One hundred years after their construction, the barns on my family’s farm still are used for their original function.
Tag: Family Farm
Apple Tree, Family Farm, Deer Creek, Illinois
Update: The tree ended up being fine and growing larger. I planted this tree with seeds from an apple I ate twenty years ago. It now has some sort of blight, so it will have to be cut down if it shows signs of spreading to other nearby trees.
Planting Season, Family Farm, Deer Creek, Illinois
The family farm outside of Deer Creek, Illinois is doing well, and the paint and repairs to our two 100+ barns are holding nicely. Off in the distance, one of our farmers is planting something, not sure what. I love this picture up into the hayloft of the older, horse barn. The light was perfect…
Family Farm at Sunset
I snapped these pictures coming down the road from the north to my family’s farm. The sun was setting and the whole countryside looked beautiful, in many ways unchanged for almost two centuries of settlement. Harvest is underway, very late in the season. This combine is working on a field nearby and not at my…
Cleaning Out Shed, Family Farm, November 2009
The old shed dating back to the Great Depression, and was part of a program where the New Deal gave them to farmers, had to be torn down, sadly after being damaged by high winds. My father and I cleaned it out last weekend to prepare for its demolition, salvaging old lumber and tools. Weirdly,…
Family Farm, May 2009
Things are good around the family farm outside of Deer Creek, Illinois. There was one loss over the last year; a shed from the Great Depression given by the government to farmers to encourage their business. The roof, as many other large objects do on the prairie during massive windstorms, flew off and landed hundreds…
Cottonwood Tree, Family Farm, Deer Creek, Illinois
Update: The tree survived and is still alive. The tree in the photo was planted around one hundred years ago by my great grandfather. It died years ago, following the fate of its companions from earlier storms. I remember as a child watching my 75 year old grandfather cutting up one of the cottonwoods with…