State gives farm historical designation for reaching century mark

MAYSVILLE - A little elbow grease and a lot of love have landed a family farm a designation for the ages. <br> <br> The Turk Family Farm, in business for more than 100 years, has been designated a Centennnial Family Farm by the state Department of Natural Resources&#39; historical preservation division. <br> <br> Members of the Turk family began farming in Maysville in 1898. <br> <br> Today, the family farm has grown from about 60 acres to 260 acres. And even though the Turks are still farming, it&#39;s a far different kind than the row-crop farming practiced 100 years ago. <br> <br> Instead of acres of corn and cotton with a garden to produce most of the family&#39;s food, today&#39;s Turks raise cattle and chickens as they add their own chapters to the farm&#39;s continuing history. <br> <br> Every eight weeks, the Turks produce about 125,000 frying chickens in five long, modern chicken barns. <br> <br> Charles Turk hopes to hold on to his land and pass it on to his daughters, which would be the sixth generation of family ownership. <br> <br> But it may not be in the cards, he says. In recent years, he&#39;s seen several large farms sold, divided up for sale to developers, investors and others, including one owned by a different branch of the Turk family that had been named a Centennial Family Farm in 1994. <br> <br> In the ten years of the Centennial Heritage Program, about 250 family owned farms have been recognized statewide, including 17 in counties around Athens. And that may be only a fraction of the farms that could qualify if they chose. <br> <br> A handful are devoted as much to tourism as to raising crops. But most are like the Turks&#39; farm, first and foremost a working farm.