’s
Today’s Farm SUMMER 2022
Sustainability for over a century
Olives, ice cream and carrot-raisin salad are Perkins family traditions BY JANE TURPIN MOORE
being named Nobles County’s Outstanding Conservationists in 2016. The Globe “I guess our contribution WORTHINGTON — The Perkins family totally to the legacy of the farm was the conservation of its digs their roots. main resource: the soil,” And why not? Those said Jerry, 82. roots are deep and “We’ve been committed strong, extending back well over a century on the to protecting the air and water and improving same 160 Elk Township and maintaining the soil acres a scant five miles resource for a long time.” north of Worthington. Newly designated in And more than 40 years of agricultural conservation 2022 as a Minnesota Century Farm, the Perkins practices culminated in family plot has technically Jerry and Terry Perkins, along with their daughter been a part of their Julie Perkins Lopez, heritage for considerably
longer than 100 years. The first known owner, George Backer, was born in Hesse, Germany, and purchased the land from the Sioux City-St. Paul Railroad in March of 1888 for the then-princely sum of $10 an acre. George’s brother, Rudolf, inherited the property when George passed in 1899, but due to a series of unfortunate events — mainly attributed to a lack of modern transportation and technology — it wasn’t until 1911 that Rudolf and his wife Katie
Berlet Backer (Jerry’s second- great-aunt) were recorded as being in official possession of the farm. “It took some trips between Nobles County and Chatsworth, Ill., to straighten it all out because they didn’t have the right documentation,” said Jerry. In 1922, Katie Berlet Backer’s niece, Amelia, and her husband Gilbert Perkins assumed the farm’s ownership. Wallace, the son of Amelia and Gilbert, was Jerry’s father.
PERKINS: Page 4
ABOVE: An aerial view of the Perkins farm today. MAIN: Ari Lopez Miller (the bride) and her brother Ben IDU ULJKW DUH WKH ĆIWK JHQHUDWLRQ RI WKH 3HUNLQV IDPLO\ WR have lived and worked on the Perkins family farm north of Worthington. From left, Jerry and Terry Perkins, Ari Lopez Miller and Logan Miller, Julie Perkins Lopez and Jorge Lopez, and Ben Lopez at Ari and Logan’s April 30 wedding. Special to The Globe
TODAY’S FARM
2 | WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29, 2022
Behrens farm settled in 1920
Fourth generation now owns the parcel BY JULIE BUNTJER The Globe
RUSHMORE — Little more than three miles west of Reading, along Nobles County 14 (200th Street) stands a farm that has been in the Behrens family for 102 years. Originally purchased by Ben Behrens in 1920, the farm has grown to include nearly 463 acres, and is now owned by Ben’s greatgranddaughter, Whitney Fossell, of Marshall. Fossell became the farm’s owner a year ago, and previous to that, it was owned by her parents, Gary and Brenda Behrens, for 30 years. Gary’s parents, Floyd and Evelyn, owned the land for a combined 34 years, and Ben, the original Behrens farm owner, had it for 37 years. Located in the
Special to The Globe
The most recent aerial photo of the Behrens farm in Summit Lake Township, rural Rushmore.
northeast corner of Section 29, Summit Lake Township, the farm produces corn and soybeans. The Behrens family will be recognized during the Nobles County Fair for having a newly designated Minnesota Century Farm.
