My husband and I photograph and document ghost towns in our state, New Mexico, as a hobby. This is a photograph that I took of an abandoned home in what was once Pennington, in Union County, NM. Many people in New Mexico are unaware of the history of these long-defunct ghost towns, and sharing the history/giving ghost towns a voice by showing what is left is what we try to capture in our work. This home likely belonged to a homesteader, who would have abandoned the property somewhere between 1920 and 1930. They may have come from the east coast or the midwest, seeking an opportunity to farm or ranch on what was low cost (or free) land. Some homesteaders were successful but a great many were not. Life was hard, and they battled weather, drought and insects. Today, the home sits alone on the plains, home only to grass birds (zoom in; they are in the trees) that use it as a shelter. There is nothing around it for miles, and I like to think that it stands defiantly yet proudly against the elements and time...as if to say, "I'm still here..I'm still trying to hold on."