The History of a New Land

The plan moving forward is to salvage what we can in Prescott, most of the late season crops will be fine, and do any replantings in our new home in Ham Lake, MN at the Sannerud Farm. 

This land was homesteaded in the early 1800s, sold a few times, and purchased by my great grandfather, Hans Moe in the 1930s. Originally over 200 acres, now roughly 50 belong to my grandparents: 100 were given to my uncles and aunts who built on the land while the rest became Highway 65 or were sold. 

The rocks that made up the original farmstead can still be found in the West stand of trees and the second home, built in the late 1800s, still stands but is dilapidated. 6 people, 4 of them children, shared the home, which is just about as big as the modern day living room! 

Currently my grandparents live in the classic farm house. Built in the 1930s by the guy who lived here before my great-grandpa it had no electricity so before moving in great-grandpa installed electricity. Continuing the path of home improvements he built out one porch, and when my grandparents came into the house, they built out a few more and expanded the basement. Farm houses usually experience this sort of "room-adding" as families grow and it creates a nice sort of modularity about the space. 

One thing I am currently enjoying about staying here are the daily talks with Grandma and Grandpa about "the way it was" and juxtaposing that with the way it is. 

Some things that have changed changed for the better, some, I believe, We should miss. 

Americans these days generally have more "leisure time", something deemed a positive to society. Unfortunately, it seems this space in our lives is bombarded like never before with so many silly things to do that we, as a population, are more stressed out than ever before. Facebook, twitter, email, the news, youtube, netflix, pinterest and on and on and on. Not that any of these things are bad or evil, I use all of 'em (except pinterest. I don't get it) and many offer legitimate benefits to us such as organization and communication. But taken together they make this constant buzzing deep in our brains, an always-on feed of social information that we are drawn towards like moths to a bright light, throwing away our free time like it's last weeks viral video. 

Living at the farm I hope to free my leisure time from the tyranny of social networks and deliver it to the hands of a good book or learning skills. On my to-learn list are: canning, jamming, pie crust making, cooking, caring for my elders, how to use every part of a plant, how to make a meal out of what you have not what you can buy, how to live with people of different generations, how to think, how to journal, how to make soap, how to make root beer, how to make a good cheese plate, wine pairings, how to be a leader, how theories in school apply to the real world, and how to build a chicken coop. We all know we waste a lot of our free time on these silly world wide web creations, in fact, that is how I am communicating this with you. 

For me it took a major change in scenery, from St.Paul to Ham Lake, to my family's land, to start removing the social medias from my life. But it is easier than that, just decide to stop wasting your free time one night this week. Cook something new, learn a tangible skill, write a journal, start a project that doesn't pay back immediately. 

When folks in the grey-er generation talk about their childhood they talk about milking, canning, gardening, cooking, reading, and talking. What stories will we have to tell our grandchildren? 

"This one time, Sarah, like, poked me on facebook, then like, so, I de-friended her. LOL. YOLO." 

- Eric