One of my favorite places in the world to take photographs is the family farm. My family lives on this farm. It is a beautiful piece of land in Muskingum County. There are lots of rolling hills and woods. It is a multi-generational farm. Pauline’s sister married into this family. They raised their children on the farm and my nephews, and their families now also live on the farm. I suspect that my niece and her family are going to end up on the farm, as well. They raise cattle, there is lots of pastureland, and they grow alfalfa, feed corn and soybeans. There are also pigs, including a potbelly pig, horses, chickens and ducks, some highland Scottish cattle and lots of dogs and cats.
It is a beautiful place that holds so many important memories. We watched the kids grow up there. We celebrated every thanksgiving on the farm. After the thanksgiving lunch, everyone would congregate in the living room to visit, and Kazu and I would take our hike around the farm. There were times when this walk was in the middle of fall, and there were times when the ground was covered with snow. Kazu loved this time because he was able to walk without a leash (there were no roads nearby) and he could smell the critters everywhere. It was Kazu’s time to be a dog. I loved the time out with Kazu and my camera.
Pauline spent every Christmas at the farm. Pauline’s 50th surprise birthday party was on the farm. There were so many different family reunions and celebrations. So many memories. When Pauline’s and my first dog passed away, we buried her on the farm and shortly thereafter, planted a tree on this site. After Kazu passed away, we buried his ashes under this same weeping cherry – that isn’t weeping at all and stands very tall.
I have always had a warm place in my heart for rural America. My father was a frustrated farmer. He turned our suburban backyard into a small farm. He had a peach and cherry tree and he grew all kinds of fruits and vegetables. He could grow anything. I spent two years living in a very small and isolated rural community. There were only around 600 people who lived there. I consider these years among the best in my life. Our lives were focused on people, not things. There was very little television or radio. There weren’t any restaurants or movie theatres or other forms of entertainment. Recreation took place in the great outdoors or around people’s kitchen tables or in the living room around the wood burning stove in the winter. We talked, we played cards, we drank coffee, we smoked so many cigarettes. I loved the people and I loved the way of life. At the time, I had no idea how to use my camera, but I managed to take more than 3,000 photographs anyway. I only returned to the city because my wife was pregnant and we lived more than 90 miles away from a hospital … and there was almost nothing between our home and the hospital.
I have done every type of photography on the farm. I love to shoot the animals. I do lots of landscape and nature photography. I have had family portrait sessions, including of the babies when the next generation arrives. I have done documentary photography during the annual cattle roundups. These are photographs I’ve taken on the farm through all of the seasons posted on my Flickr account:
These are the photographs I took on the farm during my two visits this summer.
The Farm photos are beautiful in each season and the story of your father's fruit trees and veggies was the first I learned of your life on his 'suburban city' farm.
Pigs, cows, and Kazu have a sweet spot in my heart.
Lisa