Time passes , and things deepen — sometimes slowly , sometimes quickly . Through the years , a farm can change importantly . I can vouch for this from personal experience . My farm in northern Wisconsin has ensure some buildings come and others go over the past 25 years . I ’ve planted new yield trees and watched old trees descend .
Rocky fields transitioned to blackberries , birch tree trees , quaking aspen and coniferous tree . Others have been reclaimed from the teetering edge of wild and are now productive hayfields .
Century Farm
My farm was originally settled more than 100 years ago , and I ’ve often wonder what it must have looked like decennium ago . Clues can be found everywhere — in the rock piles overgrow with weed that draw the edge of the area , in the decompose pulpit of long - gone tree , in the obvious transitions between elderly base of hardwood trees and the untested conifers growing up around them .
But as a farm history raw sienna , I ’ve always wanted to know in greater detail what my farm looked like in the 1920s , 1930s , 1940s … etc .
Well guess what ? Sometimes wish come true ! I was recently shown an aerial photo of the area border my farm , taken by airplane in the late 1930s . The resolve is surprisingly mellow — in high spirits enough to pick out individual trees in many pillowcase . And my farm appears crisp and clear in the figure .
Looking Back in Time
It ’s remarkable to take stock the smuggled - and - livid photograph and effectively turn back the clock by more than eight decades . Unlike a individual photograph necessitate at footing grade , this trope provides a snapshot of the entire farm from a clock time less than 20 age after its subsidence .
Examining the photograph , I can see the old farmhouse , barn and a couple of sheds decently where they ’re supposed to be . Interestingly , the quondam farm service department ( now a barn ) had yet to be built . And the farm pool was just a low - lying field .
The dustup ofconiferous windbreaksare nowhere to be line up . This name gumption , since I ’ve counted the growth rings on fallen specimens and date stamp them to the 1940s . Instead , the area surrounding the farmhouse is distinctly dotted with modest trees — almost sure enough yield trees . A few very old apple trees still engage spots evident in the aerial image .
The more I study the photograph , the more revelations bristle forth . I see the big sugar maple still support proudly stand in the middle of the farm fields . They ’re a bit smaller and more numerous but already at impressive sizes in the photo . This confirm my long - hold notion that they ’re more than 100 year old .
Off in the box of my farm , there are many dinero maple and yellow birch trees that — today — give the impression of being old - growing trees . The fact this turning point is clearly a wooded forest in the 1930s suggest they are indeed very old tree .
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A History in Fruit Trees
The telling number of patent fruit trees around the old farmhouse is as interesting . They are visible in goodly rows and columns . This gives me a greater discernment of the numerous old stumps around the farmhouse .
I ’ve removed many of them through the year ( quite rotten ) , but I still remember their approximate position . In retrospect , they ran parallel to the surviving Malus pumila trees . So the tree stump likely cross off the locations of previous fruit trees .
You might wonder why a fateful - and - white photo from eight decade ago matters to my farm today . Certainly satisfying my oddity has been fun , but there ’s more to it than that .
My farm still thrives some 80 years later , but several other farm visible in the 1930s image have faded by with the passing of clock time . Their force field all refund to forestland and their construction are long gone . It reiterate the particularity of living on a farm with such a tenacious history .
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History as Inspiration
Plus , image how the farm has change over time inspires me to trip changes of my own . After seeing what the old farmyard orchard looked like in the 1930s , I ’m connive by the thought of planting new yield trees in that area . Perhaps I ’ll develop heirloom kind from that clock time .
I could even cut scions from the still - surviving apple trees and use grafting to circulate new specimens with the same genetics . This would potentially carry on the orchard bequest for another 100 age .
If you live on an old farm , why not conduct some research and see if you may find an aery image from decade ago ? Perhaps you could find one online or in astate program library .
Turning back the clock by analyzing a historical shot of your farm is a fun way to spend an afternoon . And you never hump what exciting detail you might uncover .
