Here’s a photo essay I did about the workings of a successful American family farm in 2009:

It’s a pretty good personal document (for the Coppler family– my girlfriend’s wife’s mother’s family) and general document of smaller-scale farming in north central Ohio today.

I took these pictures while a tour that her uncle gave to me and the kids. The photos, notes, links, and tags provide info on a wide range of modern farm topics:

• Ohio plant species (including Canada thistle, mustard, and dandelions)
• Farming methods (no till farming, nurse crops, and alfalfa harvesting)
• Raising chickens (incubators and roosts)
• Architecture (new sheds, refurbished chicken houses, a 1970s grain bin, & a 1930s hog house,  
• Milk production from cannisters in a natural stream to automatic milking machines and 
• Cattle raising tactics (oilers, shade trees, and electric fences)
• Necessary equipment (International Harvester 1086 tractor, John Deere hay baler, 1440 Axial Flow Combine, field cultivators, and Brillion soil compactor/ pulverizer)
• Vestiges like hand-placed fence posts and long-gone train tracks that still determine the treeline
• Economics and land use issues like harvesting natural gas from rocky land and leasing cell phone towers on high ground that can’t be tilled
• Other fun stuff like farm name typography and shucking wheat to make chewing gum

All hail thriving American farms.