THE GLOBE
Three dozen Minnesota farms honored as 2022 Sesquicentennial Farms THE GLOBE
EAGAN — The Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation (MFBF) recognized 36 recipients of the Sesquicentennial Farm award this year. To qualify, a family farm must be in continuous family ownership for at least 150 years, be 50 acres or larger, and currently involved in agricultural production. A commemorative certificate signed by Governor Tim Walz, Minnesota Department of Agriculture Commissioner Thom Petersen and MFBF President Dan Glessing will be awarded to qualifying families, along with an outdoor sign signifying Sesquicentennial Farm recognition. This year’s honorees were: Anoka County: All Good Organics, Lino Lakes, 1866
Becker County: Anderson Farm, Lake Park, 1871 Brown County: Frank Lee Farm, Hanska, 1871; Milford East, New Ulm, 1872; and Loran, Heidi, Adam, Maggie and Gracie Sellner, Sleepy Eye, 1868 Cottonwood County: Peder Enstad Homestead, Revere, 1871 Dakota County: Terry Family Farm, Northfield, 1871; Childs Family Farm, Randolph, 1856 Faribault County: Hannaman, Blue Earth, 1870 Freeborn County: Kalstad Farm, Jack and Natalie Thompson, Glenville, 1865; Johnson Family Farm, Hartland, 1868 Goodhue County: Oak Park Farm, Cannon Falls, 1872; Scott and
Tesha Johnson Family Farm, Cannon Falls, 1856; Amundson, Goodhue, 1872; Justin and Nikki Meyer, Goodhue, 1872; Klair Family Farm, Goodhue, 1868; Mattson Family Farm, Kenyon, 1872; and Berg Ridgeview Farm, Welch, 1872 Lac Qui Parle County: Johnson Farm, Montevideo, 1872 Le Sueur County: Schickling Farm, Madison Lake, 1861 Lyon County: Southview Farm, Minneota, 1871 McLeod County: Cohrs Family Farm, Kevin and Darla Cohrs, Glencoe, 1871 Mower County: Bell Farm, Austin, 1859 Nobles County: Petersen Farm, Rushmore, 1871
Norman County: Holte Farms, Shelly, 1872 Otter Tail County: Bruce and Kim Brenden, Rothsay, 1871 Redwood County: Dan and Rita O’Callaghan, Springfield, 1871 Rock County: Mary Chesley, Luverne, 1872 Scott County: Gerald H. Nagel, Belle Plain, 1870; Judith A. Nagel, Belle Plain, 1868 Stearns County: Scott and Kathleen Schaefers, Richmond, 1861; Rausch, Watkins, 1872 Waseca County: Conway Century Farm, Janesville, 1869; Johnson Farm, Janesville, 1859; The Sunde Family Farm, New Richland, 1856 Wright County: McGrath Family Farm, Montrose, 1869
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Enstad farm reaches sesquicentennial status BY JULIE BUNTJER The Globe
REVERE — Recognized in June 2020 as a Minnesota Century Farm, even though the farm had been in the Enstad family since 1871, landowners Earl and Judith Enstad will now receive recognition for owning a Minnesota Sesquicentennial Farm — 150 years of continuous
family ownership. The 160-acre Enstad farm, located in Section 2 of Ann Township in rural Cottonwood County, south of Revere, was homesteaded in 1871 from the U.S. Government by Peder Enstad, greatgrandfather to Earl. Peder Enstad was born in 1826 in the Gudbransdalen Valley near Lesja, Oppland, Norway. He emigrated to
America in 1869, traveling on the sailing ship Hulda, and landing in Quebec, Canada, before traveling to Hanska. He found work on the railroad west of Mankato, and also worked for neighbors. During the summer of 1871, Peder walked to Revere to pick out his homestead. In 1872, with a wagon pulled by oxen, he and his family moved
to the homestead and built up a farm site in the southeast corner of the quarter with only a sod hut to live in. The family lived in the inner part of the sod house, and the animals in the outer part, their body heat keeping everyone warm during the cold Minnesota winters. Twisted prairie grass was bundled and burned for heat.
Once the sod hut was constructed, Peder and his son, John, 14, went to work on the railroad through Windom, returning home with lumber to build a house. Peder’s homestead had a Sioux trail traversing it, and one day a group of braves came by. One of them had a badly infected wound and Peder’s wife treated him with carbolic acid — the
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only antiseptic she had. When the remaining men returned a few days later, expecting to find him dead, he was sitting up and eating. “They were amazed and delighted and stopped in friendship later when they came down that trail,” wrote Earl and Judith on their application for Century Farm status in 2020.
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TODAY’S FARM
4 | WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29, 2022
PERKINS From Page 1
“Wallace was born in Chatsworth, Ill., and he met my mother Maurine in Worthington,” said Jerry, adding that his father — a smart and clever man who was a mechanical innovator with several inventions to his credit — was the couple’s firstborn child. That meant his formal education ended after the eighth grade so he could help out full-time on the farmstead. “He probably went to the same country school that my brother Jim and I attended, about a mile and half northwest of our place,” Jerry said, mentioning that Wallace’s younger siblings all attended high school and a few went on to college. Jerry and Jim sometimes rode a Shetland pony bareback to school; walking and biking were additional Submitted photo modes of transport. Gilbert and Amelia Perkins on their wedding day, Jan. 25, 1905. Jerry fondly remembers
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camping, playing games and splashing in the creek (technically County Judicial Ditch No. 8, a rerouted south branch of Elk Creek) with Jim and their younger siblings Daniel and Karen during their childhoods. “The ditch was dug in the early 1900s at a pretty hefty price, and that stressed many farms financially and caused some bankruptcies, which was not atypical at the time,” said Jerry. Flax, oats, corn and hay, along with milk cows, chickens and pigs, were raised on the Perkins’ farm, with soybeans added to the mix around 1950, according to Jerry. “It was good farmland and we had a rotating pasture model,” Jerry said. “I enjoyed going out on a horse and bringing the cattle in for the night or to be milked — and I didn’t know it at the time, but I did not like getting up early (around 6 a.m.) to help with the chores.”
