5 generations take the Eckberg farm to 150 years

Garfield Eckberg, 84, bottom, Paul Eckberg, 59, middle, and Casey Eckberg, 33, top, are the most recent generations to run Eckberg Farm in Nicollet County. The family farm turned 150 in 2021. (Philip Weyhe/southernminn.com)

By PHILIP WEYHE philip.weyhe@apgsomn.com

It amazes Garfield Eckberg to think that his family’s farm has stood longer than most any businesses in the nearest towns. Then he remembers something.

“The farm was put up before some of these towns,” said the 84-year-old. While St. Peter, just to the east of the farm, got started in 1853 (platted in 1854), the town of Gaylord wasn’t platted until 1881.

The Eckberg family farm started in 1871, and it turned 150 this year. generation. Before Garfield came his dad, Raymond Eckberg, and grandfather, Charles Eckberg, who have both died.

For Casey, there is a lot of pride and responsibility associated with homesteading the operation that’s been in his family for a century and a half.

“It’s an honor, really,” he said. “Not many people, especially my age, get to say that. It’s very heartwarming that you get to carry on a tradition that long.”

The start

It was 1871 when Garfield’s great grandfather, on his mother’s side, Andrew Webster, bought land from the railroad in what is now New Sweden Township in Nicollet County. He sold a portion, about 160 acres (a quarter section), to his sonin-law (Garfield’s grandfather) Charles Eckberg the same year.

The family today isn’t 100% sure what crops were raised on the farm to start, but they could wager a guess.

“I’d say big crops at that time; soybeans were not around,” Casey said.

“Corn and alfalfa and wheat,” Paul pitched in.

And Garfield added, “I don’t know if flax was available at first, but later on they raise flax, which is kind of a nurse crop for the alfalfa.”

At that time, Paul noted, over 100 acres of land was more a burden than a blessing.

“Just because the technology and transportation was not developed yet,” he said. “It was all by horse and by hand, and there wasn’t a town within 10 miles. There was New Sweden and Norseland, but even those were miles away. They didn’t have materials; they cut the wood themselves for the barn.”

Nonetheless, a house was built, the barn filled with animals, and Charles and Mary, along with 16 children, got to work.

Generation to generation

The farm eventually was sold by Charles to his 13th child, Raymond Eckberg, in 1936. Garfield grew up on the farm, working under the direction of his parents. His childhood, which he remembers fondly, included a lot of work.

“It centered around the dairy herd really,” he said. “Making hay all summer. That was the main job, taking care of that. We had 18 head of cattle in the barn and we raised the young stock.”

He added, “The harvest was big. We worked with the neighbors on threshing. We did a lot of work like that with the neighbors, exchanging help. Corn picking was always by hand in my first few years; my dad purchased a corn picker with my neighbors later on.

Despite all the heavy lifting, there was some time for play, as well. Garfield and his two older sisters went to the local schoolhouse for eight years. The neighbors frequently got together, and he had a lot of visits from cousins, aunts and uncles.

Paul, meanwhile, was the second of four boys Garfield had, along with one girl. Paul also remember chores as the center of life growing up.

“It was never an option that you would work; it was what you would get to pick,” he said. “With three brothers, we’d take turns. Driving the tractors was always the most desirable; the least was vetting the cattle in the barn.”

He said “working with your neighbors” was still common practice during his earlier years on the farm.

“You really knew your neighbors,” he said. “Because pretty much everybody had a herd of cows. We were four boys, so someone would always call to send one of us over to help, and Dad would pick one to go.”

Paul went to school in Gaylord and was active in sports, music and Future Farmers of America there, along with church and 4-H outside the classroom.

Casey grew up with an older brother and two younger sisters; he’s the only one still farming today. Paul didn’t live in the farmhouse, as Garfield was still there, so Casey remembers making the trip over to his grandpa’s.

◗Eckberg Farm continued on page 34

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Raymond Eckberg, the second generation to own the family farm in Nicollet County, plows with horses in the field. (Photo courtesy of the Eckberg family)

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“I always remember it was fun to come over to the farm, because there was more to do here than the home site. I was always walking across the field,” Casey said. “I remember corn silage season — the smell, riding on tractors all day. I always looked forward to the harvest.”

Life on the farm started changing drastically as Casey grew up.

“I didn’t get the working with the neighbors part, like they talk about,” Casey said. “When I was a toddler, that’s when it really started to disappear.”

He distinctly remembers the last time the family milked cows on the farm in 2000 when he was an adolescent.

“It’s etched in my mind. It was just just a huge turning point.” he said. “I think about how everything has changed so much, even from 10 years ago.”

The Eckberg family farm has had cattle throughout its 150 years, but switched to just beef cattle in 2000. (Philip Weyhe/southernminn.com) the farm has remained intact.

“It’s remarkable,” Paul said. “It wasn’t always prosperous and pretty, but the family stayed.” high-tech tractors, sprayers and more.

Now and the future

There is at least one thing all three generations agree on: they’re glad to be farmers.

“I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” Casey said.

“Same,” Paul added.

“You grow up in it; it becomes ingrained in you,” Garfield said.

Of course, the farm has had its ups and downs over 150 years. There were the grasshoppers wreaking havoc, the Great Depression knocked down prices, World War I and II sending people away, not to mention countless natural disasters. But Today, Paul and Casey run the show, with the latter living on the farm, and the former living just off of it. Garfield, who originally purchased the land from his father Raymond in 1967, sold it in 2001, though he continued to live on the land until a recent switch to a local assisted living facility.

The operation consists of about 950 acres today, about average size in the region. It includes seven buildings and a couple grain bins. The main crops are corn, soybeans and alfalfa (rotated), along with the beef cattle in the barn. What used to be horse-powered implements are now Despite the increase in acres and improvements in technology, making a profit on a family farm is as hard as ever. Paul and Casey both have second jobs as a mail carrier and truck driver, respectively. All around them, it seems, farms are becoming commercialized, and smaller ag businesses like theirs are all the more rare.

Of course, that’s just all the more reason to celebrate 150 years. The future is unknown for the Eckbergs, but they can be proud of the past and present.

“It’s an accomplishment that you survive everything for that long a period,” Garfield said. “It’s a good tradition to keep up.”

To all our local farmers— Thank you for feeding the world!