About the Book
Growing up Gerten begins with Adam and Margaret Gerten who were there at the start. But the generations of Gertens from 1864 - 2013 hardly need an introduction as they are part of the history of Minnesota growers and businessmen in Ramsey and Dakota counties. Growing up Gerten is less about the exactness of their historical contributions and more about what really happened to the Gerten men and women as they worked their farms, expanded into new businesses, launched their children and challenged their faith. History is often trumped by greater stories from someone who was actually there — their memory may be fragile, but is brimming with frustration, humor and reconciliation. Whether you are actually a Gerten descendent or not, you will discover in these stories their ancestors’ genius, their entrepreneurship, their camaraderie, and their tireless efforts that are subtly imbedded in those who are left to tell the stories that illuminate 150 years of farms, families and first cousins.
If you ever worked on their farms, in the ice cream shop, played softball on their team, or heard a sermon given in English and then German, you know how their spirit has enveloped our lives like a blanket of snow covering a winter field. They were the inventors of farm machines, the makers of soft serve ice cream, the growers of green plants (and not just celery), the creative minds that grew small greenhouses into large ones, and the mothers who cared, shared and acted as a muse to a flock of children. With each story you will recognize the faces of those gathered around an ice fishing hole, across the table at a 500 card game, or chasing each other roller skating around a basement floor while ducking under heating pipes.
They were the caretakers of beautiful farms whose boundaries are no longer easy to walk. You many often ask yourself: Why did they work so hard? What was their motivation? Did they feel the same timeless emotions—love, sorrow, joy, jealousy—that make for mesmerizing stories?
Growing up Gerten is a collection of thirteen stories based on interviews of family and friends of Adam and Margaret Gerten and their eight children -- Frank, Henry, Matthies, William, Ed, Sophie, Florence and Fred. They were there and they remember the farms, the families and first cousins. The storytellers in each chapter are the children, grandchildren, and friends. If their words are spoken with humor, passion and a determination to explain, it is to their credit.
If the timelines are elusive or the history challenging, the blame goes to the editor. The exuberance and passion of the storytellers is captured as they recall when their parents went out to seed, weed, sort, disc, plant, make an ice cream sundae, bake a hundred loaves of bread, drive a truck to market, sell across a counter, deliver produce, teach a special education child or a war veteran, fall asleep at 10:00 p.m. and get up at dawn to start over.
It has been said that God made a farmer…but in the Gertens he also gave us a businessman and businesswoman, a mechanic, a teacher, a store owner, a mother, a great aunt. All of whom shared what they had learned, and then took the time to show the next generation how to do it…
and do it well.
