Country Acres - March 19 by Star Publications

ountry C Friday, March 19, 2021

cres A Focusing on Today’s Rural Environment

Volume 8, Edition 20

PHOTO BY DANNA SABOLIK

Gaye and Paul Martin stand in front of the silo that is topped with a Model B John Deere tractor. Paul repaired the old tractor and installed a platform structure on which the tractor sits.

A tractor

where?

The story behind a local landmark

BY DANNA SABOLIK | STAFF WRITER

ROVE CITY – When Paul Martin gets a wild idea, most people know that a protest is a waste of breath. Martin has a number of adjectives he jokingly uses to describe himself, such as harebrained, ambitious, stubborn and determined. So, when he had an idea in 2002 to put an old tractor on top of a silo, most knew not to question him. “I was going to do it,” Paul said. “It was just something I knew I could do and I wanted to, so I figured it out and did it.” His now-wife, Gaye, was his fiancé at the time, and remembers those summer weeks Paul deconstructed and later reconstructed a tractor on top of a silo. “I knew not to ask about it

too much,” Gaye said. “He’d figure it out. Paul always does.” Today, it is a local landmark of sorts along Highway 12, a busy road that runs from Minneapolis to South Dakota. “It’s been known to turn a few heads, yes,” Paul said. Paul and Gaye were enjoying a summer evening on the farm when Paul was inspired with the idea to put a tractor on top of the old unused silo in the yard. “It was just sitting empty, and I could see the bolts that held the dome on,” Paul said. “I figured it wouldn’t be that hard to take it off, and a tractor would look pretty cool up there.” As luck would have it, Paul spotted an old Model B John Deere tractor in his neighbor’s

tree line and asked if he could buy it. The neighbor was confused, and said it did not run and would need a lot of fixing up. “I told him I didn’t need it to run, and he looked at me like I was crazy,” Paul said. “He wanted to know what I wanted it for and I told him I was going to put it up on the silo.” Then, the neighbor was really scratching his head. But, Paul walked away with a tractor that needed a little cleaning up and paint and knew his vision was falling into place. For the next week, Paul took the tractor apart, cleaned it, painted it green and yellow and planned how to get it on top of the silo. His friend, Curtis Wendt, moved grain bins when he was not farming and had access to a crane.

ST R COUNTRY: Publications bli ti This month in the

The newspaper of today is the history of tomorrow.

(Watch for the next edition of Country Acres on April 2)

“Most of it was figured out after that,” Paul said. “I asked Curtis for his help and he laughed at me for probably 10 minutes.” Paul remembers Wendt thinking he was asking for help moving grain bins and telling him, “When the phone rings

Working land and sky Lake Wakanda

and I see it’s from you, I never know what it’s going to be.” Paul found an old metal fertilizer lid at the co-op and asked if he could use it for a platform. The owner was glad to be rid of the trash and gave it to Paul for free.

Martin page 3

“People used to ask me why I did it and I’d tell them sometimes, I had a hard time finding my way home,” Paul said. “But it really wasn’t to show off, it was do-able and I wanted to do it. “ - Paul Martin 10 What’s this?

Brahms vs. Barten Duluth

12 Family farming like years ago New Munich

A moving occupation Paynesville

17 Hungry for horsepower Eden Valley 23 Country Cooking

24 A tale of two grandpas Diane Leukam column 25 Growing up on a pony farm Starbuck 29 Animals we love

Page 2 • Country Acres | Friday, March 19, 2021

Country Acres

Working land and sky

NEWS STAFF

Story ideas send to: diane@saukherald.com SALES STAFF

Kayla Hunstiger, 320-247-2728 kayla@saukherald.com Missy Traeger, 320-291-9899 missy@saukherald.com Tim Vos, 320-845-2700 tim@albanyenterprise.com Mike Schafer, 320-894-7825 mike.s@dairystar.com Warren Stone, 320-249-9182 warren@star-pub.com Jaime Ostendorf, 320-309-1988 Jaime@star-pub.com Bob Leukam, 320-260-1248 bob.l@star-pub.com

PRODUCTION STAFF Pat Turner Amanda Thooft Nancy Powell Maddy Peterson Cheyenne Carlson

Deadlines: Country Acres will be published the first Fridays of April, May, June, September, October and November, and the third Friday of every month. Deadline for news and advertising is the Thursday before publication.

