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Anna and Flander Hamlin have lived in this home 40 miles west of Detroit, Mich., for the past 26 years. Their partnership began back in Indiana in 1924.

As their dog, Lady, looks on, Anna lets Flander sample some of her pumpkin pie. They call this area under a large tree next to their house 'the office,' and so long as it stays warm they can be found there nearly every evening.

Canning tomatoes from the garden is an annual event. Here, Anna gathers a few in her hands to boil in water so that Flander can peel off their skins before they go into cans. Tomatoes, with a little salt and pepper, are a favorite snack for them. …

Flander prides himself in always figuring out a way to fix, or 'jerry-rig,' anything that needs it. Here Flander jerry-rigs well into the evening as Anna keeps him company.

Together Anna and Flander climb up the ladder to the loft to stack bales of hay. A bale of hay probably weighs between 25 and 35 lbs. I have seen them move around a couple hundred bales in a day.

After having collected some of the year's hay cutting, Anna unhitches the wagon. The hay is baled, then either fed to the few horses they board or sold to horse farmers in the area for a little extra income.

Returning from the fields after fixing fences, Anna and Flander are, as always, side by side. I asked them why they have to fix fence posts every spring and Flander said, 'Well, fence posts are like humans. They get old and break off.'

For Anna and Flander Hamlin, laughter and love go hand in hand. In between and after their chores, much of the time is spent together like this.

Anna and Flander sow seeds for the year's bean crop. Theirs is a subsistence farming. Beans, corn, potatoes, onions and tomatoes--all foods they love to eat--are their staple crops.

A shared moment while out repairing a fence in the spring. This was the day after Mother's Day.