Century Farms 2020

October 2020

Southern Minnesota

STRONG

Southern Minnesota farms celebrate 100 years and counting in Goodhue, Le Sueur, Rice, Steele & Waseca counties A SPECIAL SECTION FROM SOUTHERN MINN MEDIA

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Century Farms

October 2020O

Le Center farm, site of old one-room schoolhouse..............................................3 Schwichtenbergs recall fond memories on century-old farm...............................4 Cheryl Sutter’s life as on the farm has come full circle........................................5 After farming for more than 55 years, Duane Schultz ready to pass the torch.....6 Rice County farm family plants a legacy.................................................................... 7 Borns hope farm will stay in the family for another 100 years............................8 Learning to respect life, nature and be stewards of the soil..................................9 Family farm hits century mark just before long-time owner dies........................................ 10 Fourth generation of Nyquists returns to ensure family farm’s success ............................... 11 Fifth generation of Wencls work their Owatonna farmland................................................ 13 Southern Minnesota

STRONG

southern minnesota Century strong A special publication of the Faribault Daily News, Owatonna People’s Press, Northfield News, Kenyon Leader, Waseca County News, Le Sueur County News and St. Peter Herald Publisher: Steve Fisher Cover Photo: Michelle Vlasak

Southern Minnesota Century Strong is distributed to subscribers and readers of the Faribault Daily News, Owatonna People’s Press, Northfield News, Waseca County News, Kenyon Leader, Le Sueur County News and St. Peter Herald at no additional charge.

All rights reserved. ©2020 All advertising contained herein is the responsibility of the advertiser.

October 2020

Century Farms

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Le Center farm, site of old one-room schoolhouse

By CARSON HUGHES carson.hughes@apgsomn.com LE CENTER— Turn off a country road south of Le Center, and you may find yourself looking out at the peaceful scene of a wide green pasture and a large cottonwood tree.

The land would appear practically untouched if not for the barn and a three-bedroom house that stands tucked away from the open field.

It’s all the evidence that remains of a small, but bustling farm that carried the pattering footsteps of school age children and the pounding hooves of

is now one of 172 farms in Le Sueur County to be honored as a Century Farm.

The farm dates back to 1920, when it was purchased by Michelle’s grandfather Wencel James Macho and his wife Thackla Mary Macho from Thomas and Mary Dewire, and Frederich and Nellie Mall.

Michelle said she didn’t know much about what the farm was like under the ownership of her grandfather, mostly that they took care of the land and readied it for the day when her

‘My early memories are that my dad had dairy cows and the creamery truck would come every day to pick up the milk cans. When the weather was warm and the milk needed to stay cool, we would fill a stock tank with water and use that to keep the cans cool.’

— Michelle Dahn horses and cattle.

The 60-acre farm south of Le Center has had many identities over its long life: dairy farm, school, garden and even a bee farm, but one thing that has remained consistent over the years is the family that owns it. The farm currently belongs to Michelle (Macho) Dahn and Leroy G. Dahn after being passed down through three generations in the Macho family. The farm turned 100 this year and

This three bedroom farmhouse is where Michelle (Macho) Dahn grew up with her mother and father Bessie and Bernard Macho. The home has experienced new additions since it was first built including a bathroom and a living room and even survived a fire. (Carson Hughes/southernminn.com) room school houses that dotted the it would be Bernard’s home until his county before schools consolidated death in 1985. into larger buildings in the mid 20th Continued on page 15 century. The building closed its doors on 1957, but it would later see some use on the Macho farm as a grain storage unit Real challenges require real solutions.

Bernard would tell his children about until the building was removed how the older boys would play a trick entirely. to extend recess. While the teacher was busy, one of the older boys would The family farm would change climb into the bell tower and tie rope hands from father to son in into a knot. Once the teacher tried to 1940. Wencel sold the farm to Contact your local ag ring the bell to call the kids back in- Bernard and his wife Bessie drainage and survey team at: side with a ring of the bell, it wouldn’t Macho for just $1 shortly after Sleepy Eye (507) 794-5541 they married. The site was the make a sound.

Willmar (320) 231-3956 perfect place for the newlyweds District 108 was one of many one- to begin raising their family and Bolton-Menk.com

land, but lived on a neighboring farm with their son Bernard Macho. Bernard attended the one-room schoolhouse through the eighth grade.

Though the classes were short on stufather would take control of the land. dents, they weren’t short on mischief.

But the farm did have one unique feature while under Wencel and Thackla’s ownership: its very own school district. At the time the Machos bought the property, part of the land was leased out to Independent School District 108, which operated a one-room schoolhouse on the property.

Wencel and Thackla maintained the

Macho farm

WE DELIVER.

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Century Farms

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Schwichtenbergs recall fond memories on century-old farm

By MISTY SCHWAB misty.schwab@apgsomn.com MORRISTOWN — A slab of wood inside Robert “Bob” Schwichtenberg’s tractor shed is evidence of the owners who came before him on his century-old farm in Morristown.

The first to carve his name was James, though his last name is illegible. The next is Wensel Dusbabek, then Albert Schwichtenberg, and finally Bob’s own name. He and his wife, Tammy, are the ones to own the farm 100 years after it became a part of the Schwichtenberg family.

Bob’s grandparents, Albert and Emma Schwichtenberg, bought the family farm in March 1919 from Wensel Dusbabek. He estimates his own dad, Ewald, and uncle Herbert bought the farm from Albert in the 1940s, before Albert died in 1953.

Apart from two years in the service, Bob has spent his whole life on the Morristown farm. He remembers his family owning horses, hogs, chickens, ducks, pigs and milk cows.

Ewald and Herbert grew hay for the cows and oats, corn and soybeans.

In 1967, Bob, who has two siblings, purchased the farm from his dad.

Since then, he said the farm “has really changed” from the two-row equipment and pull-type combine.

Now, he said, “everything is big.”

Keeping it in the family Unlike his father, Bob didn’t raise pigs, chickens or ducks. But he did maintain the tradition of raising dairy cows until it made more sense to switch to beef cattle. The creamery had quit taking canned milk, and Bob started working construction, both which warranted the transition.

For Bob’s wife, Tammy, life on the Schwichtenberg farm began in 1968.

She grew up in Morristown and re-

FARM RELICS Tammy and Bob Schwichtenberg mentioned two main relics they have on their farm. One is a dinner bell they hang on their front porch, which they’ve owned for many decades, and another collectible item is an Allis-Chalmer D15, which Bob had refurbished.

Tammy said the tractor looks so nice she won’t allow Bob to use it for plowing or pushing snow.

They keep it in their tractor shed and take it out for show. calls seeing farms across the street.

Her family didn’t farm, but they owned pigs and ducks in town, a common practice at the time.

Bob and Tammy raised two girls and a boy. The oldest, Paula, lives in Waterville, and the youngest, Jodi, lives in Oak Creek, a suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Their only son, Robert “Rob” Schwichtenberg lives right across the road from his parents. Rob was in the last Morristown graduating class before it merged with Waterville-Elysian, and Jodi graduated with the first class of combined students.

This refurbished Allis-Chalmers D15 tractor is a prized possession for the Schwichtenberg family. Pictured from left: Tammy and Robert Sr. (Bob) with their son, Robert Jr. (Rob) on the century-old farm. (Misty Schwab/southernminn.com) Paula Meskan, Tammy and Bob’s was great. I did worry at times when eldest, remembers playing outside neighbors relied on them. they were smaller and I couldn’t see with the neighbors up the road and Paula has enjoyed taking her own them, I thought they would get lost learning to drive on the farm as a in the corn field, but that never hapchildren to their grandpa and grandchild. She and her siblings helped ma’s farm, where they hunt in the pened.” feed the calves when her dad raised woods and celebrate holidays. milk cows.

If there was ever a time her children “I liked the country, ” Rob said.

“I might not have enjoyed the farm, “I remember harvest time, Dad being Tammy said it was during haying liked the farm; it’s peaceful.

I helped out in the field running the picker for season because they all dealt with milk cows, carried milk pails, baled whatever he was picking, and when allergies when it came time to bale. hay, worked the fields, mowed the we were little especially, Mom would Baling hay was the main responsibillawn, put up fence and chased the run the wagon back and forth to the ity for the Schwichtenberg children, cows. ” granary or the corn crib,” Paula said. and they all drove tractors. The fam“It’s not a one-person job.”

Rob recalls whenever he or one of his ily used a small, rectangle baler to Robert and Tammy Schwichtenberg, pictured, like the location of their Morristown farm, one reason being the woods in their backyard. Their A big life lesson Paula learned from sisters were called to the office over pick up and toss the hay, but Bob said children and grandchildren learned to hunt, and continue to hunt, in they converted to round bales at the the intercom at school, they knew the her farm-based upbringing was that these woods. (Misty Schwab/southernminn.com) end of their farming years. cows had gotten out and they needed farm work doesn’t have a 9 to 5 timeline but rather “you work until the to go home and round them up. ticipating in sports and other school All three children helped with chores, work is done.” For that reason, her activities for the sake of the farm.

