When Harley Fahrenholz was 18, he spent six weeks clearing rocks from his parents' 200-acre farm near Clarissa, Minn. His aching back! Before long Harley headed for the toolshed to invent a contraption that could have made his life easier. "It was the result of being lazy," he confesses now.
His first rock picker was a simple device with a wooden frame. Even before it was finished, a neighbor offered to buy it. Harley built a more complex machine which sold too. That was 32 years ago. This year Harley—still working on improvements—has sold 50 of his latest pickers (left).
The uses of the Harley Rock Picker have expanded—in Minneapolis it cleans up sand on beaches, and the Army is considering it to reclaim brass shell casings from firing ranges. Harley (above, with his wife, Helen) sells his biggest picker for $7,725, while his small models cost $3,875.
Mrs. Fahrenholz, married to Harley for nine years, says their best endorsement came from a Midwest farmer: "For the guy who invented this," the farmer said, "there should be a special place in heaven."
A bug man develops butterfly kits
It's not surprising that Carlos White had to go to more than one bank in Shatter, Calif. when he sought a $20,000 loan. The reason: He wanted to set up a business to grow Buckeye and Painted Lady butterflies out of season.
Eventually, the Community National Bank lent the money to White (below) an entymologist who gives pest advice to farmers. Over the next few months, White sat at his kitchen table developing a nutrient made of leaves, wheat germ, agar, vitamins, minerals and antibiotics. White's green mush stimulated larvae so that they developed into butterflies regardless of sunlight or season.
Today, White, 43, and his wife, Pat, 40, run Insect Lore Products, which markets his butterfly kits. Used in school science classes, the kits contain White's nutrient and five larvae. So far, the firm has sold 50,000 kits.
White is now toying with the notion of mush-raising frogs, plus other kinds of butterflies. "Butterflies can be very territorial," says White approvingly. "Even when they're released, they probably will hang around the place where they were born."
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
