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Post by Kimby on Oct 18, 2009 18:28:11 GMT
(Authors note: Two recent changes have broken some links in this report. Michigan Audubon has a new website and hasn't yet uploaded the content I refer to below, and my ImageShack account has been suspended, which makes restoring broken photo links impossible for the time being. Hopefully enough remains to make the thread worthy of reading. I hope to fix the broken links eventually. 7/27/15) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - My dad's mother's family farm was in the family until the last of her brothers died without children, at which time it was willed to the Michigan Audubon Society for use as a bird sanctuary. www.michiganaudubon.org/our-conservation-impact/Here's the farm seen from across Glass Creek:
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Post by Kimby on Oct 18, 2009 18:31:06 GMT
The farmhouse when I was a little girl (that's my dad's 55 chevy)... ...and last summer, during an Otis family reunion at the sanctuary, with a new roof: A modest dwelling in which 10 children were raised. Including my Grandma. Now the resident naturalist/caretaker and his wife live there with their young son.
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Post by Kimby on Oct 18, 2009 18:32:13 GMT
The old barn is getting a facelift in preparation for its use as a nature center/visitor center.
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Post by Kimby on Oct 18, 2009 18:33:45 GMT
This is what the barn interior looks like. Those are horse harnesses used for pulling hay off a wagon up into the hayloft. Unfortunately, the new metal siding means that this view isn't the same anymore. I hope they won't put sheathing over the interior walls and cover all this wonderful barnwood.
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Post by Kimby on Oct 18, 2009 18:35:53 GMT
Greatgrandpa Otis tried to raise onions on the farm, which used to be a marsh before he drained the land. My dad as a kid during the depression worked on the farm picking onions and packing them in these boxes, which he and his cousin Harold had built.
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Post by Kimby on Oct 18, 2009 18:38:36 GMT
Here's the silos on the farm, one of them a clay tile structure. Great-grandpa Otis used to sell these tile silo kits during the depression. There's hope that the concrete silo may someday house a circular stairway to a viewpoint over the marsh. (Grandpa Otis's old drain tiles have filled in and the marsh is again a marsh.)
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Post by Kimby on Oct 18, 2009 18:41:29 GMT
The Otis Farm Bird Sanctuary is 120 acres of rolling hills and woods.
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Post by Kimby on Oct 18, 2009 18:42:33 GMT
The Audubon Society is continuing the tradition that Uncle Bob started by mowing hiking trails. In winter you can cross-country ski there.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2009 18:48:08 GMT
I really like the creek photo and also the last two showing the fields. Naturally the "important" stuff is what happened at the farm, but looking at it all in the abstract, I tend to remove human presence (and disappointments) from the pictures. However, the 55 Chevy is pretty cool, too!
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Post by Kimby on Oct 18, 2009 18:49:26 GMT
The sanctuary rents canoes that you can launch on Glass Creek, and you can also stay overnight in the hunting cabin that Uncle Bob and some of his nephews built in the 60's. Here's my dad with Uncle Bob before he died in 1997:
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Post by Kimby on Oct 18, 2009 18:55:32 GMT
Here's a map of the Otis Sanctuary and its hiking trails.
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Post by Kimby on Oct 18, 2009 18:57:05 GMT
(posting pictures is much more fun with a high-speed connection!)
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Post by imec on Oct 18, 2009 19:46:52 GMT
Really nice kimby! And it's cool the land was given back to the birds - we've already taken enough from them. The picture taken inside the barn with the lights sneaking in between the boards instantly reminded me of this pic of Neil Young recording the song Alabama.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2009 19:54:37 GMT
Kimby, remember how fun posting pictures is when you go to Australia!
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Post by lola on Oct 18, 2009 20:53:21 GMT
Nice, kimby. A beautiful place.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 18, 2009 22:38:08 GMT
Kimby, this is a wonderful photo story -- can't tell you how much I enjoyed it. I can't wait to listen to the audio link.
It must be so gratifying that the Audubon Society is preserving the look you remember and honoring the family name. That is a truly gorgeous property.
The silo kits was an interesting note. Who knew?!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2009 23:53:00 GMT
This is a real treat Kimby. What wonderful memories. I hope you have some momentos from the farm like one of those cool wooden onion crates with the family name on them. And how very special that it is now a bird sanctuary. I'm so glad you shared this with us,thank you. And I hope they don't put up metal sheathing and cover up all that beautiful barn wood with the light filtering in,simply gorgeous.Thanks again and have a wonderful safe trip to OZ.
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Post by Kimby on Oct 19, 2009 2:26:42 GMT
Kimby, this is a wonderful photo story -- can't tell you how much I enjoyed it. I can't wait to listen to the audio link. Audio link? Where? bixa, you would enjoy reading the essays my dad penned about his memories of summers and weekends on the farm. On the Audubon website, click Memories of Glass Creek.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 19, 2009 2:33:16 GMT
Kimby, I looked at the link and where it says "listitem" at the end, I read "listen". Still, I can't wait to read what your dad wrote in the link.
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Post by Kimby on Oct 19, 2009 2:56:21 GMT
I hope they don't put up metal sheathing and cover up all that beautiful barn wood with the light filtering in, simply gorgeous. Well the metal siding is a done deal on the outside to keep the weather out. But we're hoping that we can convince the powers-that-be NOT to cover up the barn wood on the inside. Audubon is beginning a fund-raising effort (targeting Otis relatives, naturally) to convert the barn to a nature center, and it will need to be insulated for that to happen. We're hoping we can convince them to remove and re-install the metal siding over foam insulation. Wish us luck!
