. “Also, with cover crops in
soybeans, I’m able to skip a residual
herbicide pass and get better weed
suppression, which normally pays for
the cost of the cover crop.”
Roughly 70 people gathered at Hepp Farms near
Rockwell City to learn about making cover crops pay.
4. Set goals. Hepp can’t forget all
the “snirt” (dirty snow) that covered
the Iowa landscape following a blizzard
right before Christmas 2022.
“Seeing all that black soil in the ditches
broke my heart. It also reminded
me why building soil health and holding
that valuable soil in place is my
top goal with cover crops.”
Hepp’s second goal is to increase
efficiency and save time. He has reduced
tillage, thanks to strip tillage
and no-till, and he’s finding ways to
make cover crops work with this system.
Hepp’s third goal for his cover
crops revolves around ROI. He plans
to seed more diverse species of cover
crops, since each one supports
certain microbes that provide specific
soil health benefits. “Clovers help the
microbes that play a role with nitrogen
fixation,” Hepp said. “This potentially
helps you lower your nitrogen
fertilizer bill.” Hepp is also interested
in developing an additional income
stream through custom cover- crop
seeding and raising rye for cover
crop seed.
5. Make cover crops part of your
farm management plan. Now that
he has experience seeding cover
crops on corn acres that will be planted
to soybeans, he’s experimenting
with the best ways to use cover crops
on soybean acres that will be planted
to corn next spring. “If you’re serious
about cover crops, you need to make
them part of your farm management
to-do list,” Hepp said.
Hepp encourages other farmers
to take advantage of cover crop costshare
opportunities through Practical
Farmers of Iowa and other organizations.
Also, seek out other farmers
with cover-crop experience, and
find online resources like XtremeAg’s
Cutting the Curve podcast, he advised.
“I’ve cut my learning curve this
way, and I want to help others learn.
If you want cover crops on your acres
and are willing to put some effort into
this, cover crops will work for you.”
Page 5

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, crews on dredging machines dug drainage ditches to help tame mosquito-filled sloughs and
transform the land into some of the most fertile ground in the nation. (Courtesy of Calhoun County Museum)
Invisible Assets:
The Untold Story of Iowa's Ag Drainage Systems
By Darcy Dougherty Maulsby
If there were a “Mysteries at the
Museum” television series geared towards
agriculture, this item would be
ideal to lead in a segment. It’s hollow,
it’s made of clay, it contains a message
from the past, and it was buried in the
ground for decades.
It’s a unique clay drainage tile dated
1885, and it’s on display in the Greene
County Historical Society’s museum
in Jefferson. The message carved
around the exterior of the tile reads,
“We the men who started the tile work
did so with a motive to benefit the town
and country. Signed T.P. LaRue of
Scranton, Iowa.”
An interpretive sign by the tile
shares a quote from S.J. Melson, a
former Greene County engineer, to
explain the curious item’s history. “This
tile was placed into my hands by Carl
Paup on February 1968. Mr. Paup
stated the tile was unearthed and has
lasted for many years on the property
owned and operated by Harrison Paup
of Kendrick Township, Greene County,
Iowa."
That tile reflects a major part of Iowa’s
agricultural history that has been
buried, literally, for generations, yet this
history continues to influence farming
methods, especially in the prairie pothole
regions of north-central Iowa and
northwest Iowa.
“In general, ag drainage in Iowa got
its start around 1880, but this varied a
lot, depending on the region,” said Joe
Otto, a historian who has worked as
a communications specialist with the
Iowa Water Center at Iowa State University
and has worked with the Soil
and Water Conservation Society.
The first documented case of a
drain tile being installed in Iowa occurred
in 1868 on the grounds of Iowa
State in Ames, Otto added. Before
that, some of the first drainage ditches
were dug in the 1850s along the Mississippi
River in Des Moines County,
just upstream from Burlington, so
farmers could help protect themselves
from flooding. One of these farmers,
John Williams, was later elected to the
state legislature and helped get the
state’s first drainage laws passed in
the 1870s, Otto said.
