Michigan Family Farms and Farm Buildings

Eight family-farm case studies display farm buildings'' relationship to the land they sit on, their function on the farm, the materials they''re made with, the farm enterprises themselves, and the families who own them. Photographs, plans, elevations, and sections of typical, exemplary traditional farm buildings show the aesthetic and architectural qualities of those types of buildings across the state.

The ways in which the buildings serve the productive activities of the farm, shelter and nourish the people and livestock, yield a living, and enable the aspirations of farm people are shown in the words and photographs of the farmers themselves. The buildings form a window into the lives of Michigan''s family farms and into the hearts and minds of the people who have lived and worked in them their entire lives.