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Bjornberg takes flight with farming, ag advocacy BY SARAH COLBURN STAFF WRITER

LAKE WAKANDA – Nick Bjornberg is the fifth generation working the land his ancestors once did on the south shores of Lake Wakanda in Kandiyohi County. They homesteaded in the 1800s and since then, the land has changed from a completely self-sustaining farm to one that specializes in corn, soybeans and edible beans. “For me, it’s really humbling to know I’m the next generation in a long line of people who’ve worked the same land,” he said. “I feel an obligation and responsibility to try and keep that going and keep that family legacy intact.” For Bjornberg, it is an honor to be able to continue the tradition and the work of his father, grandfather, great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather. At the same time, he’s done things to make the experience his own. He’s involved in a number of community ag-related organizations. And, when he’s not working the land, he fulfills a personal passion of his and flies planes for a nearby business per-

PHOTOS SUBMITTED

(Above) Nick Bjornberg is a farmer who also flies planes back and forth between Willmar and South Dakota for work. The Bjornberg family farm is now in its fifth generation of ownership. (Top) The farm land is unique in that it fronts Lake Wakanda in Kandiyohi County.

son. When he flies over his own land, he can make out the 1950s corn crib, the oldest structure still remaining on the family farm. The original barn came down two decades prior and the other structures have gone by the wayside through the years. When Bjornberg’s great-grandparents farmed the land, they did it to survive. They farmed crops but also had cows, chickens and pigs. His grandfather was into livestock and dairy, sileage, alfalfa and small grains. When Bjornberg spent his formative years on the farm, his own parents, Allan and Linda Bjornberg, got out of livestock and transitioned from full dairy, keeping cattle around for a while but selling them off by 2000 to opt for crop farming. The crops Bjornberg farms today are the same ones his father placed into rotation when he was growing up and they’ve

worked well, he said. After high school, Bjornberg attended Ridgewater College for his generals and then graduated with an AA degree in Agriculture Systems Management and Agriculture Business from North Dakota State University. He went on to do a brief stint working to be an elevator manager and found out it wasn’t for him. He had the opportunity to return to a turkey farm that neighbors his parents’ farm and he jumped at it. Then, when a neighbor retired, he approached Bjornberg and asked him about renting his land. “It was enough that I felt I could take a leap and try it on my own,” he said. “With my parents’ equipment and a little help from them, in 2012 I could start farming solo.” Soon after, his parents semi-retired and he took over the family farm, adding it to the

acreage he was farming as part of the rental agreement. Now, he farms more than 1,400 acres. “For me, it’s a very rewarding and gratifying way to make a living,” he said. “I plant the crops, watch them grow and develop and then at the end of the year, I harvest them.” He also spends a great deal of time improving his efficiencies. He’s an early adopter of variable rate seeding and variable rate fertilizer. “Every year, we find ways to make that better,” he said. He analyzes data from multiple years, adding layers to his decision-making model to create an improved seed and fertilizer map. As technology changes, he said, there are more layers of data to help drive those decisions. He works with a crop consultant to do soil testing and grid sampling and though he does the

Bjornberg page 3

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Diane Leukam, Editor diane@saukherald.com Danna Sabolik, Writer danna.s@dairystar.com Ben Sonnek, Writer ben.s@saukherald.com Herman Lensing, Writer herman@melrosebeacon.com Jennifer Coyne, Writer jenn@dairystar.com Evan Michealson, Writer evan.m@star-pub.com Carol Moorman, Writer carol@melrosebeacon.com Natasha Barber, Writer natasha@saukherald.com Sarah Colburn Freelance Writer

Friday, March 19, 2021 | Country Acres • Page 5 FILE PHOTO BY DIANE LEUKAM

Grimm connects German songs with two identities

Moni Barten (1924-2019) grew up on a farm west of Spring Hill, where she learned the German folk songs that have been passed down own through the generations by ge her mother, who he learned them from learn her m mother.