Drainage affected Iowa’s settlement
patterns
Ag drainage was such a major issue
in the 1800s that it impacted Iowa’s
settlement. “Iowa wasn’t settled
east to west, but from the bottoms
up to the top of the state's many river
valleys,” Otto said. “Atop the river valleys
were the flat, glaciated prairies of
north-central and northwestern Iowa.
These were settled and farmed starting
in the 1870s and 1880s - several
decades after farming started along
the Mississippi.”
The region’s extensive swamps
and sloughs were remnants of the last
glacier, which loosened its icy grip on
Iowa approximately 12,000 years ago.
“There was a lot of water and nowhere
Page 6 July 2023

for it to go,” Otto said. “Drainage ditches
had to be dug and tile lines had to
be laid before the sloughs and swamps
of Iowa could be farmed. This started
around 1880 and picked up speed in
the early 1900s as drainage technology
became more advanced.”
Ag leaders like Civil War veteran
and pioneer farmer Jesse Allee, who
settled in the Newell area in 1871,
knew ag drainage would be essential
to the development and prosperity of
the region. “He was far-seeing with
the unshakable belief in the future of
the community’s farm land,” according
to the 1969 Newell centennial history
book at the Allee Mansion south of
Newell. “Jesse worked hard educating
the public to the necessity of proper
drainage if this area was to be a leader
in agriculture.”
Settlers in Greene County faced a
similar situation. “By 1880, many landowners
realized underground drainage
tile was needed to remove the excess
water,” wrote James H. Andrew,
a long-time Greene County farmer
who created the Farm Drainage Tiling
exhibit at the Greene County Historical
Society’s museum in Jefferson before
he passed away in 2014.
As more settlers moved into Iowa
and demand for tile drainage grew, tile
kilns and factories popped up across
the state, Otto noted. Greene County,
like many Iowa counties, had multiple
firms manufacturing clay tile. These
businesses used locally-sourced clay.
These companies included Jefferson
Cement Products Co., which was located
just north of the Greene County
Fairgrounds and operated until about
1930, and Lawton and Mass, which
produced concrete tile at Cooper for a
number of years, starting in 1895.
“There were also small machines
made for farmers to mix concrete and
scoop it into a manually-cranked device
that used metal forms to make
various sizes of tile,” wrote Andrew,
who was known as “Mr. History.” “They
advertised you could make your tile at
home for half the cost of commercial
tile. But it’s doubtful if this was very
successful, since the proper steaming
and curing of concrete tiles is important.”
Drainage districts take shape
Ag drainage in Iowa took a major
leap forward in 1904, when state
legislation provided for the formation
of drainage districts. “Farmers could
always drain their own lands if they
wanted to, but to truly manage drained
water meant cooperation with your
neighbors,” Otto said.
A group of farmers could petition for
a drainage district. An engineer would
survey the land to establish the boundaries
of the area, and a feasible drainage
plan would be developed.
If approved, a contract would be
drawn up, with the cost paid by assessing
each landowner for his or her
fair share, considering his needs and
the acres involved. The county acted
as the administrator of the drainage
district and assessed taxes against the
land, as needed, to pay for the initial
cost and later for the maintenance of
the drainage district. Many times, the
money would be borrowed by issuing
bonds, and the landowners would
make payments on a 10-year plan, Andrew
noted.
“The drainage district plan provided
the larger tile needed for the main arteries
of the system,” Andrew wrote.
“Individual landowners were responsible
for installing and paying for the
lateral tile lines installed on their respective
farms to complete the drainage
plan.”
From 1904 to 1919, an average of
10 new drainage districts were created
per year in Greene County. “That’s a
new district about every five weeks,”
Andrew wrote.
The 1910s became the golden age
of ag drainage when most of Iowa's
public drainage systems were built,
Otto added. “By 1912, Iowa's farmers
had spent more money on drainage
then the U.S. government spent to
build the Panama Canal.”
A Greene County drainage district
created in 1916 to drain 998.7
acres using approximately 3.5 miles
of tile ranging in size from 10 inches
to 22 inches cost of $9,135, [nearly
$256,000 in today’s dollars], said
Michelle Fields, drainage clerk for
Greene County. “A drainage district
created and installed in 2013 drained
865.5 acres using around 2.38 miles of
tile ranging in size from 15 to 24 inches
at a cost $532,500,” she added.
