farm vs strip mall

since november of 2009, i have seen two farmhouses dismantled, piled up, and hauled off.  homesteads taken over, pillaged.  for strip malls with mega grocery stores as anchors or schools that can't be filled.  memories, hard work, history, sacred land all wiped away for yet another development.  we have people saying they want local food, begging to keep the farms alive.  and a city that has major voids of development and empty/half filled developments that just keeps sprawling.  bustling shopping areas 10 years ago now only have a tanning salon and hobby lobby. target closes and a coffee shop is left struggling.  a restaurant hoping to revitalize an area is taken over by construction. a hog farmer flees his farm after the development takes over and the silence tears at his soul.  never fear, we will have a new hy-vee less than 2 miles away from another new hyvee, though.  isn't there a housing crisis?  aren't we in a recession?  do we want local food or more defunct strip malls?  why aren't we trying to develop in areas that need grocery stores? i assure you west omaha needs another grocery store like it needs another dental office/physical therapy office.  it makes me depressed and physically ill when i see these old, beautiful farmhouses torn down.  maybe it's the wannabee architect in me or the mother or the farmer. . .but these places hold memories and soul.  much more soul than the press board, mcmansion that it shares a property line with.  i keep wishing for a world where people revere the homesteads and seek to preserve them.  find ways for them to provide food for it's new inhabitants and neighbors.  i fear that is not going to happen.  in the meantime, this old homestead will keep on going on.