I have had many opportunities to go out on weekends and photograph abandoned farmsteads and barns. While I was going through my files of photos I came across this photo of the house I grew up in for the 12 years of my life. My Mom and Dad bought the farm this house sat on in 1946/47 and I was born in January 1949, I was told when I came home from the hospital I rested in a basket beside an old potbellied wood stove. My Dad built an addition on the south side a few years later so we had a bit more room for the family, my two sisters and a brother. In 1963 my folks built a new Nelson built home on the west side of this house and we moved in there in early 1964.  Parts of this old house are still being lived in on a couple farms in the community of Esther, Alberta. These old houses have an amazing history that we need to try and preserve by taking photos and asking about family history if we can, so if you see an old farmstead, snap a few photos and ask the landowner if they can give you a bit of the history.