Mourning the Loss of My Favorite Commute Spot

[kfergos]

My normal morning commute takes me by what seems to be an abandoned farm: Fallow fields with tall grass, old stone walls overgrown with lots of greenery, tall, shady trees along the edges of the fields, a classic red barn and white-painted fences, a very modest house with fruit trees around it, a couple of very old farm trucks, and some woods off around the edges. The trees are particularly lovely and some have clearly stood there for over a hundred years, becoming one with the piled stone wall. All seasons it's peaceful and beautiful, a little island of serenity left over from a bygone age. I often arrive around sunrise, when the new light guilds everything and turns it magical. I have seen innumerable red and gray squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits of all ages, birds, and even once a pair of juvenile red foxes dashing along the road beside the stone wall. I love the spot and rejoice every time I pass through its sphere of influence. Here are a couple pictures I took there, not of the entire farm (alas), but of bits of it.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3316/3450716929_e4404ddd58.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3318/3451533692_6e1e6b985d.jpg

I've never seen anybody living there, and in the winter the snow just piles up, unplowed, around the house. I imagine the old farmer who lived there died and nobody took it over. Recently I have started seeing alarming signs at this haven: First a company came and rebuilt one of the walls, tearing out all the trees and plants growing there. The wall, although still stone, is now perfectly straight and square, surrounded by mud from all the backhoe driving, trucks, and construction workers. Then I kept seeing pickup trucks parked next to the barn, and the barn opened up -- something that had never happened in the year I'd ridden by. Then the yellow construction vehicles, backhoes and other things with tines and grabbers and huge shovels, appeared and started driving all around. They have been clearing out around the house, not the fruit trees yet, but near the dilapidated old garage and what used to be a wall there. The wall, bushes, and small trees are gone, and they have started clearing out the small woods behind the house. When I came by today the clearing had progressed considerably, with trees torn out and grass run over with heavy treads.

I'm afraid this is the end of my haven spot, that they are going to tear down all the trees and the fence and dig up the fields, just like they did in an empty lot a mile down the road. There the construction progressed just far enough to log the entire lot and fill it flat with dirt, and then they stopped. Nothing has happened for 6 months, but it's too late -- the trees are gone, irreplaceable, and what used to be a cool shady patch of road is now an unforgiving, ugly, sunny ride along a huge patch of dirt. I know this is what's going to happen to this lovely old farm, and I'm going to have to watch it step by step. Today it was an effort not to burst into tears as I rode by watching the construction workers ripping and tearing, destroying the homes of all those animals I've seen, starting to convert this pretty, calm spot into just another ugly housing development.

:(

Is it silly to be heartbroken over the loss of a place?

[Tri Girl]

It looks like a beautiful farm! I'm sorry to see it go, too. :(

[Biciclista]

no, it's not silly. I imagine all the critters are sad too. And I am sad about it and i know i'll never see it. We can hope that they don't get funding and then the trees and plants will grow back.

[Trek420]

I don't know where I get this trivia, someone will correct me but I read somewhere it takes about 8 families buying local to support a small family farm.

And we can't say for sure why this farm's abandoned, farming is haaaaaaaaard work and lots of things can go wrong

Yet if you enjoy these places where you walk, bike, hike, run, ride please think about it when you shop :o

Odds are good if this land gets turned into housing (and why is anyone building new tracts when they could buy and remodel existing and turn this &^%$ market around or buy my newly remodeled bikeably close to BART, 3 farmers markets and coffee condo? But that's another thread :rolleyes:) those owners will drive to the store and buy whatever it is this farmer raised that's grown now somewhere else and the process continues.

I'm sure those farms and farmers are great but why should they get all the great rural places to ride?


http://www.organicvalley.coop/kickapoo/butter-churn-bike-tour-2009

http://www.organicathlete.org/tdo

http://www.slowfoodvancouver.com/index.php/AgassizTour/

[BikingNurse]

I am so sorry to hear all of this. People just don't realize that new is not always better. Some things just need to be left alone.
I wasn't even able to see the links for the pics. But I could totally see everything you said in my mind.