BY HERMAN LENSING | STAFF WRITER

DULUTH – Catherine Grimm went dragagon hunting. She found not a legendary beast, but ut a family legacy. Grimm, the daughter to Tim and Mariann ann Lucken, grew up on a farm between Greeneenwald and Spring Hill. A lover of music, she was exposed to German folksongs by her mother, grandmother and – on her mother’s her’s er side – her great-aunt, Moni Barten. “Monica (Moni) sang songs that would have been considered traditional and sung ng in rural communities,” Grimm said. Grimm’s interest in folksongs was a reason she pursued a music degree and nd became a teacher of music. After college, ge, she taught briefly at Albany; after she married, arried, she moved to Duluth and now teachess there. Her graduate studies included German an folk songs – and she discovered that songs ngs she had heard for years were part of a very ry long tradition. “I have an interest in all folk music,” sic,” she said. “German is quite an anomaly, because it was so well documented during the 19th Century when Germans were worried about b t losing their identity to France.”

Brahms vs. Barten page 6

Brahms

vs. Barten

PUBLIC DOMAIN PHOTO (Left) Johannes Brahms (1833-97) was a famous German composer who was inspired to compose arrangements of old German folk songs as a way to preserve the German national identity during the 1800s.

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Catherine (Lucken) Grimm plays at the Duluth Folk School during a “Folksing,” an open invitation to the public to sing folk songs with a leader. Grimm’s interest in folk music has led to researching and playing those songs.

Brahms vs. Barten

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In the 19th Century, after the overthrow of Napoleon’s French Empire, there was a nationalist movement in the German states. Stressing a need to preserve folksongs was just one effort used to create a sense of national identity. “The argument in 19th Century Germany was whether these songs needed to be ‘preserved’ in their most raw and unedited form, or if their service to the nationalism of the time was to inspire composers, artists and playwrights to create a new, more sophisticated national identity,” Grimm said. “Many argued that only

quality music would survive, so quality music had to be created.” Among those who took up the challenge at the time was German composer Johannes Brahms (1833-97) of the three Bs of music, Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. He composed various arrangements for traditional folksongs. Some of those songs served as a springboard into Grimm’s research on folk music. When looking into the music of Brahms, one of her favorite composers, Grimm came across two familiar sounding song titles, “Sur Strassenburg,” and, “Es waren zwei Königskinder.” Ironically, Grimm had already heard and recorded the songs as sung by Barten. She still had the recording and realized she could compare

traditional German folk songs to the composer’s versions. Unlike the Brahms version, Barten’s version had not been preserved in text. The 19th Century argument of how to preserve songs wasn’t really considered; as people in rural areas sang the songs, they passed the song down across generations. When the immigrants came to America, they continued the tradition. “[When] I asked Moni if she learned these from the radio, she was a bit affronted and…told me that she had learned these from her mother, who learned them from her mother,” Grimm recalled.

Brahms vs. Barten page 7

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Friday, March 19, 2021 | Country Acres • Page 9

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project. Through the years, he’s looked for employees who grew up the way he did, who have farming ingrained in them. He especially looks for people who grew up on a farm with animals. “Then I know they will have a solid work ethic,” he said. It’s the main thing he looks for in his employees. He has to trust each and every one of them implicitly. He looks for those with backgrounds in construction so they know the ins and outs of building, who are good at operating machinery, who have a sound understanding of hydraulics, who played on an ath-

