Trespassing the Future by Luai Lashire
July 8th, 2008 3:35 PM / Location: 40.792271,-77.89637Crossing Circleville road, I arrived on a bike path that cuts across the farm:
And I followed it to a road:
I took over 40 photos during this excursion, but don't worry, I won't put all of them in the writeup. Just the most important ones and the ones I like best.
I reached the top of the hill and there was this beautiful day lily in the grass:
I took my first stab at photographing a bird, not very good results:
Up ahead, there was a fork in the road. I decided to take the right hand path, to go down to the place where there used to be gardens. The University used to rent land to people who wanted a place to plant. We had a small plot there for a while, and we grew popcorn and squash and beans and mint. I hadn't been that way for a while, so I wanted to see if the gardens were still there at all, albeit overgrown.
They weren't.
That's where our plot used to be. But hey! I did find two patches of mint that may be decedents of the mint we grew!
I headed back to the main path. My goal was to reach the old, abandoned barn where the swallows live and stick a letter to it, thus completing both "Trespassing the Future" and "Object Annotation" at once.
But as I turned the corner, I encountered a tractor:
He was mowing the grass. I had to wait for him to pass before I could go on.
There were tons of swallows here.
I went on:
This beautiful old oak tree is at the bottom of the hill, standing by itself in a meadow of wildflowers. I love this tree. It's beautiful in every season, and it's huge.
Onwards!
Once around that last bend, I approached the barn:
I went around the back and there were tons of swallows there! Here's the barn:
Here's a video of the swallows. I tried taking photos, but they didn't do them justice:
I got a photo of a swallow's nest, too:
And finally, I headed home:
On my way back, I encountered another big cluster of swallows. Here's my second attempt to video tape them:
So that's it for trespassing the future. All of the things I photographed today will be gone within 10 years. The barn, the swallows, the trees, the flowers, the birds; the deer, which I didn't get to photograph but I know live there, rabbits and groundhogs, snakes, hawks, turtles, and on and on. They'll all be gone.
It begins
I set out on my journey from here.
Onwards.
Turning the corner, I follow the bike path onwards....
Up the hill
I head uphill, towards the rest of the farm.
On my right side....
At the top of the hill, there are meadows to my right.
....And my left.
Cornfields to my right.
Lily
A lily growing in the grass.
Crow
Not a very good shot. I suck at photographing things that move.
Bird
Despite the poor photo, I'm sure this is a Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis). Note the reddish tinted head crest.
Looking back
Looking back the way I just came.
Fork in the road
The path forks here. This is the left path.
Fork
This is the right path, which I chose to go down first.
Apples
There's a stand of apple trees here. They're not ripe yet, and even when they are, they're sour.
More corn
Corn on my right as I head down the right-hand path.
Edge habitat
Part of the reason why this place is so full of birds and bugs is that it's mostly edge habitat. Edge habitat happens where two kinds of habitat (in this case, forest and field) meet, and it's especially full of biodiversity. Birds love it. Little tree-islands like these are great habitat for birds.
Mint 1
I found this mint near where our garden used to be. I wonder if it's descended from the mint we grew?
Mint 2
There was a different kind of mint growing not two feet away from the first patch.
Yellow Sulfur butterfly
I almost didn't manage to get a picture of this guy. Aw, isn't he cute?
Not a garden anymore
This is where our garden used to be.
The rest of the gardens
This whole area used to be gardens.
Sparrow 1
I think this little guy is a song sparrow. He was eating things off of a plant very near where I was standing as I approached where the gardens used to be.
Sparrow 2
Same bird, different angle. He didn't seem to be afraid of me.
The barn
Our first glimpse of our final destination- that roof there.
Yarrow
Wild yarrow growing in the grass.
Heading back
Going back to the fork in the road.
.
.
Tractor 1
Just as I rounded the bend, this tractor appeared. The guy was mowing the long grasses by the road.
Tractor 2
There he goes.
Onwards
Up the hill again.
Swallows 1
These guys are barn swallows (Hirundo rustica) and they are super fast! I had a lot of trouble getting photos of them.
And again
It's a very hilly place.
Swallow 2
This little guy was washing himself on the phone wire.
Swallows 3
Sitting on the wire. These guys were everywhere.
The barn, take 2
We finally get to see the whole barn.
Downhill
Going downhill this time.
Looking back, again
Looking back up the hill.
The old oak
This beautiful old oak tree is one of my favorite things about this place.
Allium
These are some kind of wild chive or onion (Allium sp.) that grow around here.
Robin red-breast
An American Robin, as seen from directly below. Did you know that the american robin and the european robin are unrelated, and that the american robin was only named "robin" because its ruddy color reminded settlers of the robins back home?
And yet onwards
Still not there yet!
Turkey vulture
This turkey vulture was circling overhead.
More corn
Just to give you a sense of how much corn there is here.
Miss-sewn corn
Sometimes they sew the corn right into the pathway, and it tries to grow but doesn't do very well.
Growing
The more deeply its buried in the path, the more trouble the corn has growing. Here, a line of corn with each next stalk taller than the previous.
.
The corn goes right up to the houses.
We finally approach the barn.
Almost there!
Another angle.
After this shot, I walked down beside the barn, and then around to the back.
Swallows love these
A close up of the windows on the side of the barn. The swallows fly in and out of these. In fact, there are at least three swallows in this shot. Can you find them?
Back of the barn
Here's the back.
Nest 1
A swallow's nest, under the barn's overhang.
Nest 2
The same nest. I wanted to show how it was snuggled under the barn's overhang.
Nest 3
A different nest, also a swallow's nest.
Critter hole
Someone lives here. Probably a groundhog.
On my way back.
Going home.
Swallows!
Download FLV
The photos I was taking did not do these birds justice, so I tried a short video instead. At a couple points, I'm too far zoomed out for you to see the birds, but I actually managed to catch a lot on film and I think it came out rather well.
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*hug* Thanks for voting. I wanted to make sure there were pictures and things to remember it by when it's gone.
We should throw some kind of remembrance party there at night some time.
Yeah! I would totally be up for that.
Thanks for documenting this. I grew up in that neighborhood too (though I live closer to town now), and it saddens me that someday this picturesque farm will no longer exist.