Since the end of World War II, there have been many changes in the county, but one of the most dramatic has been in the agrarian nature of our way of life here. Not so long ago, farming dominated the rural landscape outside the municipalities. While many acres are still harvested, it’s no longer like it was just a few decades ago for that was a time when many residents earned their living directly from agriculture.
What had us thinking about this on a Sunny early autumn Saturday afternoon as the temperature neared an unseasonable 90 degrees? Near the Mason Dixon Line, in the vicinity of Sylmar and Little New York roads, an Amish farmer was harvesting hay, in a way that would have been familiar to earlier generations of local farmers. Back in that former era as cooler temperatures and turning leaves signaled fall’s arrival, hands harvested the late season crops.
It was a common scene, but in the 21st century, when often see scattered housing developments sprouting up out of those old fertile fields in place of corn, it’s just one of many ways the county is changing. Economic conditions and family situations have made the viability of making a living off the land less possible. But on this late September weekend it was a pleasant view for a passing motorist, enjoying the county’s rural landscape.
