Over the course of a year I worked on a photographic project by depicting the four calendar seasons of southeastern lower Michigan. And what better place to show our ever-changing year than on a farm? Though Michigan is known as being part of the 'rust belt,' it's actually more agricultural; there are more farms here than anyone can imagine. According to the State of Michigan website, we have approximately 56,000 farms covering over ten million acres of farmland!
So I chose to do this little project at the historic (1880's) Firestone Farm in Greenfield Village for a number of reasons, first off being that it's, well,
historical! Plus I don't believe private owners would appreciate me traipsing out to their property every month to take photographs of their land.
Finally, it gave me a reason to visit Greenfield Village more often - - as if I really need an excuse to do that!
Of all the pictures shown here in this post, there is only one that I did not take, and that is the photo showing the snow covered ground during January. That one was taken by a friend of mine who works for the Henry Ford. Greenfield Village is closed from January until mid-April and therefore I have no access to the farm or anywhere else there during that time; I sent him copies of the photos I had previously taken as a guide - which he matched up wonderfully!
Anyhow, I hope you enjoy my year-long project.
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| WINTER - January: preparations for spring plowing and planting begin |
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| SPRING - mid-April: plowing takes place. This is where the corn will be planted. |
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| SPRING - May: The corn is just beginning to peak out of the ground. |
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| Late Spring-Early Summer - mid-June: Everything is looking fresh and coming up "rosey". |
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| SUMMER - July: the corn is looking good. |
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| LATE SUMMER - early September: the corn is ready for harvesting |
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| Early Fall - Late September: Harvest time |
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| FALL - mid-October: the corn shocks are now standing, curing. |
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| LATE FALL - The fields of November: all the leaves are brown and the sky is gray. |
This was perhaps the longest it ever took me to write a post!
But it was fun - - I'll have to try to get an early March picture just to sort of complete it.
Anyhow, thanks for stopping in - - -
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7 comments:
I really appreciate the work you do here. It's so wonderful to wake up and see something so beautiful and peaceful today after a day like yesterday.
Awesome blog post and photos. I have attempted to do the same thing with OSV, and since they are open year-round, I have been quite successful capturing all four seasons in their beauty and splendor.
Hi Ken,
What a great idea! I love seeing all the seasons with the same house on the same post. It reminds me of a near by Amish community. Gina
Beautiful photos! Nebraska has the same weather/seasons, except right now we're expecting snow tomorrow, heh. It's been a strange spring.
Thank you everyone for the kind words here.
It took me a year to complete this posting - diligence pays off!
I love seeing the seasons on your beautiful farm. There is a painter in our area who has painted his grandmothers farm in all four seasons. I bought the prints and change them out each season with my seasonal decor.
What a fantastic post- so interesting to see how the landscape changes.
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