A Bird's Eye View...

When you think of a farm, you would typically think of a very rural area, right?  Perhaps with lots of open space, with some woodland, or large, open fields...

Well, we've often talked about how we feel like we're in a very rural area, but actually, we aren't.  It's amazing how quiet it can be, considering our surroundings.  In reality, we are in close proximity to a city,  and only 1/2 mile (as the crow flies) from a major US Route that crosses the entire country, from near Philadelphia the whole way to Portland, Oregon!

I was looking through one of my photo albums, and came across these pictures from 2004...

One summer day in early July, the resort and golf course across the road from us hosted a hot air balloon festival.  All day long, we watched a helicopter fly around overhead, and we assumed that there were rides available for purchase.  So...late afternoon, Jim walked over to the the golf course with a $20 bill and the camera in his pocket.  He had decided that if $20 would get him in the air, he was up for a ride!

Here are a few of the pictures that he took...

This is coming up on our farm from the west.  Our buildings are in the center of the picture, and to the left is the golf course where the helicopter took off from.  The pictures were taken in July, so the corn to the west of the barn was probably about waist high.  I don't remember what was in the field along the road, but my guess is that it was planted in beans after the barley was harvested, and they're probably not thick enough yet to look green from this distance...

This next picture was taken from the south.  Again, you see the golf course at the top of the picture.  Being July, and midday, the cows are inside with the fans running, out of the heat.  The meadow looks a bit chewed down by now as well.  Those two brown circles in the meadow with red dots in the meadow are hay racks.  The cows would have been outside in the morning and all night, grazing on any grass that they could find, and eating their bedtime snacks out of those racks.  Across the road to the right is our Amish neighbor's field...

. 
This is a picture of the farm (owned by extended family) where we keep our dry cows and heifers, just a few miles away.  The farm is in the middle of the picture, with the pond in the south end of the meadow.  At the top (north) of the picture is a very poplular Outlet Mall; one of several in the area...

The farms in our immediate area are relatively small, and mostly Amish.  However if you travel just 10+ miles in most directions, you find larger farms, primarily owned by "English".

I found these pictures to be fascinating.  For those of you from this area, perhaps you can identify some familiar landmarks!  (Do you know what tourist attraction the parking lot is for at the bottom of this last photo?)

And for those of you from far away, it's just a bird's eye view of our world!


You might enjoy some other farm blogs at Farm Friend Friday, sponsored by Verde Farm!