Before and After – Comparison Photos

One of the most fun things about these journals about our projects, is looking back on how places used to look, and comparing them with the way they look now.  So here’s a series of comparison photos – a few of the farm itself, and some of both planted and remnant prairies.  Use the sliders […]

Farm Bird Lists – 2016

Sharp-shinned Hawk 2/9/2016 12-25 to 12-31-2016 American Crow American Goldfinch Bald Eagle Black-capped Chickadee Blue Jay Dark-eyed Junco Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker Mourning Dove Northern Cardinal Northern Shrike Purple Finch Red-bellied Woodpecker Red-tailed Hawk Sharp-shinned Hawk White-breasted Nuthatch 12/27 Northern Shrike caught a Junco outside my window 12/29 Sharp-shinned Hawk outside my window   12-18 […]

Farm History – the Rutschow Family

Our farm was owned by the Rutschow family for many years.   Carl Rutschow farmed it in the early 1900s, then his son, Norman Rutschow and his wife farmed it until 1971, when it was sold to Ed Barnes.  Ed rented the fields for farming, and the woods for hunting.  We bought it from Ed in […]

History of the farm

The earliest records of this land, that we know of, were the two surveys that were done in the mid-1800s by the federal General Land Office to divide the land so it could be homesteaded.  In this area, the survey that established the township and range lines was done in 1848, and the one that […]