A Party on the Krumpos Farm

The Krumpos farm was a fun place to kick back on a nice summer evening with friends and family.

This looks to be about July of 1975 (corn knee high by the 4th of July), and little Donny seems to be about 8 months old or so. Whose birthday is this?

That is Deena Nelson coming on the bike in the first minute. She was always so shy of the camera. Deena was a constant visitor to the Krumpos Farm in the late 70’s before she moved to Rockland Maine.

Ken Schmidt is holding the camera most of the times. When he is pictured, I bet Keith Krumpos is holding it, especially the part where the camera is framing in his wife, Betty Mae’s butt. Scandalous.

Though not present, Clifford Schmidt made the Adirondack-esque chairs that the Krumpos’ used for many a get-together. Also, because he is not there, it is likely this is one of the Krumpos’ girls birthdays.

Helen would be born in a year. A welcome addition that will be. Little Jimmy is shown briefly.

A lethal game of Jarts is being played in the background.

A few thoughts on the background. I love how the 35mm captures the soft horizon. It is almost misty. The focus is so soft and makes it look as lush as it really was. You can almost smell the chicory and thistle. This nostalgic scene has the purples hues of cross-processed film and the extremely low ISO darkens some backlit scenes, but makes it seem so much more real than HD can. At least to this writer.

I love one of the few photos of Keith’s Allis Chalmers Model WC tractor which he bought from the SpeerScheiders. There is also the milk house still attached to the barn, before it was razed. The wood stave silo must have just come down shortly before this film. Also, there is glimpses of the old 1950’s Chevy truck. These sentimental objects have little documentation outside this film.