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A Farm of My Own:  Why I love my little barn  |
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dsimas
Farmgirl in Training
15 Posts
Dawn
Auburn
CA
USA
15 Posts |
 Posted - Nov 22 2008 : 10:11:02 PM
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www.grandpas1947farm.shutterfly.com
I look forward to restoring it to it's original purpose, rather than a storage building. The new siding just arrived from the sawyer and the work starts tomorrow. I have been milking in it for about 3 weeks now, for the first time in decades for this barn. I've written below the Epilogue in my The Family Cow book. Just substitue "goat" for "pig" in the text. Our little barn has a stall and two stachions for goats, and one stall and one stanchion for a cow, and the feed room, it is 340 square feet. I just got in tonight with my Grandpa's 1953 Coleman lantern (nothing modern is better) and a pail of milk from Ruthie the goat.
:) Dawn
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Wealth is a barn full of hay, a few hundred pounds of grain and a cow giving down her milk while cats weave restlessly, ready to spring to the dish by the door. That reminds me: Don't bother to teach cats how to catch a squirt direct from the spigot. They'll never leave you alone then. I had one cat worked into a routine where she could get a squirt if she meowed, licked her paw and bit my left arm--in that order. I had a damned sore arm before she unlearned her lesson. It served me right.
It's more fun seeing if I can squirt my son Wim when he peeks over the side of the shavings bin. There's a tough angle on that shot, but I got him the other night--got him good--and he laughed.
Tonight it's snowing, and the white triangles are pointing up the black cold beyond each window pane. Gusts of wind shearing past the north gable make the rafters creak, like winter shifting in her sleep. But the old barn's alive again within.
A pig grunts, grudging another's right to push in where the pine shavings are deep and dry. How many pigs and cats and calves has this old barn seen in her years--and women and men and boys or girls sitting here in this same corner milking? Some of their names are carved on the faces of the beams and doors around the barn. Some of the same and other names are carved on stones, erect and fallen, up there on the hill behind the house.
I wonder if any of them were "into" cows. Was it all a chore? Or were there lucky people like me who for unexplainable reasons found that raising a few animals, a garden of vegetables and especially a cow, was somehow "into" them?
--Dirk van Loon
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kristin sherrill
True Blue Farmgirl
11303 Posts
kristin
chickamauga
ga
USA
11303 Posts |
Posted - Nov 23 2008 : 4:49:00 PM
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I could just live in a barn. They are so neat. So much history, too. And it has stanchions already in it? How convenient for you. You can start training your little calf to go into it now. Just start feeding her there and she'll know where to go when the time comes.
Kris |
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ddmashayekhi
True Blue Farmgirl
4741 Posts
Dawn
Naperville
Illinois
USA
4741 Posts |
Posted - Nov 23 2008 : 6:16:13 PM
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How wonderful your barn is being used the way it was intended too. Have fun restoring it! Best of luck to you.
Dawn in IL |
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Bellepepper
True Blue Farmgirl
1207 Posts
Belle
Coffeyville
KS
USA
1207 Posts |
Posted - Nov 24 2008 : 07:10:49 AM
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| Dawn, How lucky you are to have a barn. We have a big white metal bldg. It is a shop, not a barn. When I get barn sick (home sick), I go to my son's place. He lives on my Dad's farm. It has a real barn. If there is anyplace I would rather be after the garden, it would be in the barn. |
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marcy jo
True Blue Farmgirl
453 Posts
Marcy
Wawaka
Indiana
USA
453 Posts |
Posted - Nov 25 2008 : 2:13:31 PM
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Dawn your barn is so wonderful!! I want one so bad!! For now, I have taken to calling my shed a barn!! The lamb and the rabbits live in there and so does all the feed!! Guess its more of a barn than a shed!!!!
Marcy #257
When I stand before God at the end of my life I hope that I would not have a bit of talent left and could say “I used everything You gave me”.(erma bombeck) |
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mandymcar
True Blue Farmgirl
73 Posts
Mandy
Montana
USA
73 Posts |
Posted - Nov 27 2008 : 06:46:38 AM
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| Be sure you take some before and after pictures. We have restored 2 barns and it is fun to look back. |
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Marcy
True Blue Farmgirl
2701 Posts
Marcy
Tiverton
Rhode Island
USA
2701 Posts |
Posted - Nov 27 2008 : 08:47:12 AM
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Very-very cute! Thanks for sharing.
Farmgirl #170
Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give. |
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country lawyer
True Blue Farmgirl
1022 Posts
1022 Posts |
Posted - Dec 03 2008 : 09:45:08 AM
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| I love your barn too! And your words! |
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K-Falls Farmgirl
Chapter Leader
2096 Posts
Cheryl
Klamath Falls
Oregon
USA
2096 Posts |
Posted - Dec 03 2008 : 1:31:37 PM
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Me too.. I love it.. I do not have a barn either and I love old barns. * I almost have a chicken hotel...working on that decorating project before chickens arrive.Dh promised to finish it before Dec 19 this month.... I plan to do a wall of old wooden barns on my familyroom wall when I get around to decorating in there..Maybe next spring.
http://www.k-fallsfarmgirl.blogspot.com/
Cheryl #309
Farm girl sister
Enjoy the little things in life....someday you'll look back and realize they were the big things. |
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Alee
True Blue Farmgirl
22941 Posts
Alee
Worland
Wy
USA
22941 Posts |
Posted - Dec 03 2008 : 3:23:26 PM
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I love that barn! It's adorable!!! I hope you post pictures of the work and the finished product! I bet it will look fabulous!
Doesn't it feel great to do something that you know your forebearers did/probably did?
Alee
Farmgirl Sister #8
www.awarmheart.com
Please come visit Nora and me on our blog: www.farmgirlalee.blogspot.com
Put your pin on the farmgirl map! www.farmgirlmap.blogspot.com |
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homesteaderbelle
True Blue Farmgirl
391 Posts
Belle
USA
391 Posts |
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lilliesfarm
Farmgirl in Training
43 Posts
Lillie
Jones
OK
USA
43 Posts |
Posted - Mar 07 2009 : 9:48:42 PM
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The barn is wonderful. Thanks for sharing the pics.
God bless |
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Maryjane Lee
True Blue Farmgirl
2195 Posts
Maryjane
CA
USA
2195 Posts |
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sjs
True Blue Farmgirl
247 Posts
Stephanie
Oakland
CA
USA
247 Posts |
Posted - Mar 09 2009 : 8:24:44 PM
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I love old barns! This is just great.
Stephanie, Farmgirl Sister #513!
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Learning to live is learning to let go.
Visit my food blog! http://www.wasabimon.com - natural cooking to live for.
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frolicnfibers
True Blue Farmgirl
668 Posts
Diana
White City
Oregon
USA
668 Posts |
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crafter
True Blue Farmgirl
2313 Posts
lori
Fort Atkinson
Wisconsin
USA
2313 Posts |
Posted - Mar 10 2009 : 08:14:14 AM
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Dawn-
I LOVE YOUR BARN! So much history. Enjoy restoring your special barn.
xoxo- Lori
Thank GOD I'm a Country Girl! |
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Brew Crew
True Blue Farmgirl
676 Posts
Molly
Arizona
676 Posts |
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daylily
True Blue Farmgirl
114 Posts
Chris
Newcastle
CA
USA
114 Posts |
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A Farm of My Own: Why I love my little barn |
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Why I love my little barn