Recalling the life of a ditch digger
By 1920, the formation of ag drainage
districts in Iowa slowed down as
the post-World War 1 ag depression
hit rural America. Still, the work con-
continue on pg. 8
This unique ag drainage tile, which was buried in a field for decades, is displayed at the Greene County Historical
Society in Jefferson.
July 2023
Page 7

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tinued. “Steam power (and later gasoline)
engines moved steel and iron
machines that could move a lot more
dirt around than could horse-drawn
scrapers and plows,” Otto said.
Around 1923, after most Greene
County drainage districts were in place,
the first tiling machines started to be
used, although hand digging continued
for many years, Andrew noted. In
the spring, summer and fall, men could
find a job “in the ditch” if they wanted
to work. “Many immigrants coming to
the USA found their first jobs digging
canals, and later drainage ditches. You
didn’t have to know English to be a
good man in the ditch,” added Andrew,
who noted that many of these workers
were from Sweden and Ireland.
The early tilers typically lived in
tents or small, portable shacks next to
the wet land they were draining. They
often cooked their own meals and lived
off the land by catching frogs for fried
frogs’ legs and snapping turtles for turtle
soup. They shot ducks, geese and
rabbits for meat. Sometimes bullheads
and other fish could be caught in the
larger ponds, Andrew noted. For water,
including drinking water, the men
would take a post auger and dig a hole
3 to 4 feet deep and would set in an old
farm pump.
“Ditch digging was well organized,
and the men were paid by the rods of
ditch dug by each man,” Andrew wrote.
“No work—no pay. And of course,
workmen’s compensation, health insurance
and so on were unheard of.”
“Generous gifts”
By the 1970s, corrugated plastic
pipe was introduced, which gradually
phased out clay tile as the most efficient
way to drain land. Today, Greene
County has nearly 3,000 miles of
drainage district tile and pipes, ranging
from 4 inches to 48 inches in diameter.
This distance would roughly equal a
tile ditch spanning from New York to
San Francisco.
“Note that the 3,000 miles is just
a measure of the district tiles,” Fields
said. “That number would be exponentially
larger if you included pri-
Page 8 July 2023
vate tile lines.”
As ag drainage issues have increasingly
become intertwined with
debates about conservation and
water quality, it’s important to keep
the line of communication open,
Otto said.
“I think the harsh reaction against
ag drainage that’s happened in the
past few years is due in part to people
suddenly wanting to engage in
drainage matters, but unsure of
what drainage is and does, who administers
it and what powers they
have. On the other side of the coin,
the people trusted to manage the
public’s interests in drainage have
a responsibility to break down barriers,
explain misconceptions and
guide the conversation to a common
ground.”
That’s a big reason why Andrew
documented the history of ag tiling,
counting it as one of the most important
events in local history and
the settlement of the region, noted
his son, Jim Andrew of Jefferson.
“Think of the men and the effort
it took to dig the clay, form and cure
the tile, haul the tile to the jobsite,
the survey crews working in ponds
and swamps, the drainage plans
made by the drainage engineer
proving drainage was practical, the
legal problems of objections and
disputes, letting the bids, and, most
important, the hundreds of men
with strong backs who worked digging
the ditches, laying the tile and
filling the ditches,” wrote James H.
Andrew.
“Yet, the tile is hidden underground,
and the ‘Iron Men’ tilers are
all deceased,” he concluded. “As
time passes, there is little appreciation
for the cooperative efforts
that drained Greene County and
made it so productive. Only when
these old tile systems fail and have
to be replaced at great expense will
many people realize the generous
gifts we’ve received from the drainage
district system.”

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Women in Agriculture Spotlight
With Hillaree Meyer
Hillaree Meyer is a wife and a mom
of three boys, working full time on the
Meyer’s family farm near Lohrville,
Iowa.
Q- How did you become interested
in agriculture?
A- My full-time venture in agriculture
started out raising baby calves.
