<div>Sep. 25—SIBLEY, Iowa. — Brothers Jerry and Gene Van Stelton still have the Model M John Deere their dad purchased brand new in 1951. These days, it sports a pair of American flags and gets driven for local parades. They also have the cupola from their farm's original barn, and Gene lives in the house his parents built 73 years ago on a 164-acre parcel in Section 2 of Gilman Township, Osceola County.Each of these things speak to the care the Van Steltons put into preserving their family's history on what is now an Iowa Century Farm.Last month, the brothers, along with Jerry's two daughters, were recognized at the Iowa State Fair as the owners of one of the state's 277 newly designated century farms. That honor brings with it an abundance of pride, a heap of memories and even a smattering of tears.Farming isn't an easy occupation with market fluctuations, weather variations and family expectations. The Van Steltons, though, are among the lucky ones to have weathered the storms.Their story on this northwest Iowa farm begins on March 11, 1920, when Henry and Elizabeth Beyer, then farming near Hull, Iowa, purchased 171 acres of land several miles south of Sibley. They paid $289.22 per acre."Land was too expensive in Sioux County at that time, so they purchased this," Jerry said of his grandparents.The couple had three children — Henry Jr., Henrietta and Lucy. Henry was given the family farm near Hull, and Henrietta received the Osceola County land."Their desire was to acquire a farm for each child — that was their goal," shared Jerry.Though Henry and Elizabeth purchased the rural Sibley farm in 1920, they initially rented it out on cost-share. Hard times fell on the Beyers — and many other farmers — later that decade as the Great Depression made it impossible for many to repay their bank loans."They tried to unload it and nobody would take it," said Gene."They went up and down to the neighbors here and said, 'We can't make the payment, we're going to lose it,'" added Jerry. Neighboring farmers didn't have money either. "Lo and behold, the mortgage company held out and waited until they could make payments."Jake and Henrietta Van Stelton didn't move to the farm right away, instead they lived and farmed near May City for a year or two. They then moved to St. Louis, Missouri.Henrietta missed the farm life though, and so they returned to northwest Iowa, renting the rural Sibley farm from her parents. They built a home — the one Gene still lives in today — and raised a family of four boys. Gene is the second oldest; Jerry, the youngest. Alvin, the oldest, resides in California, and Virgil is deceased."Our grandpa hauled lumber from Sioux County and built the barn on this farm," said Gene. "I think that was before Mom and Dad moved back here.""They got used lumber and used nails," added Jerry, in disbelief at the task of straightening the nails so they could be reused.Still, it was a strong and sturdy structure, standing the test of time for a family who spent nearly as much time in the barn as they did in the house.Gene and Jerry describe their dad as a livestock producer rather than grain farmer. Jake was more interested in raising livestock than growing crops."Dad liked to feed quite a bit of livestock," said Gene. "He bought grain from other farmers to go with his own production and that was his method of producing beef, pork, milk and eggs."His passion was cattle — and dairy to be specific. He was also progressive, they said."The old barn that was here had the stanchions and the separator," said Jerry, adding that when he was about three or four years old, his dad built a milking parlor with a pipeline and bulk tank."It was the first pipeline and bulk tank that sold milk to the Sibley Creamery," Jerry said, noting the 70-year-old newspaper clipping they have from the Sibley Gazette-Tribune, who wrote a story about it.Jake grew the dairy from 40 to 80 cows, and built a free-stall barn that Jerry said was pretty unique in its day. That was in 1964 or '65. They'd stopped raising hogs by then, but fed out the dairy steers.With the addition of the free stall barn the Van Steltons had two barns on their farm, and that offered plenty of space for four boys to create mischief and have fun — after chores were done, of course."When there was that many cows around, chores took a while," Jerry said. "We didn't get in the house 'til 7, 8 o'clock.""What I think of, for our fun ... while dad and mom were milking we were feeding livestock and bedding the barn," recalled Gene. "We would string rope from the carrier (in the haymow) and make swings. Next thing you know we're starting up high on the bales, we'd do a somersault and land on our feet. We'd just keep working at it until we had it down pat."They also made tunnels among the square bales in the haymow, and Alvin would even create little rooms with the bales."He would sneak away from us and we knew he went up in the haymow so we'd try to find him," Gene said. "It was pitch dark and we didn't have flashlights. He would jump out (and scare us)."After the chores were done, the boys often played table tennis in the evenings, and when they were snowed in, Monopoly was brought out.During their growing up years, the boys remember their mom always had chickens. Selling the eggs in town helped pay the family's grocery bill."Our mother had a schedule, and so did grandmother," shared Jerry. "Monday was wash day, Tuesday