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A Farm of My Own:  barns and country life  |
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bohemiangel
True Blue Farmgirl
2087 Posts
Bridget
Ligonier
pa
USA
2087 Posts |
 Posted - Nov 25 2006 : 07:17:49 AM
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Ok so I'm a bit of a town girl with lots of farmgirl hiding in her. It's coming out more and more! The country makes me nervous...I'm a worrywart yes! I fear deer or people looking in at me at night...dont ask. I just thing the whole being away from people in a house near by or within shouting distance freaks me out. I do inherit land and so does my bf both in the country. And nice acreage. Anyway What I really want whether in town or country...is a BARN! A beautiful barn. Not to house livestock but to have dances, parties, guests sleep over. Like downstairs set for square dances, ceilis, and whatever else. Upstairs rooms for guests to stay. I love barns. like a slight obsession! I would love to have a barn raising like the amish. I'm no so sure what town would have to say about having a barn? Anyone know what town rules are I know they'd be diff everywhere. My fam owns 2 houses across from eachother and theres a small one right behind our backyard. I want to buy that as a guest house/my house and then tear down whats behind on the other side...I know sad to tear houses down. Anyway anyone else love barns?!! Any advice or thoughts. I lived in the country for the first year of my life of the rest 23 years in town. So I think i'm destined for town. :) hehe
"... to thine ownself be true." |
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brightmeadow
True Blue Farmgirl
2045 Posts
Brenda
Lucas
Ohio
USA
2045 Posts |
Posted - Nov 25 2006 : 08:31:22 AM
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hmmm. I like barns too. In Ohio there are a bunch of barns that were painted with the Ohio bicentennial logo http://www.ohiobarns.com/ohbarns/ to see a few. Maybe you can get an idea of what you are specifically looking for if you look at lots of existing barns?
On my blog you can see an old barn my husband re-sided, the siding is partially off so you can see the construction.
Then you might also look for timber framing information. I googled and found http://www.tfguild.org/ which might have a lot of links that would help.
You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands - You shall be happy and it shall be well with you. -Psalm 128.2
Visit my blog at http://brightmeadowfarms.blogspot.com ,web site store at http://www.watkinsonline.com/fish or my homepage at http://home.earthlink.net/~brightmeadow |
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Anastasia
True Blue Farmgirl
56 Posts
Anastasia
Telkwa
BC
Canada
56 Posts |
Posted - Nov 25 2006 : 09:18:23 AM
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Hi there! I spent my first 22 years in a city, traveled for two years, spent another five years in a city, worked internationally for four years, and am now living on a farm. Destiny has nothing to do with choice. ;)
Good luck with your barn; my uncle has a wonderful barn that hosted a wedding dance once. I can't wait to build mine...and I think I'll factor in the idea of planning for future gatherings! Just the smell of a barn is marvellous.
Cheers,
Anastasia :)
"Speciality is for insects." -Robert Heinlen |
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Marybeth
True Blue Farmgirl
6418 Posts
Mary Beth
Stanwood
Wa 98292
USA
6418 Posts |
Posted - Nov 25 2006 : 09:53:46 AM
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Down the road from us is a beautiful, very large barn. the place was once a working farm. Now the barn has been re-done and it is beautiful. It hosts weddings, parties, etc. They put up a stairway up to where the loft door was and put in a french doors and wide porch area. Photos are taken there and the wedding party greets guests. When it is all done up in lights it is real pretty. Tables are set up outside. It looks real gracious.
www.strawberryhillsfarm.blogspot.com
"Life may not be the party we hoped for...but while we are here we might as well dance!" |
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Libbie
Farmgirl Connection Cultivator
3579 Posts
Anne E.
Elsinore
Utah
USA
3579 Posts |
Posted - Nov 25 2006 : 11:20:54 AM
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I just love barns, too. I will be so excited when I have a "real" one. There are some beauties around here, too, but most of them are falling into disrepair - Marybeth, it's so neat to hear of one that's been re-done and is useful. I have this imaginary "big red barn" image in my mind that someday...somehow...I know will be here!
Bridget - Wonderful wishes on a barn of your own! You may want to go to one of your town Planning Comission meetings and just ask what the rules for building outbuildings are. If they're not what you'd like to see, ask how you petition for some sort of exception -- go for it!
XOXO, Libbie
"Nothing is worth more than this day." - Goethe |
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Horseyrider
True Blue Farmgirl
1045 Posts
Mary Ann
Illinois
1045 Posts |
Posted - Nov 25 2006 : 5:35:36 PM
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Here's mine....
I really love my old barn. The beams are cut and notched by hand, and there are whitewash numbers still up where all the mules were in tie stalls. And the harness hooks still hang on the walls. If you're careful, you can see writing in the cement. In one doorway it says "James H. Leonard Is A Pig-- Edward Graham;" and in another it says "DAD 1917." There are six stalls below, two wide aisles, a feed room, and a huge loft above. Sometimes I stand in the loft and look up in those hand cut beams, and think about the men who put it up. I wonder what they'd think to see the world around their barn today.
