Category Archives: Agricultural Roots

Family heritage in the rural American lifestyle of the early 20th century.

Finding solitude in a corn field 1951

Cornfields dotted much of the Southern Illinois landscape in the 1950s.  During the growing season adjacent fields created the appearance of a small scale tropical forest. I had travelled the route East along Illinois HWY 143 and Route 66 through … Continue reading

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There are too many trees for a dairy farm

Hardwood forest covered much of an 1885 dairy farm The Eastern edge of Deck’s Prairie, in Madison County, Illinois, was not well suited to a dairy farm. The dairy farm was located about 2 miles from the small town of … Continue reading

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Strange days awesome beauty and nostalgia to cry for

I frequently walked a field road on the northern border of a Southern Illinois farm. Various common hardwood trees created a dense canopy of fall season colors. Strange weather patterns caused an early fall season biological phenomenon. We called the … Continue reading

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Grandmothers egg money 50s childhood memories

Family farms in the 1950s were complex economic entities with many products and sources of revenue generated by small family units. One of the common businesses was production of eggs. The chickens and egg production were usually the responsibility of … Continue reading

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