[7rider]

Next time you ride by, if you see any human there....why don't you stop and ask them what's going on? Tell them it's a favorite spot of yours and you're curious to know what's happening to the lot. (b/c they may also know what happened with the lot up the street....)
Then let us in on it!

[shootingstar]

Lovely photo "memories" kerfogos! Hope you took/will take more different photos since this place will go soon forever.

It is sad. Where I used to work, there is some farmland at one end but probably in a few years that farmland will be gone.

[Mr. Bloom]

:o

Why is a "housing development" ugly?

I don't think the folks who live there think so...isn't it all in the perspective:confused::confused:

[kfergos]

:o

Why is a "housing development" ugly?

I don't think the folks who live there think so...isn't it all in the perspective:confused::confused:It's not the housing development per se -- it's the way 99.9% of new housing developments in New England are built:

1. Cut down all the trees.
2. Build X number of nearly identical homes not less than 4,000 sq ft.
3. Fill in minuscule yard around said homes with grass (definitely no trees).
4. Repeat ad nauseum.

The older housing developments can be very pleasant, with big shady trees and homes set well back on good-sized lots. If they built new ones like that now, I'd be kind of OK with it. It's the cookie-cutter McMansion developments that have been going in all around this area that I'm afraid will happen here, too, and that's what makes me so sad: Losing something unique to the Wal-Mart of housing.

[Mr. Bloom]

I understand, but also remember that the fact that they're on small lots also decreases the amount of open area NOT lost to an equivalent # of housing units built on larger lots.

We happen to live in a neighborhood like you described (although our lots are about 1 acre), but there were no trees until the houses were built 15 years ago...and now there are trees everywhere.

Established neighborhoods with big shady trees have to start somewhere...;)

There are many models of controlled balanced development - I am a big fan of the Sycamore Land Trust (http://www.bloomington.in.us/~sycamore/index-menu.html) in Bloomington Indiana. Portions of new developments are placed into the trust and provide for SUBSTANTIAL green space preservation and provide for substantial shelter and privacy in even the most densely populated areas of town...but it's easier to do this in University and Hi-Tech communities...

[Trek420]

The older housing developments can be very pleasant, with big shady trees and homes set well back on good-sized lots. If they built new ones like that now, I'd be kind of OK with it. It's the cookie-cutter McMansion developments that have been going in all around this area that I'm afraid will happen here, too, and that's what makes me so sad: Losing something unique to the Wal-Mart of housing.

I agree with you on the aesthetic. I prefer a small space with big yard to the big house where you can reach out the window to borrow a cup of sugar from your neighbor.

But trees don't grow on .... well trees. :rolleyes: Wilderness is wonderful and we must preserve it, and rural farm land too but the human landscape with trees and people takes people. Gardeners particularly.

Take my condo .... please :rolleyes: nearly 500 units in the development, my mutt and I walk around it daily and I can count on the fingers of one hand the units where folks log off and turn off the TV long enough to garden. I'm not blaming TV per se but walk around and you see all these smallish condos with monster flat screens in the front room.

Most are satisfied to have the same agapanthus and ivy (two plants I really dislike) in front that the blow and go gardener guys maintain. It's not the builders fault that there's lawn and ivy.

Not to overgeneralize but the human landscapes we prefer came from generations of people who gardened and a lot of that culture is gone.

See "vegetable gardening" thread for more info on this interest returning ;)

[Reesha]

It's not the housing development per se -- it's the way 99.9% of new housing developments in New England are built:

1. Cut down all the trees.
2. Build X number of nearly identical homes not less than 4,000 sq ft.
3. Fill in minuscule yard around said homes with grass (definitely no trees).
4. Repeat ad nauseum.

