Mulder’s Workbenches

Deuel County, South Dakota, c. 1995:

This was an abandoned farm that I visited in the 90s, shooting mostly black and white film (TXP 120, Pentax 6x7) but I did do some in color, the coating of dust definitely put a mellow patina on everything:

More from Mulder’s farm…

Mulder’s Kitchen

Abandoned farm house, Deuel County, South Dakota, c.1995:

More from Mulder’s farm…

Mulder's Farm #5

I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more.
No, I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more.
Well, I wake in the morning,
Fold my hands and pray for rain.
I got a head full of ideas
That are drivin' me insane.
It's a shame the way she makes me scrub the floor.
I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more.

I ain't gonna work for Maggie's brother no more.
No, I ain't gonna work for Maggie's brother no more.
Well, he hands you a nickel,
He hands you a dime,
He asks you with a grin
If you're havin' a good time,
Then he fines you every time you slam the door.
I ain't gonna work for Maggie's brother no more.

I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more.
No, I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more.
Well, I try my best
To be just like I am,
But everybody wants you
To be just like them.
They sing while you slave and I just get bored.
I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more.

~ Bob Dylan

Mulder’s Farm #3

The windmill will pump the water.

We'll make a go of it.

This farm will be our piece of paradise.

Our children will grow up here, strong and tall.

We'll eat chicken every Sunday.

And the face of the Lord will shine upon us.

The windmill will pump our water.

And life will be good.

Mulder’s Farm #4

Hello walls, how things go for you today?

Don't you miss her, since she upped and walked away?

And I'll bet you dread to spend another lonely night with me,

But lonely walls I'll keep you company.

Hello window, well I see that you're still here.

Aren't you lonely, since our darling disappeared?

Well look here is that a teardrop in the corner of your pane?

Now don't you try to tell me that it's rain.

She went away, and left us all alone, the way she planned.

Yes, we'll have to learn to get along without her if we can.

Hello ceiling, I'm gonna stare at you a while.

You know I can't sleep, so won't you bear with me awhile?

We must all stick together or else I'll lose my mind,

I've got a feeling she'll be gone a long, long, time…

~ Willie Nelson

Looking Backward - 2017

Mulder’s Farm, La Bolt, South Dakota, 1993

   It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

~ Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

For a brilliant critique of the current American malaise, read this.

Mulder's Farm #6

Who will buy?

Mulder's Farm #7

I've been spoiled all year by the gorgeous weather. For some reason today's cold and rain (which is the norm for this season) put me in the mood to dig out one of the South Dakota images from the Flippist Archives.

The Mulder Farm had been abandoned sometime in the 80s (although Mr. Mulder was still very much alive when I photographed his estate some years later). The above animal stall in the livestock barn was missing some boards. In fact, the whole building was missing pieces—a good wind storm would have finished it off.

Mulder’s Farm #1

I'll clean this mess up. Someday. I'll have time. Someday.

I'll clean out the basement, too. And level the patio stones in the garden.

Just not today. The sun is too warm. The leaves are too golden. I'll do it later.

Tomorrow.

Next week.

Next spring.

I'll do it all.

Windmills of Your Mind

Mulder’s Farm, Deuel County, South Dakota

In this drafty shed on an abandoned farm lies this set of blades for a windmill.

Once used to supply groundwater to animals and gardens, the windmill had evidently become obsolete even before the farm’s demise. It was saved, perhaps it had been damaged in a storm, maybe the farmer thought he could rebuild it some day.

That day never came.



Once vibrant fields now overgrown with weeds,
Whispering of agricultural deeds.
The barn poses in a shabby dress,
Its laboring over, it takes a rest.

Rusty plowshares rest in the field,
No longer guided by hands that wield.
The windmill creaks in the restless air,
A sentinel of the past singing there.

A humble farmhouse, abandoned.
Standing in silence, unwanted.
The stone foundation is cool to the touch,
Reminds us of seasons past and such.
A victim of time's embrace,
A portrait of a once-loved place.
What once was real it now seems,
Is just a painting of broken dreams.

Mulder’s Farm #9

My days of toil are over, I’ll leave my work clothes on their hooks.

I've used them enough, God can put them away.

Mulder’s Farm #2

Mulder Farm, rural South Dakota, 1995

So broken,
In pieces,
My heart is so broken,
I'm puzzling.

Here I go…
Trying to run ahead of that,
Heart break train, thinking,
It will never catch up with me.

I'm trying to land
This aeroplane of ours gracefully,
But it seems just destined to crash,
I'm so broken…

And I sense
All continuity
Has vanished away
At one step at a time now baby, baby

I'm so broken…

~Björk

Midwest

Impressions from the nation’s heartland:

Colorado

This Bud’s for You (Colorado Springs (2014) 
Miniskirts and Ibsen (Colorado Springs 2014)
Florrisant and Cripple Creek (2014)
Cripple Creek

Iowa

Decorah (2011)
Dubuque (2011)

Kansas

Rockets in the Heartland (Hutchinson, 2013) 
Salt Mine (Hutchinson, 2013) 
Waitress in a Greasy Spoon (Scott City, 2013) 
The Other Minneapolis (2013)
Postcards from the Road (Minneapolis, 2013)
In a Fiat 124 (1971)
The Day After (1971)

Nebraska

Terra Incomprehendia (Farwell, 2013)
Barnanew (Scottsbluff, 2013)

South Dakota

Mulder’s Farm
Sorum (c. 1920)

Wisconsin:

2022
Nick Englebert’s Grandview (Hollandale)
Postcards from Mineral Point
Concrete Sculpture
Shake Rag Street

2017 - 2018
Return to Mount Horeb
Blood Cookies (Mount Horeb)
How Much…  (Madison)
Pastoral (Mount Horeb)
Your Next Home (Vermont)

2016
Gonstead Guest Cottage (Mount Horeb) 
Searching for Shoshanah (Mount Horeb)
More from Mount Horeb
Madison
Carnival (Madison)
Is Anybody Home? (Mineral Point)
Walking with Ms. Lee (Mount Horeb)
Friday Road Trip (Mount Horeb)

Older:
Visions of Shoshanah (Mount Horeb - 2015)
Last Day of Summer (Mount Horeb - 2014)
Meat Cheese Beer (Milwaukee - 2014)
Milwaukee (2014)
Road Trip (Sparta - 2014)
Taliesin (Spring Green - 2011)
The Concrete Park (Phillips - 2004)
Eight Pounds of Beads (Couderay - 2004)
John-John Slept Here (Bayfield - 2004)
Mama Gets Folk (Bayfield - 2004)
Bayfield (1984)
Hippies Redux (Iola - 1970)
Hippies (Iola - 1970)
Luella Busch (Algoma - 1910-1915 )

Mulder's Farm #8

Workbench