“I do believe you spend the first half of your life running away from home, and the second half trying to get back to home.”
— Kevin Kling
I was raised on a small family farm in Kansas. One of the last of small family farms in the area. My parents, my grandparents, and previous generations were farmers. My generation was the first to leave the farm, get a college education and settle in the city. Growing up on a farm I took a lot for granted, being close to nature, the animals around us both domestic and wild, and the idea that the soil was what sustained us.
After 30 years in suburbia, I am now back in a rural setting, making a home in an environment I have not experienced since my youth. I also find myself part of an endangered ecosystem, the tallgrass prairie. The vast majority of which as succumb to the plow and what remains has been significantly impacted by grazing. This series documents a process of reconnecting with the land, the rural culture, and my past. As I am returning to a life that I could not wait to abandon as a youth.