C family relied on neighbors to help if When it came to raising children on but Bob and Tammy didn’t want to W they ever took a vacation, and their the farm, Tammy said, “I thought it hold back their children from par- “They really didn’t have responsibili- Continued on page 21

Schwichtenberg

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Century Farms

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Cheryl Sutter’s life as on the farm has come full circle

By JON WEISBROD jon.weisbrod@apgsomn.com

and satisfied with their life. They shared a strong bond forged through similar upbringings in a quintessenBLOOMING GROVE TWP. — You tially rural community in the 1950s can take Cheryl Forrest out of the and 1960s. farm, but you can’t take the farm out As the couple neared retirement, they of Cheryl Forrest. began searching for land near Lakeville to perhaps start a hobby farm to It just wasn’t going to happen. help satisfy Cheryl’s innate agriculAfter graduating from Gustavus tural instincts that had been fortified Adolphus College in 1969, Forrest through 18 years of growing up on soon got married, raised a family, the farm. The notion of returning to watched her children start their own the sprawling acreage of her homefamilies and was proud of how she stead just north of Waseca had longwas able to influence generations of since been buried as Cheryl searched students as an English teacher for for a much-smaller plot to indulge four decades, first at Hopkins High her interests as a master gardener, School for a couple years and then horse enthusiast and general lover of Henry Sibley for the next 38. She and all animals found roaming the barns her husband, Dan, had purchased a she once called home. home on the outskirts of Burnsville shortly after they got married in June Perhaps unsurprisingly, nothing 1970 and where comfortable, happy stuck. She kept “looking and look-

ing and looking” and no matter the of fell into place for both sides. size, the price or the location, she just Cheryl and Dan proposed that couldn’t pull the trigger.

Meghan and Yuuki move into their “I guess I just thought I’d be looking Burnsville home so they could move forever,” she admitted. south to Waseca and return to the farm, at least temporarily.

Years of fruitless searching, though, was all about to come to an end when It’s been six years and they haven’t Cheryl and Dan came to a crossroads left. that just-so happened to intersect with a pivotal time in their daughter’s “A farm was always in the back of my mind, but I’m not sure about my huslife. band,” Cheryl said with a smile on a The year was 2014 and Cheryl’s Wednesday fall morning. “As far as 176-acre farmstead had been laying coming back here — back home? No, dormant for the previous four years I didn’t think about that. But I said following the death of her stepfather, if we want a chance to move to the Raymond. Cheryl and Dan were farm, this is it, and we did that. At the recently retired — and after discov- time, my husband said: ‘This is going ering that their daughter, Meghan to be temporary,’ but I guess it turned Forrest, and their son-in-law, Yuuki into permanent.”

Metreaud, were suddenly in the market for a new home — things just sort Every family has a story

Cheryl (Lee) Sutter spent most of the first 18 years of her life on her family’s farm in Blooming Grove Township in northeast Waseca County. (Jon Weisbrod/southernminn.com)

The Sutter-Lee farm traces its roots through Cheryl’s side of the family and dates back more than 150 years to 1861 when Cheryl’s great-grandfather, Alec K. Lee, immigrated to the United States with his father, Knudt Lee, from a “little town” in southern Norway called Vinje. The family first settled in Wisconsin before ultimately making their way to southern Minnesota and establishing a Lutheran church with a number of other immigrants from their tiny Scandinavian hamlet that sits roughly 100 miles west of present-day Oslo.

Alec and his wife, Betty, built their first home in 1888 on an 80-acre plot that has since more doubled in size over the last 130-plus years and blossomed into a six-building compound fitted with everything from a large refurbished traditional bright red barn,

to a contemporary gazebo, to a white chicken coop.

“They say the first (home) was a sod house, although that’s just the story,” Cheryl said. “Everyone around here had log cabins. They built it right on the end of the big woods (and) sat just to the north. The stones are still in the ground.”

Alec and Betty raised most of their 11 children in what Cheryl called a loftstyle cabin before in 1913 building the home that stands on the property to this day. Cheryl’s grandfather, Knute, was the second-youngest of the bunch and would one day take the reins of the family operation that included a wide variety of livestock and crops at its peak.

Sutter Continued on page 14

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Century Farms

October 2020O

After farming for more than 55 years, Duane Schultz ready to pass the torch

By PAT BECK pat.beck@apgsomn.com ST. PETER — Four generations of Schultzes have owned the family farm in North Kasota Township, off Hwy. 99 and Le Sueur County Road 106, between St. Peter and Cleveland.

The fifth and sixth generations are waiting in the wings to continue the 150-year tradition.

Now owned by Duane Schultz, 82, the farm will likely be passed on to his sons Steve, 51, and Chuck, 46, who farms in St. Peter, and possibly then to Steve’s children, William, 10, and Isabella, 7, who work on the farm and so far want to make a career out of farming.

Steve and his wife Deb and children live next door to Duane and rent the farm from him though Steve also has 100 acres of his own. While Steve has taken over running his dad’s farm since he retired in 2012, Duane, widowed in 2019, still helps out.

“He’s my hired man now,” Steve said of his dad.

150 YEARS OF SCHULTZ FARMERS 1st owner William Schultz 1870-1882 Next owner Meta Schultz 1882-1934

B s

L

grows up. With the pandemic, the children have been going to school only two days a week, so they’ve been out helping their father, riding a tractor with Dad and Grandpa, and picking up rocks in the fields.

Family farm history

Next owner Albert Schultz 1934-1964

Duane’s great-great grandfather, William Schultz, immigrated from Germany and purchased the farm July Next owner Duane Schultz 20, 1870 from the Pratt Land Co. The 1967 to ..... original parcel was 100 acres, costing Duane doesn’t have any plans to leave $20 an acre. the farm. But he’s unsure how much longer he will live on site.

William spent 1.5 years in New York state, then moved to Ell Creek, Il“I’ve got to have a back operation linois, for about six years, then to sometime, so it depends on what St. Louis before coming up the Miscondition I’m in,” Duane said. sissippi River by steamboat with his farming equipment and four horses Steve says he wants to to buy the farm to St. Paul. The party included Wiland keep it in the family. liam, his wife Albertine, and their children Anna, Herman and Teresa.

“It will continue in the family one William’s mother died on the boat way or another,” Steve said, noting it coming from Germany. William’s could also be with his brother. brother, John Schultz, was a harness maker in St. Paul.

“Hopefully there will a sixth generation with our boy,” Deb said.

No original buildings remain on the sesquicentennial farm. The present Or maybe their girl. Isabella also said home was built in 1972. she wants to be a farmer when she While the Schultzes used to feed 270280 beef cattle, the 1998 tornado that ripped through Le Sueur County destroyed seven farm buildings, so they stopped raising animals.

The family dog, Duke, joins Duane Schultz and his granddaughter, Isabella Schultz, in the four-wheeler. (Pat Beck/ southernminn.com)

Three generations gather in a corn field across the road from Duane Schultz’s farm home. From left are Deb, Isabella, Steve, William and Duane. (Pat Beck/southernminn.com)

D h a o a

Steve added: “Dad has lived his whole life on this farm. He has never changed his address.”

Steve agreed that “every year is different. Some years it’s too dry or too wet. This year is going pretty “When I was a kid, we had chickgood. The corn is drying good with ens, beef cattle and once in a while, the weather we’ve had. The yield has even had some pigs, and before that, been really good this year. “ they had a registered pulled Holstein dairy farm,” Steve said.

Duane agreed. “We’ve had nice weather.”

Duane said he has farmed for 55 years, “because I don’t know nothing Like his dad, Steve likes that farming else. It’s something different every offers something different every day. day. Spring to fall is two different seasons. There’s rotation of everything.

“You do all sorts of different things In the spring, you got to work the from mechanics to book work to fields and get the planting done and agronomist to shoving snow and wait for dry weather. In the fall, we’re corn. It’s quite the variety.” picking corn right now [Oct. 8]. We got the beans done.”

Steve studied ag business manage-

“ c a t a o

“ t w

B Three generations of Schultzes fill a planter with soybean seed in the spring. From left are Duane, Steve and William. (Photo courtesy of Steve o c Schultz) h w ment at University of Minnesotas Waseca, which closed in 1992. He i worked off the farm before his dad Continued on page 22

Schultz

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Century Farms

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Rice County farm family plants a legacy

By SAM WILMES samuel.wilmes@apgsomn.com LONSDALE — As the sun began to set on a gorgeous fall evening, farmer Dan Pumper and his family gathered around a tractor and marveled at the colors of the changing leaves.

PUMPER FARMS 1906: The original Pumper Farm is founded in Rice County 1993: Dan Pumper graduates from Montgomery-Lonsdale High School

The scenery, something Pumper has 1998: Dan marries his wife relished for decades since he started Jessica helping his father with fieldwork as a child, reminds him of his love for 2002: Dan becomes an farming, a profession and passion insurance agent through Farm four previous generations of his fam- Bureau Financial Services ily have lived by since 1906. obligations and into adulthood, Dan consistently helped his family during A consistent presence the spring and summer months.

Pumper’s great-great grandparents purchased the property his father Gary now operates in 1906, originally farming corn and soybeans. Today, Dan is joined by his younger brother, JC Caron; his uncle, Kevin; and Gary, who all farm near each other., still growing corn and soybeans. This year, the Pumper family received Century Farm status.

