Heritage Farms

Century-old farming families remain loyal to the land

John Lyman drives through the apple orchard on the family farm in Middlefield, Conn. (pop. 4,203). When he reaches his favorite hilltop spot, he can see most of the Lyman Orchards spread: 140 acres of fruit trees, 18 acres of berries, 20 acres of pumpkins, two golf courses, the old homestead and a bakery that rolls out 1,500 apple pies each week.

"Our greatest resource is the land," says Lyman, 47, whose great-great-great-great-great-grandfather John Lyman bought the farm’s original 36 acres in 1741.

Eight generations of the Lyman family have maintained one of America’s oldest family farms by adapting with the times. In the first century, the farm was a typical self-sufficient New England homestead. In the second, the Lymans specialized in raising hogs and sheep and growing peaches. When a severe winter in 1917 killed the peach trees, the family sold land to survive and began planting more winter-hardy apple trees.

In the 1960s, "we had 300 head of Guernsey cattle, then people woke up to the fact that high-fat wasn’t good for them," recalls Jack Lyman, 78, John’s father.

Using the Yankee ingenuity of their ancestors who weathered lean times by manufacturing clothes wringers in the 1850s, the Lymans sold the cows and converted the pastureland into greens and fairways. Famed golf course architect Robert Trent Jones Sr. designed the farm’s first 18-hole course in 1967, and golfing legend Gary Player drew up plans for a second in 1994.

Now with a ninth-generation, Adam Lyman, 17, working on the 1,100-acre farm, Lyman Orchards has become a popular pick-your-own destination from June, when the first strawberries ripen, through October, when the last pumpkin is picked.

"People can spend the day here," John says. "Many parents today came to Lyman’s as kids, and now they bring their kids."

Last fall, Carl Griffasi, 43, of Greenwich, Conn. (pop. 61,101), and his friend Lisa LaBarbera, 36, of Harrison, N.Y. (pop. 24,154), drove for more than an hour to bring their children apple picking. "I like picking apples of different flavors," says Carl’s daughter Chloe Griffasi, 10, swinging her bag loaded with Golden Delicious, her favorite.

Twenty-five varieties of apples are grown at Lyman’s, and new varieties are planted annually. Apples, apple cider, applesauce, specialty cheeses and deli items are sold at the farm’s Apple Barrel store, which opened in 1972. The store buzzes with customers loading up fresh produce and goodies from the bakery, including hot-from-the-oven apple pies, which are the fastest-growing slice of Lyman Orchards’ business.

Outside, customers linger at tables on the deck of the barrel-shaped store, which overlooks a valley with a duck pond.

"The community appreciates this open space," John Lyman says overlooking the land first farmed by his namesake 264 years ago.

Loyalty to the land

Across America, other heritage farmers share that loyalty to the land and their hardworking ancestors.

In Franklin, Idaho (pop. 641), Bob and Henriette Haworth own the state’s oldest family farm, homesteaded in 1861 by Haworth’s great-grandfather James Haworth. The determined Mormon homesteader, filled with faith and hope, traveled from Salt Lake City and scouted the perfect land along the Cub River to build his flour mill.

"Great-grandpa had to chisel the rock for his grinding stone and got a piece of rock in his eye," says Bob, 73. "My great-grandma took a needle and removed the rock. She must have had nerves of steel to be that steady."

Farmers hauled wagonloads of wheat from across Idaho and Montana to the Haworth mill, which operated until 1887. Changing with the times, the Haworths phased out milling and started milking, growing a herd of 25 dairy cows in 1920 to 806 in 1987.

Today, the family raises 1,000 acres of wheat and barley. Draft horses, which helped with yesteryear’s harvest, were replaced with a combine in 1937, one of the first in the area.

"We’d cut grain for the neighbors and charged $5 an acre," Bob recalls. "Some neighbors didn’t have much money, and we’d do it for $3 or $4. Helping neighbors is still the way people operate here."

The Haworths, who raised seven daughters, get help running the farm from their grandsons: Michael Porter, 26, and his brother Danny Porter, 19.

From their front porch, the couple takes in a view of the Bear River Mountains. Poplar trees and pines surround the home and eagles soar overhead.

"It’s gorgeous and it’s definitely home," Henriette says. "It’s been the family farm since day one. There’s so much history here."

From homestead to home

More than land is passed down to the next generation on some family farms. The 110-year-old farmhouse of Everette and Tillie Keith in Penokee, Kan., is a daily reminder of the pioneering spirit and hard work of Everette’s grandfather Alexander Keith, a Scottish immigrant who homesteaded in Graham County in 1886.

The couple, honored as century farmers by the Kansas Farm Bureau in 2003, live in the homesteader’s original house, built with 18-inch-thick limestone walls. While Alexander built the house, he lived eight years in an earthen dugout.

"We have the original property deed signed by Grover Cleveland," says Tillie, 72, with pride.

Today, the Keiths own the farm’s original 320 acres, planted in wheat, soybeans, corn and milo. Everette, 82, retired 15 years ago, but he still lends his lifetime of wisdom to son, Joe, 51, and grandsons, Brad, 30, and Matthew, 28, who run the farm.

In La Fayette, Ill. (pop. 227), A.J. and Jeanne Harland live in a home built by A.J.’s great-great-grandfather Jonathan Gibbs, who operated a sawmill and homesteaded 200 acres along Walnut Creek in 1837.

"We’re living in a house that is literally solid walnut," says Jeanne, 51. Gibbs built the house from walnut trees he cleared from the land. But first he built a one-room cabin and a wooden-pegged barn.

The family outgrew the cabin with its attached summer kitchen, especially after the sons married and moved in their wives.

"The story goes that one winter they couldn’t get along," Jeanne says. "The guys got out their saws and cut off the kitchen and dragged it 60 yards down the farm."

Today, Gibbs’ 427-acre farm is diversified, raising beef cattle and growing corn, soybeans, hay and even turnips for cattle forage. Working the land with modern farm machinery is a mixed blessing, says A.J., 62, a retired high school principal.

"Jeanne and I go out, and she’ll run the baler and I’ll rake hay, and we can do what it took 10 to 12 people to do 40 years ago," he says. "In the 1950s, we had a hay crew and went from farm to farm baling the hay. Nobody paid anybody. You just exchanged labor."

"There’s a good lesson in there," he adds. "We don’t work together enough."

The Harlands don’t have children but are counting on nephews to carry on the farming tradition, keep alive the humorous and hardship stories, and live in the solid walnut house built by an ancestor six generations ago.

Honoring Agricultural Legacies

More than half of the states have programs honoring farms that have remained in the same family for at least 100 years. State departments of agriculture, Farm Bureau chapters and other agricultural organizations have paid tribute to thousands of these multi-generational farms.

The New York State Agricultural Society, believed to have the nation’s oldest such program, has recognized more than 300 farms since 1937.

In Alabama, the Farm Bureau selects one member each year as its century farmer and makes a video of the recipient and farm, which is shown at its annual convention.

"It’s very exciting," says Leonard Slade, the bureau’s executive director. "These families take pride in what they own."

To learn more about America’s farming industry, log on to the American Farm Bureau’s website at www.fb.org.

Marti Attoun is a frequent contributor to American Profile.

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