Every day on my way to work, I drive past an old farmhouse. Adjacent to the highway and among an area filled with industrial parks, one would think this farm seemed out of place. But it’d been there for over 100 years, and seeing it so often in my everyday life, it had a way of fitting in.
Every October, there were big signs advertising pumpkins for sale. More than once I thought it would be nice to buy a couple pumpkins from them. Maybe I would have if I were outgoing enough to pull off the road and walk up to someone’s home. Or maybe I would have if, you know, I actually carved pumpkins. Whatever the reason, I wish I had.
Because this morning the farm was gone.
A few springs ago, there were many hand painted signs along the highway that read SAVE OUR FAMILY FARM. The city wanted to build a bridge over the highway and remove the last set of lights in a roughly 30 mile stretch, which is apparently what’s happening right now.
I was conflicted then, and I’m still conflicted now. At what point should the greater good of society come before an individual family? Sad story aside (Mrs. Fischbach is in her 90s, and farming is what her family knows), when does it become okay for the city to take someone’s property? Is the answer based on a necessity to expand? The number of accidents at a particular intersection? I don’t know what the right answer is.
It had been so long since the signs were up that I had completely forgotten about it. I didn’t think twice when traffic cones were in place and the street lights were missing yesterday evening. But this morning I drove by and took a double take at the spot where… Hey wait, wasn’t that house there? I must have zoned out. I’m confused because the road’s torn up. It had to have been there. *cranes neck* Oh, shit! It’s gone!
Whether the decision is right or wrong, I’m sad that it had to come to this. Also, I don’t know the extent to which the farmed operated, but it’s a shame to lose a family farm when corporate farming and Big Ag are so corrupted.
I’d post before and after pictures of the farmhouse, but I don’t have any. Instead here are some local news links concerning the farm:
- http://www.startribune.com/local/north/111500644.html
- http://brooklynpark-brooklyncenter.kstp.com/news/news/brooklyn-park-family-fights-save-farm/92044
- http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2010/12/27/brooklyn-park-farm-highway-169-county-road-30-intersection/
I wish the Fischbach family the best in this new stage of their lives.
This makes me sad. You see a lot of this in the town I grew up in. In fact when they planned on building a highway bypass around my town one of the two options would have torn down the house I grew up in. Luckily for my childhood memories, they went east of the town instead of west (where it was mostly floodlands and less homes would have to be destroyed) and the house remains (one of my brothers childhood friends purchased it from my dad and now lives there with his family – lets not delve into the weirdness of that).
I totally get it. A big storm went through the city I grew up in a few years back, and a coworker who lives in the area told me the entire yard had been destroyed (lots of trees, very unique for a city lot). I drove by it to see for myself and broke down into tears.
Hubs’s hometown was very developed too. He would always point at the new developments and tell me what used to be there. Corn fields are always a safe bet, lol.
That is weird. Do you ever go to the house? Well… when you still lived there, anyway.
I avoid my hometown as much as is humanly possible considering my mom still lives there. The last time I visited the town was in 2008, and my dad still owned the house then. I am a bad daughter. I mean, I saw my family a bit when I lived in Aus, but they came to me, or I went to my brothers house. I just *shudders* my hometown is really not for me.
My hometown used to be dairy farms and logging, now it has a prison. Progress.
Hehehehhe… prisonjoo.
A friend just fought to keep their farm rather than it being bought (at a low price) to be converted into a parking for Semis (off the highway)
they are winning so far
Too bad for that little family farm :(
Aww, that’s sad too. Tell those drivers to find somewhere else to park!
What a shame about the farm!! My great-grandparents’ farm was lost in a similar manner, but a trucking company bought the property instead. The most bizarre thing about it is how they got rid of the house–they set it ablaze! I wasn’t expecting that…thought they would just tear it down.
When I was a little kid, they burned down the house next door like that! Hmm… it makes me wonder how they got rid of the farmhouse.