“It’s important that that stuff stays intact,” Dan said of continuing the family tradition. I think there’s a sense of legacy with it, not necessarily pressure to continue doing it, but almost an honor to be able to do it.”

Dan’s childhood memories of helping his father include driving a tractor and combine when he was only 11 or 12. He started operating his own acres when he was 15.

Those memories are shared by Dan’s father. Gary Pumper remembers walking in the pasture as a child and seeing cattle and pigs. He would even sometimes chase cows down the road. Sometimes, he was responsible for driving a tractor and stacking hay on a wagon when he was just 6 years old. As he grew older, he would milk cows before school and then finish daily chores after returning home.

harvest when they were dating. Being so close to the farming industry has given her a unique appreciation for farmers and the origin of food products. After a brief stint in Lonsdale, Dan and Jessica built a new home in 2004 on the original Pumper farm site on Millersburg Boulevard outside Lonsdale.

‘It’s in your blood’ After graduating from MontgomeryLonsdale High School in 1993, Dan attended South Central College in North Mankato and later worked for four to five years as a mechanical drafter. He then entered the insurance business in 2002 as an agent through Farm Bureau Financial Services after considering careers in banking insurance and real estate. His position allows him to sell to farmers, coverage that includes auto and home insurance on outbuildings, cattle, pigs, equipment and crops. Now, he leads a team of six Farm Bureau Financial Services employees with two offices in Faribault and Farmington.

Pumper was selected as a member of “A good life,” Gary said of his child- the 2014 Farm Bureau Hall of Fame for consistently performing as a top hood. achiever for 10 years or more. Pump“It’s a good life for my children to er has also earned 2015 PC Agent of grow up around, the freedom to the Year, Century Club Award, 2015 move around … I don’t know. It’s just Pacesetters and Super Pacesetters, 2015 Super All American and Agent the family farm.”

Council member.

Dan married his wife, Jessica, in 1998. She would ride along during “I like the team approach to helping people and getting people the protec-

“It was interesting,” he said. ”They’d come bring me to a field, they’d go around the field once on the outside, then they’d leave me, and they’d go to another field and then I’d finish that one.”

“Like a purpose, like you had something to do, that you were helping with the family thing,” he added.

Beyond physical farming work, some of Dan’s fondest childhood memories came when his mother would bring him lunch and the entire family would bond in the long hours they spent together during spring planting and fall harvest. Even with other

Farm Bureau Financial Services (FBFS) agent Dan Pumper (center) was recognized in 2015 by the Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation (MFBF) as a member of their Elite Builders Club during their annual meeting in Bloomington. Pumper signed 143 new members that year. (News file photo)

Kevin, Dan, Griffin, Jessica, Gary, and Dan’s brother, JC Caron, stand near a John Deere tractor on a recent fall evening. The family comes together during the fall and spring months to plant and harvest their annual yields.

(Sam Wilmes/southernminn.com) tion that they need and their families, and avoid liquidation or foreclosure.

In 2019, there were nearly 600 such their assets,” Dan said. bankruptcies, an increase on the 498 The couple’s oldest daughter, Geor- filed in 2018. gia, is in her second year of college in a vet tech program. Griffin, 11, attends fifth grade at TriCity United Schools and helps on the farm during the spring and fall.

Farming has not been an easy way to earn a living over the last decade. Across the region, farm income, though peaking in 2013 during a short period of strong prices and good yields, has since trended much lower, forcing farmers to refinance debt when they don’t earn enough to pay back the loan they take out each year to plant crops. Technology is advancing on an unprecedented scale, and fewer are entering the industry.

Data released by courts across the U.S. reportedly shows the number of farm bankruptcies across the country grew by 20% in 2019. The data refers to Chapter 12 bankruptcies which are part of the federal bankruptcy code that’s designed to allow family farmers and fishermen to restructure their finances

Despite the problems facing the profession, Dan Pumper still finds joy in fieldwork.

Pumper

Continued on page 9

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Century Farms

October 2020O

Borns hope farm will stay in the family for another 100 years

By ANNIE GRANLUND annie.granlund@apgsomn.com

WASECA — West of Waseca off County Road 26, a quaint 80-acre farm is nestled alongside the Kanne State Wildlife Management Area. For the last 100 years, the land has been worked by the Born family, though the history dates back even further.

According to Greg and Amanda Born, the farm’s current owners, the farm and land were originally homesteaded under President Andrew Johnson in 1867 to Edward Moylan for $488. This stemmed from the Homestead Act of 1866 – legislation that Johnson worked heavily on as a senator and is considered by many in the agriculture community to be one of the nation’s most important pieces of legislation. The act marked the beginning of the federal government dispensing land to the public in an effort to encourage settlement in the west – which at the time encompassed both the Midwest and what would eventually become the Born family farm.

A brand new Ford 500 tractor was purchased by Greg Born’s grandfather in 1967, later used on the Waseca farm. The tractor remains a mainstay on the farm to this day. (Submitted photo) tion,” laughed Gary Born.

Throughout the years of Greg’s parents owning and operating the farm, they continued to raise corn and soybeans as well as introduce livestock such as sheep, steer, and chickens. When Greg purchased the farm from his parents in 2012, he and Amanda continued to raise corn and In 1916, Ed and Anna Born pursoybeans. For now, the only animals chased the farm, raising chickens residing on the farm are the couple’s and hogs, milking cows and planttwo dogs and a cat. ing corn – the one constant crop throughout the farm’s century-long This year, the Born family farm was run. The original cost of the land for officially recognized by the Minnethe first Born family was $105 per sota Farm Bureau and the Minnesota acre.

State Fair through the Century Farm program, which honors Minnesota After 47 years, Chester Born and his families that have owned their farms wife LaVonne purchased the farm for the last 100 years. Century farms from Chester’s parents, continuing to have to be at least 50 acres in size milk cows and plant corn while addand continuously involved in farming soybeans to the mix for 12 more ing. Century Farm families receive a years. commemorative sign, as well as a certificate signed by the president of the “Ed was Greg’s great grandpa’s cousState Fair, president of the Minnesota in, and Chester was Greg’s grandpa’s Farm Bureau and the governor of first cousin. Greg’s parents, Gary and Minnesota.

Anna Born, bought the farm in 1969.

They owned the farm for 43 years,” The Born family farm is one of four said Amanda Born.

Waseca County century farms recognized in 2020.

“Many years ago, there were only Borns that lived in this whole secThe farm has gone through a variety

of changes over the last century, including the tearing down of an old barn that was built in 1936 and erecting two grain bins and a large shop.

The current farmhouse was built in 1940, and tile lines were eventually put in the fields.

“This is one of the first farms in Waseca County to have waterways put in by the Soil and Water Conservation District,” Amanda said, adding to the ongoing list of how the farm has evolved. “They used a road grader to construct it, and it still works to this day.”

Another drastic change Amanda says she can’t help but notice is simply the stark difference in the overall “way of life” between now and yesteryear.

“You can’t make an honest living on the farm along with the amount of acres we run,” Amanda said. “Greg and I both have to work full time jobs to make it work, whereas years ago they only farmed and that was it.”

On top of the financial pressure Amanda said she and her husband feel, there are other stressors that come with the farm that she feels non-farmers don’t often realize.

Amanda and Greg Born have been the owners and operators of the Born family farm in Waseca for the last seven years. The couple agrees that they have farming in the blood, both having grown up on a farm.

(Submitted photo) chased a brand new Ford 5000 trac“There are so many other factors about farming than just planting and Despite all the glaring difference, tor, which Greg’s father later bought harvest,” she said. Regardless, Aman- both good and bad, that the farm has to use on the Waseca farm. The tracda said that farming is just as much seen over the years, there are some tor is still used frequently on the farm in her own DNA as it is her husband’s important things that have remained to this day, and Greg and his father and she wouldn’t have it any other the same and stood the test of time continue to farm together. way. Growing up on a farm herself, – aside from the continuing tradition Amanda said she always dreamed of growing and harvest corn. that one day she would marry a farmer.

In 1967, Greg’s grandfather pur- Continued on page 21

Born

October 2020

Century Farms

Learning to respect life, nature and be stewards of the soil

PAGE 9 for weather and then all of the different factors and then the harvest and marketing. It’s a challenging busiContinued from page 7 ness, but it’s sort of an independent “I just love it,” he said of farming. business.”

“Just the sense of accomplishment to go plant a crop and then you pray “It’s in your blood,” he added.

Pumper

Dan Pumper says he has a few thousand clients as an insurance agent through Farm Bureau Financial Services in Faribault. In his spare time, he farms on land west of Northfield, carrying on the tradition left by past generations of his family. (Sam Wilmes/southernminn.com)

A sign on Kevin Pumper’s garage signifies the 115 years the family has farmed west of Northfield.

