Another Anniversary

One hundred fifty six years ago this Sunday, Nels Nelson Kjomme registered his claim for the 160 acres he and his sons had begun to develop in section 16 of Highland Township, Winneshiek County, Iowa—the land that eventually became Rock Spring Farm.

In 1853, Nels Nelson, his wife Margit Andersdatter, their five children, and Margit’s sister emigrated from Norway, and found their way to the homestead late in the year. They spent the first winter living under a rock overhang while they worked to improve the land, a requirement for making a homesteading claim. The farming venture proved successful, each son and daughter establishing a home in the immediate area. The original homestead was split into two 80-acre parcels, one of which is the farm I call home. The name Rock Spring derives from the spring next to the original home site, which bubbles straight up from a rock and provides much of the flow for our creek; this spring was the site of one of the original creameries in the area, since it helped maintain cool temperatures in a building erected over it.

It is hard to imagine how it must have felt to come here 150 years ago to break the land, without a roof over their heads, fields, barn, or fences. The plumbing may not have worked, but at least we had a house to live in when we arrived. Learning about the history of our farm, and meeting the families whose parents worked the land and were born in the house that was here when we moved here, deepens our connection to this farmstead and this land. We don’t see ghosts, but the shadows and footprints of other farmers and other days are all around us: hand-hewn beams in the barn, old whiskey bottles in the granary, the schoolhouse foundation, horse-drawn plows, a dump rake, the mailbox with “Flatberg” perched on the top. Working in these buildings, touching these tools, tilling this land, connects us to the lineage of this place.

Several years ago, we attended the Kjomme family reunion in honor of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the homesteading. I’m proud to have been named as an honorary member of the Kjomme family, and pleased with the ongoing expressions of delight that we hear about seeing the farm come back to life, with animals, crops, and running children.