The Farm

When you're driving out across the country, you often pass by some old building setting all alone out in some pasture or farm field. It may have been an old barn, farm house, or some other abandon building, maybe almost ready to fall down from years of weathering and neglect. At one time, it was part of someones farm yard, maybe with some chickens, cows, or horses in pens near by. Maybe there were trucks, tractors, and machinery parked around the various buildings. Probably a little house with a garden near by, and maybe a bicycle or two around as well. This was someones home, their family's source of income, and their familiar place of existence, possibly for several generations. As the years go by, the little farm or ranch was sold, became a part of a much larger farming enterprise, and most of the original buildings torn down, the equipment sold off, until all that's left is one old weathered structure.
For years, when I pass some such site, I wonder what it might have looked like in it's prime. What kind of people lived there, grew up there, and where did they end up. That place was there whole life at one time, and now nothing remains.
I grew up on a farm / ranch in Southwestern South Dakota, that my Grandfather had started in about 1925. He started purchasing the land as it became available, built the buildings, accumulated the necessary tractors and machinery, and raised his family there, and worked it the rest of his life. My Dad made his life there as well, working the land and raising his family. It became an operation of about 2000 acres, half farm land, and half cattle pastures.
My brothers and I grew up exploring the wilderness, riding our bikes, and building forts in the trees. Farm kids also work doing chores, and even driving trucks and tractors, from about 12 years old. As a teenager, I rebuilt my first car engine in one of the buildings on the farm.
Family situations change, my Mom left that life when I was 17, and I went with her, eventually starting a military career in the US Air Force. I returned with my own family after I got out of the Air Force, but that was only for a few months, and I moved on to other pursuits.
My brother stayed, and eventually took over the farming operation, and built a life there. A few years ago, a large land owner came along, made him an offer he couldn't refuse, and the place was sold. I went out there for a last look around as he was getting ready for his equipment auction. All the buildings were there as when I was young, and the memories seemed like a lifetime ago.
Now, all the old buildings are removed, the left over junk cleaned up, and the only thing remaining from our past is the old farm house. It has become one of those places you see along the road, just a symbol of someones memories.

The farm as it appeared in the 1950's.