ABOUT BOW VIEW FARM

(Members of Nebraska Sustainable Agriculture Society and Nebraska Farmers Union)

FARM AND FAMILY HISTORY
Bow View Farm is located 1 mile West of Crofton, Nebraska, and 3 and 1 quarter miles South on a County blacktop.

Our farm, homesteaded in the 1880's by the Ballantyne family, was purchased by Curt's great grandfather Joseph in 1914.

John & Caroline
Curt's grandfather John purchased the land in 1916 and moved onto the place with his new bride, Caroline. They raised eleven children here before selling the farm to Curt's father and mother, Harold and Margaret.

Harold, Margaret Lauren & Taylor

Curt Graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a B.S. in Agriculture in 1986. He returned to the family farm to help out and worked a short stint as assistant Knox County agriculture extension assistant.

He started his Christmas tree farm in 1988. In 1990, Harold and Margaret turned over most of the farming responsibilities to Curt. They moved to Crofton in 1997. Curt married Donna Zauha in 1998 and their daughter Lauren was born in October 1999. Their second daughter, Taylor, was born in January, 2002

Curt, Donna, Lauren & Taylor

Although Donna grew up in the metropolitan Omaha area of Papillion, she loves the farm. In addition to raising a garden, caring for young farm animals and Lauren and Taylor, she also teaches at St. Rose Elementary school in Crofton.

In addition to farming, Curt works as a free lance writer and has published articles in Farm Journal, Farm and Ranch Living, New Holland News, Nebraska Life, Country Discoveries and Upper Room. He also writes for the Crofton Journal, Cedar County News and Norfolk Daily News.

Curt and Donna are active in the Crofton Tree Board and Crofton Courts Arboretum, Crofton Community Club and their church, St. Rose Catholic Parish.

Most of the current buildings on their farm were built by John in the early 1920's. The current farmhouse was originally one of the first homes in Crofton built by Crofton founder, William Miller. It was moved from Crofton to the farmstead in 1942. The barn and granary were built in the 1920's. The garage is well over 100 years old because it was once the farmhouse until the new house was moved onto the place. Curt and Donna are currently applying to have the farmstead listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

CONSERVATION COMMITMENT

The Arens' have long been committed to conservation and were named a Lewis and Clark Natural Resource

Lauren & Taylor

District Conservation Farm in 1991 for their tree planting, wind and water erosion control farming practices. The farm received it's first such award in 1967, when Harold and Margaret were honored as the District Conservation Farm Award recipients.

Curt and Donna are carrying that commitment even farther by working toward less dependence upon chemicals and more reliance on time-honored, sustainable methods of fertilization and weed control.

REST OF OPERATION

Curt and Donna began their own birdseed operation on the farm last year, raising and marketing their own black oil sunflowers. They also raise hogs, nursery and Christmas trees and have a small cow-calf operation. They rotational graze their animals on small grassy paddocks to conserve grass and get the most out of the land without causing wind or soil erosion. They background the animals before selling them at 500-600 pounds each spring.

They also raise about 200 acres of corn, 150 acres of soybeans, 75 acres of alfalfa and 25 acres of oats annually.

In the near future, the family hopes to host a hand corn-picking exhibition for anyone interested in reliviing or trying out the age-old skill. If you would be interested in participating, please drop us an email HERE.

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Kim Sawatzke
The Crofton Network