(Sam Wilmes/southernminn.com)

Al and Joyce Moorhouse stand in the yard of the farm site where they lived for 18 years. Today, their oldest daughter Marie lives in the original house. The barn burned down in the 1970s and the old machine shed blew down in a storm. Marie put a new building up to replace the old shed. The three-car garage Al built sits in the background near the old stone house, garage and smokehouse. (Michelle Vlasak/southernminn. com)

By MICHELLE VLASAK thankful for the pictures Al’s family 1871, Richard Flood Moorhouse Edward) serve in World War I. michelle.vlasak@apgsomn.com members took and the history they and his wife Leticia (Dack) pur- When her son George A. Moorleft behind. chased the land they had farmed house married Verna Mildred CANNON FALLS — Whether you since 1869. The land was 160 acres Miller on June 30, 1925, Emilie grew up on a farm or lived on one “We have to be really thankful to and sold to them by Aruthur Clif- purchased a home in Cannon Falls most of your life, you quickly realize have lived a godly life,” said Joyce ford for $1,300. Later they acquired on the west side of town. George there’s a lot more than what meets of the time they spent on the farm. smaller tracts. In 1883, Richard’s and Verna farmed the family farm the eye.

“I always think, we don’t really own wife died of cancer and he married in shares with his mother. They this farm, it belongs to God.” Emilie Amelia Zemke. She helped had four children: Grayden, ElAllard and Joyce Moorhouse, who’ve raise his Richard’s four children and wyn, Allard and George Winton. lived on their sesquicentennial farm “I think when you were raised on had nine of her own before Richard In May 1943, Verna died follow-in Cannon Falls for 18 years and the farm you respect and you learn died in 1901. Emilie Amelia then ing goiter surgery in Red Wing. raised their four children there, say to respect life and nature and the settled with Richard’s first four chil- The children were 17, 15, 13 and -by having lived on a farm, they’ve soil,” said Joyce. “To be stewards of dren by giving the sons each a team 4 years of age. George and his sons enjoyed something that many peo- the soil is very important.” of horses, and $200 for each of the farmed the land. Daughter Elwyn rple will never experience. married during this time and Aldaughters. lard graduated from Blooming Building history and memories on Looking back on the history of the the farm At 16, Emilia Amelia Zemke Moor- Prairie High School. farm where they began their life afhouse and her parents came to the ter getting married, Joyce says there’s The Moorhouse family farm his- U.S. from Germany. She saw her so much value in the past and she is tory began in 1869. In March of sons (George, Arthur, Herman and Continued on page 20

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Century Farms

October 2020O

Family farm hits century mark just before long-time owner dies

By PHILIP WEYHE philip.weyhe@apgsomn.com

at my uncle, as a 93-year-old living all along, learning how to farm.” there so long, he was looked at as the head of the farming community in In 1938, a fire took down the famLE SUEUR — Laying in a hospital that area.” ily’s original home. A corn husk got bed, 93-year-old Ralph John King caught in a wood stove and burned was shown a certificate, signed by History the house down. Hattie ran off to Gov. Tim Walz, that indicated his call the fire department, while John family farm, established by his par- King’s parents purchased the farm ran in to grab important insurance ents in 1920, was officially a century from Henry and Ida Thelemann in papers and other items. The family farm. A moment of great pride, it 1920 at a cost of $300 per acre. The lived with relatives until they — with came just weeks before his Sept. 29 80 acres grew corn, barley, alfalfa and some outside help — could get a new death. meadow hay, and those staple crops home built. stuck around through its history.

For Ralph, life was always centered Also on the farm over the years, there “The community really pulled toaround that 80-acre homestead at have been chickens, dairy cows, pigs, gether to rebuild the new home for 25968 Lexington Road in rural Le horses, dogs, cats and geese. the family,” Damerow said. “It was Sueur County. a significant moment for them. My “They lived on that farm from 1920 uncle (Ralph) told stories about how “In those last months, on one of my on and raised the family,” said Dam- they were building in the winter, and they had to heat the nails during convisits, we took a ride out to the farm erow of her grandparents. struction. My mom talked about losand it was probably one of the happiest days of the end of his life,” said John and Hattie King raised four ing all her little dolls and things like Ralph’s niece Barb Damerow. “He re- children — three girls and a boy. that. They were all little kids.”

Ralph King was actually part of tripally loved that farm.” lets, along with one of his sisters; Ralph was more than ready to take Ralph’s parents, John and Hattie, ran but the third triplet, a brother, died over by the time his father died in the farm for 48 years before John shortly after birth. The kids grew up, 1968. He maintained the 80 acres, died and Ralph took over. Ralph helping out in the fields, in the house not shrinking or growing the farm.

He was the full-time farmer on the then presided over it for another 52 and with the animals. land until he was 80, when he started years (renting it out in the last several years). In February, Ralph started to “I think they really enjoyed growing renting out some of the land. experience some health problems, up on the farm,” Damerow said. “I and with the COVID-19 pandemic think the girls didn’t see farming in There was never too much stress for impacting life by March, any plans to their future. They all left and moved Ralph. celebrate the family farm’s achievement were put on hold. Unfortunate- FARM FACTS ly, the opportunity to celebrate with • Purchased by John and Hattie King in 1920 for $300 per acre Ralph was lost, as his health deteriorated and he died by the fall.

• Took over by Ralph King in 1968 While it was painful to lose her uncle, Damerow was grateful for the time she and her five children got to be with him, and happy that he was able to see the century farm certificate before his passing. Ralph had no children of his own, and the future of the farm is still to be determined, but that won’t impact the past 100 years.

“I think there was a lot of sadness when he died,” Damerow said. “A lot of people will always be like ‘That’s the King farm.’ I think they looked

• Rented out in 1980 • Located at 25968 Lexington Road, Le Sueur • 80 acres, growing corn, wheat, oats, barley, alfalfa and meadow hay

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The King family farm in rural Le Sueur County, photographed in the 1940s. The King farm was purchased by John and Hattie in 1920 and then transferred to their son John in 1968. (Photo courtesy of Barb Damerow) mom talked about that a lot, too,” Damerow said. “He was a very intelligent farmer. There was never any financial worries. He was definitely the type of farmer that helped out a lot of the other farmers, too.”

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After taking over the farm, Ralph met Carol, a Le Sueur schoolteacher, and the two married and lived together until her death about five years ago.

Community leader There are a number of longstanding family farms in the area where the King farm stands, and it created a community where people helped and shared with one another.

Chris Wacker runs a farm about a mile and a half across the fields, • Animals raised include cows, chickens, pigs, horses, dogs and cats as the crow flies. He was 33 years younger than Ralph, but ever since he was about 10 years old, he knew to the cities to have their own careers, get married and raise their families. “My uncle enjoyed the openness of the longtime farmer well.

But after my grandpa died, my uncle the farm and watching the sun rise took over and continued farming. He and set, and he liked to watch the “Everybody teachers everybody had been working with my grandpa, stars and see the storms come. My some things out in the country,”

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Work gets done on the King family farm in the 1950s. (Photo courtesy of Barb Damerow) H Wacker said. “We picked corn to- so when people took ear corn and putt gether. We made wood in the win- it in cribs, he came over and shelledc ter time together. When he sold his that to take the corn off the cob to sello cows, I rented his barn to put hay it it in town,” Wacker said. “It meant at in and everything. We got along real lot. You can always count on Ralph.S well. Ralph was a heck of a good guy.” He’d be there.”

J t According to Wacker, Ralph was very Dave Mager is another neighbor to generous with his time and his equipW ment. w t “He had the corn shelling machine, Continued on page 18 S

King

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PAGE 11

Fourth generation of Nyquists returns to ensure family farm’s success

By BAILEY GRUBISH bailey.grubish@apgsomn.com JANESVILLE —Bob Nyquist, a third generation farmer, lives on his family farm with his wife Pam, and their daughter Angela Nyquist.

The Nyquist family farm is 92 acres in total consisting of farmland, hunting land, pastures, wildlife area and living areas.

In 2020 the Nyquist farm hit 100 years old, making it eligible for the Century Farm recognition program sponsored by the Minnesota State Fair and the Minnesota Farm Bureau.

This program recognizes farms that have been in continuous ownership by a family for 100 years or more.

The family received an outdoor metal sign to designate it as a “Century Farm” and a certificate signed by the governor of Minnesota and presidents of the Minnesota Farm Bureau and the Minnesota State Fair.

Pam Nyquist lets the chickens out to feed and wonder around the farm property. The farm consists of beef cattle, egg laying hens and crop farming. (Bailey Grubish/southernminn.com)

The Nyquist family farm celebrated 100 years in 2020 and is officially recognized by the Minnesota State Fair as a century farm. Bob, daughter Angela and wife Pam Nyquist all work on the farm together. (Bailey Grubish/ southernminn.com) for the Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton School District for many years.

Betty (Oliver) Nyquist lived her en“It kind of honored the grandparents tire life on the farmstead and both that we’re still here,” Bob Nyquist said of Bob Nyquist’s parents lived there his entire life in the original home on about the Century Farm award. the property. He figures the original Bob Nyquist’s grandparents, Ben house is over 100 years old and has and Nellie Oliver founded the farm- been added onto at least once. stead in 1920. They moved from the Mapleton/Winnebago, Minnesota, Bob Nyquist has lived on the family area after leaving their jobs in order farm his entire life. He officially took to farm. Ben Oliver sold insurance over the farm in 1994 with his wife and Nellie Oliver taught before pur- Pam helping out part-time while she Pam Nyquist lets the chickens out to feed and wonder around the chasing the farm and having three worked. She grew up on a dairy farm farm property. The farm consists of beef cattle, egg laying hens and crop farming. (Bailey Grubish/southernminn.com) south of Waseca. children. and crop farming when he started working on the farm, but eventually Bob Nyquist sold the pigs completely and brought back the beef cattle.

