Haystacks and Homesteads

Remember when haystacks were shaped like squares? Or if you're an OG, remember when they were shaped like those huts Monet used to paint? All across the Midwest the cylinder is the new square. What does this mean for festive Halloween hay wagon rides... one may never know.



When you roadtrip through the Midwest you notice how important transportation infrastructure is in relation to industry. The U.S. is geographically huge and the demand from other states that rely on the products of the Midwest (specifically agriculture) is analogous.



The Corn Belt produces more than half of the corn in the U.S.


Infranet Lab University of Toronto

Corn is the main feedstock used for ethanol fuel. Ethanol fuel is a beautiful example of a local economy perpetuating itself. The logic goes like this... A product (corn) transported thousands of miles around the country uses itself (corn) as feedstock for fueling the transportation.


U.S Department of Energy

In 'Taking Measures Across the American Landscape', James Corner quotes Hildegard Johnson saying "The later homesteads that evolved as part of the National Land Survey were spaces with regular repetition, knitting a geometric matrix of occupancy across the land. Today, these dwellings are typical enclosed by dense, rectangular woodlots rising above the flat plain as volumetric projections of a squared landscape. These plantings provide wood for fuel and protections from ferocious winter winds, enveloping the family like a womb and marking the otherwise empty horizon."


Homestead from the sky


Homestead from the road

I highly suggest this book; it's a mini reader on American Landscape, has great areal photography, and Corner's map-drawings.