Rooted in Opportunity

Coming Home to Grafton

By Real. Good. Staff

February 16, 2026

For one Grafton native, the path home wasn’t a straight line – but it led right back to where life feels most full.

After nearly a decade in Bozeman, Montana, Heather Szklarski and her husband moved back to Northeast North Dakota to pursue a dream sparked by their shared love of local food. “It was our dream to start a farm-to-table business,” she says. “But land in Montana was prohibitively expensive at the time, so we decided to move closer to home—and through some trial and error, we found our way back to Grafton.”

What started as a small hobby farm quickly grew into something more. They raised pasture‑raised chickens, pork, and eggs at a hobby scale, selling at local farmers markets and through a small CSA (community supported agriculture) and directly to customers for a time. As their family grew, they decided to cut back on what they raised for sale. However, their kids raise their own flock of laying and show chickens, sell some of their eggs, and bring their creative projects and extra produce to the Grafton Farmers Market.

For Heather, life in Northeast North Dakota is rich with both connection and possibility. “There is SO MUCH opportunity here,” she says. “We’re a collection of small communities with so much potential. There’s room to build your dream – whether it’s local food, local art, owning a business, or just making a difference. People are ready to support and participate.”

She speaks from experience – not only as a hobby farmer and artist but also as a homeschool mom, market organizer, 4-H volunteer, and Extension Master Gardener. The Grafton Farmers Market, which she helped start 15 years ago, has become a proud community tradition. “It’s so gratifying to see how the market has grown and changed over the years,” she reflects. “We’ve built relationships, created opportunities, and made space for people to come together – to learn, support local food, and connect with their neighbors.”

When asked what she loves most about Northeast North Dakota, Heather’s answer comes easily: “The wide-open spaces and never-ending sunsets just feel like home. There’s so much beauty in our landscape and ecological history that goes unnoticed. We are all here because of the gorgeous soils built by Lake Agassiz and the prairie plants and animals that came before us.”

The Szklarskis love to take it all in – sometimes by simply watching a sunrise, or by skiing the slopes at Frost Fire Park, “the most vertical feet in North Dakota,” she laughs. “My daughter also loves the weeklong art camp there—it’s such a special place.”

For this family, Grafton is more than a hometown – it’s proof that small communities can hold big dreams. Here, in the heart of Northeast North Dakota, they’ve found a place to grow food, raise a family, and nurture a community rooted deeply in possibility.