Tag: field

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All Things Connecticut New Print Releases The American Northeast

Making a New England Peach

Yankee Farmlands № 95 (Peach orchard during autumn, Guilford, Connecticut)
“Yankee Farmlands № 95”
Peach orchard during autumn, Guilford, Connecticut
© 2016 J. G. Coleman

Well into November, and with the surrounding forests already stripped bare by icy winds, an orchard of wizened peach trees clings valorously to its autumn trimmings. A mosaic of fallen leaves scattered upon the grasses beneath, however, signals the inescapable reality of the coming winter.

For those who understandably associate peaches with the forgiving climate of the American South, it might seem almost bizarre to find orchards of the fruit tree dotting the New England landscape from Connecticut to Maine. Indeed, peach trees weren’t well-suited to cold weather in the beginning, often being found in the Northeast only in small plantings or backyards, more as novelties than serious fixtures in the orchard.

It wasn’t until the late 1800s that New Englanders began seeking out resilient specimens and isolating genetic flukes to produce new cold-hardy varieties that would prove commercially viable in their neck of the woods. The trees still aren’t as resilient as the venerable apple and pear –crops are occasionally decimated across the region by brutal cold snaps– but the peach has nonetheless found a permanent and welcome home in orchards of New England.

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All Things Connecticut New Print Releases The American Northeast

On the Origins of Memorial Day

Yankee Farmlands № 94 (Barn draped with the American flag, Stonington, Connecticut)
“Yankee Farmlands № 94”
Barn draped with the American flag, Stonington, Connecticut
© 2016 J. G. Coleman

Although memorial occasions for fallen soldiers had long existed in some form, it was on the heels of Civil War that hallowed days of remembrance arose with great frequency in communities across the American countryside. Known informally as Decoration Days, these ceremonies traditionally called for adorning the graves of fallen soldiers with flowers.

When the federal government sought to formalize and unify these assorted ceremonies in 1868, the date of May 30 was chosen. As for why that day was selected, some say it was because the date lacked any association with a specific battle, while others note that late May ensured a wealth of blooming flowers for decoration.

The holiday has endured many changes since those early days. “Memorial Day” gradually supplanted “Decoration Day” as the preferred name, the date was moved from the 30th to the last Monday in May and, of greatest importance, the graves of fallen soldiers have grown ever more numerous. What hasn’t changed is the significance and the sentiment which it embodies. And so, I leave you to the upcoming Memorial Day with the words of poet Kate Sherwood, penned in her 1885 work “Camp-fire, Memorial-day and Other Poems”:

Ah, not in anger, not in strife,
we come with laden hands ;
The crimson retinues of War
are off in other lands ;
We bring the blossoms we have nursed to
shed their honeyed breath
Where erst the reeling ranks of wrath
unbarred the gates of death ;
We lift the dear dead faces
of our heroes to the light,
We praise the pallid hands of theirs,
we clasp and hold them tight ;
We say: O brothers, rise and see
the Peace you helped to woo,
Whose snowy pinions hover o’er
the Red, the White, the Blue.

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All Things Connecticut New Print Releases The American Northeast

A Bit of a Delay

Yankee Farmlands № 93 (Farm in Washington, Connecticut)
“Yankee Farmlands № 93”
Washington, Connecticut
© 2016 J. G. Coleman

Despite being bathed in the molten glow of dawn as October comes to a close, icy temperatures more befitting of winter descend upon this mowed cornfield in the hills of Western Connecticut. Snow lingers in the shadows beside a rickety cart, remnants of a recent storm that stubbornly persist despite autumn’s protests.

I originally intended for my Yankee Farmlands project to be rolled out in real-time, each new installment having been produced only a week or two before its release. For two years or so, that’s exactly what I did. But an increase in clients and a heavy shooting schedule last autumn made it prohibitive to continue such a rigorous roll-out.

The result? You’re just now seeing the project installments that I was shooting about seven months ago. But I must say, there’s something strangely satisfying (in a contrary sort of way) about rolling out imagery of a chilly autumn day just as Connecticut abruptly ticks up into the 90s.

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All Things Connecticut New Print Releases The American Northeast

Bloomfield’s Farm Fresh Eggplant

Yankee Farmlands № 84 (Field of eggplant and produce box, Bloomfield, Connecticut)
“Yankee Farmlands № 84”
Field of eggplant and produce box, Bloomfield, Connecticut
© 2016 J. G. Coleman

As the final days of September approach, this leafy field of eggplant rears its final crop of ripened vegetables. A waxy produce box, honest in its “farm fresh” claim, lays beside the field in wait for the harvest.

It’s not uncommon that farm fields might be planted with dramatically different crops from one season or year to the next. For one thing, this practice ensures that the nutrients important to a given type of crop aren’t exhausted from the soil disproportionately. Sometimes, the motivation may be purely monetary: the old crop just isn’t fetching the same profit as it once did.

