Gazdas celebrate 130 years on the shores of Chandler Lake

May 29—JACKSON — Tall grass growing down the middle of a rarely used driveway pings against the bottom of the car as trees tower overhead. With the exception of remnants — a roof and sidewalls of an old Model T garage and what's left of a clearing where once a large barn had stood — one can only imagine what the once bustling Gazda farm looked like in its heyday.

Nestled along the north shore of Chandler Lake in Middletown Township, Jackson County, with a slough that boasts a pair of trumpeter swans and a family of Canada geese just to its north, the farm's fourth generation owners secured Century Farm status this year on the 160-acre parcel. The land was settled by Karin, Randy and Carey Gazda's great-grandparents August and Augusta Foshage in 1894.

Today, the land is divided into three parcels. Siblings Karin Gazda and Randy Gazda each own 40 acres that they put into permanent easement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2020, and their cousin, Carey Gazda, his sister, Julie Sifrit, and their mother, Arlene Olson, own 80 acres that Carey plants to row crops of corn and soybeans.

The family has little information about their great-grandparents and what brought them to southwest Minnesota. What family history they have shows that August was born in 1862 in Neu Stetten, Germany. After coming to America, he spent some time in Beecher, Illinois before heading farther west and settling in Minnesota.

August Foshage married Augusta Schaumkessel, also of Neu Stetten, Germany, in 1888, and they set out for their own land in Minnesota six years later.

On paper, the couple appeared to suffer much tragedy. Augusta gave birth to three sets of twins, but lost one baby from each set, along with an infant son. The four babies are all buried in the Loon Lake Cemetery, not far from the Gazda farm.

Despite the heartbreaking loss of so many babies, August and Augusta raised four children to adulthood — all girls.

"Of those four, our grandmother (Ethel Foshage Gazda) was the only one to have children," shared Karin.

It was Ethel — the youngest of the four Foshage girls — and her husband John Gazda who became the second generation owners of the family farm in 1943. John was from Streeter, Illinois and worked as a farmhand for Jackson County banker George Moore. He lived in the carriage house on a nearby farm.

The couple made their home on the northern shore of Chandler Lake, raising four children — two girls and two boys — Alberta (Wilcott), George, Grace (Olson) and Don. George and Grace were twins.

When John died unexpectedly in 1959, leaving Ethel with a herd of cattle, hogs to feed and a flock of chickens, as well as the crop ground, George and Don stepped in.

George was in the National Guard Reserves and Don was in the Army and stationed in the southern U.S. He was given an early discharge to return home and help farm.

"The boys both needed to take over," Karin shared.

"Grandma Ethel didn't drive," added Arlene Olson, who was married to George. "(She) relied on the two boys to get her to and from appointments."

Arlene recalled one time when George took his mom to town for a hair appointment, then proceeded to do his own errands before heading home — without his mom.

Those were the days before cell phones, of course.

"Man, how could we have lived without our phones?" Arlene asked. "Most of the time she had us girls take her — and I can see why!"

George and Don managed the farm work together for more than a decade, and when Ethel died in 1971, the brothers shared ownership in the farm with their sisters until 1975. That's when the two bought out their sisters' shares and split the farm 50-50, each getting 80 acres.

From 1975 to 1991, it was known as Gazda Farms as the brothers continued to work side by side raising cattle and growing crops. At the height of their cattle producing years, they had an estimated 800 to 900 cattle divided among three different lots.

There was the home place — the now century farm — as well as at George and Arlene's home and Don and Margaret's farm, both south of the homestead. After Ethel's death, the brothers rented out the farmhouse but continued to use the rest of the building site.

It proved challenging during some winters, particularly during those southwest Minnesota blizzards. Arlene recalled storms in which the only way to get to the home farm to feed the cattle was by snowmobile.

And that snowmobile — a Scorpion — is a story in itself.

Arlene said George and Don earned points at the elevator for all of the feed they purchased. It worked similar to green stamps, complete with a catalog filled with items they could get with their points. Arlene and Margaret were each swooning over dishwashers promoted in the catalog, but George and Don won out with their wish for the snowmobile.

"When the road was blown in, they would ride that up (to the home place) to feed the cattle," said Randy.

"When I was born, that road was so bad they had to have the county (plow) come out so they could get me home," added Karin.

Both George and Don and their respective spouses raised three children. Karin and Randy have a sister, Kristin, and Carey and Julie had an older brother, Steve, now deceased.

Randy and Carey have many memories of spending time hunting on their grandparents' farm.

"We hunted along the lakeshore there for ducks and geese and pheasants," said Randy. "We had some great times hunting up there. We trapped raccoons up there too when the fur market was good."

"I remember Grandma had a really cool garden because it had lilacs around it," added Karin. "She would have turtles come up from the lake and lay eggs in the garden."

After their Grandma Ethel's death, Randy found a cane pole and a metal bucket used for worms sitting along the lakeshore.

"That must have been Grandma's. I didn't know she fished," he said.

Another fond memory of Grandma Ethel was that she picked up black walnuts around the farm and then ran them through the hand-crank corn sheller.

"She'd have black hands," Arlene recalled, adding that it was a lot of work for the amount of walnuts gathered.

These days, the land and the memories are what remain of the farm August and Augusta settled 130 years ago. The original farmhouse was sold and moved from the farm to a plot along Big Spirit Lake, where it has subsequently been renovated and added onto and is difficult for even the Gazdas to recognize.

The main garage was also moved off the site — that was donated to the church, Karin said.

The barn was taken down in 2005 after withstanding more than 100 years on the prairie.

A year before that, in 2004, Randy hired someone to come in and harvest some of the trees from the family farm. The black walnut, silver maple and ash were turned into furniture for Randy's Seeley Lake, Montana home. He still has some smaller pieces of wood that he transforms into cutting boards to donate for charity.

With 20 years to go before their family farm reaches Heritage Farm (150 years of family ownership) status, the Gazdas say the land will continue as it is. Randy and Karin's shares will stay in U.S. Fish and Wildlife management, and Carey intends to continue to farm the 80 acres his family owns.

There isn't a next generation to take over farming. The only Gazda children to raise families were Carey's siblings, Julie and Steve. Julie and her family, which includes four kids, reside in Texas. They do come up to Minnesota each July for a visit. Steve and his wife had three daughters.

"There are two lake lots (on the home farm)," said Karin. One belongs to George's family and the other to Don's family. They are quite primitive however, with no access to water, electricity or sewer.

Still, as long as the land is in the Gazda name, the opportunity exists to create new memories along the banks of Chandler Lake.