Tammy Swift
jamestownsun
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Past articles by Tammy:
Amenia woman's Farm Sweet Farm cookie business cut out to be sweet success
From a dream kitchen inside her Amenia, N.D. farmhouse, Miranda Lindstrom pipes with precision, frosting elaborately-design cookies for her cottage bakery, Farm Sweet Farm. → Read More
'Donut' despair: The glazed-doughnut skin care trend is here!
There’s little doubt that Hailey Bieber's “glazed doughnut skin” trend will surely be more popular than Willem DaFoe’s ill-fated Beef Jerky Skincare Line of 2003 or Wilford Brimley's Boiled Chicken Skincare trend of 1987. But if I put that much oil on my face, I'd break out so violently that I would look more like an everything bagel. → Read More
Can this workforce be saved? Here's why US workers are quitting in droves
“Help wanted” signs are everywhere. Job specialists say people won’t take a job unless it pays at least $15 an hour. Since April, workers have been voluntarily leaving their jobs at a rate of 4 million people — that’s more people than the populations of the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington metro area — per month. What's behind this Great Resignation, and can this workforce be saved? → Read More
Business experts: Reasons for quitting work range from poor pay to feeling undervalued
The reasons prompting US workers to quit range from the practical -- a need for a flexible schedule and a livable wage -- to more intangible needs, such as the desire to feel valued. → Read More
Searching for the story behind an abandoned, fully cooked Thanksgiving turkey on Interstate 94
After swerving to miss a fully roasted turkey along the interstate on Thanksgiving day, columnist Tammy Swift asks: How did Tom Turkey get there? Who can even afford to throw away a turkey, what with food prices these days? And who would go through the trouble of stuffing, basting and roasting a turkey — only to fling it so callously out the window? → Read More
Moorhead cricket farm pivots to selling live insects for reptile food, bait
Dead or alive, crickets are in big demand these days. After Pat and Madeline Reviers' plan to raise crickets for high-protein, nutrient-packed cricket flour was temporarily stalled, they've pivoted to sell live crickets. Who will want them? According to Pat, everyone from gecko owners who are facing a nationwide feeder-insect shortage to anglers angling for a highly effective bait. → Read More
People cut own Christmas trees for whole 'experience'
For the estimated 18% of real-tree buyers who opt to cut their own Christmas tree, the ritual is as much about the experience as it is about the perfect pine. Local tree farms have worked hard to make that experience merry and bright, by adding extras like Santa Claus visits, gift shops, craft classes, bonfires for making s’mores and sled rides featuring live reindeer. → Read More
Swift: Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa ... and he's really, really tired
From a unionized workforce and burnt-out reindeer to supply shortages, Jolly Old St. Nicholas may have one heck of a holiday season this year. → Read More
Hershey to acquire North Dakota-founded Dot's Pretzels as part of $1.2 billion deal
Dorothy "Dot" Henke founded the business in 2012 from her kitchen in Velva, N.D. → Read More
Bottleneck: Glass, shipping woes may dry up holiday liquor supplies
Thanks to COVID — the "gift" that keeps on giving — you may have to brave your Great Aunt Violet's hideous holiday gifts this year with nogless eggs and "nulled" cider. Then again, maybe not. Some local retailers say all consumers need is a little patience. → Read More
Entrepreneurs hope to help parents with over-the-counter strep test
Patty Post was a busy mother of three who had grown tired of the revolving door of clinic visits whenever one of her children had strep throat. She started to ask, "Why couldn't this test be taken at home?" Now she's developed a home test that, if granted FDA approval, could hit store shelves in 2023. → Read More
Swift: Don't eat cookie dough or you'll get worms, and other weird parental rules
You'd better not be reading this in poor light. Or while riding in a car. Or while lying down. These qualify as 'Because I'm the Mom' rules, meaning our parents made these guidelines gospel, even if they weren't backed by science, common sense or logic. Here, columnist Tammy Swift passes along some of the wackiest and most baffling parental rules as shared by her Facebook friends. → Read More
'Nine Lies About Work': Book challenges everything from goal-setting to feedback
In a time of worker shortages, it may be an opportunity to rethink everything we thought we knew about workers and workplace culture. “Nine Lies about Work: A Freethinking Leader’s Guide to the Real World,” by Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall, challenges common misconceptions, like the importance of a corporate “culture,” employees don’t really care what company they work for, and… → Read More
Swift: Captain Kirk's space trip may start seniornaut trend
Thanks to Amazon's recent New Shepard flight, William Shatner has boldly gone where no nonagenarian has gone before. Which got this columnist thinking: Doesn't every senior citizen deserve to visit space? But first, Jeff Bezos is going to have to make some modifications to the rocket, including Barcaloungers, a spacesuit redesign and lots of old TV Guides in the bathrooms. → Read More
Swift: Welcome to non-spicy North Dakota, where this bland is our bland
While the rest of the world may operate according to the Scoville scale to measure the pungency of chili peppers, many of us North Dakotans (this writer included) operate according to a whole new scale that I like the call the "Tollefsrud unit." This ranges from a mild “uffda” for when Ole Tollefsrud gets heartburn after wife Phyllis slips a bell pepper into her sloppy Joe mix to a passionate… → Read More
Swift: Dogs can show remarkable shape-shifting (or Shep-shifting) powers
Columnist Tammy Swift describes the magical "canine-plasticity" of dogs who can make themselves larger, tinier, skinnier or fatter to fit any situation. → Read More
Swift: Don't be a knob because door installation isn't an open-and-shut case
After hearing how new exterior doors on her house would boost her home value, Tammy Swift hired a handyman to install new doors. But she also learned that, regardless of what Dionne Warwick says, a chair may still be a chair, but a door is rarely just a door. → Read More
Bismarck couple's Simple Sugar puts new spin on all-natural cotton candy
When Becky and Mark Binstock realized their daughter had food allergies, they went above and beyond to turn a childhood favorite — cotton candy — into a snack that she could safely enjoy. Today, their all-natural cotton candy-making business is ramping up for its next stage of growth with a professional rebrand, plans for an online store and a specially built commercial kitchen in their own home. → Read More
Swift: The day that Kevin, the pelican, came to visit
The mysterious stranger toddled into Noreen and Lee Thomas's yard last Monday, looking tall and pale and beady-eyed. They didn't know how long he planned to stay; he carried nothing but a gray pouch. But for the next three days, Kevin, the White American Pelican, terrified the chickens, schooled the dogs and followed the Thomases around as if they were walleye vending machines. → Read More
Grubbersputz's snacks gain name recognition, even if you can't pronounce it
This family-owned, Devils Lake-based food company was created by the man who brought Pugsley's Sandwiches to convenience stores across the region. Now, Gary Senger's newest brand, Grubbersputz's — marketed as "the name you can't pronounce, the flavors you can't forget" — is gracing his line of flavored popcorns, flavored pretzels and frozen pizzas. → Read More