I hope you find your dream barn! I found this one when I was 28. I've been here for about 24 years.  |
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Marybeth
True Blue Farmgirl
6418 Posts
Mary Beth
Stanwood
Wa 98292
USA
6418 Posts |
Posted - Nov 25 2006 : 6:07:55 PM
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Mary Ann Your barn is a wonder. How lucky for you. And a double rainbow. You really are fortunate.
www.strawberryhillsfarm.blogspot.com
"Life may not be the party we hoped for...but while we are here we might as well dance!" |
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CabinCreek-Kentucky
True Blue Farmgirl
8529 Posts
Frannie
Green County
Kentucky
USA
8529 Posts |
Posted - Nov 25 2006 : 6:23:09 PM
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gurlfren .. if you are in the woods .. there is hardly a chance you will get two legged critters looking through your windows .. and the four legged ones are more scared of you than you are of them. i lived buried in the woods for a full year all by my lonesome and it was so very grande! xo
True Friends, Frannie
CABIN CREEK FARM
KENTUCKY
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CabinCreek-Kentucky
True Blue Farmgirl
8529 Posts
Frannie
Green County
Kentucky
USA
8529 Posts |
Posted - Nov 25 2006 : 6:24:35 PM
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ohhhh ahhhhhh maryanne .. what a lovely, lovely barn! xo
oh .. and do add a few words of your very own somewhere on one of those beams too!
True Friends, Frannie
CABIN CREEK FARM
KENTUCKY
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vintagechica
True Blue Farmgirl
438 Posts
Eren
Poolville
TX
USA
438 Posts |
Posted - Nov 25 2006 : 6:52:17 PM
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Mary Anne, your barn is amazing! And I just noticed that you are in IL. Where in IL do you live? We are about 20 min. N of the state line in Kenosha WI.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A sure way to avoid housework...live outdoors.
www.vintagechica.typepad.com |
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Tina Michelle
True Blue Farmgirl
6948 Posts
Tina
sunshine state
FL
USA
6948 Posts |
Posted - Nov 25 2006 : 10:17:39 PM
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what a gorgeous barn..I think I'd be tempted to turn that into my house..ha. it's very pretty.
~Seize the Day! Live, Love, Laugh~ |
Edited by - Tina Michelle on Nov 25 2006 10:18:03 PM |
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Horseyrider
True Blue Farmgirl
1045 Posts
Mary Ann
Illinois
1045 Posts |
Posted - Nov 26 2006 : 06:14:08 AM
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Eren, I'm about an hour's drive south of DeKalb. Does that help?
Tina, I can't live in the barn; I need it for the horses! 
Mary Beth, it was quite a quick storm that day. I saw it coming from the west for a long time, and it sent the bulk of it's wrath to the north of us. When it moved east, the early evening sun popped out and gave me a double rainbow, so I ran for the camera fast! When I stood on the deck of the house, it looked like the rainbow was hugging my barn. I have a friend who's a rather intuitive doctor. When she walked in my barn for the first time she took a deep breath, let it out and nodded as she said "This is a healing place." I think so, too.
Frannie, I know it sounds silly because it's my barn and I have every right to, but I don't think I could write on it. It seems too much like a defacement. Does that make any sense? |
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bohemiangel
True Blue Farmgirl
2087 Posts
Bridget
Ligonier
pa
USA
2087 Posts |
Posted - Nov 26 2006 : 07:25:52 AM
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Wow Mary Ann Love the barn!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)
"... to thine ownself be true." |
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therusticcottage
True Blue Farmgirl
4439 Posts
Kay
Vancouver
WA
USA
4439 Posts |
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junebug
True Blue Farmgirl
2421 Posts
Sue
West Plains,
Mo.
USA
2421 Posts |
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brandyanne
True Blue Farmgirl
81 Posts
Debra
81 Posts |
Posted - Nov 26 2006 : 5:35:57 PM
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| HI Mary Ann- What Illinois town are you in?I live about 50 miles south east of Dekalb in Sterling- small world! |
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Horseyrider
True Blue Farmgirl
1045 Posts
Mary Ann
Illinois
1045 Posts |
Posted - Nov 26 2006 : 7:49:45 PM
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| Hey, I know Sterling! I'm straight south of DeKalb, outside a little town called Earlville. It's about fifteen miles east of Mendota. |
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Horseyrider
True Blue Farmgirl
1045 Posts
Mary Ann
Illinois
1045 Posts |
Posted - Nov 26 2006 : 7:52:04 PM
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Oh Kay, I told my hubby that you liked our barn and saved the pic, and he burst out laughing! He wants everyone who admires the barn to take home one of the pigeons in it. Or as my hay man calls them, "city chickens." 
Thankyou all, I'm so flattered by your kind words! |
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brandyanne
True Blue Farmgirl
81 Posts
Debra
81 Posts |
Posted - Nov 27 2006 : 7:10:14 PM
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| Oh you are not far at all then- I would say I am about 45 minutes from Mendota! Hav a few cousins there. |
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beckels
True Blue Farmgirl
237 Posts
becky
warrington
pa
USA
237 Posts |
Posted - Nov 27 2006 : 7:15:23 PM
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Bohemiangel - You are not the only country girl to have those fears (but I rather have animals near me (wild or domestic) instead of people... But go to the library and check out books on barns and transforming or restoring them. My best friend moved a barn piece by piece and made it a beautiful home....
Beckels
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A Farm of My Own: barns and country life |
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barns and country life