Around the world and back again
in Peace Corps training at the University of Notre Dame; work in Chile and Jerry graduated from Worthington High School Bolivia followed. “Because of our work in 1958, having moved globally and later in with his classmates into Montana, Terry and I the existing Clary Street have a great appreciation building midway through of diversity and a broader his senior year. perspective of what “We transferred to the new building over Christmas community means,” said Jerry. Therefore, the Perkins vacation,” Jerry recalled. family has volunteered and All four of Wallace and led in many capacities in Maurine’s children went the Worthington area over on to college; Jerry and the years, aided by their James attended South Spanish fluency. Notably, Dakota State University Maurine was a founding (James later worked in member of the committee Bolivia as an agricultural that established the missionary), Daniel Worthington International graduated from the Festival in the late 1990s. University of Minnesota The younger Perkins and taught vocational family, which by then agriculture at the high included daughter school level before farming Julie and son Michael, with his father-in-law, and returned to the family Karen is an alumna of St. farm in 1974, taking up Cloud State University. residence in the circa After pursuing a graduate 1923 house where Jerry degree for a time, Jerry was raised; Wallace and was hired as an agricultural Maurine then moved into advisor to the Peace Corps. the city of Worthington. He met his wife of 57 years, PERKINS: Page 5 Terry, when they were both
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TABLE July 19, 2022
10th Street, Downtown Worthington 5:30 p.m. Social • 7:00 p.m. Meal • $50 per person All proceeds go to the Agribusiness Scholarship Fund.
Tickets on sale now at the Worthington Area Chamber of Commerce or from any Ag Committee Member. Only 250 available. Each ticket holder will receive $10 to use at participating Farmer’s Market Vendors. Sponsored by the Agribusiness Committee, JBS, Nobles County Corn & Soybean Growers, Nobles County Dairy Association, and Worthington Farmer’s Market Vendors.
TODAY’S FARM
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PERKINS From Page 4
Terry’s upbringing on a northeastern Minnesota dairy farm was a definite plus. “My farming background facilitated me being a farm partner, not just a farm wife,” said Terry. “I had wonderful in-laws who were supportive and helpful, and my main focus was trying to help the farm function and succeed.” Confirmed Jerry, “Terry has been a good and full partner in this, and my mother used to say the farm was successful because of Terry. “I think my mother liked Terry better than me,” he joked. While Jerry retains happy childhood memories of selecting a favorite birthday meal — usually steak, carrot-raisin salad and spinach, a choice his siblings often mimicked — his children established their own memorable
Perkins farm moments. “At first, I loved living on the farm,” said Julie. “We had a pony, and with my brother we had so many adventures — catching crawfish in the creek, exploring the older out-buildings and acting out ‘Little House on the Prairie’ scenes. “Everyone wanted to come over all the time because it was a fun place to be.” But as Julie grew, her friends came to prefer spending summer days at the city pool rather than bean-walking. “Doing farm chores wasn’t as exciting as going to the pool, and I went off to college never expecting to return to the farm,” Julie admitted. Julie attended college, met and married her husband Jorge Lopez and started her own family (which includes daughter Ari and son Ben) in Wisconsin. When her brother Michael, who had begun farming with Jerry
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29, 2022 | 5
Special to The Globe
Wally and Maurine Perkins on the family farm in the late 1930’s.
and Terry, sadly died at age 34 in early 2004, the time seemed right for Julie to return. Initially the Lopez family lived in town. Within a year, they decided the Perkins farm was the place for them. They completed major renovations and an addition to the 1923 farmhouse to preserve it and make it their own. “The farm was an
excellent place to raise our kids, and I love that they’re the fifth generation to have lived here,” said Julie. For the last 15 years, Tim and Susan Hansberger have rented the bulk of the Perkins’ farmland. Jerry insists he is now fully retiring from farming, having rented their entire parcel to the Hansbergers this season. Special to The Globe
PERKINS: Page 6 This photo shows the Perkins farm house in the mid-1920’s
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PERKINS
Township board since 2016. Jerry’s grandson Ben plans to video record the From Page 5 artifacts presentation in “Their involvement order to preserve those has been fantastic, and stories and memories for the Hansbergers have future generations, and embraced and enhanced other family traditions — the conservation efforts some honoring Maurine here,” said Julie. Perkins, who died just Admitted Jerry, “I failed shy of her 99th birthday at retirement the first in July 2010, and Wallace time, but I’m trying it Perkins, who passed in again this year.” 1983 at age 73 — will be observed during the twoFamily reunion, day celebration. Century Farm “We’ll make homemade celebration ice cream because Grandma With their official Maurine always did that, Century Farm designation and Grandpa Wallace now secured, the — a very funny man — extended Perkins clan is smashed the ice for the ice planning a celebration cream maker,” said Julie. and family reunion in late “We’re distributing the July. Over four dozen family ice cream recipe to people are expected to everyone, and we’re excited gather at the farm. to recreate some of “It’s been really fun to those memories.” work with my dad and Grandma Maurine’s Uncle Jim, pulling together famed carrot-raisin salad different artifacts from the is also expected to be on farm and hearing them the menu. tell the stories they know,” Because of the Perkins said Julie, who has served family’s conservation practices, a discussion of as treasurer of the Elk
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sustainable agriculture will be part of the fun. And another tradition — an olive scavenger hunt — is something everyone is eagerly anticipating. “We’re all a bunch of olive fanatics — black, green, you name it,” said Julie, explaining that at numerous past gatherings, a jar of green olives has been hidden on the acreage and a wild hunt ensues to find it. “My cousin Michaela is designing an ‘amazing race-style’ scavenger hunt this time around.” Sunday morning attendance at Worthington’s First United Methodist Church is a can’t-miss, as the Perkins family (dating back to Gilbert and Amelia’s era) has been involved with that faith community for over 100 years. “And then, following another tradition, we’ll all go to Chatauqua Park and have a picnic,” said Julie. “It will be a wonderful celebration.”