Now, I do everything on the farm,
from driving a semi and tractor during
planting and harvest, to helping with
the animals.
Q- What would you say has been
the most rewarding part of your career
choice?
A-Being by my husband’s side and
literally raising our children on a tractor.
We are certainly a family-oriented
operation, and everyone pitches in to
help.
Q- The farm life is busy, but where
else could we find you?
A-We have kept busy being involved
in our community. We served
on the Calhoun County Expo board
for many years and now keep busy
with church activities and Sunday
school.
Q- What advice do you have for
other women interested in a career in
agriculture?
A-Don’t count yourself out. Work
hard and prove to yourself you know
what you are capable of achieving.
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Page 10 July 2023

Women in Agriculture Spotlight
With With Darleen Emily Degner Lawler
Emily Lawler is proof that women
can do all things in agriculture. She is
currently residing at her family farm,
where she isn’t afraid to get her hands
dirty to get work done.
Q- Tell me about your career in agriculture.
A- I am a farmer; I work for my dad
on the family farm near Clare. We are
a row crop operation raising corn and
soybeans. I am also a truck driver, so
during the winter and part of the summer
when we are not actively in the
field, I contract haul grain for the local
cooperatives to the processing plants.
Q- What inspired you to have a career
in agriculture?
A- I was fortunate enough to grow
up on a family farm, so I have been surrounded
by agriculture my whole life.
The older I got the more I came to appreciate
the beauty in agriculture, and
my passion for it grew from there.
Q- What could we find you doing in
your free time?
A- What is free time? Haha- I love
spending time with my friends and family.
I also enjoy hiking and working on
my motorcycles.
Q-What would you say to women
looking to build a career in the ag industry?
A- Go for it! There are so many different
facets to the agricultural industry
that can provide you with great opportunities
and experiences. Before I
returned full time to the family farm, I
interned and worked in a few different
areas of the industry, which were all
great learning experiences. I was lucky
enough to have met a lot of good people
along the way.
NEW Cooperative, Inc. is a farmer-owned grain, agronomy, energy and
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As a leading agriculture retailer, NEW Cooperative is focused on being an
innovative and efficient provider of today’s agriculture markets and
services to 8,000 members throughout their 60 locations in Iowa.
July 2023
Page 11

Right on Q:
Speed Herrig Shares Top BBQ Tips
By Darcy Dougherty Maulsby
Where there’s smoke, there’s
flavor, especially when Duane
“Speed” Herrig is cooking. For
more than 40 years, this Wall Lake
native has been the face and voice
of Cookies BBQ Sauce, the sweet,
smoky sauce that has appealed to
barbecue lovers since 1976.
“We really get into the sauce
around here,” joked Herrig, 85, Iowa’s
beloved barbecue promoter.
Thanks to decades of practice
with all things food, Herrig was unfazed
when Sinclair Tractor asked
him to bring his crew to feed 10,000
people during a customer appreciation
event at the Henry County
Fairgrounds in Mt. Pleasant. “We
prepared about 3,000 pounds of
pulled pork,” said Herrig, a 1956
Wall Lake High School graduate
and U.S. Navy veteran.
Great food and fun have long
been a recipe for success for Herrig,
who lives on the same Wall
Lake-area Century Farm where he
was raised. “I’ve always liked to
mess around in the kitchen,” said
Herrig, who learned a lot about
cooking from his mother, Alma.
“Because of food, I’ve met lots of
great people and even got to cook
for President George H.W. Bush
during the World Pork Expo in Des
Moines one year.”
Food wasn’t always Herrig’s focus,
however. In 1962, he opened
an auto repair shop on his family’s
farm in the machine shed. By the
late 1970s, he also started working
as a commissioned salesman for a
local company that made barbecue
sauce. By the early 1980s, he purchased
the business that would expand
into Cookies Food Products
and make him famous as “Speed
the Sauce Man.”
Herrig grew the businesses with
his late wife, Judy, and their three
children. “There were some super
lean times and a lot of long hours,
but we made it,” noted Herrig, who
Page 12 July 2023
is also a founding member of the
Iowa Barbecue Society.
