Fall and Iowa means just one thing, it is harvest time! The color of the fields have gone from green to yellow. Where the farmers are harvesting you can spot the dust in the air from miles away. Here the fields are ready for harvest and just waiting for the farmer and his equipment to pull out the beans and corn. Out in the middle of the field is a unused windmill surrounded by young trees. Once upon a time that windmill was vital to the family and livestock that were grazing nearby.

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Ponds are an important part of rural life. It supports a lot of family activities, swimming, fishing, livestock watering as well as wildlife watering and good locations for picnics. If it wasn't for ponds a lot of country folks wouldn't be able to skip rocks across water.

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A spring drive on the back roads of Iowa provides color and a glimpse into the past. Here is a fenced off pasture where livestock was kept and a windmill was erected to provide water for the animals. Nothing like listening to a windmill working in the breeze.

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As you drive the countryside it is common to find an old farm shed and a windmill telling of a life started a long time ago. It is hard to find a windmill that hasn't been shot at.

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You can't drive around the Midwest without spotting a windmill. While most of them are not in use and they are a remembrance of the days before electricity reached the rural farm, some are still functional. While I like the looks of the windmill so much better than the wind turbines they both make use of the wind and dot the country side.

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A drive in the Iowa countryside reveals last seasons crops supporting next seasons cattle herd. The windmill may be out of action but it gives a hint of what the past was like.

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On a trip to western Nebraska for golfing I found this windmill and stock tank with a nice red hand pump. It takes a lot of land to graze cattle and water is a key component in the raising livestock.

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This scene is coming. It remains me of how nice a warm home feels after a long cold day out tending to the farm. The windmill doesn't pump anymore and the buildings aren't housing any animals anymore but this is a scene I am very familiar with.

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Looking close at this windmill and you will see that the pump has been pulled and is leaning on the inside of the structure.

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Not often you find a windmill and pump together. It is however a good example of what it took to settle the plains of America.

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The water is underground and therefore a pump is needed to raise the water to the surface. You can use manpower to run the pump or animals or the wind. The settlers of this land used the wind in most cases. Every farm had at least one.

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Western Nebraska gas some excellent golf course nestled in the sand hills. Wild Horse Golf Club in Gothenburg, NE is a fine example. Just one of many available in the Golfing Western Nebraska package. One of my favorite courses that I have played.

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