This particular field had been dedicated to shade tobacco for years before being planted with eggplant instead. And, although it surely had no bearing on the decision to switch crops, it’s interesting to note that eggplant contains more nicotine than any other vegetable. Strange, right? But no worries, you’d need to eat nearly 30 pounds of eggplant parmesan to consume the same amount of nicotine found in just one cigarette.

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All Things Connecticut New Print Releases The American Northeast

Simsbury Blossoming

Yankee Farmlands № 83 (Field of decorative flowers, Simsbury, Connecticut)
“Yankee Farmlands № 83”
Field of decorative flowers, Simsbury, Connecticut
© 2016 J. G. Coleman

Exotic blossoms invite vivid color into a dusty farm field in Northern Connecticut where decorative flowers have reached maturity. Blue skies and a leaf-dense woodline embody the warmth and vitality of late summer in New England.

I’ve recently finished shooting for my Yankee Farmlands project, an endeavor which I thought would require roughly a year of work. Well, here we are now… nearly two and half years after I shot Yankee Farmlands № 1 at a hayfield in East Granby. It’s been a far longer, and far more rewarding, journey than I could’ve anticipated.

Over the coming weeks, I’ll be rolling out all of the final installments of the project, picking things back up where I left off in late summer, transitioning through this past autumn and concluding with pieces I produced recently this winter. I sincerely hope that you enjoy the visual story I’ve sought to tell about Connecticut’s agricultural landscapes; it’s certainly been a pleasure to create the final chapters.

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All Things Connecticut New Print Releases The American Northeast

Making Hay While the Sun Shines

Yankee Farmlands № 69 (Windrows in hayfield, Bloomfield, Connecticut)
“Yankee Farmlands № 69”
Windrows in hayfield, Bloomfield, Connecticut
© 2016 J. G. Coleman

Windrows of freshly-cut hay snake through the corner of a quiet field bounded by woodlands as hazy morning clouds drift over the humid landscape.

Although hay may seem like a rather simple farm product, there’s a fairly involved series of steps and machinery that go into producing those tidy bales. Hay must first be cut and raked, usually with a tractor, into long piles known as “windrows” which are left to sun-dry in the field. Fair weather is a necessity, as excessive rains at this stage could drench the hay crop, causing it to spoil before it’s even gathered.

Once the windrows have sufficiently dried, a tractor equipped with a baler scoops up the hay, compressing it into round or rectangular forms before firmly tying the bundle. Finished bales are dropped upon the field so the next bale can be started. Thus, the final step in the process involves gathering the bales from the field for storage.

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All Things Connecticut New Print Releases The American Northeast

Empty Barns & Fields of Daisies

Yankee Farmlands № 68 (Tobacco sheds & wildflowers, Windsor, Connecticut)
“Yankee Farmlands № 68”
Tobacco sheds & wildflowers, Windsor, Connecticut
© 2016 J. G. Coleman

Beside creaky, derelict tobacco sheds besieged by prying vines, a brilliant mosaic of ox-eye daises, cow vetch, wheat and field grasses blankets an overgrown field in Central Connecticut’s waning Tobacco Valley.

By the mid-1800s, Connecticut had reached its peak level of deforestation in human history. As much as 70% to 80% of the state had been clear-cut, with a good deal of that acreage ultimately finding use as pastures, hayfields and croplands. But agriculture began a steady a decline from that point forward. Enormous swaths of farmland were abandoned as folks sought work in flourishing industrial cities or headed out west in search of new opportunities. Many towns throughout Connecticut had lost half of their population before 1900.

It’s no surprise that scenes such as this one, with fields and pastures growing wild and barns left to decay, would have been a familiar sight to folks living in Southern New England during the latter half of the 1800s. Most all of Connecticut’s modern forests, which now cover more than half the state, grew upon the deserted soil of those long-vanished farms.

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All Things Connecticut New Print Releases The American Northeast

Beyond the Old Ways

Yankee Farmlands № 66 (Bloomfield, Connecticut)
“Yankee Farmlands № 66”
Field with plastic mulch, Bloomfield, Connecticut
© 2016 J. G. Coleman

In a small field in northern Connecticut, rows of freshly-planted sprouts dance in the breeze amidst cloud-marbled skies and nearby woodlands.

Modern farming represents a fascinating blend of old and new. After all, there’s something refreshingly timeless about a quiet pasture dotted with grazing cattle or a sprawling orchard of wizened apple trees. But advances in technology and technique have also enabled farmers to be more efficient and productive than ever before.

Case in point: the use of plastic sheeting, known as “plastic mulch”, seen in this field. Covering crop rows with plastic prevents the growth of weeds and better retains moisture, meaning less field maintenance and less water usage throughout the growing season.

