Family Heritage

“Is this heaven? No, it’s Iowa.”

It is hard to express the value of my heritage in word. It is rich and deep; established long ago. Even though I have spent the majority of my life in the South, it is not where most of my heritage is from. It is found in the beautiful black soil in the farmland. On a century farm, my Great Great Grandfather started to make a living for his family. Chris and I wanted to document this history by doing a fine art study of the farm. It was abnormally warm for harvest time. My mother, brother and sister-in-law (Ben and Anna) were there as well. It was such a treasure to have my mother there to tell of all the stories long since past to Anna and Chris. She loves harvest time. She says “it is the time of the year that you are finally paid for all of your hard work.” The land gives; and life can again go on for another year. In the South, we don’t see this return from the land as much. It is such a poetic time of year to see the circle of life in action. Here are some of the beautiful images we found.

An early morning view of the silos.

Unlike the drought in the South, Iowa had plenty of rain. There was no loss for beautiful green grass.

I love these silos…such a symbol of the farm. Chris captured most of these and I love this one.

As a farmer, this is the view you would see often in relation to the silo. What a climb.

They keep tractors and lumber in the machine shed. I loved this detail of the black soil of the dirt floor, lush grass and tread marks with the reflection of a clear day.

A detail of the wheel from a tractor.

Detail of chains in the machine shed.

CORN! This is feed corn. There are three different types of corn. Sweet, seed and feed. Sweet corn is the one we all eat. It was harvested earlier when it was green. This is feed corn and is harvested once it is dried. The corn will then be used to feed animals.

I loved this shot taken around 10 am. With the nice sun flare and dance of the stalks.

We then headed to the Amish Country. There is a colony just about 30 minutes away from the family farm. Anna and Chris had never experienced them before. It’s such a culture shock and a great learning experience. They all speak German
as well as English. They need large horses to do farm work, as they do not use any machines or electricity. Here are their beautiful Belgian horses.

Mode of transportation: horse and buggy.

The children are adorable. The one in the front has the cutest personality and was very playful. The one in the back is very shy and just adorable as she hides behind her cousin.

It’s not the Midwest with out some Ball Canning Jars.

Maddie and Eli…the horses we rode on the farm.

A detail of the electrical fence.

Eli is Maddie’s son. They are both gorgeous horses.

A view of the land that I took as Chris and I enjoyed a four wheeler ride through the crop fields.

I hope you have enjoyed taking a peak into the land that I came from. I am amazed by the Great Grandparents, Grandparents, Parents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Brothers, Sisters, and Grand Children that have come from this land. I am forever indebted to this beautiful heritage.