I can relate to your frustration, being somewhat in the same boat in upstate NY. Our kids are the 7th generation of our family to reside on our 40 acre homestead. My great great great grandfather bought the place prior to the Civil war, after emigrating from Europe, along with his brother who settled on the other side of our town.
The original log cabin is long gone. I still remember my grandparent's 1880's farmhouse, which was lost to a fire in 1980. Great great granddad's two big old 1883 barns had fallen into a state of disrepair, due to leaking roofs and sagging foundations.
About 5 years ago, after years with the same insurance company, we attempted to roll all of our policies (home, auto, etc) into a single carrier, in attempt to save some dough. When the adjuster came out and looked at the two sad structures, he claimed that our place was uninsurable.
I have many childhood memories of those old barns. I remember helping my grandad grind feed for the cattle, using the belt drive on his old John Deere M tractor. The grinder was mounted on the plank barn floor and the tractor parked out back outside the big swinging doors. I was at school when he passed away from a heart attack, while doing that one spring day.
I also remember bringing in loose hay and transfering it from loaded wagons, up onto the lofts, using the big hooks and trolley that hung from a crane rail up under the peak. One day the trip rope broke off and I remember grandpa going up a tall extension ladder to repair it. He wouldn't let my dad do it because he "had young kids to take care of".
At that time, the cost to repair those big old structures was many times more than the cost to build a new structure. I opted for the latter, and I am currently in the process of dismantling the last of the old barns. I built my new pole barn, with two porches, large enough to hold all that is or may become necessary, on the site of the first old barn.
When I complete the dismantling of the remaining barn, I will call the insurance man back, and hopefully get a rate reduction.
I have been doing my best to keep the feel of the old barns with my new one. I used many of the old hand hewn beams and American chestnut siding and granary wood to make a loft, with a woodshop and metal shop below, inside the new barn. I even saved the "18" siding board from the "1883" barn and tried to match the text with a jigsaw for a "20". My new shell went up in 2018.
Basically, I am saving what I can of the old, and hopefully saving some cash in the process. I hope to be able to save that old hay fork and hang it inside my new barn.
The original log cabin is long gone. I still remember my grandparent's 1880's farmhouse, which was lost to a fire in 1980. Great great granddad's two big old 1883 barns had fallen into a state of disrepair, due to leaking roofs and sagging foundations.
About 5 years ago, after years with the same insurance company, we attempted to roll all of our policies (home, auto, etc) into a single carrier, in attempt to save some dough. When the adjuster came out and looked at the two sad structures, he claimed that our place was uninsurable.
I have many childhood memories of those old barns. I remember helping my grandad grind feed for the cattle, using the belt drive on his old John Deere M tractor. The grinder was mounted on the plank barn floor and the tractor parked out back outside the big swinging doors. I was at school when he passed away from a heart attack, while doing that one spring day.
I also remember bringing in loose hay and transfering it from loaded wagons, up onto the lofts, using the big hooks and trolley that hung from a crane rail up under the peak. One day the trip rope broke off and I remember grandpa going up a tall extension ladder to repair it. He wouldn't let my dad do it because he "had young kids to take care of".
At that time, the cost to repair those big old structures was many times more than the cost to build a new structure. I opted for the latter, and I am currently in the process of dismantling the last of the old barns. I built my new pole barn, with two porches, large enough to hold all that is or may become necessary, on the site of the first old barn.
When I complete the dismantling of the remaining barn, I will call the insurance man back, and hopefully get a rate reduction.
I have been doing my best to keep the feel of the old barns with my new one. I used many of the old hand hewn beams and American chestnut siding and granary wood to make a loft, with a woodshop and metal shop below, inside the new barn. I even saved the "18" siding board from the "1883" barn and tried to match the text with a jigsaw for a "20". My new shell went up in 2018.
Basically, I am saving what I can of the old, and hopefully saving some cash in the process. I hope to be able to save that old hay fork and hang it inside my new barn.