letic team in high school because they understand the importance of workfrom page 8 ing together. He also looks for people who have mechanical back“Dixie North.” He could grounds, carpentry backalmost make a living off grounds and those who his music, but not quite. are good at driving truck Regardless, he said, – especially a truck that something kept pulling has a load that will likeat him. ly overhang the roadway His grandmother and adjoining ditches – challenged him to read requiring his company the Bible cover-to-cover to not only gain a permit in a year. He did and at for the move, but coopthe end, decided he neederation with the utility ed to move out on his companies. Quite often, own. He bought a small Anderson said, a major house in Paynesville move down a roadway and soon after, found also requires the trimhimself spending $100 ming of trees and brush to purchase a single-car to make way for the garage. He borrowed his building. grandfather’s farm trailThe job is rigorous. er and picked up the gaAnderson’s team rage, re-selling it somemoves everything in one else. He thought one piece; smaller jobs it was fun, so he did it take a day or two and again and pretty soon, larger jobs, longer. They people were calling him “It’s like preserving use 20-foot 2x6’s and to move things. a part of history. People spend lots and lots of ratch“God wanted me et straps to brace the to get out of my comthousands of hours in a barn. A barn, it’s buildings, as well fort zone,” Anderlike a part of your DNA growing up because as steel beams with son said. “I never clamps and brackplanned on starting you spend so much time ets, hydraulic house a house-moving in there. There isn’t a day that goes by that I moving jacks and business – it found dollies. me.” don’t think about dairy farming, because It’s something that’s what I grew up in.” Anderson page 10 he dabbled in when he was much younger. Beginning when he was 12, Anderson helped his uncle move a small garage or a summer kitchen once or twice a year. His uncle would move the buildings for other people or just for fun and farmers would purchase them to use as new storage buildings. Anderson launched his official company in 2002. The focus on moving agricultural buildings, he said, came naturally. He understands the pressure and strain farmers are under, he understands the 24/7 demands of animal care, he understands the sweetness of the time when chores have been done and there’s time to do a

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Page 10 • Country Acres | Friday, March 19, 2021

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They create trailers out of beams, dollies and clamps so all the pieces of a building can be bolted together, hooked up to a truck and driven very slowly down the road. Typically, Anderson said, large agricultural buildings are moved within five miles, but his company moves homes as many as 150 miles from their original location. “Anytime you’re moving a really old structure, it’s typically a little bit crooked and we need to straighten it and brace it really well before we move it,” he said. They straighten the buildings with chain hoists, being careful as they work. Moving a structure on a working farm, he said, is one of his favorite things to do. He watches the cattle mill about as the barn cats squeeze in and out of spaces in search of free This old barn in South Haven has been lifted for restoration. food and milk. He recalls the time he spent chasing cats around and stacking and throwing down hay as a kid. “To smell the smells and see the cattle brings a smile to my face,” Anderson said. “I look at farming as a way of life and moving as an occupation.”

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Page 12 • Country Acres | Friday, March 19, 2021

Family farming like years ago

PHOTO BY HERMAN LENSING

Ashley and Ross Uphoff are pictured with their Scottish Highland cattle July 21, 2020, on The Bluffs, the couple’s farm west of New Munich. Long horns, a thick forelock and shaggy coats are distinctive characteristics of Scottish Highland cattle.

Uphoffs raising grass-fed animals on The Bluffs BY HERMAN LENSING | STAFF WRITER

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NEW MUNICH – The Bluffs, a farm west of New Munich, has a diverse animal population more similar to a farm from 100 years ago than today. Ross and Ashley Uphoff own the former dairy farm that was run by Ross’ parents, Chuck and Deb, and the farm is now home to Scottish Highland cattle, Gloucestershire Old Spots pigs, Icelandic sheep, Red Ranger chickens and bronze turkeys. The couple began assuming ownership of the farm in 2020, continuing more than a century of ownership by the Uphoffs. Ross became financially involved when he bought his first grass-fed cows in 2012. Since then, the couple added to their animals. They own all of them, paying rent on the land and purchasing hay from Ross’ dad. Ross sought a different way of taking over his parents’ farm and came up with this variety of animals. “It was a dairy farm until 2012, but I really didn’t enjoy milking cows,” Ross said. “This is my alternative.” He returned home after attending college and fighting wildfires in Wyoming and Montana. He tried dairy farming for two years but decided it was not for him. The Scottish Highland cattle seemed perfect for what he wanted to raise on the family farm. “They do well on a grass-fed system,” he said of the small, big-horned, longhaired animals. “They are a little slower growing so it takes us about two and a half to three years to finish them for butchering and processing.”

