TWIN LAKES TOWNSHIP — An accident took the life of the first patriarch of the Swenson family farm, and another nearly killed its third-generation owner. Yet the Swenson farm persists southwest of Cloquet and next week will be recognized as a Century Farm.
The Minnesota Farm Bureau and Minnesota State Fair Century Farm program annually honors family farms of at least 50 acres in size that have been in operation for 100 years or more.
Of the approximately 11,000 family farms across the state that have received century recognition since the program’s inception, Ted and Lynn Swenson are the 42nd honorees from Carlton County. Last year, two local farms that also have Scandinavian roots achieved the milestone: the Olesiak and Dahl farms , both outside of Cromwell.
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group
The Swensons will be presented a certificate at the Carlton County Fair on Friday, Aug. 16. The noon ceremony will also recognize Pasek Dairy Farm, which was named the Carlton County Farm Family of the Year by the University of Minnesota Extension last month, as well as the county’s yet-to-be-named outstanding senior citizen.
Ted said his 230-acre farm off of State Highway 210 in Twin Lakes Township actually achieved the century milestone in 2011.
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“I figured it was over,” he said “Last fall I finally decided to go to the courthouse and find the right paperwork, and that took a long time.”
An employee at the Carlton County Courthouse helped Ted find the deed for his family’s land. The document, he said, shows that his grandfather, Edward Theodore Swenson, received 160 acres of land from the U.S. government.
That was the number of acres settlers could claim at that time under the Homestead Act of 1862, which gave land to anyone who “improved” a parcel and resided upon it for at least five years.
According to Ted, his grandfather “improved” the land by building a small log cabin and cutting down acres of timberland to be farmed.
Edward grew up on a farm in Norway and immigrated to the U.S. around the turn of the 20th century as a teenager. He met his wife, Borghild, at a gathering of Norwegians in Superior. Ted does not know how or why his grandfather ended up settling in Carlton County in or around 1907.
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As the Swenson farm and the family quickly grew, Edward built a larger house from his own timber in 1917, according to a family history. That house still stands, with an addition, and is home to Ted and Lynn.
Edward and Borghild grew potatoes and rutabagas, had cows and other farm animals and raised seven children. Edward also served as a Carlton County commissioner. Edward died in 1945 when he was working in a well and it caved in.
Borghild and another son briefly raised sheep on the farm until Ted’s parents, Ronald and Beatrice, took it over. Ronald had started his own dairy operation and moved it onto the family farm after his father’s death.
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Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group
Ronald expanded the farm, buying additional acres to grow more crops, growing the herd of animals and building more barns and other outbuildings, according to Ted. He also worked other jobs, including as a bus driver and at Wood Conversion Company (now USG), to help fund the investments in the farm.
Ted officially became a partner in the farm in 1982, and it became known as Swenson’s Dairy. Like his father, Ted also has held side jobs, including still to this day doing small engine repair and transporting liquid nitrogen for livestock insemination and now more often to medical facilities.
Ted waited until later in life, but like his grandfather, he married a gal he met at a social event in Superior. Lynn, a widowed mother with grown children, said she quickly took to the farm lifestyle — particularly the dairy cows.
“People think that cows are stupid. Well, the joke is on them because cows are smart as whips,” she said. “Each cow has their own personality. I had one that would make faces at me when you told her to do something.”
There are no more cows on the Swenson farm.
“I do miss them. I miss them a lot,” Lynn said.
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group
The shrinking profit to be made in milk production and difficulty finding reliable farmhands were contributors to their decision to give up the dairy in Swenson’s Dairy, the Swensons said.
But it was an accident that left Ted with 14 broken bones in 2003 that necessitated the decision. He was thrown from and run over by a tractor, leaving him with permanent injuries that limit his mobility.
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Yet the Swensons were not ready to fully retire or move to the city. They still grow hay on about 100 acres and sell it locally, primarily to horse owners for feed. A neighboring farmer helps with the harvest in exchange for a share of the hay.
Lynn is enjoying sleeping in and extra time for her grandchildren these days. But Ted says he keeps busy with the hay operation and continuing his side businesses. And this wet and warm spring and summer he said just keeping the grass mowed around his house and outbuildings is a nearly full-time job.
“Year round I’m going every day,” he said. “There’s always something. There’s always something cooking.”
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group
