Barns of Minnesota

the book

     This book is a brilliant colaboration created by photographer Doug Ohman and author Will Weaver.  It's a fictional biography of a barn in central Minnesota and its family, illustrated by photographs of many actual barns of Minnesota.  It traces the barn's history from before its creation in the 1920's until after its demise in the 1990's.

     It took me only a few hours to read and peruse the 128 pages, which were about half story and half photos.  This also includes the time I spent with tears of sadness and tears of joy in my eyes, and the time I spent looking out my kitchen window at the fictional barn's brother that stands on the homestead I call my home.  It's mine for the moment, but really belongs to all of Minnesota, past and future.

     Whether your interests are in farming, history, art or architecture, a few hours of reading the story, perusing the photos and contemplating the ideas are a valuable investment of your time.

                           "a barn will build a house"  Will Weaver

"brother barn" on the homestead

BARN ROOF COMPLETED

 

The wonderful crew from Dawson Byler Construction

     The new barn roof was completed about noon on Monday, December 3.  I can't thank the guys at Dawson Byler Construction enough for the professional and beautiful job they did.  The next step for me is to begin repairing windows and doors, other inside and outside repairs, and the painting.  For a septuagenarian like me, that's probably going to be spread out over a couple of years.  That's fine with me.  Now that it has a fine new roof, I've got the rest of my life to finish it.  And I'm planning to stick around to enjoy it after that.

The view from the southwest

     But first things first.  I spent the last two days starting to clean up the decades of stuff that has accumulated over the years.  I definitely need a shop area inside the barn to repair those windows and doors.  And a place to dream about the way it's going to be.  I'll be savoring each step of the way.

New Barn Roof is Coming

 The roofers are here, and by next week a new barn roof! 

It started on Wednesday, December 2, with the prep work shown in the 2 pictures below.

     The larger curved section went on one sheet at a time.  It was facinating to watch.

    

     By Friday the entire roof was enclosed.  They'll be back on Monday for the trim work and final completion.   

     Thank you so much to Dawson Byler Construction for the fine work and craftmanship.  They can be rightfully proud of the integral part they played in conserving this historic old barn.  Maybe even prouder of the joy and happiness it brought to this old man, and I'm sure to many others who will enjoy it in future generations.

     Before Christmas I plan to put in more pictures of the completed project, and maybe some ideas for the next steps in this renovation.  If you'd like to see how this project started, click on this link, "fingers in the dirt" that I wrote back in May.  A few changes since then.  Feel free to write in the comments or email me if have any ideas or suggestions

Memories from the Chicken Coop

Swedmark Hardware 1964

     My friends and I were talking about how time flies so fast, and one of them said the REAL problem is that we keep ripping the pages off the calendar.  So I says, if you want to go back 50 years, come on out to the chicken house with me.  There's a calendar hanging on the wall out there that hasn't lost a page in the 20 years I've lived here, and probably for a long time before that.

     After the meeting, I went out to the chicken house and there it was.  hanging on the wall next to a thermometer-humidity gauge of about the same era.

     Now I'm curious.  Obviously the person who owned this farm in the 1960's did some shopping in that hardware store, and might have known the proprietor, Chet Swedmark.  If anybody is aware of any stories of that era, I would appreciate any remarks in the comments section below, or an e-mail.  We are nothing without a history.


FROM THE GARDEN TODAY

Lettuce, Rhubarb, radishes and asparagus today

     Our old asparagus patch is only about 2 square feet.  We pick about this much every other day, which means about once a week we have enough for a meal for Amber and I.  I planted a 20 foot row this spring, so maybe 2 years from now, we'll be able to eat all we want every spring.  We ate this plus the results of the 2 previous pickings for supper tonight.

     The rhubarb is from behind the chicken coop.  Some years I even forget that it's there, but this picking was made into rhubarb sauce and is cooling in the fridge while I'm typing this.  I'll probably have a bowl before I go to bed tonight.

     Our grandson Al ate half of the lettuce, and the rest is in the fridge and will probably be eaten tomorrow.

     The radishes, except for the 2 or 3 I ate as a snack, are also waiting in the fridge.  There are still plenty of radishes and lettuce in the garden, but for now they're better off in the garden than in the fridge.  We'll keep cutting the asparagus every other day til it stops, and probably get another cutting of rhubarb.  I'm still waiting for the peas, potatoes, carrots, and barn contractors, but patience is a virtue and there is a time for every season under heaven.

