The “major’s mini-farm,” as the family calls it, was his love. However his day had gone at City Hall, Brent Taylor liked to come home and dive into farm work with his kids, his widow said. She calls the place a metaphor for the family’s life without him. Thursday began a transformation as donors, led by one of the region’s largest landscaping firms, Stratton & Brätt Landscapes, launched a three-day overhaul of the farm to bring it back to working life and make it easier to maintain.