These four kids are the sixth generation to build memories on Lone Tree Farm and along Kanaranzi Creek. Margaret and I are the fourth set of grandparents to live and work here. Homesteaded in the 1870’s, this family land has been maintained as a working farm operation ever since then. This blog will share both human history and natural science for the farm and also from throughout the watershed.

The photo was taken at Thanksgiving of 2013. It’s part of the current family tradition that attempts to get group pictures for Christmas consumption. It’s in a rustic setting inside the metal barn currently used to store supplies for fencing and cattle. But, there’s lots of history in there too.

The structural beams behind the kids were “re-purposed” from the original horse barn built on this site around the turn of the century. (That would be the twentieth century, around 1900.)  The wooden panel in front of the kids was used for lambing pens in the 1960’s. The only livestock in this shed in 2016 is the guard cat and maybe an occasional woodchuck or raccoon when the cat neglects her duty.

This blog is launched now in tribute to the “Greats”….John and Bernita (Bell) Shurr who died in January, 2014, after living the exact same number of days. They spent more than 70 years together on Lone Tree Farm.