For Barn Lovers only

[Grumpy Old Man]

It is foolish to think your kids will want to live your dream. It is just that simple. They are putting a lot of emphasis and public awareness on the importance of estate planning around here, as it applies to woodland owners and what they want to happen to their land.

People need to decide if how the land is used in the future is more important to them than what their kids may or may not do. Family meetings to air that out, and written agreements are recommended.

There are ways to preserve open space, agricultural and timber lands if that is what a person wants to do, you can't wait until you are 90 years old however to put those plans into place. It is a sad story but one that could easily have ended otherwise.

My father bought a large piece land in Salem,Franklin county, Me many (60 +)years ago and built a cabin and barn on it .just a few years ago he bought another larger adjacent piece to stop a gravel pit from going in .We would NEVER consider selling it !

 

[dodge man]

A lot of the pictures of barns falling over look like they could have come from my area. I did some work for someone that had bought a house with a pretty good size barn in need of repair. He said from a practial stand point, the old barns aren't much good. A lot of farmers don't have livestock, there to small for modern farm equipment, so they are more of a liability than an assest. The people that are keeping them up its more a matter of pride than anything else.

 

[DKCDKC]

I grew up on an old Shenandoah Valley farm with a large red brick barn, the largest I've seen around here. It was built about 1900 using a lot of the bricks recycled from an older, large carriage house built 60 years before that. Love the old barn... Hand-hewn heart of pine beams, a giant hay mow, a variety of pens and a milking stable. Used to have an old wood stave silo as well. That rotted. But the barn's roof is sound and it is still usable. Rental farmer uses it as a cattle hospital and/or sorting unit. It's part of a historical site. The farm's been in the family since 1790... My brother, the older son, owns it now.

This image is a pen-and-ink drawing by talented local artist Joe Nutt.

 

[GGB]

A lot of the pictures of barns falling over look like they could have come from my area. I did some work for someone that had bought a house with a pretty good size barn in need of repair. He said from a practial stand point, the old barns aren't much good. A lot of farmers don't have livestock, there to small for modern farm equipment, so they are more of a liability than an assest. The people that are keeping them up its more a matter of pride than anything else.

That is exactly the reason we redid the barn at at the farm. From an investment/utilization view, we'd have been money ahead to have torn it down and replaced with a larger pole barn. But that old barn is the soul of the farm. We use it now for shelter for the cattle and to store the skid loader and grinder, so it's still a working barn.

We have decided to tear down an old hog shed that was in the corral which we reworked. We were just going to try to save the 2x4's and burn the rest, but one of our neighbors has offered to tear it down for the planks to use for a rustic looking area in his basement. I didn't think they were decent enough to recycle, but glad I was wrong as it will save us the time to use for other projects, which as most of you know is never ending on a farm. And we took down an old small granary that was also falling apart and no longer being used. They had become an eyesore, and we were still paying property taxes on them. And although I've got mixed emotions, we will probably replace an old drive through granary to build a new machine shed. Here again, it has come down to functionality versus what's left of the heritage.

A big part of the equation is that our nephew wants to continue to farm and run cattle. And Grandma still lives on the place, which is also where she was born 83 years ago. We still have to remind her that she doesn't need to be painting outside when it's pushing 100 degrees!

 

[dave1949]

My father bought a large piece land in Salem,Franklin county, Me many (60 +)years ago and built a cabin and barn on it .just a few years ago he bought another larger adjacent piece to stop a gravel pit from going in .We would NEVER consider selling it !

It's always good when it works out that way. You and your father have a commitment to the land. The trouble is, if you wanted your children to take it on, are they interested, can they make a living from it, or even commute to a decent job from that location? Too often, the answer is no.

I doubt if my sons, ages 39 and 35, have any interest in parking themselves in the hinterlands of Western Maine. They didn't grow up here and have no anchors in the community. Time will tell. I do ask them about it once in a while because it affects what I might do with our lot.

Sorry to get off the topic of barns, but the future of aging barns is in the hands of the next generation to some extent.

 

[Grumpy Old Man]

It's always good when it works out that way. You and your father have a commitment to the land. The trouble is, if you wanted your children to take it on, are they interested, can they make a living from it, or even commute to a decent job from that location? Too often, the answer is no.

I doubt if my sons, ages 39 and 35, have any interest in parking themselves in the hinterlands of Western Maine. They didn't grow up here and have no anchors in the community. Time will tell. I do ask them about it once in a while because it affects what I might do with our lot.

Sorry to get off the topic of barns, but the future of aging barns is in the hands of the next generation to some extent.

My son 32 is in Dallas working in aviation and my daughter 28 is a model living in South beach ,Fl and I'm not sure if they know where the state of Maine is ?

 

[CDN Farm Boy]

For Barn Lovers only.... You don't need to check 'Snopes' to see all these barns have seen there better days ! :tombstone:



View attachment 299855View attachment 299856View attachment 299857View attachment 299858

The first 2, seen better days for sure.
3rd one a coat of paint would do wonders.
You'll have to help me out with the last one. Looks to me to be in excellent condition, still being used even.

 

[mjarrels]

I have a 140 year old bank barn... It's a maintenance nightmare. New barn doors on the north side and the south side doors need paint. The construction is unbelievable... no nails, just hickory pegs and huge oak timbers. Largest barn I ever saw is located on NAS Whidbey Island... used for DRMO, the vertical post are about 4 X 4 FEET of fir. Huge barn that was on the original farm and was once the largest barn on the west coast.

mark

 

[Grumpy Old Man]

This one is just down the road from us stay on 58 See rock city

 

[dave1949]

This one is just down the road from us View attachment 300756 stay on 58 See rock city

Come to think of it, I've never seen a Mail Pouch painted on a metal pole barn.