farmland in the Ontario springtime

[ivyblossom]

I must admit to having a thing for rural landscapes. It's not that I desperately want to live on a farm; i just find farms so beautiful. The orderly fences, the deliberateness of the rows of corn or wheat or soy; I can't really explain it, but I love it. And it's one of the things that I love about southern Ontario.

What many people don't know about the Toronto area is that it's entirely surrounded by farms (except where it's surrounded by auto plants and Lake Ontario, that is). So while I've posted lots of pictures of the urban world in my quest to document that which I see, now I wanted to post some shots that are probably only of interest to me; the farm landscape along the road between my apartment in the heart of suburbia and my folks' place (also deep inside suburbia). This is about a 40 minute drive, from urban area to urban area, if that gives you a sense of how close the rural is to the urban around Toronto.

Some years ago when I started writing original fiction, it all came up rural, just like these pictures. It wasn't until my beta readers (isilya in particular) noted now strange that was did I notice that this sort of view surrounds me and informs the way I see the world.

Yes, that was the fancy way of saying oooo look! Picturesque farms!

I should also note that I took all of these pictures from the backseat of a speeding vehicle, and the fact that they look as good as they do is a testament to my new camera. In addition, I'm taking these pictures at the worst possible time; the snow is gone, but the growing things are just starting to wake up.


Complete with a red barn!


A small farm, clearly with a family living there. This one to me said "animals graze here", but I saw no animals.


A grain field, empty because the winter has just ended mere moments before.


That grass is just bursting out of the ground, though it could be soy. I'm not good at identifying plants from the road (unlike my dad). I wanted this picture because of how bright green it is. It's still a novelty at this point in the (very early) spring.


I'm sorry the car got in the way of this one, because that's a great shot of a field. (Okay, I may be the only one who gets excited about shots of fields, but I love them! Look at that traditional old fence!


Great big farm house with a barn. I wish I could take credit for the composition of this shot, but it was entirely random.


A little marsh by the road.


Classic farmland; even without any recent plowing or sowing, you can tell that there were different crops in these fields.


The homestead, smack in the middle of the fields.


The sky was a little grey at this point, but here's a standard Southern Ontario farm.


Imagine living in that great big house in the trees! I'm not doing anyone any justice by taking these pictures before the leaves come back in; normally you wouldn't see the house from the road at all.

Comments

[isilya]

Something that struck me about Canadian houses--did I mention this to you?--was that they stick up out of the ground! Like here is some bare land, and here is a house shooting right up! I find it slightly startling, like the house has forgotten its clothing.

I really enjoyed seeing such different architecture--I had not imagined that the general style of housing would be so different. Next time I come to Canada I will hire a car and we should go around driving to see things like old significant houses. Also, I want to see the mountains. Possibly a lake.

Australian houses are generally one storey, generally have deep verandahs, and always have trees planted around/right next to the house. I know that many of the architectural differences are simply a function of the weather--you have snow to deal with, we have the harsh sun, and some are to do with our ridiculously low population density versus your higher population density.

This and this are absolutely typical federation cottages (circa 1901, the year Australia became a federation).

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

Mmmm yes we should totally get a car. I've been paying closer attention to the decisions that get made around here, probably because Mississauga is quite different from Guelph, and both are quite different from Toronto. I will take more pictures as I go along. Partly I'm waiting for spring to really arrive so that things look prettier before I start snapping pictures with abandon.

And I can see why Australian houses have trees around them and have just one storey; that must help with the heat. We have many bungalows in Ontario too, but mutliple storeys does seem to be more popular.

[perclexed.livejournal.com]

Those are lovely. It looks a bit like where I grew up in Colorado if you went east about 20 miles or so. There might be a few more trees, but not many.

I love your picture posts. Once I get my camera back from my sister, I may have to start taking pics of what it looks like around here and post them. It was an utterly beautiful day here in Seattle - very springlike, if a wee bit on the chilly side.

Thank you for sharing these!

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

Hey, thanks! Most of the time I figure I'm posting stuff no one cares about, so I appreciate it. :) And yes, you really should post more pictures. :)

[auntbeast.livejournal.com]

yes aren't they nice. too bad they'll be covered in a gigantic subdivision in two years time.

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

You speak truth, sadly. These pictures were taken about 20 minutes from Milton. Or thereabouts.

[treehavn.livejournal.com]

Ah, sunny Milton. I remember Milton when it was just the little downtown core and the one (crappy) mall. Now it seems to be endless ugly subdivisions and prisons.

I like these pics for the memories they bring back, although I think you've managed to hit the nail on the head with why me and Southern Ontario perhaps don't get on so well. It's so...brown. And flat. And empty. I think it's the space that freaks me out ;)

[manzai.livejournal.com]

Oh, WOW.

First - did you take ALL your pics from a speeding car? Do you mean to say that every, single shot - like the marsh, where the bracken and whatnot just happened to reflect in the water, and the homestead just happened to have the tree in the left foreground, giving you even MORE depth, and the 'Standard Ontario Farm' where the trees just happened to frame that mini-barn thing ...

*coughs* I kinda think you have a good eye, if you know what I mean.

And yeah, your camera is wonderful. The detail is simply amazing. I feel like I can go pluck a branch off of the tree myself. ^_^

Last but not least, your winter/spring feels like mine, but that's only because I'm maybe ...um ... 700 miles away, in Eastern PA. Get away from Philly, and everything looks like this in the winter - or, at least, it used to. Truly lovely!

[surrey-d.livejournal.com]

normally you wouldn't see the house from the road at all.
That's what I love about this time of year - you can see so many things that you can't at any other time. And because there is no snow covering it up, you really notice the true colours of things. Come back that way in three weeks, and that house will have disappeared.

I too enjoy rural Ontario. There is a view as you come over the hill toward my village, when you suddenly see all the surrounding fields, the little copses of trees, and the old farmhouses. No one else seems to understand how lovely it is, but I love it every time I see it. I'll have to post a picture sometime.

[greenapricot.livejournal.com]

I too love rural landscapes (and I think this is mostly due to that fact that I live in one) and these are lovely. I particularly like the second one, the one with the farm house and the traditional fence and the marsh one.

[luciusmalfoy.livejournal.com]

I... thought you were meant to be in the UK now.

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

Oh, I put it off. Work got complicated. And so it remains!

[luciusmalfoy.livejournal.com]

Weeeell. Tell me when you do come.
I won't come and see you if you don't want me to, but I may stalk you.
You know. In a non-psycho stalking way.

[treehavn.livejournal.com]

I saw these and thought you'd like (http://www.ohcamerasaremacho.com/mt/archives/2006/04/farm_country_ii.html) them (http://www.ohcamerasaremacho.com/mt/archives/2006/04/farm_country.html).