Tvedten’s 4th book shares Martin Co. farm history
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FAIRMONT--Hot off the press, Lenny Tvedten's newest book, this one on Martin County farm history, was just delivered this week. The book shares the background, stories and photos of about 50 farms throughout the county.
The Martin County Historical Society Executive Director started in earnest on the book in January of 2025 when he put out a call asking for people to start submitting their local farm history. However, the idea for the book was in him long before then.
"I've thought about it for years, especially since Martin County is agriculture," Tvedten said. "It's something I thought would be interesting and definitely worthwhile."
He added that he wasn't sure how to approach it at first.
"And then I thought, well, why not take it from the people who know and allow them to submit their stories," Tvedten said.
The goal was to get as many submissions as possible but Tvedten was really hoping for about 50, which is what ended up coming in.
"I thought that would make a nice-sized book, pretty good as far as length and variety-- and there is a variety," Tvedten said.
There are some century farms, some livestock farms, a good amount of grain farms. Some of the farms date way back while some are more recent.
These stories and photos culminated in a 200 page book. Some people, he said, submitted histories of multiple farms because both sides of their families farmed. While all farms were thriving at one point, not all of them are still in existence but their history should still be known and shared, according to Tvedten.
Tvedten shared some details on notable stories included in the book.
In the Herman Keithan farm story, as told by Cynthia Celander, there was an account of a heavy snowstorm that buried a horse barn and some of the livestock. To their surprise when they eventually uncovered two buried sheep, they were still alive and none the worse for wear.
Karen Olson told of Albin Ackerson and his experiences growing up in East Chain. Albin's first trip to Fairmont at age 5, a distance of 14 miles, was in 1903 in a two-seat buggy pulled by a team of horses. The trip took three hours one way.
"Ideally every farm family that's ever lived here could have submitted a story, that would have been perfect but I know it's not realistic. At least we have examples on a number of different kinds of farms and perspectives from different people in different areas of the county, East Chain, Sherburn, Trimont, Fairmont, from all areas," Tvedten said.
The book was finished in the summer, sent off to the printer and a thousand copies were just delivered this week. At this point, Tvedten said he's happy with the final product.
"Liz Wheeler was the primary editor. What I did was collect, put them together, organized them and in some cases rewrote some," Tvedten said.
He said the historical society's staff, Jim Marushin and Dona Paris, also helped proofread and give suggestions.
The same graphic designer and same publishing company were used that did Tvedten's other three books. The first is a compilation of history articles he's written for the local county papers, the second is on Martin County veterans and the third is on the history of Martin County businesses.
Tvedten is proud of all of his books and admitted he never knew he would write one book, let alone four.
As a future project, he would like to do another book similar to his first, as it includes what he had written up until about 2017.
"There's been a lot more that's been added. We're looking at another 10 years," Tvedten said.
Right now though, he's focused on sharing this book, and the stories and history it contains, with the community.
"It was a good project for Martin County and I want to acknowledge and thank all of the people that submitted their stories because it wouldn't have been possible without them," Tvedten said.
Copies of the book can be purchased at the Martin County Historical Society, the Photo Press and the Hub.