Today, Herrig is as busy as ever.
His family’s Century Farm is home
to a corn and soybean operation,
Speed’s Golf Carts, Speed’s Automotive
Supply and Cookies Food
Products’ corporate office. From
spring into fall, you might spot Herrig
serving meals from Cookies’ famous
“rib wagon” at grocery stores
across Iowa and beyond. He also
makes time for charity events. On
July 15, he taught a BBQ bootcamp
at BBQ & Brew at Principal Park in
Des Moines. The Iowa Pork Producers
Association hosted this fun
event, which raised funds to help
food pantries statewide.
Great BBQ doesn’t have to be
complicated, said Herrig, who
shared his tips for prepping, seasoning
and cooking perfect pork
BBQ. “People are scared to screw
up ribs and pork loins,” he noted.
“Just give it a try if you want to bar-
continue on pg. 14

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Page 13

S
becue. You’ve got to start somewhere.”
How to cook ridiculously good
pork ribs
When it comes to pork ribs, there
are three types, including back ribs,
St. Louis-style ribs and spare ribs,
Herrig noted. He prefers back ribs,
because there’s less fat, and the
meat is more tender than some of
the other choices. St. Louis-style
ribs are Herrig’s second choice.
Since they have more fat than back
ribs, they take about an hour longer
to cook than back ribs.
After selecting the ribs, you can
cook the ribs in an oven, grill or
smoker. Prepare a marinade with
some beer and liquid smoke, if
desired. (If you’re cooking several
racks of ribs in the oven, pour a
whole can of beer in the bottom of
a baking pan, along with 3 tablespoons
of liquid smoke.) Pour the
marinade over the ribs. Place the
meat in the refrigerator overnight,
or a minimum of four hours.
Remove ribs from marinade, and
place the ribs on individual pieces
of tinfoil. Season each rack of ribs
with Cookies Flavor Enhancer All
Purpose Seasoning & Rub. Seal
the tinfoil tightly around each rack
of ribs. Bake ribs at 275 degrees
Fahrenheit for approximately 1.5 to
2 hours. Remove ribs from foil. Cover
ribs with Cookies BBQ Sauce.
Cook ribs at 225 to 250 degrees for
an additional 30 to 45 minutes.
If you choose to cook pork ribs on
the grill or smoker, follow a similar
process. (Instead of marinating the
ribs in beer, you can use pineapple
juice, if you like, since the juice
contains an enzyme that helps tenderize
the meat, Herrig said.) Place
the ribs on sheets of tinfoil, pour
pineapple juice on the ribs, and add
the dry rub. Wrap each rack of ribs
in tinfoil. Cook the ribs on the grill
or smoker at 250 degrees for 1.5 to
2 hours. Remove the ribs from the
heat, open the foil, and baste the
ribs with Cookies Sweet Hickory
BBQ Sauce (which contains pineapple
juice). Leave the foil open,
return the ribs to the grill or smoker,
and cook for another 30 to 45
minutes to caramelize the sauce.
“Cooking good BBQ isn’t rocket science,”
Herrig said.
Herrig’s top tip? Don’t overcook
pork. (Remove the ribs from
the heat when they reach 185 degrees.
Pork loins and other cuts
can be safely cooked to an internal
temperature of 145 degrees, Herrig
said.) Also, don’t over-season
or over-sauce the food. “It’s easier
to put on a little more than add too
much and try to tone it down.”
Keeping things simple is key.
“Don’t drive yourself nuts,” said
Herrig, who collected more than
350 of his favorite recipes for his
2005 cookbook, “Cookie’s Best
BBQ Recipes,” which has sold
thousands of copies. “Nearly all of
the ingredients in my recipes can
be found in any small-town grocery
store.”
Herrig, who is a member of the
Iowa Barbecue Society’s Hall of
Fame, continues to stay as busy as
ever and still loves cooking barbecue.
Don’t expect him to slow down
anytime soon.
“I’m still having so much fun doing
this that I’m going to keep on
going.”