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All Things Connecticut New Print Releases The American Northeast

Turning the Soil

Yankee Farmlands № 65 (Cromwell, Connecticut)
“Yankee Farmlands № 65”
Soybean field being turned with a cultivator, Cromwell, Connecticut
© 2016 J. G. Coleman

Morning sunlight filters down through a hazy mesh of clouds, falling upon the warm springtime landscape below where trees at the periphery of the farm are freshly-clothed in leaves. With planting time fast approaching, a farmer guides his tractor in broad loops around the field, churning the soil in preparation for a crop of soybeans.

Although most folks tend to refer to any disturbance of field soil as “plowing”, farmers can tell you that’s not entirely accurate. The tractor seen here, for example, is pulling an attachment called a “cultivator” which turns a much thinner layer of surface soil in a process known as “cultivation”.

Why not just plow the field instead? Plows aerate and distribute nutrients very deeply in the soil, a crucial step for growing crops that produce deep roots. But the soy beans that will be planted in this field produce shallow roots which can’t access nutrients that are buried too deeply. In this case, cultivating rather plowing keeps all of the good stuff close to the surface where it can offer the most benefit to the bean crop.

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All Things Connecticut New Print Releases The American Northeast

Winter on the Farms of Enfield

Yankee Farmlands № 50 (Snow on Corn Field, Enfield, Connecticut)
“Yankee Farmlands № 50”
Snow-covered Corn Field, Enfield, Connecticut
© 2016 J. G. Coleman

Cast from the lustrous, hazy sky above, sunlight floods a frigid, snow-laden field in the Connecticut River Valley and throws long shadows from the stubble of last season’s corn stalks.

Although modern-day Enfield lies in the northernmost reaches of Connecticut on the east side of the Connecticut River, that wasn’t always the case. An early survey conducted in 1642, just as colonists were beginning to gain a foothold in New England, determined that Enfield was part of the neighboring Massachusetts Colony.

More than five decades later in 1695, a new survey determined that the old boundary between Massachusetts and Connecticut was entirely incorrect. Enfield and a handful of other towns, which had been part of Massachusetts for two generations, were actually part of Connecticut! Things moved slowly in those early days, though: it would take another 50 years before Enfield managed to officially secede from Massachusetts and join the Connecticut Colony in 1750.

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All Things Connecticut New Print Releases The American Northeast

Autumn Frost on the Fields of Southbury

Yankee Farmlands № 42 (Corn field during Autumn Frost, Southbury, Connecticut)
“Yankee Farmlands № 42”
Corn field during Autumn Frost Southbury, Connecticut
© 2015 J. G. Coleman

The Housatonic Valley awakens to a chilly autumn morning as sunlight dapples the brilliant woodland canopy in the distance. Before us, cornstalks rise defiantly from a field besieged by frost; an unmistakable chill in the air foreshadows the coming winter.

But when it comes to cold New England weather, the chill in “Yankee Farmlands № 42” (above) and even the most brutal winters of the past decades can’t begin to compare to the disastrous chills of 1816… a time which would come to be remembered as the “Year Without a Summer”. Freezes killed the fruit tree blossoms in May. Come June, there were still reports of snowfall and slabs of ice drifted steadily down the Connecticut River. Frosts persisted well into August. By September, a reverend in Northern Connecticut lamented in his journal that “no person living has known so poor a crop of corn in New England… as now.” Famine engulfed the American Northeast when it became clear that there would be no harvest.

At the time, nobody could explain this perplexing weather: a day of frost in June might be followed by a day of seasonably sweltering heat, just to be followed yet again by a day of snowfall! Scientists now believe that a volcanic eruption in Indonesia had cast massive plumes of dust and ash into the Earth’s atmosphere which periodically blotted out the sunlight and caused the bewildering conditions.

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All Things Connecticut New Print Releases The American Northeast

Giant Sunflowers of Griswold

Yankee Farmlands № 34 (Field of giant sunflowers in Connecticut’s “Quiet Corner”, Griswold, Connecticut)
“Yankee Farmlands № 34”
Field of giant sunflowers in Connecticut’s “Quiet Corner”, Griswold, Connecticut
© 2015 J. G. Coleman

Giant sunflowers crowd a verdant field in Connecticut’s Eastern Uplands as sprawling clouds drift across the summertime sky. The vista featured in “Yankee Farmlands No. 34” (above) is the latest installment in my project which celebrates the agricultural heritage of Southern New England through Connecticut’s scenic farmlands.

Among North America’s ancient food crops, the sunflower was widely cultivated by Native Americans for at least 4,000 years before Spanish explorers first laid eyes on the plant in the 1500s. Specimens were brought back home to Spain and, from there, spread throughout Europe.

Russia can be credited with breeding the gargantuan sunflowers with which we are familiar today. But while sunflowers had grown popular in Europe, they had fallen out of vogue as crops in North America. So even though sunflowers began their journey as food crops thousands of years ago in the Americas, the modern practice of farming them in the United States didn’t really take off until Russia shipped their huge sunflowers overseas in the late 1800s.

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