OP
buckeyefarmer
Epic Contributor
Loose hay keeps well if kept dry.
Life on the farm
- Thread starter buckeyefarmer
- Start date
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milkman636
Veteran Member
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- Palm of the Right Hand
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- Bobcat CT335 + John Deere 1023e (former owner of Kubota BX2370-1, John Deere 5210, and Ford 2000)
Great pictures! Those haying action shots remind me of helping my next door neighbor with hay behind his old Harry Ferguson tractor. He only did 20 acres of his own hay and 10 for another neighbor, but they were some long hot days.
Do you get back there often?
Do you get back there often?
OP
buckeyefarmer
Epic Contributor
Dont get back to visit as often as I'd like.
Except for the original part of the barn, most everything on the farm was built by us. When you grow up on a farm, with little money, you learned to do it all. That is probably why I'm an engineer today. My parents never had the chance to go to college, but all of my brothers and sisters did, most of us with advanced degrees. There was an existing old house that we lived in until 1963, when we finished building our "new" house that had indoor plumbing. More on that in another edition.
The garage was built in the late 40's or early 50's, I'll have to ask.
1955 picture of Dad and the deer he got, and my Mom's Dad in the garage.
Later an addition was added to the left side, with 2 stanchions used for milking and another stall where we kept pigs at times. Don't think I have a picture of the inside, and right now it's full of hay bales. When I was young we had a milk cow named Brownie that supplied all our milk. We never got another milk cow after it, and we started buying milk when I was probably 12 or so. Growing up on real milk, store bought milk was like water. Now it's the other way around, real milk is so thick I can't drink it. There used to not be a pole in front of the garage, and we had a basketball hoop there. The gravel area in front was our basketball court, and me and my brothers played a lot of basketball.
Put this one in because it is cute.
Pretty soon, this is what it will look like. Dad was plowing snow, so the cows came to watch. When dad is out there, the cows come running to him.
Another view of the garage, with the barn in the far background.
Except for the original part of the barn, most everything on the farm was built by us. When you grow up on a farm, with little money, you learned to do it all. That is probably why I'm an engineer today. My parents never had the chance to go to college, but all of my brothers and sisters did, most of us with advanced degrees. There was an existing old house that we lived in until 1963, when we finished building our "new" house that had indoor plumbing. More on that in another edition.
The garage was built in the late 40's or early 50's, I'll have to ask.
1955 picture of Dad and the deer he got, and my Mom's Dad in the garage.
Later an addition was added to the left side, with 2 stanchions used for milking and another stall where we kept pigs at times. Don't think I have a picture of the inside, and right now it's full of hay bales. When I was young we had a milk cow named Brownie that supplied all our milk. We never got another milk cow after it, and we started buying milk when I was probably 12 or so. Growing up on real milk, store bought milk was like water. Now it's the other way around, real milk is so thick I can't drink it. There used to not be a pole in front of the garage, and we had a basketball hoop there. The gravel area in front was our basketball court, and me and my brothers played a lot of basketball.
Put this one in because it is cute.
Pretty soon, this is what it will look like. Dad was plowing snow, so the cows came to watch. When dad is out there, the cows come running to him.
Another view of the garage, with the barn in the far background.
OP
buckeyefarmer
Epic Contributor
For reference, here is aerial view and topo map.
Farm is outlined in red. South of the farm in yellow was my Mom's grandparents farm. Don't know when it got sold, but no longer in the family. I had the chance to buy it once, but didn't, and have kicked myself ever since.
The orange line to the north is an old narrow gauge RR that ran in the late 1800's into early 1900's. My mom rode the last train in 1933 (think that is right year). There was a short tunnel, that we used to explore as kids. Our farm is at the end of a 1 mile long twp road. Even though the farm is just under 200 acres, we had 500-600 acres we would play on.
Topo map to show the terrain. 3 sides have steep hills, so the only vehicle approach is from the south. There are old logging roads all over those hills, but mostly grown up.
