Four century or heritage farms honored at Iowa State Fair

Four farms from Adair County were recognized as either a heritage or century farm at the 2023 Iowa State Fair recently.

Both programs of the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, and partners with the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, the century farms program recognizes and honors those individuals who have owned the farm land for 100 years or more, while the heritage farm award goes to those that have existed for 150 years or more.

Chad and Jennifer Garside’s farm near Orient received the heritage farm award. New century farms from Adair County were James and Karen Grant from Adair, Dale and Lois Pals from Orient and Judi and Matt Raasch, whose farms are based near Bridgewater.

According to a press release recently, there are 21,015 century farms in Iowa, 185 of which are in Adair County. Iowa has 1,841 heritage farms, 15 of which are in Adair County.

The Garsides say their farm was originally purchased in 1873.

“Chad and I purchased part of the farm that belonged to my great great grandparents. Aaron Lynn traveled by covered wagon from Pennsylvania as a boy with his family, eventually settling in Chariton, before riding by horseback searching for a farm for he and his new bride Mary. They were some of the very first pioneers to settle the prairies of Adair County,” Jennifer Garside told the newspaper. “They acquired several tracts of land in the Zion area, with the home place farm they purchased in 1873, which is the farm we now own.”

The Garsides say that home place became known as “Lynngerlong”, meaning “come, sit and linger awhile, while also playing off their last name of Lynn,” Jennifer said.

That name is still used today with Chad and Jennifer’s 5-year-old granddaughter, Savannah Lynn.

Aaron and Mary Lynn donated their land over the years for the Hill of Zion Church and cemetery, as well as the Zion School, which closed in 1978.