The older housing developments can be very pleasant, with big shady trees and homes set well back on good-sized lots. If they built new ones like that now, I'd be kind of OK with it. It's the cookie-cutter McMansion developments that have been going in all around this area that I'm afraid will happen here, too, and that's what makes me so sad: Losing something unique to the Wal-Mart of housing.

I agree, but I also think that 99.9% of developments everywhere are awful. The stress that these developments put on local ecosystems and even the infrastructure of communities that approve funding without fully considering the consequences is usually high. I don't really believe that there are vast quantities of people who think "Hey! Let's move to a big ol' tree-less housing development where all the houses look IDENTICAL!" but they end up doing it because that's what's available and the houses are *new* and appear to be less work. I agree that in New England in particular (my home!) space is precious in the metropolitan areas and there are developers circling everywhere trying to make a buck. The majority of developers are not interested in creating sustainable communities, they're looking to make fast cash.

[shootingstar]

But trees don't grow on .... well trees. :rolleyes: Wilderness is wonderful and we must preserve it, and rural farm land too but the human landscape with trees and people takes people. Gardeners particularly.

Take my condo .... please :rolleyes: nearly 500 units in the development, my mutt and I walk around it daily and I can count on the fingers of one hand the units where folks log off and turn off the TV long enough to garden. I'm not blaming TV per se but walk around and you see all these smallish condos with monster flat screens in the front room.

Most are satisfied to have the same agapanthus and ivy (two plants I really dislike) in front that the blow and go gardener guys maintain. It's not the builders fault that there's lawn and ivy.

Not to overgeneralize but the human landscapes we prefer came from generations of people who gardened and a lot of that culture is gone.

See "vegetable gardening" thread for more info on this interest returning ;)

Comment more to Mr. Silver: Part of the scary problem is simply the disappearance of farms and not enough people entering into the farming business to grow our food because of the financial risks involved in relation to the amount of physical effort involved, despite mechanization to help farmers.

It's great that gardening for family sustainability is returning or for low volume production, but not all people are natural gardeners or want to garden much at all.

So 15 years from now, I don't see food flown from faraway locations, disappearing from our grocery stores. Eating local movement is an excellent trend that will have long term sustainability but the reality for certain geographic areas, our climates just will not produce the food in the optimum manner/freshness that we want it for the sheer residential population.

It's a nice thought to think of canning, blanching, freezing and drying local food for winter preservation. But again, how many of us engage in this big time, even when some of us don't have gardens ourselves. It does mean setting aside time and space (if we have it in a tight apartment).

At most, I clean, cut and freeze fresh salmon, we freeze local blueberries, raspberries. That's all that we do. I can't say that I'm thrilled to freeze beans,..for stir fries in winter. It doesn't taste the same at all. :(

I don't can fruit nor veggies. It's probably more of a cultural disinterest /unfamiliarity that I don't do it plus lack of space for us to store more in our tight storage space area.

[Trek420]

So 15 years from now, I don't see food flown from faraway locations, disappearing from our grocery stores.

Not to run around in circles screaming "we're all gonna die, we're all gonna die" ;) I do if we don't save our urban/human landscape, and local farms.

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/our-bees-are-disappearing--but-you-can-help-save-them-479760.html

The human landscape matters. If you don't think so ride out of your city and ask an ooooold farmer. Find someone who's been around the area for 40-50 years farming and ask if they notice changes in the land, crops, animals.

I bet they do. :o

Meanwhile, plant a garden, eat local, get out and ride 8-)

[kfergos]

I didn't mean to denigrate anybody's choice of housing or start a serious debate about the appropriate method of suburban development in my OP, so I apologize if anybody was offended by my earlier comments. All I intended was to express how I felt so that you'd know why the prospect of that property being developed was upsetting to me.

