It isn’t very often that family members live in the same house and carry on the business their grandparents began 100 years ago.
The Ewald Farm has recently been recognized by the Minnesota State Fair as a Century Farm for its 100 years in operation under one family.
Bill Ewald said that the family really hasn’t purposefully set out to keep the farm in the family, it has just happened that way over the past century. But Don Ewald said he would like to see some of his relatives continue the farm and farmhouse when it is time.
And although Don spent years away from the farm that has been in his family since 1911, he now lives in the house built by his immigrant grandparents when they chose to settle off what is now County State Aid Highway 332 near the airport.
Jens (James) and Trea Ewald each separately immigrated from Denmark to Minneapolis in 1907 and 1909 respectively and met in Minnesota. They were married in 1911 and decided to move to International Falls to seek a new business venture in farming shortly after.
When they arrived in Borderland, the 160-acre property was little more than trees and a cabin. The property was one mile by one-quarter mile in south International Falls. A dirt road provided access to the new homestead. The Ewalds contracted for a modern house to be built on the site, complete with indoor plumbing and wired for electricity — conveniences not standard at the time.
“It was probably one of the nicest houses in Koochiching County at that time,” Don said.
The Ewalds would have four children: Christian in 1912, Woodrow in 1914, Lester in 1915 and Gladys in 1926.
In 1913, James and Trea returned to International Falls to live in their new home and James would begin the process of clearing the wooded property. Their first few years’ income came mainly from the sale of cord and pulp wood to be used for firewood and in the newly operational papermill, only a few years running. Clearing the land would take until about 1935 to complete, according to a history of the family written by Christian.
Ewald Dairy opened for business in 1917 once enough land had been cleared to house the operation. James would have a milk route through town, deliveries being made by horse and wagon. At its height, Ewald Farm would have more than 30 cows producing milk. The dairy operation would continue, Don said, until a fire burned the original barn in the 1940s.
Woodrow, Don’s father, and Lester each purchased half-acre by half-acre parcels of the land when their father retired, Don said.
Woodrow would get into the construction business but would later move into the family farmhouse. Lester got into poultry on the farm, and became known locally for producing much of the area’s eggs. In addition to the massive quantity of eggs laid on a daily basis by up to 30,000 chickens, Lester also raised thousands of turkeys. The farm has also held a stock of beef cattle for some time. Lester and James ran the farm mostly from the 1940s onward. Lester also ran school bus routes through town for more than five decades.
The farming now consists of mostly hay, along with other grains and oats. Much of the business, Don said, consists of selling hay to area horse owners. Customers hook the Ewald trailer full of hay to their vehicle and return it once the hay is delivered.
“In the summer, starts right around the Fourth of July, and you work a full 30 days straight,” Don said of the hay business they currently operate. Don said they average about 6,000 45-pound bails of hay and 50 to 100 1,000-pound bails. Work lasts from the time the dew dries in the morning until it settles again in the evening during that busy month.
“This was a working farm, you did whatever needed to be done pretty much,” Bill said.
The hay business is a part-time endeavor for the four Ewald siblings still living in town — Don, Bob, Bill and Margaret. Two other siblings, Susan and Joann, live out of town and another brother, Woodrow Jr., died in Vietnam. They all have other jobs besides working on the farm. The family each owns pieces of the land in various configurations. The siblings meet each week for a family dinner and discuss farm business.
Chores, including watering animals, tending gardens and crops, and helping around the house, have been a staple since the early days on the farm. The family hires three or four kids to help in the summer for the haying, including children and grandchildren of the siblings and other area teenagers.
They say meals on the farm were always plentiful and included hearty breakfasts, fresh meat from farm animals, vegetables grown in the farm garden and even homemade malts.
Don has been living in the farmhouse since returning to International Falls from the military in 1993. Six generations of Ewalds have stayed in the house, including parents of the original owners down through the grandchildren of the current owners.
Additions and changes have been made to the house, including increasing the size of the bathroom to serve a modern family. They also turned a porch into a downstairs master bedroom and have updated the kitchen and pantry.
Barns and sheds have been erected, and some have even burned down over the years. The property is now peppered with buildings which have been constructed for various purposes, including animal housing, product storage and machine storage over the years.
Family reunion
The Ewalds are planning a 100-year family reunion on the homestead this August.
“The farm’s 100 years old, we thought we’d call the relatives back in,” Don said.
Participants will include local family and relatives from across the country, including Gladys (Ewald) Misner, the youngest of the original Ewald children and the only living member of that generation.
They hope to have 50 to 100 family and friends participate in the events they have planned for the August event.
They will do activities “a lot of the city relatives don’t get to do,” including target shooting, horse riding, four-wheeling and boating on Rainy Lake.
