Who Would Hang a Calendar Featuring a Single Farm? It Depends on What Farm
I have been doing a new, beautiful photographic calendar every year for six years now. I’ve covered the Holy Land twice and some of the sacred lands of the Book of Mormon. I’ve shown you many beautiful sites in Church History. So, why only feature a small, 100-acre farm in upstate New York, for this year’s Come Follow Me calendar? It is certainly clear to me. And it’s my favorite calendar yet. Let me explain.
We remember this Smith family farm, where Joseph grew up, and the events that happened there so that we can keep legacy and heritage and testimony alive. The Prophet Joseph’s First Vision and story will never grow old or outdated. It will never become insignificant. And most importantly, it will always be true.
Millions of people over the years have made the sacred pilgrimage to this farm. The vast majority felt something wonderful when they came here and their testimonies were strengthened. It is my desire that as you spend about 30 days seeing each beautiful photograph in this calendar throughout the year, your spirits will be enlivened, your minds will be expanded, your love for the Prophet Joseph and his family will increase and your testimonies will be strengthened.
Here on this farm is where:
- The First Vision took place in the early spring of 1820.
•Joseph’s baby sister, Lucy, was born.
•The Angel Moroni visited and tutored and trained the young boy Joseph Smith no less than four times. - The gold plates came right after they were removed from their 14-centuries-old repository.
•Alvin Smith died.
•Joseph and Emma Hale Smith came and lived right after they got married. - The Eight Witnesses saw the plates.
- The first words were translated from the ancient record with Emma as scribe.
- Mobs gathered to try to steal the plates.
•The plates were hidden (in various locations) to conceal them from the mobs. - Hyrum and Jerusha Barden Smith lived and started their family.
- Five revelations of the Doctrine and Covenants were received.
This farm is not only extremely significant, it is sacred and holy ground.
Can you begin to see why having this photographic wall calendar in your home or office or in the rooms of your children or grandchildren could have such a positive effect in your life and theirs? The presence of a beautiful picture of a sacred place can have direct and indirect spiritual influence on a person.
Come and Pre-Order the 2025 Come Follow Me Calendar Here
This farm is really an important foundation stone of our Church History. In those earliest days of the Church, there were but three branches or organized congregations, centered around families: The Colesville Branch (mainly the Joseph and Polly Knight extended family and friends), the Fayette Branch (mainly the Peter and Mary Whitmer extended family and friends) and the Manchester Branch (mainly the Joseph and Lucy Mack Smith extended family and friends). These farms were productive both for crops and for the harvest of souls. Many people took their first steps into the Kingdom of God on one of these farms.
Come and Pre-Order the 2025 Come Follow Me Calendar Here
Besides all these wonderful facts, the Smith Farm is just downright beautiful. In the early 1800’s it was covered with old-growth forest with majestic maples, beech, hop hornbeam and wild cherry dominating the canopy and an interspersing of ash, oak, hickory and very large elm trees.
In those days there were as many as 110 trees per acre and in the first 18 months the Smiths cleared 30 acres! That’s a very large number of enormous trees. Since so much water flows through the farm (Crooked or Hathaway Brook and a low-lying water table in the Sacred Grove), there is often fog to greet the visitors in the early mornings of spring, summer and fall. That makes for some great photographs. All of the pictures for this calendar were shot on just one of those magical days.
Lots of people are curious about what kind of camera I use and what I started with way back when. I had a very generous and kind Dad. He was a geologist and had to use a good camera for his work, and he made it clear that I was welcome to borrow it any time. I don’t know if he knew what he was doing (shaping my career), but I loved it. So, I started in those early days by using his Leica Rangefinder, a remarkable German camera. Over the years I made my way through Nikon, Canon, Pentax and now, amazingly, I shoot with a Sony A7R mirrorless.
The day we shot this beautiful Smith Farm was magical. Every photograph that day, of which these twelve were all a part, was a miracle and a gift from the Lord. And when you get down to it, that’s the way photography is anyway—it’s all from Him and your part as a photographer is very small. This calendar could just be a series of pictures of gratitude. I never forget Who paints the pictures.
For the last half a century I have been photo documenting the Church historical sites. I never get enough of them. I love the mornings on the Smith Farm (as noted in this calendar), the evenings in Nauvoo, every angle of Kirtland, the stunning site of Adam-ondi-Ahman and the Priesthood Restoration site in Harmony, Pennsylvania—especially right down by the banks of the Susquehanna River. I can’t photograph them enough. It’s just who I am.
Come and Pre-Order the 2025 Come Follow Me Calendar Here
A beautiful picture of a Church historical site mesmerizes me (like a campfire), whether from me or another contemporary photographer or even from early 20th century photographer, George Edward Anderson.
I love these sacred sites, our incredible history and the stories that happened within the confines of a photograph. It is fascinating to me beyond words that we have the technology to freeze the light and colors and objects and people with a photograph. To me, photography is one of the great miracles of life and I’m so grateful that I live in a time period when it is ubiquitous throughout the world. My fascination with this science will never cease.
I hope you will think of this calendar as the perfect gift for family members, each grandchild, young men and young women (who are just getting to know Church History), ministering families, ministering brothers and sisters, neighborhood gifts, friends and colleagues.
You can pre-order your 2025 Church History Come Follow Me calendars HERE https://latterdaysaintmag.com/2025 Estimated shipping time to your address will be the first or second week of November, in plenty of time for the gift-giving season.
The post Who Would Hang a Calendar Featuring a Single Farm? It Depends on What Farm first appeared on Meridian Magazine.
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