That said, I have an update! I actually stopped and talked to a couple of the construction workers who were there when I went by after work one day. They said the owner was taking down the buildings (not, apparently, the barn, which is by far the nicest building on the property) because of the taxes associated with it -- I don't know anything about MA property tax, since I don't own property here, so I don't know what that means. But since then they have surgically removed the house, garage, and a building so covered in vines I didn't know it was a building :eek::rolleyes:, all while leaving the venerable fruit trees and most of the other property pretty much intact. I am pretty amazed, actually. The workers didn't know or didn't tell me the ultimate plan for the property, but so far it's retained most of the character I've appreciated about it.

I am tentatively relieved and very curious to see what else happens.

[Trek420]

Yeah! Keeping fingers toes and eyes crossed for the fruit trees.

I don't mean any disrespect of anyone's housing style or choice of where to live. What I'm trying to express is that gardeners/farmers make landscape as much as the architect.

Take my condo development. Here's a typical single story end unit. If you ride around the Bay Area you'll find several developments about the same era and look. The architect had a field day designing hundreds of these.

Note the boring landscaping. :rolleyes:

[Trek420]

This is the exact same unit. :D A closer shot and you'd see heirloom tomatoes, artichokes, it's a mix of edible gardening and pure ornament.

I've tried to talk to the family who owns this. Their garden wraps all around the unit. English is not their first language. So I just smile when I see them work on it.

[Mr. Bloom]

Trek, you'd like my condo development at home #2; it is a "Designated Woodlands Community" in a very typical suburban area. Very high density, very natural and heavily wooded, very high privacy, with a lush pond in the middle of the development

kfergos: If I gave the wrong impression that I was offended, I'm not. I understand exactly where you're coming from. I LOVE green space.

[Trek420]

Trek, you'd like my condo development at home #2; it is a "Designated Woodlands Community" in a very typical suburban area. Very high density, very natural and heavily wooded, very high privacy, with a lush pond in the middle of the development

Sounds lovely. :) When we saw the newly remodeled (well remodeled is an understatement)

http://www.calacademy.org/academy/building/the_living_roof

Knott and I talked about how gardens can and should grow anywhere and everywhere. But that takes people, people and/or a lot of dough. I imagine your development is heavily landscaped and maintained by the HOA. Mine does not have that kind of cash.

Or they do but I've seen the financials and they waste it on .... oh don't get me started.

But imagine what the 480 unit development I'm in would look like if more of us did what that family does in the evening instead of parked in front of the flat screen TV :rolleyes:

[tulip]

Speaking of TVs, it recently occurred to me that I have not watched since everything and everyone went digital except me. I don't miss it a bit! I've read three books since June and have done tons of gardening, sometimes until dark.

Anyhoo, back to the thread, I'd be interested in kfergos' updates on the property.

[Trek420]

Speaking of TVs, it recently occurred to me that I have not watched since everything and everyone went digital except me. I don't miss it a bit! I've read three books since June and have done tons of gardening, sometimes until dark.

At the risk of this turning into Landscape Thread Drift :rolleyes: at my work I often have to ask people how many TVs they have in the home and I am shocked, astounded, surprised, mortified .... by how many households have 6, 7 maybe more. :eek: I'm not allowed to comment to say "OMG, I can't imagine that"

I suppose they would feel the same asking me "how many bikes do you have?"

Back to the OP. I too want to hear the tale of what's gonna happen down on the farm. Sitting on the edge of my chair, waiting for the next installment, holding the remote. :p :D ;)

[Crankin]

What Reesha said makes particular sense for the area that Kfergos is talking about. There's not a lot of land left here for building. Houses are expensive compared to many parts of the country. So, when someone wants to move up or out, they usually are faced with the choice of smaller/older in the close in suburbs, which will cost more than newer/larger (land and house) in the area around where Kfergos lives.
I am not defending ugly developments (I saw enough of those in AZ). I live in a very unusual planned community that was built in the sixties, that is essentially in the woods, but not everyone is going to have a garden surrounding their house. I hate gardening. I am happy to spend my money buying local produce at the farms by me, but I am not willing to spend the time.

