Oops…the barn tipped over! I spotted this one near Makoti Lake, which is northwest of here by quite a ways. In fact, it’s on the other side of Lake Sakakawea! I love the fact that the fields are all so green, it’s made this whole year a great opportunity for an amateur photographer like myself. It makes an even greater contrast with the faded old wood of these barns.

A couple of weekends ago I journeyed north of Mandan on Highway 1806 on my dirt bike. Along the way I found some new entries for my Fallen Farm series. This particular building sits just off the road and has a few outbuildings behind it. One thing that’s unusual this year is that the area is so green now that we’ve had decent rainfall. The color of the grass and sky really offset the flat, dull brown buildings. The building shown here looked as though it was starting to develop a bit of a lean; if so, I wonder how long until it truly becomes a “fallen farm” forever?

It’s been a while since I posted a photo in this series. I have a soft spot in my heart for old farmsteads, although I grew up a city kid in the mountains, and North Dakota has many for me to photograph. This farmstead sits southeast of Bismarck.

With a new baby and more than enough other irons in the fire, it’s not easy to find subjects for my photography habit. Most of the pictures I post here are taken while out running errands or on the way to or from work. Winter brings its own challenges along, but I had a particularly fruitful trip around the outskirts of town this weekend. This is only one of the sights I captured along my way.

It’s neat to be able to find so many pictures from right around our beloved cities…that’s the reason I founded this blog in the first place! I can’t count how many times I’ve heard that Bismarck and Mandan are boring, or that there’s nothing to do here. I’ve never believed that.

Here’s a note to you teenagers out there: nobody is going to grab you by the ears and shove entertainment into your skull. There’s plenty of cool stuff to see and do around here, you just need to take the initiative and explore it. You’ll learn to love the Bismarck-Mandan area as much as I do.

As I’ve said nine times before, abandoned homes and buildings like this one hold a special attraction for me. Perhaps, as a history buff (what does one have to do to become a buff?) I’m curious about who lived or worked there; what it looked like when new; what the area was like that made them build there. While sad, it’s also fascinating.

We found this little building sitting right next to the highway, watching the sun set slowly in its backyard. The grounds are mowed, but it doesn’t look like anyone’s been in this house for many years. Thankfully nobody’s vandalized it, either. It can just stand as a characteristic landmark of North Dakota’s rural landscape.

I can’t decide whether I think this building was a barn or a home. I’m a city kid and can’t be trusted to make those determinations when it comes to farm buildings, especially dilapidated ones such as this.

As I point out in every one of these posts I affectionately title “Fallen Farm,” I really have a love of the old rural buildings (and remnants thereof) that dot the North Dakota landscape. It’s always interesting to pause and wonder who lived and worked in them. Wonder why they were abandoned. Imagine what they looked like when first constructed and/or inhabited.

If you want an indicator of how life in rural America has changed since the times of the Homestead Act, just look at the number of fallen farms. I’m not passing judgement on whether it’s better or worse; it’s simply a nostalgic look back at the area’s not-so-distant past… even for a city kid.

This row of buildings sits right off County Road 138 in Morton County, just west of the MWWS water tower that went up a few years ago. The land it’s on is farmed but the buildings look as if they’ve been untouched for quite a long time. I have a habit of staying clear of them for reasons such as trespassing and critters…besides, in this case I need to stay back to fit all three buildings into the frame!

There’s something about these dilapidated old farm buildings, or what’s left of many of them, that has a somber charm unique to North Dakota. That’s why I need to photograph falling farmsteads whenever I see them.

This weekend I had the privilege of staying at my friend Shane’s farm in northwestern North Dakota. It was the most remote farmstead I’ve ever visited, and we had a really great time. They have a lot of land so there was a lot of exploring to do. I put close to three boxes of shells through my Glock too, although I couldn’t hit as much as the guys with the rifles could.

This house is on their farm. It was owned by Billy Holden way back when. It’s got a stone basement that’s collapsed on one side (see lower right) and an upstairs. The steps are SO narrow and steep it’s scary!

When I see a place like this, I try to think of what it must have been like when it was new. I doubt Mr. Holden ever expected it to look like this. Hardly the legacy any of us would expect for ourselves, is it…

While helping a friend move an old barn that he’s remodeling to match his restored antique one-room schoolhouse, I got a chance to roam around this Kidder County farmstead. It’s got a ton of old buildings including a mansion. Many parts of it, including a chicken coop and barns, are nestled back in the trees. It was a very entertaining time. Come to think of it, I didn’t do a lot of helping, just a lot of shutterbugging! Oh well…sorry, Bruce.

I jumped from Fallen Farm #3 to #5 because #4 was actually a repeat…just shot from such an angle that you’d never tell. I believe in journalistic (and blogulistic, another term I just made up) integrity so I skipped it.

Taken last summer – this house is near I-94 close to New Salem. Someone takes good care of the land it’s on; the grass is cut short in the area where this home is found. I’m guessing this was a pretty nice home for its time…it has a basement, concrete foundation, and a nice big porch. Each of these farmsteads I’ll be posting has a story…I sure wish they could talk.