Kansas Prairies

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A bountiful crop of sunflowers grows beside this abandoned windmill and shed. The Kansas plains are dotted with the remains where homesteads once provided shelter and livelihood for farmers and their families. The small family farm is being replaced by large farming corporations. After a few decades, only the trees the farmer once planted with care may remain to signal the spot where a family once lived.

Few trees are native to Kansas. They were imported and planted around the homestead to provide protection from the cold north wind in the winter and to help capture the cool southern breeze in the summer. If you pass a lone tree in the middle of a field or pasture, you can almost bet the farm a homestead once stood nearby.