All That's Left

​The property was once the site of a busy farm shown in aerial photos as far back as 1937. Up until 1980, a barn and outbuilding were present.
This downloaded photo from the Department of Agriculture taken in 1937 has been marked up to show the outline of the property. What is missing from the photo is the woods now present in the northwest third of the land and the trees that had taken over the northeast third, and are now all dead. Something happened in between – the farmer stopped grazing cows, or tilling the land? More research!

​What is in the photo: a farm settlement with house, outbuildings, barn and silo. Maybe not the same silo as the one still standing, but the silo in this next aerial photo from 1977 is likely the same one. 

It’s difficult to describe the mess that stood behind the silo when we purchased the property. Barbed wire and fencing surrounded what we were told by a neighbor was a paddock. Weeds and brush and dead trees clogged the ditch leading to the ponds, and even getting to the edge of the property wasn’t possible until the brush and fencing were removed. 
We were delighted to find that the concrete base of the barn was still intact. Grass and weeds had buried the foundation so when we tried to dig, we quickly realized that a base for a new structure was already in place. Over that, we have had built a small new “Property Maintenance Shed,” so named because that is what is permitted by Dane County. The permitting process we went through is what I call a “saga,”  complicated by the proximity to wetlands, and I don't need to recount it.

​Before the shed was built and after the trash was removed, I painted what was left.

"All That's Left" Watercolor, 10 x 14