Small farm, big memories

St. Cloud man was an only child on farm in the 50's

By Bill Vossler

When Al Bjorklund of St. Cloud was growing up as an only child on a small farm near Osakis, he had only his imagination as a regular friend.

Al had a John Deere 1936-B toy tractor like this one, which he played with a lot in his little farm, but also drove the farm’s big John Deere B when he was 10 years old. Contributed photo

“One of my favorite things to do was to play with my ‘little farm,’” he said.

His Grandpa Axel immigrated from Sweden as a one-year-old.

“As a carpenter, he built homes all over central Minnesota,” Al said.

Then he also built quite a surprise for Al.

“One day Grandpa brought a toy barn over and gave it to me. It was a real surprise. I had no idea I was going to get it, and I don’t remember much about that time. My grandfather died shortly after that, and I wasn’t very old, so I didn’t know him for long. I remember that he loved to tease me like crazy, and all I remember is that one tease was about a fly on the wall.”

The barn Grandpa Axel built was an in-proportion replica of the barn on Al’s farm.

This school photo of Al Bjorklund was taken in 1954, when he was six years old, in the fourth grader at his country school. Contributed photo

“It had a steep roof with shingles on it, doors that opened, a hay mound door opening where I could insert lots of little farm animals and take out. That was my wonderful little farm place. It was fantastic. I kept it outside on a sandy place on our front lawn.”

But more than that, Al had a model house, too.

“We always had wood around the farm so I just fabricated a little rambler. Then I also had some machinery, a John Deere tractor and baler, a two-bottom mold-board plow, hay rake, drag and grain wagon.”

Those other machines were a variety of color, Al said.

“And they weren’t new. All the machinery hooked behind my tractor. I don’t remember how I picked up those other farm implements. Probably from my dad. He had a passion for attending any auction anywhere near us. He would love to bid 25 Cents to a dollar and come home with boxes of stuff, driving my mother crazy. I probably got some treasures in the many boxes he brought home.”

Al also had some field areas.

“That’s where I ‘planted’ oats and corn. I spent hours out there, and as an only child. I created an entire farm yard with my barn and house.”

Al’s John Deeres came from a dealership.

“They sold them in the 1950s, and that John Deere tractor and baler were the only new toys I had. I couldn’t afford anything more. My tractor was my favorite toy, and the big thing was to get a baler behind it, and move that around my little farm.”

Sometimes toys broke.

“Then I repaired them, and they became used, just like our actual farm machinery, a little wear and tear.”

His parents encouraged him to play on his little farm.

“As an only child, you have to create your own world, and the one I created with the barn and toys was pretty safe, and took care of many hours, so I was quite happy with my childhood. I always wanted more toys, but there wasn’t money to buy more. We got some money for a few eggs and milk from the cows, which we used to buy flour, sugar, and then the staple of potatoes, which we had almost every day. We picked up butter from the creamery where our milk was delivered. We bought some clothes, but Mom made most of my shirts. Otherwise we raised everything we needed, so we didn’t have to buy much.”

He doesn’t know what happened to the toys.

Al Bjorklund attended a one-room school house near Osakis. He is the second students back in the third row over in this 1958 photo, while in the fourth grade.  Contributed photo

“After I moved and came back home one time, they were gone. I was so busy with everything else in my life that I left all those early childhood things behind.”

Much of what Al did in his little farm was mirrored on the 80 acres of the Bjorklund farm.

“We planted corn, oats, alfalfa, but no wheat. The crops were to feed the cows, chickens, and pigs. The tractor I played with was a newer model than the same John Deere B we had on our farm.”

In fact, Al also did a lot of work with that real 1936 B tractor.

“First I  had to start it, which meant turning the large flywheel on the side of the tractor. That was a problem. I started driving it when I was 10 years old, and I wasn’t strong enough, so dad had to turn the flywheel to get it started, and then I was off and running to do the farm work I was supposed to do,  increasing my skill doing field work for the family. I think a lot of people don’t understand how young a person might be to help with farm work. At that age I drove the tractor and plowed, pulled the grain binder, cut hay, cultivated corn, loaded grain bundles on the rack, pitched them into the separator ‘trashing machine,’ and stacked hay bales on the rack. I also put the bales on elevators into the barn hay mow. We never owned a baler, so my uncle did the baling.”

