A Tale of Two Farms – Part Two
James and Elaine Milbrodt of Ottawa County recently submitted two Century Farm registrations for their Beck and Just-A-Mere farms. Both registrations included well-documented written and pictorial histories.
In 1881, James’ great-grandfather, William Milbrodt, immigrated to the U.S. from Germany with his wife, Wilhelmine, and one-year old daughter, Bertha. The family’s Just-A-Mere Farm began in 1909 when William purchased 70 acres. Sugar beets, hay, corn, oats, and wheat were grown, with the farm work accomplished with horses, a home-made tractor called “doodlebug”, and, in 1937, their first steel wheel tractor.
To provide additional income, the Just-A-Mere Farm Dairy made local deliveries of Jersey milk, cream and butter. A new house was built in 1913, and is now the residence of James and Elaine. In the spring of 1916, the original barn was rebuilt with a hip roof to better accommodate crop storage, and it remains in use today.
We welcome James and Elaine and their Just-A-Mere and Beck Farms into the Ohio Century Farm program.