Celebrating 169 Years of Family Ownership

By Roger Buchta

This was written in honor of the 169th anniversary year of the legacy of John Buchta and the history of our Farm.

I know our history, but you might not. My great grandfather was 26 years old when the discovery of gold happened in California. He traded 20 acres of land (which he owned at the corner of Jerusalem Road and 157) for a single passage on a wagon train bound for the Eldorado. This “Eldorado” is an actual real area near present day Sacramento, California, where gold had been found. It is apparent he had a plan to succeed in life. He had a choice. He could stay or he could challenge himself to take risks. After successfully accomplishing panning for gold, he did not stay to acquire more wealth. His plan all along was to return here to Illinois to buy land and fulfill his life.

My grandfather, George Buchta, inherited our farm upon John's death in 1910. He already had a farm, so he rented the farm to the Poust family who were friends of his. They farmed this farm until sometime in the 1930s. The Great Depression lasted through the '30s and farming for a living was hard.

My father, Chester Buchta, was also faced with a challenge. As a young man he drove trucks, when roads were rough and trucks had spoke wheels. He had a bad accident that shattered his leg, which left him with a limp. He opened the Buchta Brake Shop on North main street in Edwardsville. The Farm fell into disrepair and was being sold on the courthouse steps for the price of back taxes. My father was able to acquire a government-backed Land Bank loan and purchased our farm from foreclosure around 1937. At about that same time, my grandfather's farm on "Buchta Road'' in the Liberty Prairie area was foreclosed upon, and was lost. My mother said they brought some horse-drawn equipment from that farm, and drove the livestock along Highway 140 the five or six miles to our farm. From those meager beginnings, my father developed a fully-perational dairy farm with a herd of jersey cattle. It remained a dairy farm until my father sold the cattle in the mid 1970s. My mother, Carol, managed the grain farm until her death in 1994. I took on the responsibility of managing the farm up until the present. I would be remiss to not mention the work and effort of brothers Allyn, Jay, Neil, and Bruce, and sister Lois and her husband Mike Ladd. This included activities like baling hay on our weekends off to help our father or finishing a pen of feeder pigs as a side gig to make extra money for ourselves. Of course this also included some country fun like roasting a pig for a get together with friends and drinking beer, and spending time with family.

After Uncle Neil retired, he enjoyed re-creating the farm to his liking by raising quality Angus beef cattle. He sold his young bulls for breed stock. He also took pride in bringing back chickens to the farm. I forgot to mention that when we were young, my father also sold eggs. We had 800 chickens to care for as well. "Neils eggs" were known for their quality. We still sell eggs to friends and family in the same way that he developed, by letting the chickens forage on grass as well as feed. They add a lot to the farm experience.

Now it is my turn to pass management responsibilities over to the next generation of farm managers. Each era has had its own set of challenges, and this one is no different. By the time the farm reaches its bicentennial in 2052, I will be 107! It is now up to each of you to find the way forward. Your role may not be to actually farm the ground (unless you choose to), but to manage and grow this amazing accomplishment for the next generation of Buchta’s. It is my wish for each of you to find your own relationship to this rich family history. It will be your challenge to find your role in keeping the promise of John Buchta alive and well into the future. It will be up to you to involve yourself, to participate in the fun and family, to "get your head in the game" as Neil and I used to say.