Submitted Photo An aerial view of the Bergs farm in 1966. Two years previously in 1964, Richard and Johanna Jakobi sold the farm to their daughter Evelyn and her husband Roland.

NEW AUBURN — The Gordon and Barbara Bergs farm in Sibley County at 44495 190th Lane, Arlington, Minnesota, was awarded the Century Farm award from the Minnesota Farm Bureau.

The Bergs farm is in New Auburn Township. The farm has been in the family since 1918.

John and Hermina Jakobi (Gordon’s great-grandparents), after coming from Germany, purchased the 114 acre farm from James E. O’Connell for $11,100 in 1918.

John and Hermina raised four children on the farm. They were Selma, Richard, Edward, and Hilda. The family

ran the farm for 28 years, from 1918 to 1946.

Submitted Photo Richard Jackobi, the second generation of the Bergs Century Farm, stands with a pair of draft horses. Richard Jackobi purchased the farm from his parents in 1946. He ran the farm for 18 years, selling their share of the farm to their daughter Evelyn and her husband Roland Bergs.

In 1946, John and Hermina sold the farm to their son Richard Jakobi and his wife Johanna (Gordon’s grandparents) and to their granddaughter Evelyn (Gordon’s mother) and her husband Roland Bergs (Gordon’s dad). They ran the farm together for 18 years, from 1946 to 1964. Evelyn was Richard’s and Johanna’s only child.

In 1964, Richard and Johanna sold their share of the farm to their daughter and son-in-law Evelyn and Roland Bergs (Gordon’s parents). The

Bergs continued to run the farm for another 25 years, from 1964 to 1989. They raised two children, Gordon and Geraldine.

In 1989, Gordon and Barbara Bergs purchased the farm from his parents Roland and Evelyn Bergs. Gordon and Barbara still live on the farm and have since 1976. They stopped farming and started renting the land about five years ago, but Gordon does make meadow hay on 20 acres. He sells the hay to people who own horses.

Gordon and Barbara moved into a trailer house on the farm when they were married in 1976. Gordon’s parents, Roland and Evelyn, lived in the original farmhouse. In 1991, Gordon and Barbara built a new house on the farm site. They moved into the new house on January 4, 1992.

Submitted Photo An aerial view of the Bergs from in 2019. The farm is currently owned by Gordon and Barbara Bergs. Gordon is the great-grandson of the founders John and Herminia. Gordon Bergs retired from active farming in 2019 and now rents the land to farmers. Gordon still makes meadow hay on 20 acres.

Gordon’s parents also built a house on the

farm site in 1991 and moved into it in March 1992. About two years ago, their house was sold and moved about a mile and half away from the farm site after Gordon’s parents had passed away.

Over the years many things did not change, but many things did. In the early years of the farm, the family had steers, hogs, chickens, ducks, and geese.

“They had lots of chickens years ago because the eggs sales helped them to buy groceries and clothes from the income,” said Gordon Bergs.

Throughout the generations, the families raised corn, soybeans, oats, alfalfa, and meadow hay for their crops.

Submitted Photo This 1949 farm truck was restored by Gordon Berg, the current owner of the Bergs farm. The truck had previously belonged to his great-grandfather John Jakobi, who used the truck on the farm. Gordon’s granddaughter, Chloe Ray, has expressed interest in owning the truck some day.

In 1946, Gordon’s dad and grandfather started milking cows and that continued until 2008 when Gordon sold the herd. Before selling the cows, Gordon milked anywhere from 45 to 50 cows, twice a day, in two barns on the property.

Gordon remembers all the butchering that was done on the farm through his lifetime. In 2012, they stopped butchering beef and hogs. When they butchered, they also made their own sausage. Part of the original house was moved to a new spot on the farm site and became the “butcher shop” for the Bergs.

Usually starting in September and through De

cember, chickens were butchered. They usually butchered a couple hundred chickens. Eight to ten families would work together on it.

“We usually butchered on Saturdays and Sundays so the kids could help. We would sometimes have a crew of about twenty-five people. We butchered chickens, ducks, and geese until about the mid-1980s,” said Gordon.

“Even though the butchering got to be drawn out over a few months, we sure enjoyed how those grandmas could cook. We had meat, potatoes, the fixings, and of course pies and cookies,” added Gordon.

Gordon always worked at the farm, but Barbara also worked at Glenhaven Nursing Home in Glencoe, and at the

Arlington and Glencoe hospitals as a Certified Nursing Assistant for about 38 years until 2014.

Gordon and Barbara have one daughter, Carrie Jo, who is married to Kyle Eidem and they have one daughter, Chloe Ray.

Chloe Ray is now 13 years old, but she is already telling Grandpa Bergs that she wants the 1949 truck that he restored. It had been Gordon’s great-grandfather John Jakobi’s truck that was used around the farm.