The Bluffs page 13

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Friday, March 19, 2021 | Country Acres • Page 13

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The Bluffs page 14

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(Above) Ross Uphoff walks among Red Ranger chickens July 16 at The Bluffs farm in rural New Munich. The chickens’ shelter and feed and water station are rotated around the pastures. (Below) Turkeys are rotated on pasture in the summer of 2020.

Great for chicken or turkey litter!

The two met while working for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in Litchfield. Ross was a seasonal firefighter and Ashley was in the law enforcement program. “Ironically, we went to the same college but, to our knowledge, never met there,” Ashley said.

with cyclone discharge

If y

Ross opted for grassfed because he believes it is healthier, and it was less labor intensive than operations he had looked at. He purchased five cows in 2012, expanding to 130, including cows and calves. Ashley shares Ross’ vision of grass-fed beef.

Ross considers her a city girl. Ashley disagrees. “I didn’t grow up on a farm, but there was a farm right beside our house in Waterford, Wisconsin,” she said. The couple married in 2017. Ashley took such a liking to the farm, they had the wedding there. That marriage has only helped the development of The Bluffs – the name their products are sold under. “She is really into being health conscious,” Ross said. “She was on board with what I was doing. She only made what I was doing even better.” The couple promotes their practice of producing grass-fed beef. They see environmental benefits to the system. “At The Bluffs, we are working toward a completely regenerative system,” Ashley said. “Rotating pastures and intensive grazing are practices we utilize for all of our animals. When done right, these practices can sequester carbon and actually heal the land.”

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Page 14 • Country Acres | Friday, March 19, 2021

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Curious Scottish Highland cattle pause to check out the camera, July 21, 2020 on The Bluffs west of New Munich. Highlands are a slower-growing breed, and it takes about two and a half to three years to finish them for butchering and processing.

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The Bluffs products are sold directly to the customer in stores and at farmers markets in Melrose, Waite Park and Buffalo. “Ashley does a lot of marketing, Facebook and Instagram posts,” Ross said. “She takes care of the website and all the farm stuff as well.” The farm raises more than just cattle. Chicken, turkey, lamb and pork products are produced from animals raised in the pastures on their farm. “We have about 480

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acres and about 200 is pasture,” Ross said. “We rotate the pigs, cows and sheep to different paddocks. We give the land a chance to rest. The turkeys and chickens are also rotated.” The rest of the acreage is cropland for winter feed. Part of the dairy barn is now a brooder for raising new chickens. Chickens and turkeys are kept in moveable fenced-in areas. The fences are more for protection of the birds than confinement.

When the animals are ready to be harvested, they are brought to a butcher. Usually, two cows are butchered a month. Other animals are on a different schedule. Butchering and processing is usually done at Belgrade Meat Center. “We have our butcher dates set up a year in advance,” Ross said. “The coronavirus has swamped a lot of butcher shops as people want to get their animals butchered.” The poultry is butchered on the farm. They have contracted with a

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Friday, March 19, 2021 | Country Acres • Page 15

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Ross Uphoff looks over two of the Gloucestershire Old Spots pigs during summer 2020.

processer who comes to the farm to do the processing. “We will start processing chickens in July and October this year,” Ross said. It takes about 12 weeks to raise one flock of chickens. Ashley has started a

subsidiary business making a variety of soaps, also sold at farmers markets. “We use lard and tallow from our animals,” she said. “Some are scented and some unscented.” The response to their products has been positive.

For Ross, the change to grass-fed animals, his marriage and the ability to market their products have helped him with another goal. “I can keep the farm in the family,” he said. “My great-grandfather, August, settled here from Germany. It’s neat to think of the generations that grew up on this place.”

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Friday, March 19, 2021 | Country Acres • Page 17 These three Steiger tractors are owned by Doug and Gina Rohlik of Eden Valley. The two on the right have been refurbished by Doug and his brothers, Glenn, Richard and Charles, who farm together in Vesta.

