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**Welcome Wagon:  Visit to the Old Farm  |
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Betty J.
True Blue Farmgirl
1408 Posts
Betty
Pasco
WA
USA
1408 Posts |
 Posted - Apr 14 2008 : 11:56:48 AM
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In 2005 my son and I drove from Washington St. back to Alliance, NE for a family reunion. He was 31 at the time and newly married. He discussed it with her and she said, "Go ahead." So we did. My grandfather homesteaded a 320 acre plot that since has gone to rack and ruin. Why do folks have to destroy vacant property. Anyhow, the buildings hadn't been occupied for about 30 years at least and all the windows in the house had been broken out. There were mud daubers living inside and the linoleum must have been quality because the colors were still vivid in spite of everything else that has happened.
I lived with my Grandparents off and on until my stepfather decided to move us all to Washington. I missed them terribly. Has anyone else had this experience?
Betty J. |
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Miss Bee Haven
True Blue Farmgirl
4331 Posts
Janice
Louisville/Irvington
Kentucky
USA
4331 Posts |
Posted - Apr 14 2008 : 12:06:49 PM
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Betty - That pretty much describes the farmhouse my dh and I are renovating. It sat empty for probably that long, had no glass in the windows, the rain and whatever else had whipped inside and the whole place looked like the entire county had used it to dump everything they didn't want. There were barn swallows making their mud nests everywhere inside. Who owns your granparents house? Isn't anyone interested in saving it? It makes me so sad to pass abandoned farmhouses. So many of them end up being torn down.
Farmgirl Sister #50
"If you think you've got it nailed down, then what's all that around it?"
'Br.Dave Gardner' |
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electricdunce
True Blue Farmgirl
2544 Posts
Karin
Belmont
ME
USA
2544 Posts |
Posted - Apr 14 2008 : 12:07:39 PM
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It is so heartbreaking to go back to a childhood home and see it falling apart. I have not had that experience, but when I was quite young we lived in a little house in Arizona that had a big back yard, our swimming pool was a big cattle watering tank, and I have many happy memories of that home. Visiting it years later to find most of the backyard gone, another house built there and so many more buildings and convenience stores littering the landscape, I was sad, but my memories of the time spent there still comfort me. Karin
Farmgirl Sister #153
"Give me shelter from the storm" - Bob Dylan
http://moodranch.blogspot.com
http://domesticnonsense.etsy.com |
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CabinCreek-Kentucky
True Blue Farmgirl
8529 Posts
Frannie
Green County
Kentucky
USA
8529 Posts |
Posted - Apr 14 2008 : 12:43:17 PM
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betty .. on our barns and farms tour last week .. we went visited the HOMESTEAD .. which was purchased by three counties as an 'agri-business' ... no one lives there .. and when we saw the wonderful olde farmhouse .. hank commented that one of the great things about living in the 'country' is that people don't bother your things. the
tour guide replied .. 'oh,that simply isn't so! this olde house has damage done to it yearly!' windows broken, things stolen, walls painted on. there is no money in the budge for a 'guard' .. but 'country' .. like 'city' also has people who have no respect for the property of others .. and often their own'. made hank sad to hear that .. but it is a reality. Nature takes it's toll .. and that is to be expected .. by so sad when destruction comes at the hands of unthinking people.
True Friends * Frannie
HEAR MY STORIES
come, visit my:
"GATHERING ROOM" ..
http://freedomvalleyfarm.blogspot.com
adopt a 'rag-chile'
http://sistermercysfoundlinhome.blogspot.com
treasures .. new and olde .. up for adoption:
http://mudpiemanormercantile.blogspot.com
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Betty J.
True Blue Farmgirl
1408 Posts
Betty
Pasco
WA
USA
1408 Posts |
Posted - Apr 18 2008 : 09:56:37 AM
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Thank you so much for your response to my farm visit. The person that purchased the farm from my brother also has a home and farm nearby. There is no water on the property either as the owner across the road has used all the water for circle irrigation.
If I were younger, I would go back and set a manufactured home on the property and fix up things. It has so many memories for me. The house had no heat or bathroom facilities. The heat came from the sun in the summer and the cookstove in the winter. Poor old grandpa had to get up early and start the stove to warm up the house. It was a good thing because grandma had to cook for the thrashers in the summer--that meant at least two meals a day and breakfast for the two of them. It was a lot of work for her. I really miss those times. |
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farmgirl3
Farmgirl in Training
19 Posts
Morgan
Floyd
VA
USA
19 Posts |
Posted - Apr 19 2008 : 1:23:19 PM
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Yes our farmhouse was a complete wreck they used it to store hay, and they fixed it up right as they were going to have to tear it down!
"How you climb up the mountain is just as important as how you get down the mountain" |
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handyam
True Blue Farmgirl
394 Posts
Ada Mae
Greensburg
KY.
USA
394 Posts |
Posted - Apr 20 2008 : 1:14:59 PM
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I, too, have had experience with an old farmhouse. My husband and I bought his grandmother's farm 38 years ago. There was a 2 story, 6 room house (and one was not a bathroom!!!). She lived in just 2 of the rooms. At one time, a couple of the rooms had been used to store hay and corn. My dad was a carpenter and he thought we should fix it up (and who was I to argue with free labor!!!!) The first project was to turn a side porch into a bathroom. The kitchen came next, and so on. Over the years we added another bedroom, a den, another bathroom and laundry room, all while living there. Boy would I not do that again, although I wouldn't take anything for the house now. Back then I would have given it away!! Occasionally we talk about building a smaller (and warmer--old houses are hard to heat) house, now that our 3 children have grown and left the nest. I doubt that that will ever happen. We have put too much work into this one, and it holds a lot of memories.
www.adasadorableaprons.blogspot.com |
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**Welcome Wagon: Visit to the Old Farm |
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Visit to the Old Farm
