The Legacy We Carry Forward

There’s something humbling about standing inside a stranger’s barn and realizing how much of their life’s story lives in the dust, the wood grain, and the things they chose to save.

Jared and I recently participated in an online estate auction at a historic farm in Cambridge, New York. The sale included decades of museum-quality farming equipment, all thoughtfully restored and stored with the kind of care that only comes from genuine devotion. Watching the collection being sold piece by piece felt incredibly sentimental. Every item carried the fingerprint of a lifetime spent preserving history — and now, that history was scattering to new hands.

What struck me most wasn’t just the quality of the collection, but what was left behind. There was a framed photograph of a farmer working his team of draft horses — and on the back, a handwritten message of gratitude to Dick and Polly McGuire on their 60th wedding anniversary. The note spoke of faith, free markets, hard work, and the moral fabric of farming life. It was clear this couple had spent their lives championing rural heritage and agricultural values in their community. And yet, not one family member chose to keep the photo.

Moments like that remind me why we do what we do at The Fox & Crow Farm. When I become the high bidder on an item like this, I don’t just see a tool — I see a story. I feel a responsibility to carry forward the legacy of those who valued craftsmanship, simplicity, and purpose. Many of the items we purchased from the McGuire farm will be restored and used in their original form here on our own farm: a primitive seed fanning mill, a Shaker broom vice and broomcorn cutter, a single horse-drawn cultivator and plow, a dragged disc harrow, a field roller, and even an early egg incubator and manual foot-pump wood lathe.

Once our new barn is complete and The Fox & Crow Farm opens to the public again, we’ll be sharing these relics, their stories, and their functions — demonstrating how they worked, what they meant, and how they connect us to the farmers who came before us.

Just as that note on the back of the photo said, it’s “about the benefits and prosperity that comes when we all follow the path of individual enterprise, free markets, and work hard at being a more moral society.”

We will do our best to honor that legacy — to keep farming simple, honest, and rooted in the hands and hearts of those who believe in something greater than themselves.

God bless the McGuires, and thank you for your dedication to preserving the stories of those who worked the land before us. Your legacy lives on here, at The Fox & Crow Farm.

The original framed photo of Mr. McGuire with his draft team.

The back of the framed photo with this sincere thanks.