History

Ostman Farm exists on twenty of the original eighty or so acres that made up Ostman’s Dairy, run by John and Hilma Ostman in the early to mid part of the twentieth century.

John and Hilma were both born in Finland, but they met on the North Oregon coast, and were married in 1913. After their eldest daughter Clara was born, they briefly returned to Finland in 1917, but the Russian Revolution made their lives uncertain and fraught with danger. Finally allowed to return to the USA in 1920 because of their daughter’s US citizenship, John and Hilma set about purchasing some land and building a new life for their family, now grown with the addition of daughter Eva in 1921.

John had been eying a small piece of land in Seaside before his return to Finland, and he found it now for sale because the owner had lost his wife and childrn in the sinking of the Titantic, and no longer wanted the land he had hoped to live on with them. John and Hilma purchased the four acres, and went to work. They started by growing celery, lettuce and other greens, selling them to a local grocery in downtown Seaside called Selnes’. They also sold eggs, and gradually bought more land to diversify into dairy farming.

In 1931 they built the farmhouse at the top of the hill that still stands today. At first they used the house basement to process the milk until their commercial milk plant could be built. In 1939 they built the large, round-roofed barn that was the very symbol of a dairy barn at the time.

John chose to raise Guernsey cows for the high butterfat content of their milk, and his well-cared for herd produced some of the richest milk in the county. Ostman’s Dairy also purchased milk from other local dairies to process, and they delivered milk and dairy products to homes and businesses in the Seaside area.

By 1950, the dairy industry was changing. With the demand for homogenization looming, the Ostmans decided not to move forwards as a dairy. They did not agree with homogenization, believing it to not be good for milk to break it down in this manner. They sold the dairy herd, and semi-retired, purchasing a herd of pure-bred Black Angus cattle to raise instead. The herd was kept on pasture year round, although in those days grass fed beef sold at a lower price than it’s grain fed competition- how times have changed! John and Hilma also had an impressive kitchen garden, raising cole crops, peas, carrots and of course Yellow Finn potatoes. It was all consumed at home or given away to friends.

In the meantime, both daughters married and raised families. Clara married Clinton Kemhus, and had four children: Lynn, Kay, Jon and Mary. The Kemhus family lived across the creek from the Ostman farmhouse and dairy barn. Eva married Vincent Pincetich, and they and their two children Joseph and Maria lived in Northridge, California. Hilma Ostman passed away in 1970, and John Ostman followed her in 1979.

The farm was divided between the two daughters, and has in turn now passed down to their children. A chance conversation in 2001 between good friends Maria Goodman Pincetich and Teresa Retzlaff led to the slow but steady revival of commercial farming on Ostman land by Teresa and her partner Packy Coleman. Many of the Ostman grandchildren are still connected to the land and come back to Seaside to visit whenever they can. Maria and Josh Goodman Pincetich (and their daughter Eva), Jon and Laurie Kemhus, Mary Kemhus and Kay Kemhus are enjoying seeing the old Ostman Dairy land come to life again, and they all pitch in to help wherever they can. Thanks to all of them for generously sharing their stories and photographs of their grandparents and the historic Ostman Dairy.