It has been more than 125 years since Frank Beck, a farmer from Ohio, came to Michigan and started a small farm. And today, his great-great-grandchildren play on that same small farm, now known as Uncle John’s Cider Mill.
The farm, located at 8614 N. US Highway 127 in St. Johns, Mich., is a centennial farm, owned and run by the same family for more than a century, John Beck, grandson of Frank Beck, said.
According to the retired fruit farmer — known as Uncle John to everyone around the farm whether or not he is related — the mill is not only a successful business, but a place cherished by the entire Beck family.
“We’ve always had, being an orchard, a well-mowed area to go out and walk and ride bikes and things like that,” John Beck said. “(And) all of us fell in love with the farm.”
Uncle John’s son Mike is now the president of the farm. And like his father, Mike grew up on the farm and has always worked on the farm, and he is happy his 8-year-old daughter, Lauren, gets the same opportunity.
“It’s just a nice, good, wholesome way to grow up. You learn to be self-dependant a lot earlier,” Mike Beck said. “It affords you some unique opportunities in life.”
The fifth-generation farmer said it is nice to be working with and around family on most days.
“Some days, you only see one another at the lunch hour, and then some days, you’re working right beside each other, whether you’re in a good mood or not,” Mike Beck said, chuckling.
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