If you take a Cadillac and bury it your probably going to be called a nut. If you take several Cadillacs and half bury them all in a row then you have created art (in the eyes of some). In 1974 Chip Lord, Hudson Marquez and Doug Michels, part of the art group Ant Farm, selected a portion of a field in Amarillo, Texas. They symmetrically half-buried Cadillacs have earned a fame not unlike the Hollywood Sign that screams “made in the USA’. The full history can be found here.

Dan DeVaul of San Luis Obispo and Cars of Cadillac Ranch

Why didn’t Mr. DeVaul do the same with his cars? For one, it would have brought up even more zoning violations and problems (pure speculation here, of course).

Is Dan DeVaul alone in having junk cars on his ranch? Absolutely not. In fact having a rusty old truck or a non operating “city car” on a ranch is almost a given through out the entire country.

The Flickr.com website has thousands of photographs of rusty cars and trucks on farms and ranches all across America.

Dan DeVaul is not alone

photo by Sean McGrath

A New Jersey Farm Car

Photo by JoiseyShowaa

Why? Again, as speculation on our American culture, the farmers and ranchers that managed to survive and hold onto their land thru the Great Depression all had one thing in common, they wasted nothing. Instead of hauling cars off to a junkyard and then going to a junkyard and buying parts the cars were simply parked and eventually stripped for parts.   This thrifty attitude was passed down for generations.  If Dan DeVaul is guilty of anything he is guilty of being part of a dying breed of American culture that helped to make this country great.

This same thrifty lifestyle was one of sharing and helping your neighbor.  During the Great Depression one of the things that farmland still provided was food.  Barns often provided shelter for the homeless who would lend a helping hand just to get a meal.  In our modern society we are faced with a multitude of regulations that will not allow you to be charitable and let someone sleep in your barn even if they are willing to work or even if  you are just offering them shelter to get out of the rain.

Sacramento, the capitol of this great state, has had its fair share of homeless in recent years.  Minusman captured this photo in the capitol of the great state of California. 

California Tent City

These are people that have lost their homes as the job market shrinks. Lodi photographer Dan Evans visited this tent city and did a compassionate photo essay and article.

The point is that we may not be very far away from another Great Depression. If this is in fact the case then instead of trying to shut down Sunny Acres we should ALL be trying to help it survive. It isn’t just a roof over the heads of the homeless that Dan DeVaul is trying to provide. He is trying to help some people get a second chance at life. Ironically Dan DeVaul talks describes himself as a common man that attended college for a year and then went on in life as a working man. He describes some of his problems that he has over come here. It is ironic that Mr. DuVaul doesn’t have a Phd in the social sciences because the concept of rehabilitation thru agriculture is one that is at the leading edge in both Russia and Japan. Sunny Acres has interactive programs that are simple yet parallel to the sophisticated programs that are being developed around the World to help people recover from their problems by getting back in touch with nature and having a sense of self-worth and pride.

The founders of this county also shared the concept of “Hard work will eventually pay off”. It was pioneers that built this country and Dan DeVaul is a pioneer in his own way as well. While some of us may give our change to the downtown homeless (so that they can buy a beer or two) how many of us have shared our home, or garage, or yard with the homeless when it was raining? Dan DeVaul has. He has also started an agriculture related rehab program that rebuilds self esteem. He has done the best that he could on the limited funds that he has available to make a difference in the lives of people that truly need a helping hand.

The economy in this country is in turmoil. We spend billions of taxpayer dollars to bail out high level executives’ jobs while we leave the common man sleeping under a bridges. If you are an executive have no fear but if you are just an ordinary person try not to be too critical of Mr. DeVauls efforts as you might find yourself knocking on his door looking for shelter sooner than you think.