Wow, what a grand thread this is, wonderful, Willie, thanks.

I feel really fortunate that the original homestead farm of my great-grandparents' in Boulder, Colorado is perserved and recognised as a "century" farm, as Praise mentioned earlier. When they homesteaded on it, it was way out in the boonies, far from town and civilisation. It now sits on a busy four lane road, just another part of the city *proper*, but it is still the original farmhouse, etc. A lot of the land around it has been sold, but family still live there and it will remain protected through certain laws and provisions. My grandmother wrote wonderful stories of her time growing up there.

kat