Today, the farm consists of a mixed breed of Angus/Hereford beef cattle, laying hens, barn cats, corn, hay and He worked at Birds Eye and other alfalfa, and a garden. jobs before fully committing to farming, but he has farmied the land since “I couldn’t see anyone else running When they operated the farm there graduating from high school. He’s the place so I stayed here,” Bob Nywere chickens, beef cattle and pigs on been full time since 1983. quist said. the farm. While working on the farm Stan Nyquist also drove a school bus The farm consisted of pigs, chickens His mother Betty (Oliver) Nyquist, the youngest of Ben and Nellie’s three children, decided she wanted to stay on the farm and work, so in 1973 she took over along with her husband Stan Nyquist’s help. Stan grew up in Janesville and worked in construction briefly, prior to farming.

Once out at the farm, they built a new home on the property adjacent to the original home his grandparents and parents lived in, leaving the original house for storage.

have to be at this time,” Angela Nyquist said. “We’ll see what happens in “It’s worked out pretty well,” Bob Nyquist said of working as a family on the future, you never know.” the farm. “There’s always a difference She helps with any task or job on the of opinions, but it’s worked out.” farm including bottle feeding a calf she calls little miss.

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Bob and Pam Nyquist’s daughter Angela Nyquist returned to the family farm after obtaining her bachelor’s degree in animal science with a minor in agriculture business at South Dakota State University.

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Century Farms

October 2020O

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Fifth generation of Wencls work their Owatonna farmland Larry took over for 34 years before once again passing it to his own son, Darren. Crops that have been grown on Wencl Farm throughout the years included corn, oats, soybeans, wheat and alfalfa. Lori says dairy cows and pigs were raised on the farm while Darren grew up.

“Then I think it was about the year 2000 that they sold the dairy herd and now we just do beef cattle,” Lori said.

This year marks the eighth year under the ownership of Darren and Lori, who’ve made few changes to the operation. In fact, the farm has maintained its original acreage. Most of the original buildings have been torn down and rebuilt over the years, with one exception, although even that building is breaking down. The present house was built in 1942, according to the Century Farm application.

The farm’s current occupants consists of Darren, Lori and their 8-year-old son Anton Wencl. The three were hoping to celebrate the achievement with a get together with friends and family, however COVID-19 Three generations hold the century farm commemorative plaque. Darren Wencl (left) stands with his son Anton halted those plans. and his father Larry. (Photo courtesy of Lori Wencl) “So we are hoping next year to be able to celebrate,” Lori said.

By ASHLEY REZACHEK this recognition a farm must be con- whose family has owned the farm ashley.rezachek@apgsomn.com tinuously family-owned for 100 years since 1920.

The couple knew when they or more, consist of 50 or more acres purchased the farm from DarOWATONNA — 2020 has had its ups and be currently active.

Although the acknowledgement is ren’s father Larry that they and downs, but for the family-opernice, the Wencl family makes it very would be operating during the ated Wencl Farm this year provided Typically recognition ceremonies are clear that they don’t farm for the rec- century anniversary. After figa reason to celebrate. 2020 marks the held at the county fair, but because of ognition, but because they enjoy it. uring out exactly when the farm family farm’s 100-year anniversary. the pandemic, the 2020 Steele Counwould turn 100, the Wencls apJust as in the previous 100 years, the ty Free Fair was canceled.

Anton F. Wencl purchased the farm plied to the Century Farm proWencl family continues to dedicate from Dorothea Olhoeft 100 years gram last February. their lives and work to farming.

“So they mailed (the commemora- ago. At the time it cost $64.39 per tive plaque) to us this year,” Lori acre, for the 116-acre parcel. Anton For Lori, farming was unThe Wencl Family Farm in Owaton- Wencl said. “Normally it would be owned and operated the farm for charted territory. She describes na was recently named a Minnesota presented at the county fair, but they 21 years before he passed it onto the transition from town life to State Fair and Minnesota Farm Bu- mailed it to us because of COVID.” son Laurence Wencl who farmed farming life as “interesting” and reau’s Century Farm. In order to get Lori is the wife of Darren Wencl, the land for 37 years. Laurence’s son says she’s still learning more

about farming every day.

“When I was in high school I was actually afraid of cows,” she said with a laugh, “and now I’m out there and they’re like my pets.” Her favorite part of the farm — when she’s not working as a nurse at the hospital — is taking care of the animals.

others like to keep to themselves, he said.

Although they have quite a few animals, the Wencls farm focuses on soybean and corn crops. The fall is harvest season, which means Darren spends hours in the field reaping the crops, sometimes long after the sun has set. When he’s not in the field, The family of three now has about he’s fixing equipment, changing oil or 20 beef cattle, a couple of pigs, a tending to other important tasks to small flock of chickens, a farm dog, keep the farm in working order. and several kittens who bravely dart around the significantly larger cows’ A typical day on the farm for the other two family members starts by getfeet. ting Anton on the school bus bright “My dad says we have too many cats,” and early. While Anton learns in his Anton said. “Yyou can see why,” he third-grade classroom in Owatonna, added, gesturing to the half dozen or Lori checks on the animals, making so friendly cats and kittens that had gathered for some attention. Some of the farm cats are friendly, whereas Continued on page 16

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Century Farms

The sign hangs on the railing just outside Dan and Cheryl Sutter’s home north of Waseca commemorating the farm’s Sesquicentennial milestone.

(Jon Weisbrod/southernMmnn.com)

Cheryl Sutter points out her family’s history as commemorated on a framed plaque inside one of the many buildings on the property. (Jon Weisbrod/southernminn.com) Knute).”

Sutter

Cheryl Sutter walks through her property on the morning of Wednesday, Oct. 14. She and her husband, Dan, returned to her family’s farm in 2014 after spending roughly 40 years teaching high school in the Twin Cities.

(Jon Weisbrod/southernminn.com) SUTTER-LEE FARM TOWNSHIP: Blooming Grove ACRES: 176 COUNTY: Waseca DATE OF ORIGINAL PURCHASE: May 18, 1870 THROUGH THE YEARS: Alec K. Lee (1870-1913), Knute Olien Lee (1913-1953), Alvin N. Lee (19511953), Dorathea Lee (19531954), Dorathea and Raymond Sutter (1954-2010), Dorathea Lee Sutter (2010-present) NOTE: Cheryl (Lee) Sutter (daughter of Alvin and Dorathea) and husband Dan Sutter have lived on the property and helped maintain the farmstead since 2014

Dorathea simply wasn’t going to allow that to happen.

“When my dad died in 1953 everyone encouraged my mom to sell the farm at that point,” Cheryl said. “She said ‘no.’”

Dorathea was the sole proprietor of the farm a while before remarrying a man named Raymond Sutter in 1954, and the two maintained control of medical bills in an era where insulin the land for the next five decades had yet to become readily available. prior to Raymond’s death in 2010.

Knute and his wife, Hulda, cultivated the land for years and eventually “They were a self-sustaining fam- started a family of their own, giving ily with cattle, pigs and chickens,” birth to four children, including AlCheryl said. “At one time they raised vin, who is Cheryl’s father.

Moving from a much smaller farm wheat, oats, corn, too. My grandfa“just over the woods” outside Waseca When Knute died in 1951, Alvin — ther was the one to take it over bewhen Cheryl was around 3, the first cause a couple of the brothers in the who had suffered from diabetes for thing Alvin did when he took control family went to Canada — why they most of his life — decided to accept of his father’s farm was to reduce the did that I don’t know — and a couple the invitation to run the family farm entire operation and become a more died early. There were some women largely out of a desire to help make economically and financially sound and they eventually went with their ends meet for him and his wife, Do- business. He simply didn’t have the spouses, so it got passed down (to rathea. He’d accumulated a substan- physical strength to maintain such tial amount of debt, mostly from a massive farmstead and was unable to hire full-time help, so THANK YOU, FARMERS! he removed livestock from the equation and focused solely on 523 2nd St cultivating crops such as wheat, Kenyon, MN 55946 corn and alfalfa.

Continued from page 5

tes worsening to the point where he eventually lost his sight, Alvin died in 1953 at the age of 35. That could have easily signified the end of the Lee family’s deeply-rooted ties to the agricultural industry in south-central Minnesota.

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“He had to build it back up,” Cheryl said. “They got rid of the animals, cattle, chickens and pigs and I had a couple sheep and horses. We were spread out doing everything.”

With the affects of his diabe-

“A couple uncles and neighbors helped and they kept the cattle and kept the chickens and they helped her farm the land,” Cheryl said of the time period before her mother remarried. “My stepfather (Raymond) was actually a neighbor on the very next farm because we have land on both sides of the road. He grew up on the next property over.”

The next evolution of the homestead following Raymond’s death leads directly into where things stand today.

Cheryl and Dan have seen their share of challenges since officially making the move back to the farm — overcoming complications stemming from Dan’s heart-transplant surgery in 2017 and the sudden death of their son, Sean, to unknown causes this past May — but have left an indelible mark on just about every inch of the property.

