The Wisconsin Project: farm

Showing posts with label farm. Show all posts

12.3.15

Urban Harvestore, Sherwood, WI

Urban Harestore, Highway 55, Sherwood, Wisconsin, 12.03.2014
© J. Shimon & J. Lindemann

Photographed from the sidewalk in downtown Sherwood, Wisconsin.

4.3.15

Nestled Harvestore, Forest Junction, WI

Nestled Harvestore, Military Road, near Forest Junction, Wisconsin, 12.03.2014
© J. Shimon & J. Lindemann

Part of a cluster of feed dispensing structures, this Harvestore is sandwiched between a concrete block and a concrete stave silo.

9.10.14

Three Harvestores, Branch, WI

Three Harvestores, Stone Road near Branch, Wisconsin (1.19.2014)

According to a USDA farm bulletin on homemade silos that predates the introduction of the Harvestore, the diameter of a silo "depends upon the quantity of silage to be fed daily." The Height is determined by the "number of tons of silage that will be required...governed by the length of the silage-feeding season." This farm with its three Harvestores and three concrete silos of varying sizes indicates expansions over time. Barns in various styles corroborate this as they coexist in the snow.

28.9.14

Harvestore Silo, Wayside, WI

Harvestore Silo, Mancal Road near Wayside, Wisconsin (1.19.2014)
© J. Shimon & J. Lindemann

Introducing a cool deep blue to the farm, where earth tones prevailed, made a modern statement starting in 1949. Harvestore blue results from the industrial process of fusing glass/enamel to steel. The blue of the Harvestore contrasted with the fields of crops, the tilled earth, golden oats, red barns against a backdrop of the blue sky.

27.8.14

Short Harvestore, Kaukauna, WI

Short Harvestore, Kavanaugh Road at Fainway Drive, Kaukauna, Wisconsin (3.3.2014)
© J. Shimon & J. Lindemann

The technology of silos and animal feed storage evolved over time. New materials such as concrete, then enameled steel, made silos increasingly air tight helping silage last longer and making it taste better to farm animals. This layered history is evident in the barnyard with new ideas co-existing with old ones.

11.7.14

Harvestores/Lake Michigan, Cleveland, WI

Harvestores, Lakshore Drive along Lake Michigan, near Cleveland, Wisconsin (2.21.2014)
© J. Shimon & J. Lindemann

The iconic blue Harvestore® silo or "structure" was the ultimate vertical vessel design for fermented silage (animal feed). Made in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, by A.O. Smith as an extension of its glass-fused-to-steel technology first used in hot water heaters and beer brewing tanks, the Harvestore became a symbol of progressive, technology-savvy farm practices. From 1949 until 1984, Harvestores were going up all over Wisconsin and other places in North America--then sales bottomed-out due to an economic downturn. More than 75,000 Harvestores were sold in that time. A.O. Smith sold Harvestore in January 2001 after various consolidation efforts. Throughout the 1970s though, farmers took on debt to erect the once prestigious silos. By the 21^st century, feed storage went horizontal to ag-bags and covered piles preferred by industrial-sized dairy operations. Mechanical problems with the Harvestore bottom unloader plagued farmers and Harvestore. Slowly, the structures transgressed from state-of-the-art to relic. You still see them glinting on the horizon throughout Wisconsin though with fewer and fewer being used. Many are being torn down due to safety concerns. In collaboration with Worm Farm Institute/Fermentation Fest/Dtour, parts of a salvaged Harvestore® may rise out of the ashes as a Band Shell in October 2014...

16.4.14

Killian's, Kaukauana, WI

Killian's, Kaukauna, Wisconsin (May 2013)
© J. Shimon & J. Lindemann

Barns and silos of varying vintages dot the Wisconsin landscape coexisting as evidence of evolving agricultural technologies that enabled dairy farmers to increase production. From quaint old red wood barns with windmills to early 20th century concrete silos to late 20th century Harvestores, the structures remain as memorials to a desire to embrace progress and expand on traditional food production practices. Agricultural silos have a distinct history going back centuries and enabled farmers to preserve animal feed or silage through fermentation.

10.3.14

Farm with Silos, near Columbus, WI

Farm with Five Vertical Silos, Highway 73, near Columbus, Wisconsin (12.14.2013)
© J. Shimon & J. Lindemann

Some Wisconsin cows go outside and most eat silage--fermented fodder--during the winter months. Silage used to be stored in vertical silos, but many farms have converted to "ag bags" or concrete bunkers leaving the Wisconsin landscape profoundly changed.

12.11.12

Farm near Fox River, Wrightstown, WI

Farm near Fox River, County Trunk ZZ, Wrightstown, Wisconsin, June 30, 2012

25.7.12

Barn with Silo, near Brillion, WI

Found: Barn 1905, location unknown, circa 1907 (on Kodak Azo paper)

11.7.12

Plowed Field, near Forest Junction, WI

THE WISCONSIN PROJECT

Our research-driven Wisconsin Project contemplates the rooted-ness and state-of-mind resulting from inhabiting a single place, our native Wisconsin, for a long time. Through critiquing postcard views both made and found, we learn a great deal about past and present Wisconsin. We began making postcard views of the places immediately around our studio and on our drives around Wisconsin in about 2008. We use the vintage postcard film format and print the cards in palladium and cyanotype. By communicating details of a specific place, seeming to register only marginally on the national radar, the project seeks to bring audiences into a Wisconsin mental space. Some in the art world would argue that the Midwest, particularly Wisconsin, makes for banal “fly over” subject matter. Our project challenges that by finding meaning in the ordinary and inviting audiences to examine, dialog, and reflect on the particular emotional quality of the idiosyncrasies of place and the perceptions of those both inside and outside of it. Sometimes distant memories are involved and a longing for a time now gone. Wisconsin’s glacier inflected landscape and proximity to the Great Lakes creates an exotic arena for living that informs our project. The life cycle plays out and rural and urban ruins serve as monuments to existences as people, places, and ideas surface then vanish. Ultimately, we aim to grapple with complex perceptions of Wisconsin ranging from nostalgic, romantic, and idealized--as depicted on myriad real photo postcard and standard tourist postcards--to mysterious, dark, and Gothic as conveyed in works of art and literature such as Michael Lesy's "Wisconsin Death Trip" book and Werner Herzog's "Stroszek" film. The project culminated in a residency with workshops and community collaborations and the installation "We Go From Where We Know" at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center 10.13.2013-3.7.2014 and later the Harvestore Bandshell for Fermentation Fest in 10.2014. The blog continues the exploration of postcards.