A window into the roles and construction of Michigan family farms

"Thoughtfully documenting the voice and emotions of many who might otherwise remain unheard, Hemalata Dandekar provides in-depth accounts and insights, underpinned by quietly rigorous analysis, about family interactions and the perceptions, understandings, and memories of family members . . . a tribute to the indomitability of the human spirit as an enduring force in sustaining farm life on the Michigan farms." ---Anatole Senkevitch, Jr., Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan Michigan's family farms form the backbone of the state. One need only see the Centennial Farm signs that dot the sides of the state's country roads to understand that. Hemalata Dandekar shows in her new book just how connected those family farm buildings are to the families that inhabit them. Eight family-farm case studies display farm buildings' relationship to the land they sit on, their function on the farm, the materials they're made with, the farm enterprises themselves, and the families who own them. Photographs, plans, elevations, and sections of typical, exemplary traditional farm buildings show the aesthetic and architectural qualities of those types of buildings across the state. The ways in which the buildings serve the productive activities of the farm, shelter and nourish the people and livestock, yield a living, and enable the aspirations of farm people are shown in the words and photographs of the farmers themselves. The buildings form a window into the lives of Michigan's family farms and into the hearts and minds of the people who have lived and worked in them their entire lives. Hemalata C. Dandekar is head of City and Regional Planning at California Polytechnic State University. She specializes in urbanization, urban-rural linkages, rural development, and gender and housing. She developed her love of Michigan farmers and farm architecture during her years as a student, professor, and then director at the Urban Planning program of the A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan.

Ervins important undertaking inspired farmers statewide to see their barns in a new light and brought attention to an often overlooked category of Michigans architecture. ~Michigan History Magazine "When I was a young girl growing up within the farm community near Rankin, in Genesee County, I heard the working sounds of tractors plowing large fields and watched the harvests of soybeans, wheat, hay, and oats. My ancestors were Michigan pioneers and farmers near Ludington and Grand Blanc. My love for all things farming came from them and continues to this day. Respect for the land and a deep respect for the profession of farming is the hallmark of this book. Since I began to canvass the state nearly two decades ago Ive had the good fortune to visit the farms and talk to many generational farmers and families. Before Michigan became a state in 1837, pioneers came from all over the world to farm this fertile land then known as, The Land of Many Waters. Clearing giant trees of pine, oak, ash and maple, they plowed with ox or a team of horses, for the purpose of raising crops. Wheat, oats, corn and barley, were some of the first crops a new homesteader raised. Barns were built out of logs from the trees, to shelter bushels of precious grains and valuable animals. Just think what it must have been like in the 1800s to travel by water and wagon through wilderness and swamps to the new territory called Michigan! These courageous pioneers, and those that came after them throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, were happy to find a place to call home."