October 2020O

An insulated gazebo and an elaborate landscape featuring an elevated stream bed winding through various flowers and plants were added A within the last couple of years to the Sutter Farm near Waseca. (Jon C Weisbrod/southernminn.com) b ing all day long as a kid in a couple They started on some of the larger hours. That’s 100 acres and it’s three projects before they technically trips around and they’re done.” moved in and have since erected a cavernous, sharply-angled building Cheryl, of course, has been offered a to house their “toys” and converted unique perspective to the evolution one of the barns into a private venue of the entire farming industry over that was used to host their daughter’s the last half-century. She admits the wedding. Cheryl is also a master gar- smaller operations are on the verge dener and recently had a perfectly of extinction as most of them have manicured flower-lined stream in- been “enveloped by one of the larger stalled just outside the insulated ga- groups.” zebo that was also finished within the last year.

“Lots of these farmsteads are just owned by people,” she continued.

Though the coronavirus has im- “Most have sold the land and some pacted their day-to-day lives and are in my situation where it’s rented. severely limited their travel, Dan That’s the biggest thing, farms have and Cheryl still carve out time every gotten so much bigger and they are week to meet with friends for coffee focused and specialized. There’s no on Wednesdays and appreciate the more doing a little bit of this and a simple things like mowing the lawn little of that. It’s become supersized. on a mild spring afternoon.

We used to try and do it all. Now they select and stay with it, maybe “Our day is basically planning the ac- just cash crops.” tivities we need to get done outside,” Cheryl said. “A typical day for me will One thing that hasn’t changed, be in the garden and Dan will mow though, is the small-town hospitality a couple hours every afternoon. We that she grew up as part of the local have a couple riding lawnmowers farming community and beyond. and that’s one of the things he loves After graduating from Waseca High to do. We stay busy.”

School in 1965 and leaving home to forge her own path in Twin Cities, As for the acres of crops, those are Cheryl Forrest has come full circle. being utilized to harvest mainly corn, but yield soybeans every three years. “We loved teaching and we had a lot One of Cheryl’s cousins on the Sut- of friends,” she said. “But it’s differter side, Todd Selvik, runs the actual ent here. It’s just like, you walk into farming operation and rents the land a store and you know people. A lot to a group that maintains a number has changed, Waseca is up to 10,000 of agricultural plots throughout the people almost, and it was 5,000 when area.

I left. There are a lot of people who have moved away, but there is famil“That’s pretty common because in or- iarity and a comfort. It’s, just, fun.” der to make it, you have to be large,” Cheryl said. “And they come in here and can do what I used to do cultivat-

October 2020

CENTURY FARMS

PAGE 15 chelle. “My dad told me this helped to keep the farm going during hard times.”

After Bernard’s death, the farm was given to Michelle and Leroy. The couple now lives in Le Sueur and rents out the farmhouse. The land still carries plenty of fond childhood memories for Michelle and one day she hopes to return.“

We always planned on moving back here once we retired, but it hasn’t happened yet,” said Michelle.

A 55 foot tall cottonwood tree stands in the center of the Le Center farm. When the tree was first planted a horse on the loose bit half of it off. (Carson Hughes/Southernmiin.com) Michelle and Leroy Dahn are the owners of a 100-year old farm that has been passed down over three generations. The farm has raised cows, hogs, bees and once had a one-room schoolhouse on its land. (Carson Hughes/Southernminn.com)

eA barn at the century farm owned by Michelle and Leroy eDahn. The farm was home to all kinds of livestock including ocows, chicken, pigs, geese, horses and bees. (Carson Hughes/ aSouthernminn.com)

w

Macho farm Continued from page 3

The Macho family lived in a fourroom house on the property consistling of a kitchen, living room and two .bedrooms upstairs. The house also featured a basement, which was only accessible through a trapdoor in the kitchen, and a cistern in the house that stored water. In the 1950’s, part of the kitchen was transformed into ta bathroom, which Michelle said was “a happy day for the whole family.”

In the 1960’s, the family added on a tliving room and a full bathroom and 0steps to the basement replacing the ntrap door.

-The home remains on the farm to this day, though it has faced some troubles over the years. In the 2000’s an arsonist targeted the home and lit on fire. The culprit was never caught.

Since then, the home has been renovated, and Michelle said that it looks nicer than it ever has.

When Bernard began his new life as a farmer, his enterprise started with a focus on dairy cows.

“My early memories are that my dad had dairy cows and the creamery truck would come every day to pick up the milk cans,” said Michelle.

“When the weather was warm and the milk needed to stay cool, we would fill a stock tank with water and use that to keep the cans cool.”

time, when Michelle was little she “There was always a dog named Shep was thrown off the horse, but it no matter how many dogs we had,” didn’t run away. Instead, the horse said Michelle. walked up to the newly-planted cottonwood tree and ate half of it While Bernard managed the live- clean off. The cottonwood tree still stock, Bessie tended to a large garden stands in the yard today at 55 feet that would provide the family with tall. enough to eat. Both of them split their time between the farm and Bernard raised a lot of animals on other work. Bernard worked part- the farm from heifers to poultry to time at an alfalfa plant down the road bees. A beekeeper by trade, Berwhile Bessie was either working as nard would get a call whenever a stay at home mom or at the local a hive showed up in town. Once marketplace. he retrieved the bees, he would make a new home for them at “Everything was canned, butchered the farm. or sold,” said Michelle. “It was selfsufficient. You grew your own and In late summer, Bernard would did all that.” harvest honey for the kids in a Macho family tradition. Using As a kid, Michelle had plenty of her a steam knife, he would scrape own chores to do at the farm. The one the combs off both sides of the that stuck out to her the most was frame. Then, Michelle would riding a two row corn planter. The put the frames in an extractor. planter had two arms that stuck out By turning the extractor, honey at each time which would dig into would fly out of the comb and the soil and create rows in the dirt. and run to the bottom. The traMichelle’s job was to keep those rows dition was shared not just bestraight and keep the hopper filled at tween father and daughter, but the start of each row. also with Michelle and Leroy’s We have been a part of the community since 1924, and we strive to personally children Jake and April. get to know customers, building strong relationships they can trust, and give “I was always the outdoor person,” back to our communities. Come experience the difference. said Michelle. “I was on the back of “They took the combs off the a hay wagon a lot of the time. If there top and it would be dripping were chores to do, I would hold the with honey and wax for the kids pigs while he vaccinated them and that they could chew up,” said things like that.”

Leroy Dahn.

The local creamery eventually switched to grade A milk instead of cans, so Bernard began to look into other livestock. He raised white face beef cattle along with ducks, chickens, geese and pigs. They also kept One of the fun things about growing “During the war and depreshorses to help plant crops and dogs up on the farm was getting to ride the sion, honey was used as an as well. draft horses around the yard. One alternative to sugar,” said Mi-

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Century Farms

Lori poses with one of the calves from this spring. (Photo courtesy of Lori Wencl)

October 2020O

A family photo from when the Wencls visited the John Deere headquarters in Moline, IL. (Photo courtesy of Lori Wencl)

The Wencl family waits until their cows are at least two years old before they are breed. They must keep track of which cow is which to prevent inbreeding. (Photo courtesy of Lori Wencl) 8-year-old Anton says he might be a farmer when he grows up. Other career options include nascar racing, pro basketball or football. (Photo courtesy of Lori Wencl)

Some of the cows on Wencl Farm are given names, others do not have names, according to Lori. (Photo courtesy of Lori Wencl)

A photo from 1960 of Wencl Farm. (Photo courtesy of Lori Wencl)

Anton helps around the farm, sometimes he will help fed the animals.

(Photo courtesy of Lori Wencl)

October 2020

Laurence Wencl’s John Deere’s tractor. (Ashley Rezachek/southernminn. com)

Century Farms

A photo from 1947 of Wencl Farm in Owatonna. (Photo courtesy of Lori Wencl)

PAGE 17

A photo from 1955 of Wencl Farm. (Photo courtesy of Lori Wencl)

During the winter they usually fix up equipment and continue to tend to the animals, making sure the aniContinued from page 13 mals’ water doesn’t freeze and that sure they are fed and adding hay if they are well fed. Once spring arrives, necessary. the planting and calving season begins. During the summer the family The family farm is truly a family busi- bales hay. ness. Darren’s father Larry, continues to help out on the farm as well as “One of my favorite things to do is Darren’s brother Jason. Jason has his running on the bales,” Anton said. He own farm located just down the road climbs up a bale and demonstrates from the Wencl Farm. The two farm- his moves, jumping and running ers often help each other out. As of across the tops of the piled bales of mid-October, they had finished har- hay. vesting soybeans and hope to harvest the corn before it snows.

The 8-year-old boy says he might want to take over the farm when he Anton helps out around the farm grows up, but also dreams of being a where he can. professional NASCAR driver, basketball player or football player.

“I help out a lot with feeding the animals at night and sometimes ride in Regardless of whether Anton continthe machines when they are out in ues the family farming legacy, Lori the field,” Anton said. and Darren say they will be supportive in whatever path he chooses.

Once the very busy harvest season is over and the cold winter approaches, “Right now we are just playing it by the Wencl family switches gears, but ear, I mean you never know what the continues to work. future holds,” Lori said.