was darn the socks or do any repairs. Wednesday was ironing.""And if we took our shoes off, you could see that our socks were darned," quipped Gene.Seemingly from the time he was old enough to walk, Jerry knew he wanted to be a farmer. He loved everything about it."When he'd get home from school, he'd quick grab cookies and milk and run out to see what he could do or ride along on," said Gene."Jerry said he never had a job, just a hobby — farming — and he loved what he did," added Kathy."I can remember as a child going up in the silo in the morning, pitching hay silage down, finish the chores, go to the house and put my school clothes on," Jerry said. "Could you imagine what those city girls thought I smelled like? We took a bath on Saturday night whether we needed it or not."Jerry said when he got his driver's license, the thing for Sibley boys to do was drive to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. That never worked out for him, however, because he wouldn't be home in time to do chores in the morning.Jerry was 12 years old when he planted his first field of corn. His dad had never learned how to set the planter, so Jerry had to ask a neighbor for help."It wasn't the straightest row in the farm, but my only excuse was, 'Dad, you get more corn out of a crooked row than a straight row,'" Jerry shared. "But mom was very proud of me. Mom was actually a better fixer than dad was. Mom had the plier and the screwdriver and that did a lot."At age 14, Jerry's dad asked him to take over the crop farming. Jake suffered from arthritis and was essentially house-bound in the winter. He also didn't enjoy growing crops."So, he gave it up and said I could start farming," Jerry said. "Well, it was more work than Jerry could handle with milking that many cows. We were farming three farms at the time."Alvin was in California, Virgil was serving his country in Vietnam, and Gene had just completed his tour of duty in Germany and went to California too."I called him and asked if he wanted to be my partner," Jerry said of his call to Gene. "He listened me out and said he'd have to think about that."Two weeks later, Gene called him back and said, "I guess I'll take you up on that."Jerry, who had dropped out of the ninth grade to farm, was going to make it after all."That was a pretty welcome time when he came home," Jerry said.The brothers lost their mom in 1967, when Jerry was 16, and their dad died 23 years after that.Gene and Jerry continued in the dairy business until 1977 or '78, but continued to raise and sell Holstein springers as well as some feeder cattle."Our biggest interest was row cropping," added Gene. "When livestock wasn't profitable we just didn't buy back."In 1978, Jerry married his first wife, Donna. They were married for more than 40 years and raised two adopted daughters. One daughter lives near Des Moines and was married last weekend, and the other lives in Maryland.After Donna's death, Jerry returned to their winter home in Arizona with plans to sell it and close out his wife's estate. While there, he attended the church he and Donna frequented during the winter, and the pastor said he wanted to introduce Jerry to someone.That someone was Kathy, who had lost her husband two or three years prior. Jerry knew Kathy's husband from visits after church services, but because Kathy was in the choir and always getting things back in their place after church, the two had never met.Jerry and Kathy are now married and spend their summers in the house Jerry and Donna had moved to the Van Stelton farm from another farmsite in 1983. Their winters are spent in Arizona, where Kathy's family remains. Gene, who never married, lives in the farmhouse just across the driveway.The Van Stelton brothers began renting out their farm ground in 2007 to a young man who had been driving by their farms for years and watching the land through the seasons. Jon had managed the Sibley Elevator briefly and, after that, worked at the ethanol plant near Ashton."We started with one farm on a crop share basis," Gene shared, noting the hopeful farmer didn't have the capital or the equipment to put a crop in. "We said 'You can use our equipment, but you have to help us with labor.'"The arrangement worked out well, and by the next year, they asked Jon if he wanted to take on another farm. Today, Jon has a cash rent agreement with the Van Steltons and farms most of their land. The brothers, though, remain willing helpers.They never plan to retire because they love what they do."We help him all the time," Jerry added with a grin. "He bought our equipment; we never had a farm sale."Jon also took over the shop."Now, when we want to do something, it's Jon's shop but everything is still there," Jerry said. "We still use it when we have something we want to tinker with.""And chances are he'll help us with it," added Gene."It's just been a beautiful journey they've had," confirmed Kathy.</div>

Mountain View, CA

NewsBreak

Sibley's Van Stelton brothers celebrate Century Farm status

Sep. 25—SIBLEY, Iowa. — Brothers Jerry and Gene Van Stelton still have the Model M John Deere their dad purchased brand new in 1951. These days, it sports a pair of American flags and gets driven for local parades. They also have the cupola from their farm's original barn, and Gene lives in the house his parents built 73 years ago on a 164-acre parcel in Section 2 of Gilman Township, Osceola County.