This farmer as retired, and long since moved away from the area. He cannot, however, part with the land. That is often the case in this area. The house has been rented to a family that works in the nearby town. The farmland is also rented out, to a farmer that plants the fields. The barn is slowly deteriorating, being picked apart by elements. Wind and weather combine to serve as Mother Natures vulture, reclaiming the wood and stone long ago harvested for it's creation. It's not uncommon to find hay still in the hayloft, which never cease to amaze me. Like an earlier photography I posted here (The Work Shirt, April 19), it seems as if all work was suspended in the middle of a season. It's an almost eerie feeling. Archaeologists have discovered ancient settlements that likewise seem to have been inexplicably abandoned.
3 comments:
I found an abandoned barn and house in Kendall County the other day - I think I'm going to head back there and see about taking a few pictures. An old Victorian, square, HUGE, and it has a haunted look about it, and a sadness.
Makes you wonder what else is in the barn, left behind.
My grandfather's farm in southern Illinois has passed on to a cousin. He tried to save the old barn for as long as possible. It held memories for all the cousins, memories of digging for worms to fish in the pond, of sheep following us as we walked with him to milk the cows and the barn cats who were always around at milking time. But the barn finally gave out. This cousin is both farmer and woodworker. He recycles the wood from everything. When we visited the homeplace last he made us a wooden key holder out of the old barnboard, a treasure for my dad that now hangs in our house.
Though it's sad to see all that decaying buildings, I love the way you capture them. Very good photo, whit the white decayed paint contrasting with the deep blue sky.
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