Wencls

Anton holds a chick. The animals are Lori’s favorite part about farming.

“I’m all about the animals,” she said. (Photo courtesy of Lori Wencl) Anton helps his dad with the farm’s fencing. (Photo courtesy of Lori Wencl)

“There’s always something to do,” Lori said.

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Anton loves to climb up on the hay bales and run across them. Lori says his friends have come over to join in on the fun. (Ashley Rezachek/ southernminn.com)

A photo from 1956 of Wencl Farm. (Photo courtesy of Lori Wencl)

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Century Farms

October 2020O

Pigs in the pen on the King family farm. (Photo courtesy of Barb Damerow) we got to know each other, and we shelled corn together, and then he’d pay me to come over and do some Continued from page 10 labor. I’d help with some different the King farm, running his own op- things; I planted some of his fields eration about 2 miles away. He was once.”

24 years younger than Ralph. They originally met through a transaction Mager went on to become friendly and quickly developed a relationship. with both Ralph and his wife Carol.

He often played cards with some oth“When he was still milking, I sold a ers at their home. When Carol got calf to him. But then he sold off his cancer, Ralph was a bit too old to cows and asked me if I’d take it back, drive, so Mager would take them to and so I did,” Mager said. “Then the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. And

King

Some of the cows on the King family farm in the 1950s. (Photo courtesy of Barb Damerow)

One of the family’s dog’s, Ponto, roams the hay field in 1945 on the King family farm. (Photo courtesy of Barb Damerow)

Runette, Ruth, Mary Louise and Ralph King on the King family farm in 1929. (Photo courtesy of Barb Damerow)

R

she would have Mager stay in the room during consultations. He admired them both.

“She was such a selfless person, and Ralph said she died because they wanted to experiment on her,” Mager said. “She said ‘I’m 81, and if they can experiment on me and help someone in the future, that’s the way God wants it.’ It was just remarkable knowing both of them.”

Beyond the fields, Mager noted that Ralph was always active in his community, serving as the bell ringer and an active volunteer at his church.

And when it came to farming, he was always ready to lend a hand.

“If someone needed to get a tree out, he’d come and cut it and take the wood,” Mager said. “I’m in the cities right now, and here it would cost $3,000 to take a tree out, but he just did stuff like that.”

Mager added, “And he made a connection with people. A lot of people were dead and gone from his time, but he still made a connection with people 25 years or more younger. He just had that ability.”

Both Wacker and Mager said it was quite an accomplishment for the Kings to see their farm reach 100 years in the family.

“It’s rare. It’s an accomplishment not too many farmers can say,” Wacker

An aerial photo of the King farm in Le Sueur County in the 1940s. (Photo courtesy of Barb Damerow) said. “Usually the farms go before farm, so I have very fond memories you can get that close. The kids move of going to visit,” she said. “I have off, show no interest in farming, nothing but fabulous experiences of something like that.” being a city girl going to the farm, and it’s the same for my children. Just As Damerow works through the de- the simplicity of that life is something tails of her uncle’s estate and contem- I learned people can be completely plates the future of the farm, she can content with. For my grandparents always take joy in the memories. and uncle, they didn’t need materialistic things. They found beauty in “I have known the farm my entire simplicity.” life, because it was my grandparents’

H

October 2020

Century Farms

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Ralph King, left, along with his dad, John King, and some of the family farm’s horses in 1945. (Photo courtesy of Barb Damerow)

John and Hattie King on their wedding day on July 1, 1920. They took over a now century farm that same year. (Photo courtesy of Barb Damerow)

Horses, wagon and corn in 1953. (Photo courtesy of Barb Damerow)

In memoriam

Ralph J. King February 14, 1927 ~ September 29, 2020

Call 507.625.6412 Mn Lic BC 006219

PAGE 20

Century Farms

While Al and Joyce lived on the farm site, they had a beef cow herd of The original farm was 293 acres and consisted of 150 acres of tillable land about 40-45 beef cows in the pasture. They also raised their own caves in and hills for a pasture. Four generations were raised on the Moorhouse a feed lot on their property. (Michelle Vlasak/southernminn.com) Family Farm, now in its 151st year in the family. (Photos courtesy of Al and Joyce Moorhouse) Al and Joyce their retirement home on the 40 acres of the Moorhouse family farm in 1985. In 2019, the Continued from page 9 farm had been in the family for 150 years. Many photos tell the story of When Emelia Amelia Moorhouse family life, raising crops like born, died at 92 in 1955, the farm was sold soybeans, wheat, alfalfa and the occaby her estate to her grandson, Al. Al sional peas for the canning company, married Joyce Pagel on Oct. 14, 1956. along with cows, cattle, hogs, chickThey farmed the land, where they ens, ducks, sheep and flowers. Many raised four children, Marie Verna, meals were cooked in the family’s Thomas Winton, and twins John Edkitchens and served following prayer ward and Jeffrey Scott. After farmat the family tables. ing for 18 years, Al sold part of the farm to his daughter Marie and her They had just about every animal husband. It was 1968, the same year except horses, per a request from Al. the large barn Richard built burned to the ground. When Marie and her “I always wanted horses, but [Al] husband divorced, Marie settled with never let us have horses, because her folks, retaining 11.1 acres where when he was a kid, he always had to she raised her children. clean the horse barns so he was never going to do that again,” said Joyce

Moorhouse

SHARING STORIES & MEMORIES Al and Joyce Moorhouse say four generations have been raised on the farm and even more memories have been made.

Joyce recalls Al talking about his uncle and his dad, as his uncle Ed taught him how to fish. Ed also loved the woods and would walk out to them from town. Joyce says he also talks about different meals his mother cooked, some of the history of the farm and how self sufficient they were back then.

Al says he enjoyed Sunday afternoons, because that was the only time they had to go sliding. Since he was the youngest of the neighborhood kids, Al says they would challenge him to slide down the hill, especially in conditions where the hill was extra icy from the previous day’s rain.

Al jokes saying if he straightened the sled out and slid straight down the hill, it’s possible he could’ve landed on the moon or been on the NASCAR track traveling 200 mph. Due to a washout from water levels in the springtime, there was a spot full of snow. As Al slid down into that spot, the rails got stuck in the snow and the remaining part of the sled traveled with him.

Thanks to all of the pictures the Moorhouses have, they are able to look back on the history and pass the pictures down from generation to generation. Joyce says they have a lot of family photographs, giving them a firsthand look at how hard they worked back then. It was a different time, Joyce says, as they were more self sufficient having their own apple trees, butchering their own beef/hogs, growing their own potatoes and making their own sausage in their smokehouse.

Pictured is the original Moorhouse Farm House, “now and then,” while owned by George A. Moorhouse and Verna (Miller) Moorhouse (Al on his horse Molla), Emily Amelia (Zemke) Moorhouse, Richard F. Moorhouse and family, Allard S. Moorhouse and Joyce E. (Pagel) Moorhouse, built new home in 1985, Marie V. Moorhouse, Otte (owns orginal house now).

(Photos courtesy of Al and Joyce Moorhouse) with a laugh.

Another part of that daily task involved shoveling hay in front of them.

Joyce, who wasn’t raised on a farm like her husband, said when she got to the farm, one of the first things she asked him was what the difference between straw and hay was.

said the farm came with dairy cows, so Al increased the herd. Then they realized they didn’t have a bulk tank and the various other things they needed, so Al switched to beef cows.

They had an abundance of hills on their property so Al added fencing and they ran a beef cow herd of about 40-45 in the pasture. They also raised their own calves and had a feed lot to raise them in.

After 18 years on the farm, Al went into the fertilizer industry in Randolph and later got into selling fertilizer equipment and did a bit of traveling. During that time, Marie took over the farm. When Joyce and Al moved to Iowa in 1974, Al would Enjoying life on “the 40” drive back to the farm to build a When they first started out, Joyce garage at their current home. Joyce “I thought that was very important to know,” said Joyce with a laugh. “It didn’t take very long to figure that one out. When you’re raised in town you don’t have the foggiest idea.”

October 2020O

Joyce and Al Moorhouse stand in front of their current home, just down the road from the original farm site where they lived for 18 years. The property they live on is connected to the original farm and they call it “the 40.” They enjoy going for rides on the trails in the woods and spending time in the outdoors gardening, cutting wood and with their family. (Michelle Vlasak/southernminn.com)

Al Moorhouse sits next to his dog at the home place in 1932. Today, Al recalls living on a farm including sliding down the snowy, icy hills on Sunday afternoons and always tearing/ripping his clothes while working outside. (Photo courtesy of Joyce Moorhouse)

transferred from of her job in Iowa farmers rented the land out. to Illinois and during her eight years there drove back and forth from Il- Joyce says they have 20 acres of woods that lay behind their neighbor, linois to Minnesota to visit Al. something she finds unique about Al started on their retirement house their farm. in 1984-85, with the help of some contractors and family members. “Our kids like to deer hunt in the Before the house was built in 1990, woods, and they have paths through Al and Joyce would camp and spend the woods. We have an outdoor wood furnace, so we still cut the deadwood time on the 40. and clean it up,” said Joyce. “…We Today, they enjoy seeing an array of can do much more here and we have wildlife including deer, geese, the a view of [Lake Byllesby], people go common raccoons and possum and to the lake to get away, but we are at birds. Joyce says they get to see a lot the lake.” eagles come their way from the river Joyce especially enjoys visits from her and head towards the high cliffs. four kids, 12 grandchildren and 14 The original farm was 293 acres, and great grandchildren who often camp they have since sold off a few home for the weekend or just spend time sites, so right now it’s 254 acres, with together at the farm.