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Surrounded by aunts, uncles and cousins will certainly be grand, agrees Jerry. But also worth celebrating is the hope that representatives of the Perkins family expect to remain rooted with the farm going forward, in one fashion or another. Said Jerry, “Who knows what the future will hold? Yet somehow this place seems to give a sense of permanence, even to our Photo courtesy of Julie Perkins Lopez grandchildren — and This family recently visited the Perkins Century Farm but to our surprise that’s chose not to stay nearly as long as the family has, nor to manifesting itself now.” leave a lasting mark for future (or current) generations.
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/DNHĆHOG IDUP LQ 3DXOLQJèV family for 100 years BY KARI LUCIN
Minnesota Century Farm. Richard owned the land alone for 46 years, and starting in 1967, co-owned it with his wife Charolette Kopies. Their daughter, Berniece Pauling, and her husband Alvin Pauling, assumed ownership in
1981 and their ownership continues to this day. Located on 780th Street in Round Lake — Section 24 of Ewington Township in Jackson County — the farm’s name is also an accurate description of its size of 80 acres.
farm’s owner for 13 years. After he sold it to John, he and wife, Ronnaug, From Page 3 moved two miles east In 1878, John Enstad by Highwater Creek and left home to work in the lumber camps in northern raised their eight children. Peder died in 1919, at age Minnesota and then 93, and Ronnaug died at moved to Montana to age 90 in 1936. work on the railroad. The original Enstad farm In 1884, Peder sold the was divided over the years farm to John for $400, into four smaller farms and John relocated the called Little Enstad, Middle buildings to the west side of the quarter. After losing Enstad, South Big Enstad and North Big Enstad, his first wife and all but one son, John remarried in which had been Peder’s. John and Caroline 1900 and he and his wife, owned the land for 42 Caroline, raised four sons. years. From them, the Peder Enstad was the land passed to Melvin
and Hazel Enstad, who were the land’s caretakers for 45 years. Phillip and Elizabeth Enstad, the great-grandson and daughter-in-law of Peder, then owned the land for the next 17 years, followed by Earl and Judith Enstad, who have owned the parcel for the past 33 years. In 2019, 150 years after Peder Enstad left Norway, a reunion was held at the Peder Enstad farm in Lesja, Norway, at the house that was built in the 1700s and still stands today and is maintained for visitors.
The Globe
LAKEFIELD — Richard Kopies founded The “80” in 1921, and after 100 years, the farm remains in the descendents of his family, making it a true
ENSTAD
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29, 2022 | 7
Rural Comfrey farm in Kleinow family for 122 years BY JULIE BUNTJER
Cottonwood County, purchasing a 120-acre COMFREY — Henrich parcel southwest of Comfrey in Section 17 “Henry” Kleinow was of Selma Township. The born in Steffenshagen, Mecklenburg, Germany, Watonwan River flows through a portion of and, like many other the property. young men in his On Feb. 10, 1900, Kleinow homeland, was lured to the United States by the purchased the property from prospect of land and the August Klein. A barn was built that first year. ability to farm. Kleinow found that Henry remained the land in northeastern farm’s owner until 1944, The Globe
when it was taken over by his son, Walter Kleinow. Three years later, in 1947, the land transitioned to another of Henry’s sons, Albert. Albert Kleinow was the farm’s owner until 1967, when it then transferred to his son, Raymond Kleinow. Raymond Kleinow, who resides in Burnsville, said the farm now produces corn and soybeans.
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