Then his dad threw a wrench into things.

“He bought a used Allis-Chalmers WD-45 tractor, because we never bought new machinery. In order to get a running John Deere B into gear, you pressed the clutch handle forward. But on the WD 45 Allis, you pulled it back. Since the WD 45 was new to me it didn’t go anywhere when I tried to push the clutch handle forward. I had some jerky starts pulling back on the clutch, but I don’t think I ran into anything,” he laughed.

He said he’ll never forget the sound of that two cylinder John Deere tractor.

“Soon though they came out with more cylinders on the tractor, and that changed the sound of the John Deere tractors entirely.”

Another aspect of old-time farming that many people don’t know about existed.

“Before combines, six farms worked together harvesting the oats. At one point we 17- and 18-year-olds had our own racks and competed to see who could get the largest load of oats bundles to the separator without it falling off. Sometimes we lost our load getting there,” he laughed.                     

Al said they had many cows.

“We had to physically bring them in, until we got a dog, Tippy. Then when we wanted the cows in we sent Tippy out. I’d just say, ‘Tippy go get the cows,’ and he got them and brought them to the barn. After Tippy died, all I had to do was to repeat, ‘Tippy, get the cows!’ and then the cows would come to the barn by themselves.”

They had 12 milk cows.

“Their birthing of calves usually went on without our help. But one time I helped dad with a breach where we had to rope the calf and pull it out.”

He said he also helped his dad strip cows.

“Just after they gave birth, when the cow’s udders are tender and firm, I helped do some milking. I took that really important milk directly to the new-born calves, and taught them how to drink out of a pail. At first I milked cows by hand, but when we got milk machines, I ran them. When I was 12, the creamery picked the milk up on our farm.”

Al also used his milking skills as an 11th grader.

“A neighbor farmer cut off his fingers in a corn picker. So I milked his cows, alone, about 20, every morning and evening, every winter day. I operated two milking machines simultaneously so I could finish  and get to school in time. I also lived on their farm for that time.”

He said he remembered how tired he got.

“I lost a significant amount of weight. I did that work for the nine months of school and how relieved I was to finally be done.”

In addition to the cows, Al said the Bjorklund farm had pigs, and chickens to eat.

“Even though we were poor in terms of money, we always had enough to eat. One day I picked up a baby pig and it began to squeal, and a sow came after me full force. I’ll never forget how scared I was.”

As a child, Al said, he had no awareness of being poor.

Axel Bjorklund, who immigrated to the U.S. when he was young, is Al’s grandfather, and the creator of the little barn Al could play with. Contributed photo

“Apart from hearing we couldn’t buy certain things. I certainly would have enjoyed more toys, but they were few and far between.”

He never had a sense of being poor until he got to college.

“That’s when I looked back at how I grew up and what we had, and realized that money just wasn’t there. But our daily needs were all taken care of, food, clothing, shelter, everything we needed.”

“What I enjoyed most as an only child was creating my own world with whatever I had in front of me. First with the toys and buildings.”

Later, a tree.

“Two trunks grew up, and then curved out flat and back down. So I built a tree house on the flat part, with a wonderful little fort where I took on all the cowboys and Indians I could imagine,” he laughed.

“Though I was alone, I enjoyed my world. I really took time to create my own world each day. I had cousins within a half mile all around me, but we were all farming, so we seldom got together. Sometimes on weekends we might play ball, but really we mostly stayed on our own farms.”

One of Al’s strong memories is of his grandmothers.

“Both lived with us and died with us on the farm. They each gave me 25 cents weekly for church. After a while I started pocketing one a week. A little guilt, but not enough to stop,” he laughed.

Al attended a one-room classroom.

“It was grades 1-6. One thing I remember best about that one-room school was listening to other classes, and those incredible pull-down maps of stuff all over the world. After that I attended the big town school in Osakis.”

“When I was reflecting on how little money we had, I realized that my cousins all around me were in the same world. We all were poor, but we made do. My mom’s brother and family, my dad’s brother and family. Poor was never on my radar because we always had what we needed.”