Hungry for

horsepower

Rohliks love BIG tractors DEN VALLEY – Doug Rohlik and his brothers don’t usually buy farm equipment sight unseen, but some rules are made to be broken. While traveling back from Wishek, North Dakota in 2010 with his brother, Richard, the two stopped in Aberdeen. Always interested in what is happening in the tractor world, Richard picked up a western edition of Tractor House magazine and started paging through it. Richard said, “I think I found our tractor.” For some time, they had been searching for a 525 (horsepower) Big Bud or a 525 Steiger. Located at a dealership in Salem, Oregon, they had finally found what they were looking for: a 1986 Tiger KP525, built by the Steiger company. “I bought it that night,” Rohlik said. “I knew these guys because of their reputation and I knew if I bought it, it would be mint, and it was.” The tractor is equipped with an 1150 inline 6 Cummins engine. The tires are custom 850-75-42s that stand over 90 inches tall, built by Goodyear in cooperation with Twin Valley Tire in

Milbank, South Dakota. The hardware for the tires was built by Wold Rim Wheel in St. Ansgar, Iowa. Eight years ago, the tires and rims cost $55,000. “It took a long time to put together,” Rohlik said. “The wheel base center-to-center is 151 inches true for the 525 Big Bud or for the 525 Steiger. We stretched it to 168.5 and lifted it a couple inches. Each fender is 1,600 pounds and we will have the horsepower cranked up from 600 to 750 or 800.” It has not been weighed yet, but Rohlik expects it will come in at about 65,000 pounds. The Rohliks have been working on the tractor for a while, having been stalled six years ago when life threw them a curveball with Doug being diagnosed with colon cancer. Now healthy, they are happy to do things when they are ready. One of the next projects will be repainting the Steiger. This unique tractor will be on display at the 2021 Minnesota FarmFest on the Gilfillan Estates between Morgan and Redwood Falls, provided the event is held this year. This is also close to where the Rohliks farm. While Doug and his wife,

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Doug Rohlik is pictured in 2020 with one of his tractors that is equipped with technology allowing for a variable rate spread of the manure to eliminate overspreading on the land.

Gina, live south of Eden Valley where Gina raises horses, the Rohlik farm is in Vesta, west of Redwood Falls. Not many farmers have a 90-mile commute. During busy times of the year, they stay in a camper on the farm. It is there where Doug, his three brothers and two sisters were raised by their parents, Peter and Paulanett. Peter always had one main word of advice for his children: “You can’t put all your eggs in one basket because you know how farming is; about the time you think you can rely on it, the next

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thing you’re running on air for the next five years.” Rohlik is still grateful for his dad’s advice, especially now, because he passed away from Alzheimer’s in 2010. “It doesn’t matter how old you get, dads are always going to tell you what to do, how to do it and when,” he said with a smile. Now, four brothers and a nephew farm 2,500 acres, which includes 300 of

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Friday, March 19, 2021 | Country Acres • Page 19 CAMar15-1B-MT

Rohliks

from page 18 You breathed into existence The sun, stars, sea and sand. You gave us night and day and life, And rich and fertile land.

He feeds our nation with the food He grows so tirelessly each day. He feeds the people much in need In nations far away.

God, bless the faithful farmer Whose knowledge, love and toil Gives us all the things we need From Your good & fruitful soil.

Lord, bless Your farming families! Keep them safely in Your hand. Guard them, guide them, bless them As they work Your precious land.

~Lisa Rahn ~ Serving Central Minnesota ~

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Summer

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A 1,600 pound fender for a Steiger tractor is under construction in the Rohliks’ shop near Vesta.

per hour.” on these tractors each With the number of October and November, miles they put on each I can make a round trip fall, it would not be feasible to run the Steigers. Rohliks page 21 “We put enough miles

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“We’re all just big boys in a large sandbox,” he said. “I’m the oldest, so I still think I gotta be the boss. We can get under each other’s skin, but at the end of the day, we do everything together.” Doug and Gina own 12 tractors on the farm. Three of them are Steigers and the rest are John Deere. Each type has its place in the operation. The Steigers are used for fieldwork, and for pulling tile plows, while they do their own tiling. Other than auto steer, they are not computerized or loaded with electronic technology. They just work. But, they don’t work for the manure pumping business. “They are too cumbersome, and these fourwheel-drives will take a bare minimum of 1525 gallons of fuel an hour,” Rohlik said. “The front wheel assists (John Deeres) are 400 horse and I have two tractors with a total of 30,000 hours and they average 6.1 gallons

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The Rohlik brothers work to install a customized fender on a Steiger tractor that will be fitted with custom 850-75-42 tires.

