Change In The Air

 More than the seasons are changing this fall at the old Metzger/Matteson farm.

Perhaps if you've been driving up or down Dingman Run, you've noticed the big rolling fields have been mowed and recently giant bales of hay have been gathered together to eventually be hauled away on a flatbed trailer. That's the work of the new owners of that part of this old farm, Carl and Betsy Long, who are adding this Hebron Township acreage to their bustling farming operation.

Folks familiar with the farm will know that the Dingman Run Road intersects the farmland formerly owned by the Matteson and Metzger families. It's the place where Arthur and his sister Carol spent the early years of their childhood in a multi-generation small farm - with their parents, grandparents and great grandparents all living and working on the farm.

Time marched on and in the 1960s, Arthur Metzger Sr., his wife Wanda and their children moved away from the farm, though the close ties of the family continued with frequent visits back home.

Facing a time when they knew they could no longer manage the farm on their own, the elder Metzgers sold the farm to their granddaughter Karen Gooch and her husband Tom Gilliland back in the 1970s though some acreage around the old farmstead and the farmstead itself stayed with them and later passed to Arthur's parents and then to us.

We've lived on the farm since 1977, at first renting what we've all called "the little house" from the Gillilands. Grandma Metzger had recently died after a year-long illness and Grandpa Metzger lived in the farmstead with his faithful dog Peggy.

Death ended the dream of Arthur Metzger Sr. to spend his retirement years on the farm of his youth and soon after Grandpa Metzger died. Wanda Metzger eventually purchased the little house and a couple. of acres of land and we moved into the old farmstead and began the never-ending reimagining of this old house and our beloved organic farm.

Several years ago, we purchased all of the acreage on the western side of the road (where the farmstead is) as well as the original barn and some of the land adjacent to it from the Gillilands. Recently we've planted wildflower meadows that this year rewarded us with glorious blooms all through the spring and summer, an organic haven for bees and other pollinators. There's also a new planting of an acre of native trees on top of the hill.

It's going to take us some time to get used to hearing heavy equipment moving across the fields as the landscape changes from meadow to cultivated fields. It's going to take some time to adjust to the knowledge that conventional farming practices will be put in place on this land that's been fallow for at least 15 years. The caution that we may want to keep our bees sequestered when the inevitable spraying happens is chilling.

Carl and Betsy and their little girl stopped by one summer evening as Arthur and I were enjoying our dinner on the back porch. They shared their excitement in adding this piece to their 21st century farm as they look to the future. We know they intend to be good neighbors.   

And so this fall, when the goldenrod and purple asters fill our fields and the potatoes are unearthed and the squashes reveal themselves from underneath their sprawling leafy vines, we are feeling more than a little melancholy facing this change in our Crandall Hill landscape.

Here's where we post pictures to share the history of farm.