Thursday, February 24, 2011

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!

14 comments:

  1. Cool pics! I'll bet your hubby had a great time:@)

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  2. Alica You have a beautiful farm.Smart idea with the camera and the balloon. B

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  3. Great pictures......isn't it great seeing your farm from a different view?.....high above!!!!!

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  4. We have a photo of our farm from a cropduster plane. It's interesting to see what the birds see, isn't it? :)

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  5. You live in a beautiful area! Thanks for sharing your birds eye view. :)

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  6. Great pics of the farm!
    Need to run to my hubby and tell him we need to do that too! :-)

    Thanks
    Leontien
    www.fourleafcloverdairy.blogspot.com

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  7. Thanks! I love seeing things from a different perspective!

    Nancy...You should post the aerial of your farm from the crop duster! :)

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  8. This is wonderful! I love the aerial pictures of farms. I've never gotten one of my place because you can't see anything but tree tops instead of a house. Not that that is a bad thing!

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  9. Alica, what a beautiful farm. I would so love to have aerial photos like this here...what a great thing to have. It sure looks like gorgeous land.
    Thank you for linking with farm friend friday too:)

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  10. I love these photos! It's so neat to see how land is divided. Everything looks so perfect from way up there. Your farm is beautiful!

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  11. I am going crazy trying to figure out what tourist attraction is near you! I've probably been there as my dad lived in southeastern PA.
    Love the aerial views - how wonderful!

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  12. Dreaming - We are in the heart of Amish Country, between Lancaster and Strasburg. There are more tourist attractions here than I can count, but the tourist attraction I mentioned in the post is the Amish Village. Where did your Dad live?

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  13. Thanks for stopping by my blog.
    My dad live in Paoli. We traveled from SC frequently and would come through Gettysburg, heading through Amish country. I LOVE that area!! I'm sure we stopped at the Amish village before!
    You live in a beautiful area.

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  14. Thanks! We've both lived in the area all our lives, and we love it here! :)

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