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Page 20 • Country Acres | Friday, March 19, 2021

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Friday, March 19, 2021 | Country Acres • Page 21

Rohliks from page 19 from here to Alaska each month,” Rohlik said. For the manure pumping business, technology is a must. “We have the latest greatest updated stuff,” he said. “We can do a variable rate spread; the state is getting more and more technical about over spreading and they hold us custom haulers more liable for overspreading than they do the barns.” For the last 25 years, Doug and Gina have built up a steady clientele with mostly hog finishing barns within a 50- to 60-mile radius of Redwood Falls. Manure is hauled with large tanks to fields at an average distance of 2.5 to 3 miles. Each year, they haul about 40 million gallons and that’s enough for Rohlik. “I enjoy working with all the clients we have,” he said. “I don’t want to be spread too thin and I’m probably having more fun doing what I do than I ever have. It’s a fun venture for me.” There may be other ventures in store. A dream is to be the owners of a Big Bud tractor. “My brother, Richard, and I are giving serious consideration to purchasing one of them,” he said. “I think we will do it – we like the sheer horsepower!” PHOTO SUBMITTED

Ready to be put to work, this tractor will be used for field work, as well as pulling tile plows on the Rohliks’ farmland near Vesta.

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Page 22 • Country Acres | Friday, March 19, 2021

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One Tough Animal

Friday, March 19, 2021 | Country Acres • Page 25

Cherished memories from years past

Growing up on a pony farm Anderson recalls childhood with four-legged friends BY SARAH COLBURN | STAFF WRITER

The yellow trailer was adorned with black lettering, paving the way for fun wherever it went. Blair and his children took the ponies to fairs. They’d attach six to eight ponies to the pony ride and give area kids a chance to hop on the saddles. “They just loved pony rides; us kids made sure the other kids didn’t fall off,” she said. Throughout her childhood, Anderson recalls a number of carts and buggies driven by her father. The old-fashioned black buggy her father drove around their farm and throughout town now sits on display in the Blairview Saddle Shop in Alexandria; the buggy itself is nearing a century old. “It looks so wonderful sitting at the saddle shop,” she said. One particularly special memory for An-

PHOTO SUBMITTED

The Blair kids each had their own pony growing up. Here, Joyce Blair Anderson sits on her white horse, far left.

derson was the day her father was called upon to drive his wagon through town carrying a bride and groom. Her father placed chairs inside the wagon for the honorary couple and carried them down Main Street and around Alexandria. The ponies were never far from the Blairs;

they would take them to family reunions and give all the kids a ride. “Dad would just drive around the farm with the team of ponies and with the kids in the wagon,” she said.

Anderson page 26

QUEEN BEE’S

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STARBUCK – Joyce Blair Anderson has been in a wheelchair since 2007. Though she’s in assisted living, the stories inside her head are anything but limiting. Anderson, who’s 71, remembers with great detail the colors, smells and details of her childhood – one spent growing up on Blair Pony Farm. She relives them in her memory often. “Everybody knew about the farm because they knew about the ponies,” she said. Her father, Ermel Blair, began the pony farm in the mid 1940s. He raised ponies and colts to take to auction but, on the side, the ponies made the rounds throughout the region. “When we got the first pony trailer, it was so fun because it had our name on it,” Anderson said.

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Please return this form along with check or money order for $35.00 payable to: COUNTRY ACRES 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave., Sauk Centre, MN 56378

Call 320-352-6577 or email missy@saukherald.com Distributed FREE to RURAL ROUTES of Sauk Centre, Melrose, Holdingford, Freeport, Albany, Avon, Osakis, Belgrade/Brooten/Elrosa, Grey Eagle, Long Prairie, Paynesville, Richmond, Upsala, Villard & West Union OR pick up your free copy at the Sauk Centre Herald office. NO REFUNDS

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Page 26 • Country Acres | Friday, March 19, 2021

