Forgotten....yet not.

A freshly combined field yields a few missed stalks of wheat. From the outside, the barn looks like it's been forgotten, but upon further inspection it appears it is used as a grain bin when needed. I often wonder, when I see a single farm building that remains like this, what else used to be here? Was there a house, a shed, what animals did the barn house in days gone by? Why is the barn the only building here? Were the others burned away to make more farm land, or did mother nature take her toll?