150 of those acres tillable. When they moved out of the original farmhouse, “One of the most fun things for me they rented the house and the land to is to see your kids be parents to their Al’s cousin. Over the years, several kids, and see how much they love and enjoy them,” said Joyce.

October 2020

CENTURY FARMS

PAGE 21

them if their children don’t have

in farming, but TamSchwichtenberg anmyinterest said they’d like to keep the Continued from page 4 woods in the family since many ties but they did do what they were of their children and grandchilasked to do,” Bob said. dren enjoy hunting.

Rob recalls playing basketball outside on the farm all year round, even in the snowy winters. He also enjoyed dirt biking and driving the go-cart.

“I have several pictures of Bob mowing lawns and one of the kids asleep on the lawn mower when they were smaller,” Tammy said.

Greg Born (left) and his father Gary work together on a tractor at the family farm. According to Greg’s parents, the father-son duo have been tackling the farm together since Greg could walk - something they continue to do today. (Submitted photo)

Born Continued from page 8

lot,” Greg said. “We would also like to add some livestock one day and build a new house.”

“Greg has been farming with his dad since he was able to walk,” said Anna Born, Greg’s mother. “Every year he would tell his dad when it was time to harvest and that he should be out there combining.”

As technology continues to improve in today’s world, the couple admits to fully taking advantage of the advances in farming equipment and hope to continue to do so. Over the last seven years, Greg and Amanda “I really enjoy farming and can’t Born have made many upgrades to imagine doing anything else,” Greg the equipment to make certain areas said. “It’s in my blood and has always of farming a bit easier. been my lifestyle.”

One thing, however, the Borns want Looking to the future, Greg says he the farm to remain in the family. has a lot of dreams for how he can expand and grow this century farm. “We would absolutely love to see the farm stay in the family for another “I would like to be able to run more 100 years,” Greg said. “A lot can hapacres of land and not have to work a pen in that time. We don’t know what full-time job in town, it gets to be a the future holds.”

The 80-acre woods beyond the farm gives a unique touch to the Schwichtenberg homestead.

“All of our kids and grandkids have learned how to hunt in that woods,” Tammy said. “They squirrel hunt, they turkey hunt, The dinner bell outside the Schwichtenberg Century Farm in Morristown and deer hunting is the big thing is a relic Tammy and Robert have held onto over the years. (Misty in our woods. I had to quit beSchwab/southernminn.com) cause too many young people are out there. It was a lot safer in the living room.”

Tammy herself fed the cows and carried the milk from the pale to the milk cans. Although she doesn’t care to drive the more modern Tammy said she likes the locakind, she recalls a time when she tion of their farm, just 5 miles could drive a tractor all day long. out from Morristown. Until their son built his house across Some things change, some stay the road, they couldn’t see anthe same other house from their property.

The roads have become busier If he had a choice, Bob said he’d like over the years, but that doesn’t to go back to “the way it used to be” make her want to move. The when it comes to farming. He com- couple spend many weeks of the mented that all the small farms are winter in their camper at Dengone, and now farming operations ny’s Resort in Bena, Minnesota, have 300 to 400 dairy cows. Tammy but the farm is still home.

Robert “Bob” Schwichtenberg had an aerial view of his Morristown farm added that farmers now run thousands and thousands of acres, but “When we go to visit our framed many years ago. (Misty Schwab/southernminn.com) the 278 they own kept them busy. daughter in Wisconsin, I As for farming equipment, Bob said, “I kind of like the new stuff because you get done faster, but I didn’t get to use a lot of it.”

think I couldn’t live where they live,” Tammy said “… I could maybe live in Morristown, but not a bigger city.”

Currently, Tammy and Bob rent Said Bob: “I’m going to half of their land to their grand- stay here as long as I can.” son and his stepdad and the other half to another farmer. Keeping the farm in the family doesn’t matter to

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Century Farms

October 2020O

Duane Schuldt, his son, Steve Schultz, and their dog, Duke, stand by one of their tractors this fall. (Pat Beck/southernminn.com)

Schultz

The Schultz family photo. Front row from left: Ethan, Heidi, Duane, Christy, Conner and William. Back row: Erick, Chuck, Jan, Stacey, Jake, Alec, Deb, Isabella and Steve. The families are: Duane and Jan Schultz; Steve, Deb, William and Isabella Schultz; Stacey Schultz; The original Schultz farm started out Chuck, Heidi, Ethan and Erick Schultz; Christy, Jake, Alec and Conner May. (Photo courtesy of Steve Schultz) at 100 acres, but has grown to 435. were 96,537 farms averaging 288 the weather is good, you better work acres. In 2017, there were 68,821 Saturday or Sunday.”

It grew over the years as family memfarms averaging 371 acres, accordbers bought more acres. By today’s ing to the U.S. Department of Agri- Steve said: “And you don’t call in sick, standards, the Schultz farm is about too.” culture.

“Dad retired, and I came home,” average size.

Steve said. “I also help my cousin sell Pioneer Seed as a sales associate. I While the size of farms have been “Smaller farms can’t keep going, Weather, field and equipment condidrive truck a little bit and help out if increased, the number of farms have and when they buy this machinery, tions determines when they work. people are looking for an extra hand, been steadily decreasing over the they can run over much more acres at a given time,” Duane said. “Small “Like yesterday we were combining which is good.” years. In Minnesota in 1978, there farms can’t afford all that big corn,” Steve said. “I had the dryer gostuff. It’s $300,000 to $400,000 ing. You got to watch the dryer, so I for a tractor and $300,000 to was over here at 10 o’clock, midnight, $400,000 for a combine. And 3 in the morning and 7 in the morning. So it doesn’t catch on fire and then land is worse yet.

William Schultz, 10, and his sister, Isabella, 7, shuck corn in the make sure that it’s still drying and not back of a 4-wheeler, watched by their grandpa, Duane Schultz.

“A lot of it is owned by other in- putting wet corn in storage.”

(Pat Beck/southernminn.com) dividuals and rented out. Older people probably don’t want to “It’s just when you got machinery The Schultzes started harvesting earDuane said the first farmers usedT sell it, so they keep renting it for running, you like to be around and lier this year, in mid-September. oxen. The first people coming up thei check on it to make sure it’s all goincome.”

W Mississippi River had horses.

“This growing season was warmer, ing right.” so a lot of growing degrees brought Steve added: “And I think “Now you’ve got tractors that steer there’s less and less interest in Harvest time is busiest time of year. the crop on faster,” Steve said. “The themselves, and you’ve got combines soybeans and corn are faster. On Oct. it. Both my sisters grew up on with yield monitors,” Steve said. “The a farm, but they’re up in the big “It’s also my favorite time of the year,” 7, we’re already half done with hartechnology is crazy. You still got to city now and not in small towns Steve said. “You work all year for vest and it’s coming out of the field turn it around at the end of the field, dry. It runs through the dryer as fast this.” and rural areas.” but it will keep you in a straight line.

Milo Peterson Ford Co. is here as you can combine it. It’s not burnThey get some time off in winter. But ing as much propane which is a good 24-7 job for all your FORD family needs.

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Steve said there have been a lot of it’s Christmas, you work. When said. “But I probably spend more I had cattle here, every day I was Things kind of slow down in mid July changes in farming over its history. time in a tractor than a car.” here at 4 o’clock to feed whether and August, but a lot of times you’re it was Christmas, Thanksgiving, trying to clean out the bins and get “Imagine starting out 150 years ago year round. Now without ani- everything ready for fall and work on — what the yield of corn and soy3020 457th St Way Kenyon, MN beans were, probably have horses and mals, you can take off if there’s equipment, Steve said 507-789-6113 • www.milopetersonford.net oxen,” Steve said. nothing to do in the field. But if Continued from page 6 retired. He was a certified sales agronomist with the local co-op for 25 years. When he left in March, 2012 he was location manager. Now he’s mostly farming.

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October 2020

Steve Schultz (left) and his father Duane Schultz run the 150-year old family farm which features 435 acres of corn and soybeans. (Pat Beck/southernminn.com)

Century Farms

PAGE 23

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Three generations gather at the Duane Schultz farm in rural St. Peter. From left are Duane, Isabella, Steve, William and Deb. (Pat Beck/southernminn.com)

Guardian Energy Steve Schultz runs a grain dryer on his family’s farm.

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Century Farms

October 2020

Wencls photos Continued from page 17

A photo from 1958 of Wencl Farm. (Photo courtesy of Lori Wencl)

A photo from 1957 of Wencl Farm. (Photo courtesy of Lori Wencl)

Darren (left), Anton and Jason discuss their plan while sitting on the bucket of the skidloader. (Photo courtesy of Lori Wencl)

Pictured is the Wencl family truck. Anton Wencl, 8, says his family also has a red one. (Ashley Rezachek/ southernminn.com)