Saturday, April 25, 2009

SUNDAY STILLS CHALLENGE - BARNS

This was the barn directly across the street from our farm.  It is now on the ground waiting to be taken away...board by board.

The rest of these photos (I know, I got carried away) are all of our own barns.  The red barn is an indoor riding arena and was built in 1992, but the other two barns are over 100 years old.


When you look at the interior of the horse barn you can see that the beams are trees with the bark still on them.
Both barns have been red and grey...now both colors have faded.
We added a 60' shed roof to the horse barn to provide extra shelter when the weather is bad.

This is a basement barn and is built into a hill.  The other three sides are made of stone, and you have to go up a hill in the back to get to the second floor.  There is also a third level.  In total, we could probably store 3000 bales of hay.  At one time it was a cow barn and when we moved in it was full of stanchions and dismantled car parts.  There were no stalls and no fences.
We are surrounded by about 100 acres of planted fields (we only have 5 acres).
The ceilings in the aisle of the horse barn are quite low, but the stalls are considerably higher.
Our horses seem to manage nicely, regardless of their size.  Very simple, but well bedded and kept clean everyday.

This is a view from one of the pastures.
The indoor enabled us to ride year round, and there have been many clinics held here.
Here, you can see the hill that goes up to the 2nd floor...that's where we put the hay when it gets delivered.
The second barn (to the left) is called the Skoog Shop.  My husband has it filled with woodworking equipment, tools and more things than you would want me to list.  We only store things on the second floor and the East end is my grooming/tack room.  There are two stalls that are not occupied, but they come in handy when the vet and farrier are here.
We have had to add mortar to the stone walls.  One short side took dozens and dozens of bags and it still could use more work.
The way our three barns are placed is quite European in style.  They form a U in the front where there is a paddock (with a backboard for basketball that was left here by the previous owners).
This is how the barns looked at 8:30 Friday night.

View more Sunday Stills by going to:  http://sundaystills.wordpress.com

20 comments:

  1. The barns are amazingly tall. What a job that would be to repaint them! Very nice set-up you have.

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  2. Wow I was gonna try to pick one I liked the best but you have so many!!! I like them all! But I really like the last one with the blue sky at night. That is so pretty! Great job!

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  3. WOW!, those are some impressive shots!!!! Very nice..:-)

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  4. What a treasure your barns are. The barn with with the stone walls that is partially dug into the hill sounds very unique. Your photos are wonderful, as always. The first photo of the barn coming down was very poignant. I hate seeing barns decaying, they are a visual part of our history that cannot be replaced.

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  5. Fantastic shots!! Love the interior one! :)

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  6. Really nice shots. Beautiful barns, new and old.

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  7. Great pics! My favorite is the one of the wooden doors. Love your place.

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  8. Super job. Loved all the different perspectives.

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  9. so nice! I love your place. Sometimes low ceilings can come in handy, horses tend not to rear much in them!

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  10. Wow these are ALL lovely, very hard to pick a favorite.

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  11. Enjoyed all of your shots.

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  12. I like the two sillhouette shots the best because it just crates the idea of the barns and the imposing presence of them.

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  13. This is simply my favorite Sunday Stills yet! All of yours are wonderful. What a beautiful place you have!

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  14. Those are great shots.

    You can see what I came up with over at my photo blog.

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  15. Very nice shots, all of them. I like the interior shots, looks warm and I can almost smell the hay.

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  16. Hey great photos, I too tried to pick a favorite..I think the one with the stone wall and the clouds! They are so tall! Thanks for the tour of your barns, I enjoyed it:)

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  17. Enjoyed them all - but especially with the story that goes with each photo. I am learning so much!

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  18. Great shots. I love the one of the barn that looks nearly black against the night sky.

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  19. love your barns...great photos

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