Death of a dream, farm houses in the heartland PBS

onpoint

onpoint

Active member
Since some of you are onto this PBS Dust Bowl film. If you enjoyed watch it. Get the PBS documentary "Death of a Dream" Farmhouses in the Heartland. Fantastic film. I ordered the DVD.

http://www.pbs.org/ktca/farmhouses/
 
Here's one going down. Only inhabitants were the coons......

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Eventually, there will be few to no one living out in the rural plains. Crowd everybody into town where they can be good worker ants and easily watched over.
 
UGUIDE said:
Here's one going down. Only inhabitants were the coons......

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There one farm family we can't ask to go hunting. The landlord lives in Florida, or 20 miles down the road. Better get the bulldozer to route out those bushes, might harbor a bird or two!
 
oldandnew said:
There one farm family we can't ask to go hunting. The landlord lives in Florida, or 20 miles down the road. Better get the bulldozer to route out those bushes, might harbor a bird or two!
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You got that damn straight...Very sad deal
 
oldandnew said:
There one farm family we can't ask to go hunting. The landlord lives in Florida, or 20 miles down the road. Better get the bulldozer to route out those bushes, might harbor a bird or two!
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My lodge is right behind it. Converted cow loafing and dairy barn so that structure is preserved. 600 of the 700 acres farm is in CRP, treebelts, foodplots, and wetlands. the whole farm is in wetland easement.

Don't cry me a river over land access and no coon den that burnt to the ground.
 
UGUIDE said:
My lodge is right behind it. Converted cow loafing and dairy barn so that structure is preserved. 600 of the 700 acres farm is in CRP, treebelts, foodplots, and wetlands. the whole farm is in wetland easement.

Don't cry me a river over land access and no coon den that burnt to the ground.
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I been to Chris's place. Let me say this, and say it loud and clear. I was very impressed at the amount of habitat I seen. If there were more like him. I will guarantee Pheasants would be in good shape. The burning old farm house....The only ones that bother me, is the livable farmsteads that are bulldozed or burned . Then the whole homestead cleared for yet more endless plowed crop land. In the name of greed and profit. Trust me, I don't think that's Chris's aim.

I have chased Snow Geese for many years and I have dealt many times with trying to call the land owner to get permission to jump a flock and you find the owner is out of state or far off in Sioux Falls. Most of them only own the land for a investment. All the ground is rented. The Hutterites are among the worst at clearing land. They have little to no interest in habitat. They are interested in production and profit plain and simple. Nice folks, but have no interest in preserving wildlife at all. They buy a piece of land, in no time the tracked hoe, bulldozers, Etc are at work, until they can farm unimpeded.
 
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Profit is a good thing. Chris is paying for his land with profit. He is raising a different crop, but he still needs profit to pay his taxes and other expenses and improvements. If the hutterites want to raise different crops that is their choice. You and I and alot of other people want what there was in our younger days. The nostalgia is great but the world will be what it is and what we make of it.
 
haymaker said:
Profit is a good thing. Chris is paying for his land with profit. He is raising a different crop, but he still needs profit to pay his taxes and other expenses and improvements. If the hutterites want to raise different crops that is their choice. You and I and alot of other people want what there was in our younger days. The nostalgia is great but the world will be what it is and what we make of it.
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When what a land owner is doing effects the well being of all of us. Then folks push for rules and restrictions to prevent harm to our drinking water, rivers, streams, lakes and wildlife.

People bring on these rules and restrictions themselves. They have nobody to blame but themselves. It's just like the water usage thing I posted. The abusers know what their doing is wrong but they won't change unless forced to change. They will bring on the restrictions themselves but they will blame somebody else. They always do. This is what they don't understand. It's our country, not just theirs. I always hear them say "My" country.
 
UGUIDE said:
My lodge is right behind it. Converted cow loafing and dairy barn so that structure is preserved. 600 of the 700 acres farm is in CRP, treebelts, foodplots, and wetlands. the whole farm is in wetland easement.

Don't cry me a river over land access and no coon den that burnt to the ground.
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Well habitat and access may not be a problem to you, but I assure it is in most places. I lament the days where almost every quarter had a farmhouse. If you asked, somebody in a couple miles owned it, or farmed it, you could gain permission, make friends, discourse ideas, gain a perspective of anothers viewpoint. The only thing I see here are buildings which are razed to cut the taxes down, and the barnyards are bulldozed into the vastness of the field, nobody knows who lived there, what dreams they had. The idle weeds and bushes become rowcrop, and a moonscape of dirt in the winter. In my defense, you did not say that it was yours, and what you did there. But I do like the scenery of some clapboard, gray weatherstained structure, maybe a one room school house, with rusted playground equipment, which harkens back the times past, and now shelters a family of bobwhites, a covey of huns, or a rooster amid the tumbleweeds around the foundation, and the lack of the farm families who lived there and are no more. I am happy with your business plan, and it's habitat, but most of these "improvements" are designed for profit,because they can, because it's neater, and not for scenery, soil conservation, or wildlife improvements.
 
UGUIDE said:
My lodge is right behind it. Converted cow loafing and dairy barn so that structure is preserved. 600 of the 700 acres farm is in CRP, treebelts, foodplots, and wetlands. the whole farm is in wetland easement.