Page 14 July 2023

Scotcheroos—an Iowa Delicacy
By Darcy Dougherty Maulsby
One of the highlights of spring and
summer events is getting to sample all
the tasty, homemade treats people bring
to picnics, potlucks, graduation parties
and more. Iowans are masters of making
these informal meals memorable.
When I attended a local high school
graduate’s reception in Lohrville in May,
I couldn’t believe my good fortune. At the
end of the buffet line, there was a beautiful
sight, sure to warm the heart of an Iowan—a
huge tray of homemade scotcheroos—all
cut into generous portions.
Since it’s important to eat a balanced
diet, I put a grilled hamburger on one side
of my plate and a big scotcheroo on the
other side.
I’ve been a scotcheroo fan since I was
a kid. Well into adulthood, I assumed
everyone knew about scotcheroos and
loved them. After I published my book
A Culinary History of Iowa, I discovered
that a surprising number of non-Iowans
have never heard of these delicacies.
Say it isn’t so! It’s hard to imagine life
without this incredible concoction of cereal,
chocolate, butterscotch and peanut
butter that’s fun to say (doesn’t “scotcheroo”
sound like a fancy dog?) and even
more fun to create.
Occasionally, a member of the media
asks to interview me about the origins of
the famed scotcheroo. At best, the history
is unclear. Some reports say the recipe
made its first appearance on the side of
Rice Krispies® boxes in the mid-1960s,
although there’s no definitive answer
about who invented scotcheroos—or
where. What I do know (after an informal
survey of Iowans across the state)
is that some folks had their first taste of a
scotcheroo made from Special K cereal.
One even reported that her mother made
scotcheroos back in the day from corn
flakes. Most people I’ve talked with, however,
agree that that scotcheroos made
from Rice Krispies are their favorite.
While some food snobs might sneer
any recipe based on convenience foods,
let’s take a step back to when scotcheroos
first hit the culinary scene. I think
of the Iowa home cooks I’ve interviewed
July 2023
through the years, especially those who
remember how popular “modern” convenience
foods were in the 1950s, 1960s
and 1970s.
At that time, processed, time-saving
foods were all the rage. Serving these
types of foods was a sign you were on
the cutting edge. It would have been
trendier to bring a plate of scotcheroos to
a party than a freshly-made rhubarb crisp
or apple pie.
Through the years, the Midwest become
the epicenter of scotcheroo enjoyment,
and I, for one, am grateful.
Scotcheroos are a riff on Rice Krispies
Treats, minus the marshmallows.
This connection is a nice touch, since
an Iowan helped create Rice Krispies
Treats. After Mildred Ghrist Day
earned her degree in home economics
from Iowa State, she landed a job with
the Kellogg’s cereal company. By 1939,
Mildred and a co-worker invented what
we know today as Rice Krispies Treats.
Some say scotcheroos are the Cadillac
of Rice Krispies Treats. Even though
they incorporate a few really great twists,
including peanut butter, melted chocolate
and butterscotch chips, scotcheroos
don’t really taste peanut buttery, nor do
they taste quite like butterscotch. More
than the sum of their parts, scotcheroos
are chewy, crispy and downright
addictive.
It's no wonder scotcheroo recipes
often turn up in Iowa church cookbooks
and community cookbooks—
the places where people showcase
their culinary “A game.” These books
abound with proven, practical recipes,
meaning you can find most, if not all,
the ingredients at the local grocery
store or your kitchen pantry. The simplicity
of scotcheroos’ ingredients is
just one more reason to love them.
Next time you need to bring treats
to a picnic or potluck, just whip up a
batch of scotcheroos. (Hey, I even
learned recntly that they freeze well
if you want to make them ahead of
time.) You’re sure to be the hit of the
party.
Darcy Maulsby, Iowa’s Storyteller, is
actively involved her family’s Century
Farm near Lake City. She is an ag journalist,
author of the book “Iowa Agriculture:
A History of Farming, Family and
Food,” and owner of a marketing/communications
company, Darcy Maulsby &
Co. Visit her online at www.darcymaulsby.com.
Page 15

1201 W. MAIN ST. LAKE CITY, IA 51449
1-800-262-6629 • www.mackemotors.com
Page 16 July 2023