Autumn Farm

In 1965, my parents purchased a 50-acre farm in Niagara County, New York. Busy urban professionals, they intended to create a gentleman farm with a lovely big garden and a few horses and chickens. That plan veered off the tracks when their good friend sent them an SOS. He had two young kids, a small business, 40 head of Black Angus and his wife was just diagnosed with breast cancer. Would my parents cattle-sit?

The cows never went back.

50 acres isn’t big enough for 40 head of cattle, so we rented more farmland. We learned to work awfully hard, summer and winter. I have (mostly) fond memories of doing chores on frigid winter mornings, or baling hay on blistering hot summer afternoons.

Autumn Farm was painted in the sloppy weather of an October afternoon. It’s in a high-chroma color scheme that would look good in any space from traditional to contemporary. Paired with Autumn Farm, Evening Blues, it would be a showstopper in any room.