Monday Memories ~Visiting our Family Farmstead

This is our family's farmstead. It was built by my Great Grandfather.

It was such a beautiful home back in the day.

The barn was pretty majestic, too.  

Our Great Grandfather's picture is the fourth from the right 

on the bottom row.

We had the privilege to move to this beautiful home during the winter of 1969-1970.

My family always took such good care of the house and yard.

My dad died in 1988 and mom lived here, 

on her own, for another 10 years.

And then a few years ago, this happened.

If you have been a blog friend for years, you remember this photo.

The waters of Devils Lake swallowed up the land 

and farm homes of our small community.

This was as close as we could get in July 2013 

when we were home for mom's burial.

Our last visit to the house was in December 2012,

We could get in, only because the ground was frozen.

It is just so sad...

Someone had broken the window in the door and gone inside.

This is where the barn had stood...

We lost the barn to a wind shear.

The pump house...

And the machine shed.

We lost the roof to heavy snow.

It was so hard to say goodbye,

not knowing if we could ever get back.

This spring, we received word that the water has receded 

and we might be able to get to the farmhouse.

(Thank you for that news, Darryl)

That road made me a little nervous, but we had the big pickup, 

and hubby assured me that he has driven on much worse when they have been hunting.

You can tell, because of the reeds,

 that the lake water had been right up to the house.

It still laps up on what once was the barn's foundation.

The pump house was in the lake, but now it's drying up a bit.

The shelterbelt is now history.  

Through tears, I told hubby how my daddy had scraped enough money together to have that planted.  He considered it an investment for our farm.

I remember going in here many times to get water for our garden.

Now, it features skylights.

Again, it was so hard to say goodbye.

So many families have lost their homes to flood, tornadoes, and wild fires.

My heart goes out to them.

 This has been long enough already.

I will come back to show you photos of the interior of the home.

Take care,

~Natalie