Postcards from the Farm

by guest blogger, Elmer Prather

My latest puzzle is a 1000-piece titled Postcards From The Farm by J. Charles. Before I spend the time putting a puzzle together, I must have a connection to it. My connection to this puzzle is my interest in farms and the animals, and equipment associated with them.

The puzzle picture is a collage of nine postcard paintings that illustrate what life on the farm is all about. Since the title designates one farm, I understood that these postcards reflect one large farm.

Pictures tell a story and as I was putting the puzzle together, I tried to understand the story each of the postcards was telling me. As an example, the beautiful, stately church I felt was inviting me to come in, find a pew and worship. The covered bridges I felt were inviting me to cross over each of them and check the streams they spanned. The streams invited me to grab a fishing pole and catch a few fish.

As I looked closer at the postcards, I saw a plethora of wild as well as domestic animals. Some of them were the two racoons and wild turkeys checking out the old tractor. Many other wild turkeys, racoons, opossums, and white-tailed deer were displayed on the postcards.

In the backgrounds of some of the postcards, you can see large fields of crops such as corn, oats, wheat, and soybeans growing. When these crops mature, they will be harvested and stored in the farm silos until used to feed the farm animals or until it is sold.

In four of the nine postcards, there are herds of black and white cows. These cows are Holstein cows and are used primarily for milking. Holstein Cows first came to America in 1852. A Massachusetts man by the name of Winthrop Cheney purchased the first Holstein cow from a Dutch Sailing Master who had the cow on board to produce fresh milk for his crew during the voyage. Impressed with the cow’s milk. Chenery imported more cows in 1857, 1859 and 1861 and soon many other breeders followed suit and established different lines of Holstein cows in the U. S. Today there are 8.1 million Holstein cows in the U. S.

The postcards display scenes occurring during the Spring, Summer, and Autumn seasons. They also highlight horses, cows, deer, geese, sheep, ducks vintage trucks, farm tractors, red barns, covered bridges, and a church. This collage of nine postcard pictures allows viewers the opportunity to see what a large farm looks like and better understand some of the animals and equipment it takes to make a large farm work.

Elmer Prather
Canton, Georgia
USA