This was definitely a trip which concentrated on Post Office murals and the last day included a stop in Farmersville to see the mural entitled "Soil Conservation in Collin County" painted by Jerry Bywaters in 1941. The mural reinforced the federal government's urging at the time for farmers to practice soil conservation by strip cropping, terracing, and contour plowing.
Although he was a native Texan having grown up not too far from Collin County, I'm surprised at Bywaters' depiction of a farmer stacking hay in this manner. I've never seen hay stacks like these anywhere in Texas, most farmers having preferred at that time rectangular bales.
Even though this trip was in early November I found zinnias still in bloom in pots near the front door of the post office. Farmersville is 40 miles northeast of Dallas and 45 miles south of the Oklahoma border.
A blue eagle resides above the door of the Farmersville post office. I remember photographing it on a previous road trip about three years ago but that was before I got the bug about post office murals! I didn't mind the return trip. It was not far out of my way on the return from Arizona.
My next and last Texas road trip will come in the next two to three weeks when I will be relocating to Arizona. The close on the sale of my mom's farm is simply waiting on a land survey to be completed but the sureyors have been hampered by rain and a flooded river over the past three weeks. We're expecting more rain later this weekend. Rain, rain, go away!
7 comments:
Oh, I hope it stops raining so you can complete the sale and move on. It must be extremely aggravating to have to wait and wait. But I will miss all the Texas post office murals. They have been a great education for me. ;)
That mural is gorgeous. I love the bright colors in it and the wide landscape views. I hope it stops raining soon so you can get on with the move.
I think the mural should have been named Farmerville, because it fits it to a T... before i read the post of where it was, Farm is what i thought
We have lots of hay around here but I've never seen it stacked like that. Very pretty mural.
Love that mural!
i've actually been thru farmersville. :) yeah, i don't get around much.
I'm sure that is not hay in the mural. I'm also sure it's wheat, which used to be shocked like that. Hay would have been somewhat green, while wheat shocks were yellow as in the mural. I can remember wheat being shocked in the fields like that, then loaded on wagons and hauled to the threshing machines where the wheat was separated from the straw. That was back in the early 1940's.
I'm glad you are going to be able to go back to Arizona, but I will miss the wonderful pictures of Texas and the historical information that you've had on your blog. Thank you.
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