Anderson from page 25

Shortly after he got the first ponies, Ermel Blair constructed what was, at the time, a stateof-the-art pony barn. The new pony barn had two sides, one where the ponies were tied up and the other where they were free to roam. The barn was equipped with a beautiful tack room. “My dad made it out of knotty pine; it was separate, another closed-off room in the barn and it smelled so good,” Anderson said. With the earthy smell of leather and the tangy scent of pine in the air lingering in her memory, Anderson recalls all the buggies and wagons her dad would use and that

the kids could drive. In bad weather, all the carts and buggies would be lined up in the storage shed. Her father drove their team of horses in many parades. “It was really neat,” she said. “That was such an important part of my life.” Though Anderson has short-term memory loss from her car accident, she recalls the stories and visions of her childhood with ease. Anderson had her own pony growing up. Her first horse had four white socks up to his knees. She rode the horse in parades and horse shows as a member of the Waska Riders club in Glenwood. The saddle club formed in the mid1960s and in addition to parades and horse shows,

PHOTOS SUBMITTED

The Blair family kids assist other kids in the community as they get on the Blairs’ pony ride. Here, the pony ride is set up in Benson at the Swift County Fair.

members participated in games with their horses – riding around barrels and poles. “I remember when Dad

and the kids would head out into the fields to pick mustard out of the wheat or oats; for every mustard stem they returned with, her father would pay them a penny. Less desirable, she said, was picking rocks out of the field under the blaze of the sun. “It was like the rocks were growing right behind us,” she said. “You couldn’t even tell we picked them, and it was so hot.” Her mom, Helyn, helped on the farm. Anderson recalls the haying season, when her mom would slowly drive the tractor backwards, pulling a rope that would raise the bales up and dump them in the hay mow. Today, Anderson’s own sons still farm on a piece of the land her parents once owned. Her children, Cullen, daughter-inlaw, Angie, and son, Barry Anderson, farm together. Barry and his significant other, Yalanda Cooley, John (back, from left), Ermel, Helyn, Judi, Joyce and Ted (front) Blair pose for a family live about two miles from photo in the 1950s. the farm, though Yalanda works off the farm. “Growing up, right away they had this farmHURRY! Ermel Blair stands in the doorway watching his daughter, ing in their blood,” she Joyce, with her bottle-fed lambs. Joyce fed the lambs said. When her parents many times a day from a pop bottle affixed with a nipple.

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bought us a new saddle,” she said. “I took my pony down a gravel road with my new saddle and I fell off, the saddle fell under the pony’s belly and he drug that saddle all the way down the gravel road and really damaged it.” When they took the ponies to pony sales, they took them to a washing station in the pony barn and braided their manes and tails.

“Right before the sale, we’d take their braids out and they were just beautiful,” she said. In addition to the ponies, the Blairs had a grain farm; they also milked cows for a very short time and raised heifers. Her father did the fieldwork and, she said, the machinery back then was so very different. He’d put the cultivator on the back of the tractor

Anderson page 27

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Friday, March 19, 2021 | Country Acres • Page 29

Animals we

PHOTO BY HEART OF A COWGIRL PHOTOGRAPHY

Vogue, a silver dapple Gypsy horse, plays in the snow at Rosie’s Gyps Ranch in St. Joseph. Vogue was one of many of these gorgeous Gypsy horses we featured in “Gypsy in their blood,” in our Jan. 18, 2019, issue of Country Acres. Gypsy horses were first imported to the U.S. from England in the mid-1990s; they are sometimes known as Gypsy Cobs, Gypsy Vanners or Gypsy horses. The breed is a combination of Fell, Dale and Welsh ponies, along with Shire and Clydesdale draft horses. After generations of breeding and genetics, the result was a horse that fit the daily needs of the Gypsy people, according to Katie Hembree at the ranch. Throughout the year, the manes and tails are kept braided, folded up and wrapped with electrical tape unless they are being shown, helping the long hair to stay clean and out of the way. The hair grows quickly, sometimes 8-12 inches over the winter.

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Friday, March 19, 2021 | Country Acres • Page 31

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Page 32 • Country Acres | Friday, March 19, 2021

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