[Voodoo Sally]

kfergos, which town is this farm in? I'm a native of Worcester County and in my lifetime I've seen a lot of land disappear there.

[kfergos]

kfergos, which town is this farm in? I'm a native of Worcester County and in my lifetime I've seen a lot of land disappear there.It is in Shrewsbury in the back neighborhoods between the Westborough commuter rail station and Route 20, just off Route 20.

Update: Nothing to update! They've got a big pile of rocks and a wide patch of flat dirt where the buildings used to be, but nothing has changed that I can tell. The vehicles keep moving around, so they must be doing something, but I can't figure out what yet. I continue to be very curious!

[Voodoo Sally]

I know the area. My mom lives in Shrewsbury just a couple of miles from there. I LOVE the old farms in this area, and it's a shame that as the decades go by, the owners die and the family can't afford to keep the valuable land. Keep us informed. I'd love to see more pretty pics. of this place before it's gone.

[Trek420]

I am very pleased that the mountain we enjoyed, learned to hike and enjoy the outdoors in while growing up on the farm is now being proteted by

www.sonomalandtrust.org

If there's a land trust in your area please support it. :cool:

[GLC1968]

I LOVE the old farms in this area, and it's a shame that as the decades go by, the owners die and the family can't afford to keep the valuable land.

This is a bigger problem than most people realize. There are lots of people out there who would love to own these small farms and operate them as farms, but most can't afford them. The land has gotten ridiculously expensive. The current farming generation in this country is aging very rapidly and no one is coming up behind them to take their place. Not because they don't want to...but because they can't afford to. It's a real shame and it's going to be a real problem in the very near future.

That, and the more farms you tear down for development, the more traffic, the more pollution and the less rural roads for us cyclists! ;)

[kfergos]

Lovely photo "memories" kerfogos! Hope you took/will take more different photos since this place will go soon forever

Here are a couple more pictures I took yesterday.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3490/3885881980_5afdf96e6c.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3516/3885082307_81790d6ec7.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2604/3885876186_cb330cc426.jpg

No change in the last week or so: The equipment is just parked, the dirt plots haven't been touched, there's no sign of activity. The only thing I've noticed is that somebody's marked something (utilities?) on the road along the farm, which makes me wonder if they do have plans for it.

[Trek420]

The current farming generation in this country is aging very rapidly and no one is coming up behind them to take their place. Not because they don't want to...but because they can't afford to. It's a real shame and it's going to be a real problem in the very near future.

Spotted today at the local farmers market a blast from my past, a 4H club. I found out that here in busy urban Bay Area there are at least 13 clubs in the East Bay alone. Nationwide, who knows how many.

So while the cost of land and start up costs are one thing, but "the kids are alright" :p

[smilingcat]

Mr. Silver pointed out something most people miss. High density housing relieves the need for more open space, reduce the urban sprawl. Another thing that would help is if the gas price was to go through the roof.

A lot more incentive to live close to their work instead of commuting 50 or more miles from their work. DOT, NHTSA ... thinks widening the highway is the answer to the rush hour commute. Quite the contrary. If people had more incentive to live closer to their work, there wont be the ugly urban sprawl. And there wont be this gawd awful rush hour commute of 50+ miles.

I for one would like to have a small organic farm. However, as GLC says, the financial picture is all against it (not to mention my age). The average age of family farm owner is 55 is what I heard. And many of them are continuing to work into their late 70's and sometimes even into their 80's.

Some states do have a "matchmaking" program to arrange a partnership between the old/aging farmer and the green horn. The partnership takes on many different forms. The goal of these programs are to eventually transfer the farm to the younger generation witout crushing financial burden. This idea BTW is very popular in Europe. I don't know who started it...

As for the beautiful farm, only time will tell. New owner may be into hobby farm and will maintain the esthetics.