[AT] Sad times

[Henry Miller]

I'm feeling the loss. We are selling the family farm this month, over the 4th I made what I'm sure will be my last every visit to it. Great grandpa bought it sometime in the 19-Teens. Grandpa was born and died on it, but nobody wants to take over. With Minneapolis expanding it obviously can't remain a farm much longer, I'm sure it is an investor who bought it put a few houses on acreage in the woods now, and the fields will be developed in 10 years or so when zoning changes to allow it. 

It is sad to see the barns in disrepair, but even the ones that were maintained have dry rot and probably can't be saved. The ones that were not maintained are caving in. 

I did get to see the back of some buildings that have been full as long as I can remember. The scrap man got a lot of junk, and some good stuff because we can't find anyone who wants it. (called the outboard motor collectors and they said those aren't worth as much as you think and hung up, the snowmobile collectors won't even return calls) 



-- 
 Henry Miller
 hank at millerfarm.com



On Wed, Jul 24, 2019, at 7:34 PM, Kenneth Gene Waugh wrote:
> I have felt the same thing. Most of my family were farmers in NE Indiana since the 1880s. Along with many others, my folks both left the farm. I spent a great deal of time on these farms, especially the one of my maternal grandparents. Also several uncles, etc. 
> 
> Six months or so I was over that way and drove a loop passing a number of my old haunts. I won’t be making that drive again. Most of the houses are still there, but not a single barn I stacked so much hay in still stands. Mother’s folks had a large (mostly apple) orchard. It too is gone. Happily, I have an aerial view from the mid 50s. That picture makes a sad comparison to the satellite image of today.
> 
> Ok, that’s enough. Just an old man reminiscing!!
> 
> Gene Waugh
> Elgin Illinois 
> 
> On Wed, Jul 24, 2019 at 7:15 PM Ralph Goff <alfg at sasktel.net> wrote:
>> On 7/24/2019 4:30 PM, Greg Hass wrote:
>>  > Had to take a trip to a town 20 miles from here today. Decided to 
>>  > bring back roads home; pasted many old barns some falling down, some 
>>  > being kept up. You could tell from the old milk houses that many had 
>>  > been dairy farms. Many old silos, a lot with the blower pipes still 
>>  > up. All are now a part of the past, a past that will never come back. 
>>  > Many memories came to mine of how it used to be, farms all over with 
>>  > small herds of cattle and the family making a living. My dad was able 
>>  > to raise 6 kids and send most to college on 160 acres; my mother never 
>>  > worked off the farm- she never worked on the farm either but thats a 
>>  > whole other story. Now we have several farms in the county that milk 
>>  > over 5000 cows.
>> 
>>  I lived through those good times too and its sad to see them gone. Most 
>>  obvious here is the disappearance of the wooden grain elevators and the 
>>  rail lines that brought life to every
>> 
>>  little town here. Maybe each generation sees the same thing in the loss 
>>  of the way of life they knew.
>> 
>>  Ralph in Sask.
>> 
>> 
>> 
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> -- 
> Gene
> Kenneth Gene Waugh
> Elgin, Illinois
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