Fields of wheat stretch across part of the 150 year old farm owned by June Sutton and Florence Roth. Some fields in the Delano area farm have been in production for over 150 years.

What might you say is a "Sesquicentennial Farm?" It is a farm that "has been in continuous agricultural operation in Minnesota for more than 150 years.

Sisters June Sutton and Florence Roth, of Delano and Wright County, were two of the recipients of this year's Sesquicentennial Farm Award given at the Minnesota State Fair. The Richard Lindenfelser family of Albertville also were Wright County recipients of this award.

Minnesota's statehood dates to 1858 - 150 years ago. Back then people were dealing with Indians uprisings and staking their claims to open land. They bought necessities from the only store in town, which was in a house at the corner of County Rd. 17 and Highway 12. People traveled on foot, horseback or by oxen and covered wagons.

One of the families that traveled to the Wright County area was the James and Hannah Parmenter Murphy family. The Murphys arrived from Scotland and started purchasing 160 acres in Wright County from the government in 1848. The property was located on the west side of County Rd. 17 and was covered in lush dense woods that had to be cleared by hand.

"No fancy chain saws in those days to help with the work," says Sutton. It took a long time - in fact years - to clear fields for crops to grow. Part of the same farm property today has never been cleared and still stands as forest land.

In those days, families farmed everything they could, and the Murphys were no different. They had pigs, chickens and cattle that served a dual purpose of milk and beef, and they grew hay, corn and oats for the animals.

The farm grew over the years to include 197 acres in the city of Independence off of County Line Road. The family also flourished and soon Abby Murphy, the granddaughter of James and Hannah, was married to David Leroy Sutton. David and Abby had six children - much to the chagrin of Abby's mother who wasn't keen on a lot of kids. June and Florence were the last born, and June remembers a lot of her early childhood on the farm.

June Sutton says her parents followed in the Murphy's footsteps by raising pure bred short horn cattle for milk and beef. The Suttons also sold their cattle as breeding stock. Her mother Abby raised and sold chickens and maintained a large garden. Often the parents would travel to Howard Lake and Dassel to the county fairs to show and sell their stock.

Going to school for the Sutton kids often proved to be an adventure. During winter months, their road was closed because of snow. "There weren't snow plows when I was little," Sutton recalls. "There was more snow and it was colder."

The horses would get harnessed in the morning, and the children would travel to school by sled. In the afternoons the kids would walk home across the fields, because it was shorter than going by road.

Joining the 4-H Club was one of the highlights in June's early years. This was her social life where she would meet other kids her age. These meetings took place once a month at a different farm every time. The kids would practice and demonstrate making cakes or other recipes.

There was too much work to do on the farm for kids to play with the neighboring farm kids. June was in charge of watering chickens in many coops, working in the garden and helping her mother - especially during the canning season, which she enjoyed.

Delano area farmer June Sutton shows her Sesquicentennial Farm Award to Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman. She received the award for the 150-year-old farm (owned by her and her sister Florence Roth) at this year's Minnesota State Fair on Aug. 25. The state of Minnesota is celebrating 150 years of statehood this year as well.

Eventually June Sutton went back to school and learned bookkeeping. She worked for the Delano Cooperative Creamery for 11 years and loved her time there.

Then she quit the Creamery and took on the farm chores - working the fields, taking care of the cattle, hogs and chickens. These days Marty Kittok does the field work and makes the hay, but Sutton still takes care of the cattle and does the farm bookkeeping.

It's hard to believe that just 100 some years ago there were Indian uprisings and donuts were baked and given to keep peace. Fences were put up to keep cows out of the crops in the hand-cleared fields, and cows wore bells so you could find them. Can you imagine people having to walk into Minneapolis for provisions, if the local store didn't have what they needed?

But this is just a glimpse of what the Murphy and Sutton families went through over the 150 years on their farm. Farming has changed since then and roads have improved. But Sutton still finds beauty in the old treed woods and fields of alfalfa and wheat and can be seen driving around to this day checking on her livestock.