By Katrina Vander Kooi
"It's pretty much been a bachelor farm," Harley Christiansen, Beaver Creek, said about his farm. "During the 100 years there has never been a child born on this place," Christiansen said.
This year Christiansen's 159-acre farm, located a couple miles northwest of Beaver Creek, was designated a 2001 Century Farm by the Minnesota State Fair and Minnesota Farm Bureau.
To qualify for the award, families must have had continuous family ownership of a farm at least 100 years and the farm must be at least 50 acres in size.
Christiansen's farm was first bought on Sept. 1, 1900, by his grandfather, John Sandstede. Sandstede lived on the farm from 1900 to 1907, and after he passed on, his wife, Hannah, owned the farm until 1926.
In 1926 it changed hands again to Ida Sandstede, John's sister, and she owned the farm until 1959 when Christiansen bought it. "During the 100 years there have been more mortgages than you could shake a stick at," Christiansen said.
He still lives there today and rents out the farmland. "I have lived there longer than the rest of them and paid more than the rest of them," Christiansen said smiling.
Through 100 years of changes, there are still two historical buildings on the farm. "There were no buildings on the land when my grandfather got here, so he brought buildings over from Beaver Creek," Christiansen said.
The barn and house were moved onto the property. "The house used to be the judge's chamber in Beaver Creek," Christiansen said.
Even though the farm was 100 years old in September 2000, Christiansen couldn't apply for distinction last year. "I couldn't qualify last year because the application had to be in by July, and the farm wouldn't be a century farm until September," Christiansen said.
Besides the aluminum building sign and a commemorative certificate signed by the president of the State Fair and governor of Minnesota, one of Christiansen's relatives built him a large sign out of wood that reads "Century Farm" and it has the dates, Sept. 1, 1900, to Sept. 1, 2000.
Christiansen hopes to keep the farm in the family after he is gone. He is a bachelor, but his sisters have children who could carry on ownership of the family farm.