Don't cry me a river over land access and no coon den that burnt to the ground.
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I can't believe your doing all that work to propagate an invasive species. A species which consumes food and nesting habitats that could be used by native species. What about the tons of tall grass being planted where short grass or mixed prairies was native, might as well be planting corn. What about all those shrub plantings and cutting down native cottonwoods so birds of prey have no place to perch.
 
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The farmstead here has lots of old fading things--some are beyond repair but have great value just the same. They will be allowed to just fade away on their own time.

The old grainery for one:

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The house built in 1911 and still being lived in. When grandpa bought it he called the old folks home--how true. There were 3 houses built by the same guy on this section--two are still here and the other was moved, all three are still being lived in

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As always a new start.

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The other farm in the family --seven miles to the west

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The barn is already down

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Jim
 
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Nice Jim, you came from the generation who cherishes history and values of our past life. I'm being drug kicking and screaming along the path of life. It's tough for me to let go of the ways of yester-year. We still have five draft horses we do some farming with. Have a wood cook stove both here at home and in South Dakota. Heat with wood. Butcher our own meat. Make our own sausage, ham and bacon.
 
Here's a some pics
 
These 2 houses are west of Mount Vernon. Incredible craftsmanship for their day..

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The detail in these two homes, (1/2 mile apart, and probably built by the same craftsman) is incredible, considering they didnt have electricity on the prairie till well after these homes were built..

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Look closely at the siding details. This is lap siding, made to look like a shingle application.. Incredibly ingenious... I plan on incorporating (or trying) a few pieces like this on my home..


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Tyvek new? dont think so..

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I know these two houses are destined to be destroyed, but I will be one sorry sob the day it happens..
 
Heres my place, when it was built in 1928..

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And now today.. well, this summer..

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The barn and silo, buillt in 1934. (recently painted since)

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We have complely restored the interior, and will be tackling the exterior this spring/summer with new windows, siding, soffits, fascia etc. the works.. and Im not talking about vinyl siding..

I often wonder if I am doing the right thing, spending that kind of money. When we bought the place, every structure was at a turning point, either allow the rot and decay of time to take its toll, or jump right in and start fixing things.

The old boy I bought the place from, didnt want to sell it to me, because I was a city slicker... His wife was born in the house.. The only thing I had going for me, was that I wanted the old nostalgic farmhouse to stay the same, and after 35 years in residential construction, could make it happen.. Believe me, if I wasnt well versed in construction, electrical, plumbing, painting, plaster repair, wood floor refinishing and every other thing that occupies my time on this acreage, I could not afford to live here... I couldnt afford to hire everything that needed to be done.. no way, no how..

I also bought the few implements that he had left, most notably, the John Deere 4000 gas, which there were only a couple hundred of these made.. I get calls ever year from tractor enthusiests who want to buy it.. The old "Morton Grainery in the background, Model C I think,

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I have no pictures to contribute, but wanted to let you all know I've enjoyed this thread.

Where my dad lives, there is an old feed mill/grainery across the road, along with another old barn. The motor and gearbox for the augers are housed in the old barn and a shaft runs from that barn to the grainery. The drive belt is still in good condition and so are the grain bins and hand-made ladders. There's an old work bench that's set up extremely well. The imagination and ingenuity of men "back then" is present at every turn. They didn't have $5 plastic shelves that they could buy at Wal-mart. They had a "problem" and came up with solutions. I suspect every man's shop was a little different from the next guy's. That is, one man's innovation was not so readily accessible to the next guy. The "next guy" simply had to count on his own sense of innovation.

After my boys, my wife, and I toured those buildings again on the opener this year, my dad said, "The boss wants me to start tearing these old buildings down. He said we need the lot for more cattle." I was at a loss for words. Why a millionaire with $7k acres would need to tear down such a significant piece of history to make room for 40 more cattle is beyond me. It is not my land though, so my opinion matters not. I vow to get some good pics of those places, both inside and out, before he destroys them and all the history that goes along with them:(

Thanks for sharing your pics guys!! When the boys and I see similar historical 'markers' while we're hunting, we always stop to take it in. In fact, sometimes we spend more time scouring the tall grass around buildings than we do scouring the open-fields for pheasants. The boys always seem to find an old bottle, boot sole, or something along those lines. Inevitably that sparks conversation about what life might have been like for folks "back then" and questions about what they may have been doing the day they dropped said bottle or lost said boot sole. Our imaginations run wild with visions of life in "the old days".
 
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Excellent post Red Dog:10sign:

That post took some real time and effort. These kind of posts make these kind of threads really worth while. All of the posts have been excellent. views from both sides of the fence. Good job guys.

Red Dog, you are doing a real justice to that farm place. It's really refreshing to see that there are those who still long to preserve the past.

KB, I feel just as you do. A shame that buildings with so much history can't be saved. Grab all you can if he lets you. Lots of things a person can do with the old siding, lumber, Etc.


Onpoint
 
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I love the pics guys. I am by no means a tradesmen but I greatly appreciate the attention to detail and craftmenship that went into these old homes. Simply beautiful and my dream is to own an old farm or ranch house on a little quail sanctuary some day.
 
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