The world is a much more beautiful and incredible place than you think, and each of us has a great deal of power to make it more so. Oie Osterkamp |
Neglect (2012) by Mary - Pictures by Nancy
We have neighbors fairly close to our farm, but were told that farmyards dotted both sides of the road not so many years ago. We can still see remnants here and there which detracts from the beauty of the countryside. I always wanted to accidently drop a cigarette and burn down one of those windowless, weather beaten houses, but now realize I somehow don't seem to see what once stood out and depressed me.
When we first purchased our little farm, the broken down buildings were something we planned to raze as we had the time, but Todd read that we shouldn't be quick to get rid of them if any part is still usable. That is the direction we've been going, and we feel a happy type of pride when reading that people across the country are bringing these farmyards back to life. It is fun to be a part of the movement even if no one but us knows what we are doing.
We discovered that when our farmyard was left to neglect, little trees popped up near the buildings, and over the years became big trees which pushed in the foundations. We have removed most of these, but the damage has been done. Overlooking the cracks is hard for us perfectionists, but again, we have gotten used to seeing cracks and spaces and find a little humor in going against our natural inclinations.
One of my favorite buildings, we call the pit, has a long foundation wall that is leaning to the inside. We want to rebuild on this foundation someday because most of it is below ground level and would be a perfect place for a root cellar and other uses. The guys cut down the tree causing the problem last fall, and Todd recently dug around the stump to see what was going on underground. We find it amazing and the pictures below tell the story.
A good job to do just for the fun of it!
The roots are the size of branches.
The culprit running parallel to the building reminds me of plumbing.
