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Canfield family reaps Century Farm Award
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Nelda Anderson of Canfield (Nick Mays| Special to The Vindicator)
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Raymond Anderson of Canfield. (Special to The Vindicator| Nick Mays)
By Sean Barron
YOUNGSTOWN
In 1809, Abraham Kline came from the Philadelphia area to buy 260 acres on South Raccoon Road in Canfield that eventually would be owned by the Anderson family.
The original Andersons might have been hard-pressed to imagine that more than 100 years and seven generations later, the land still would bear their name.
“I’m pretty much a one-man operation,” said Wayne Anderson, who has handled most of the day-to-day tasks on his family’s farm for about 25 years. “I can’t imagine myself doing anything else.”
For years, his parents, Raymond and Nelda Anderson, ran the farm and, among other things, raised hogs for market and specialized in corn and soybeans. They also raised five children in their home, built in 1867.
The Andersons were among dozens of family members honored during Sunday’s “Historic Mahoning County Farms” program for having been the recipients of the Ohio Century Farm Award by the Ohio Department of Agriculture.
The ceremony at the Velma and D.D. Davis Educational Center in Mill Creek MetroParks’ Fellow Riverside Gardens recognized 10 Mahoning County families who have maintained farms in their family for 100 consecutive years or more.
The event was in conjunction with a traveling exhibit titled “Farm Life: A Century of Change for Farm Families and their Neighbors.”
Coordinating and funding the program and display were Mill Creek MetroParks, the Mahoning County Farm Bureau, Mahoning County Extension Service of The Ohio State University, the Mid-American Arts Alliance and the National Endowment of the Humanities on the Road.
The 10 farms are designated as “Ohio Century Farms” and are part of the agriculture department’s program of the same name.
The Anderson property was originally a grain farm, noted Raymond Anderson, 87, who said his great-great grandfather raised and drove cattle over the Allegheny Mountains to market.
Raymond Anderson remains active on the farm, in part by driving a tractor and transporting grain, his son said.
“It’s been an exciting life, I can tell you that,” added Nelda Anderson.
The program also featured a lecture by Keith S. Kaiser, who discussed the park’s early years.
Kaiser, Mill Creek MetroParks’ horticulture director, spoke on when several properties within the park were working farms. He also discussed the acquisition of several nature preserves, wetlands and wildlife sanctuaries in Mill Creek.
The 10 Mahoning County farms are among an estimated 831 statewide that are registered with the Ohio Century Farms program for having been maintained by one family for at least 100 years in a row, noted Cindy Shy, program manager.
The farms are in 85 of the state’s 88 counties, the oldest of which was founded in 1772 in Adams County in southern Ohio, Shy explained.
Besides longevity, uniting all of the farms is pride in ownership, heritage and history, she continued.
The exhibit features various artifacts, photographs and tools intended to capture how advances in technology have changed farming over 100 years, as well as how large farms have impacted smaller ones, Kaiser said.
The display will be in the educational center through Sunday.