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Post by Kimby on Oct 19, 2009 3:37:57 GMT
I forgot to mention the boardwalk. Two years ago my parents contributed money to buy lumber and Otis cousins gathered to build a 500 foot long boardwalk across the marsh to Glass Creek. Before you had to fight your way through the tall grass, or wade if the water level was high. You still have to watch out for rattlesnakes though. They like to bask in the sun on the boardwalk.
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Post by Kimby on Oct 19, 2009 6:21:01 GMT
Really nice kimby! And it's cool the land was given back to the birds - we've already taken enough from them. There are Cerulean Warblers and Henslow Sparrows there, two birds that people travel miles to see. They have also had Whooping Cranes, an endangered species. We heard Sandhill Cranes when we slept in the cabin during the reunion last summer.
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Post by hwinpp on Oct 19, 2009 10:59:12 GMT
I hadn't seen this thread before, wonderful!
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Post by Kimby on Nov 20, 2009 1:23:34 GMT
This is a real treat Kimby. What wonderful memories. I hope you have some momentos from the farm like one of those cool wooden onion crates with the family name on them. It never occurred to me to ask for - or even desire - one of the crates. I'd prefer if they just left them in place for perpetuity, just like my great uncle Bob or his father left them. But things are changing, and the relatives may not have a lot to say about the details. Unless we write big checks that are "restricted gifts" that is! I try to keep the bigger picture in mind. It's been kept as open land, it isn't a subdivision of McMansions, we can still go visit the place that meant so much to my Dad and his family, and others can enjoy it too.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 20, 2009 2:26:55 GMT
Kimby, is the farmhouse reserved for the use of your family? It's just so wonderful what you all did in finding a way to protect the land and the wildlife, plus providing a picture of a vanishing way of life to others. As you say, "the bigger picture"...
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Post by Kimby on Nov 20, 2009 4:34:52 GMT
The farmhouse now serves as the Resident Manager's house, he and his wife and their little boy. (I hope they don't outgrow it, because he's a super asset to the Otis Sanctuary, and we don't want to lose him.)
Uncle Bob's cabin is available for rent, and the Sanctuary makes a point not to charge Otis family members the rental fee, which is nice. I've actually spent more time at the farm since it became a wildlife reserve than before Uncle Bob died. The last couple family visits I made there were to spread the ashes of the last of Uncle Bob's siblings over the marsh before he passed on...
Bixa, did you ever go on the website (link in OP) and read my Dad's stories of his youth at the farm?
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 20, 2009 5:17:19 GMT
Yes, Kimby. I read and thoroughly enjoyed your dad's reminiscences. He tells a good story, and is funny besides. I'm glad you reminded me, as I made notes when I was reading because I had some questions. I had to look at the notes, then go back & read some more.
Okay -- What is the "cream side" of a horse? Your dad talks about how there is a good deer population now. Why were there no deer in the '30s -- was it from over-hunting or clearing too much farm land? Who took the photos for the website?
I really like how your father repeatedly gives examples of how Uncle Bob's efforts made such a difference -- planting feed & cover trees, making nesting boxes, etc. It really makes the point that individuals can make a difference.
Also, in looking back at the story, I saw the mention of how loosestrife can become such a crop pest. It made me think of the irresponsible suggestion that people go out and toss seeds in open land.
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Post by Kimby on Nov 20, 2009 6:34:05 GMT
Yes, Kimby. I read and thoroughly enjoyed your dad's reminiscences. He tells a good story, and is funny besides. I'm glad you reminded me, as I made notes when I was reading because I had some questions. I had to look at the notes, then go back & read some more. Okay -- What is the "cream side" of a horse?. You had to ask, I really don't know. Many of these stories I had never heard till Dad put down his thoughts for Uncle Bob's memorial and mailed me a copy. Guess I'll have to ask next time I see him. Neither, I think the deer population increased from the days when Michigan was all forests with clearing of land for farms. But I think also that hunting regulations that prohibited killing of does also caused the population to increase. The website photos are probably by the resident manager, although the ones in Dad's memoirs are his, taken as slides and printed out as hard copies and scanned for the website. Many of man's best efforts turn out to be mistakes. We have introduced a lot of plants, insects and animals in the name of "improving" things and usually it didn't. Even the efforts of folks following the best practices of the time, like Uncle Bob, end up being undone by latter-day conservationists who now know better. Multi-flora rose hedges were once touted as great animal food and cover. Now out of favor. The grasses that Bob planted in the fallow fields are now being removed and replaced with native prairie plants . Loosestrife is pretty in a garden, and a scourge in wet ecosystems where it out-competes the natives and clogs the waterways. The world is better off when we leave our hands off it. But I have recently come to believe that pristine and virginal is not the only good land. Rehabilitated land can also provide habitat to keep birds and other animal species alive if not thriving.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 21, 2009 3:36:43 GMT
Wow, Kimby ~~ thanks! I so much enjoyed what your dad wrote. It was informative, but also deeply felt and a lovely tribute to his whole family. Your answers above really round out the picture.
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Post by Kimby on Dec 24, 2009 20:50:23 GMT
Yes, Kimby. I read and thoroughly enjoyed your dad's reminiscences. He tells a good story, and is funny besides. I'm glad you reminded me, as I made notes when I was reading because I had some questions. I had to look at the notes, then go back & read some more. Okay -- What is the "cream side" of a horse? I asked him when I saw him on Sanibel and he had no idea. However, I just went back and re-read the Memories of Glass Creek essay and it is actually "cream stand". The little kids had to climb up on the cream stand to mount the big farm horses. (Now don't ask me for specifics on what a "cream stand" is!)
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