Sommer Kommer

     When I walked out to the garden this morning, the old tin can on the fence told me we got 3/4 inch of rain last night.  Added to the 2 inches we got the previous two nights, I believe the dry spell is over.

Hillbilly rain gauge.  That pile of sticks in my garden is the pea trellis.

    Spring was cold and dry until late May, when it became hot and dry.  I planted the early crops like potatoes, radishes, lettuce, peas, carrots and onions in late April.  of course the asparagus and chives are perennial and the garlic was planted last fall.  My inside plants didn't do so well, so I bought broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and tomato plants which I put in the garden in late May.  The last days of May we had a hard frost, and I lost all the tomato plants.  Then it got hot and dry again, so I bought more tomato, pepper, squash and watermelon plants and put them in on June 5th and 6th.  The rains came that night, and continued for 3 nights until this morning.  This homestead is surely blessed.

Lots of tasty worms and bugs out here!

     I think I'm done planting now.  Especially being the barn project will probably destroy most of the garden along with the barn.  The rebuilt barn is more important than one year's vegetable crop, and  I still get the joy of growing it.  By the way, I still don't have a definite offer from a contractor yet, so if you're a barn demolition or deconstruction contractor, please call or e-mail me.  Or if you know of one, give him my e-mail or phone #.  Refer them to my previous blog post "still got my fingers in the dirt" which describes the project in more detail.

     Besides clearing out the barn and the area around the barn, preparing for the tear down contractor, I still visit the chickens every day.  When the weather got hot about 2 weeks ago, I opened up their summer pasture for them.  It's more shaded than the winter-spring pasture, and  the worms and bugs are more plentiful, which our four hens sure appreciate.

    Well, we'll probably have asparagus for our vegetable to night, and lettuce and radishes are ready for a salad.  it looks good for red potatoes and peas about the 4th of July, cabbage and broccoli shortly after that.  Hope to report more progress on both the garden and the barn by about that time.  Remember that doing for others brings the most happiness.

Still Got My Fingers in the Dirt

     Well, I haven't done any blog posts here for the last 4 years, but I've still been gardening on the same old homestead.  I still have four hens who give us 2 or 3 eggs a day, four on a good day.  Enough for the family.  The garden is getting a good start.  We had asparagus from the garden and eggs for dinner today.  But the real reason I'm writing is the barn pictured in the blog header and below.

An old friend, soon a memory

     The original barn was built sometime between 1910 and 1940.  It has served well for almost 100 years, maybe a little more.  24 stanchions for dairy cows, 3 horse stalls and a hay mow big enough to handle them all.  Think of the barn dances they could have had before the first summer hay crop came in!  The barn now needs re-roofing, significant repairs and painting.  As I began to check on costs, I found them excessive. And I don't need a hay mow.
     New idea: (1) Tear the old barn down and put up a new building on the old foundation.  OR (2) Tear the haymow off the first floor and put a new roof over the old first floor.  OR (3).  Tear the old barn down and put just a roof over the old foundation.  As the concrete floor is 4 feet below the top of the poured concrete side walls, I would still have a peak height of over 9 feet even with a 4/12 pitch.  That's still a very useable building.

Options 1 and 2 Top drawing, Option 3 Bottom drawing

     I'm still in the process of looking for contractors.for demolition or deconstruction and for building  after the demo is complete.  If you are an interested contractor who works in Northern Minnesota, or have an idea about this project, feel free to contact me by email or phone or write a comment in the comments section below.

     I'm going to try to keep this blog active again at least once or twice a month.  Hope to have some garden and chicken pictures and a progress report on the barn in the next issue.  Keep your tools clean and your hands in the dirt.

Eggs Are Us

Farm Fresh Eggs  $3/dozen

free delivery to Bemidji and Northern Township

call 444-2642

     For the last four or five years we've had a flock of between 6 and 15 hens supplying us with free range eggs for the family and some of our friends.  Now that we have 36 hens, it's time to start merchandising.  So I put a rock on my hand truck so it would stand upright next to my mailbox, painted a sign on an old waste basket and placed it over the hand truck.

     Now, every Saturday and Sunday afternoon between 1PM and 6PM, I wheel this sign out next to my mailbox, and am ready for business.

     So if you want to make an omelet with free range farm fresh eggs, give us a call at 444-2642 for delivery, or stop in on a week-end afternoon.  We're located 6 miles north of Bemidji on Irvine Avenue, and 1 1/4 mile  west of Northern Townhall at 2411 Townhall Road NW.  Come on over!  The chickens like company, and so do I.

Y'all Come!