Tuesday, October 29, 2024

Cleaning Up the Loft

Red sky in morning....sailors take warning.















After chores I swept out the loft of the horse barn and thought I would give you a tour of this old building. Our house was built in 1823 and I don't know the exact date our barns were built, but they have to be at least 150 years old. At one time the farm included over 150 acres with a tenant house next door (we only have a little over 5 acres). Cows were kept in what is now the horse barn and we had to remove many stanchions and other equipment that was left behind. Many of the beams in the house and barns are tree trunks that still have bark on them and they were white washed. We had a couple of horses when we bought the farm in 1981 and ended up with a barn full. The horse barn is built into a hill (basement barn) with easy access to the upstairs loft area. We had no farm experience when we moved in and had to put up fencing and stalls (which were very basic and open, unlike most of the newer barns). Gary set all of our fence posts with a post hole digger and that was a gigantic job. I have always said we are roof poor, as we had no clue what it would take to keep them in good shape so the barns would survive. Several roofs later, there was a bad wind storm and we lost so many shingles we decided to put on metal. A good move. Now we are down to two horses and are on automatic pilot. Still love this place.





Scott brought his tractor over to clean up the entrance of the loft.







(the view from the loft)

(another one)
This afternoon the red sky brought rain so we started a fire in the kitchen and took it easy.

At 4 LW and I went over to pick up a couple loaves of challah bread at Heritage Bell Farm.  Carina is back in business.


My very favorite!
Chores at 6:15.  So dark.





Tucked the boys in and we had dinner when we got back in the house.
Sloppy Joes (made with plant based crumbles), leftover beans and coleslaw.  Comfort food.
Tomorrow the farrier will be here for Buddy and Rebel.
Night all.

 

3 comments:

  1. Logan Church and Jack Tame, both from TVNZ are in US, following the voting and then the results....l see some idiot??? set fire to early ballot postal boxes. What happens now as a lot of votes were totally destroyed. You will get more detailed news than we do about this. I am watching this as much as I can.

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  2. Our barn in Kenosha County is still standing. It was made with pegs and thick square supports. The new owners did eventually put on a metal roof also. It was a 10 stanchion cow barn which we redid into 3 large lounging stalls for our goats and horses.

    I loved that building and the drive up loft was awesome. The kids spent hours playing there in the hay.

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  3. We also have a drive-in loft. The style of the barn is called Dutch. Our loft does not look clean like yours does! I haven't made challa in like, forever. I think I will do that. Your photos of the pastures look like many more acres than 5. It's all usable, unlike my land.

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