One year I ran a trap line down the hollow to the right of our farm. Was a terrible trapper, never caught anything, but it was an experience that I will always remember. Nothing like a 2+ mile hike in the wilderness every night as a high school kid. There are caves in this hollow, and now some of them are in a park.
Train tunnel:
I'm in this picture in front of the old train tunnel, taken 1965.
Last time I was in the tunnel was 1986. The ends were almost caved in at that time, now it is closed off by landslides. It was very unsafe inside, so we didn't stay long. Over the years the ceiling keeps caving in, so the tunnel keeps rising up the hill.
Farm is outlined in red. South of the farm in yellow was my Mom's grandparents farm. Don't know when it got sold, but no longer in the family. I had the chance to buy it once, but didn't, and have kicked myself ever since.
The orange line to the north is an old narrow gauge RR that ran in the late 1800's into early 1900's. My mom rode the last train in 1933 (think that is right year). There was a short tunnel, that we used to explore as kids. Our farm is at the end of a 1 mile long twp road. Even though the farm is just under 200 acres, we had 500-600 acres we would play on.
Topo map to show the terrain. 3 sides have steep hills, so the only vehicle approach is from the south. There are old logging roads all over those hills, but mostly grown up.
One year I ran a trap line down the hollow to the right of our farm. Was a terrible trapper, never caught anything, but it was an experience that I will always remember. Nothing like a 2+ mile hike in the wilderness every night as a high school kid. There are caves in this hollow, and now some of them are in a park.
Train tunnel:
I'm in this picture in front of the old train tunnel, taken 1965.
Last time I was in the tunnel was 1986. The ends were almost caved in at that time, now it is closed off by landslides. It was very unsafe inside, so we didn't stay long. Over the years the ceiling keeps caving in, so the tunnel keeps rising up the hill.
Green Power
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- Dec 1, 2013
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Cool pictures! thank you for sharing.
OP
buckeyefarmer
Epic Contributor
Dad raised chickens for several years. One of the first buildings he built was a 20x20' grainery shown in the background of this picture. My oldest sister, who died 3 yrs ago.
He later added on 30' on the left, back, and right sides to create a 50'x 80' pole building to house the chickens. This building is now used as a barn.
This is a picture of it taken last weekend.
Behind this chicken house was another chicken house, 30' deep and I'm guessing around 80' wide. Most of it was torn down (by me and my brothers) in the 70's. All the lumber was reclaimed, and repurposed for other projects. A portion of this building was left as a machine shed, but it is almost fallen down now. My oldest brother in this picture.
Right side of the lower chicken house.
L5030 in the original grainery portion of the building.
Dozer in the upper chicken house, now machine shed. Dad sold the dozer several yrs ago.
He later added on 30' on the left, back, and right sides to create a 50'x 80' pole building to house the chickens. This building is now used as a barn.
This is a picture of it taken last weekend.
Behind this chicken house was another chicken house, 30' deep and I'm guessing around 80' wide. Most of it was torn down (by me and my brothers) in the 70's. All the lumber was reclaimed, and repurposed for other projects. A portion of this building was left as a machine shed, but it is almost fallen down now. My oldest brother in this picture.
Right side of the lower chicken house.
L5030 in the original grainery portion of the building.
Dozer in the upper chicken house, now machine shed. Dad sold the dozer several yrs ago.
OP
buckeyefarmer
Epic Contributor
tcreeley
Elite Member
Wonderful pics! It is what memories are made of. Thanks for sharing them- reminds me of our old dairy farm.
Here is one of my sister showing her Guernsey Blueberry at the local county 4-H show.
View attachment 395636
Here is one of my sister showing her Guernsey Blueberry at the local county 4-H show.
View attachment 395636
wmonroe
Elite Member
Great pictures I really enjoyed them. Happy birthday btw.
joemd11
Platinum Member
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- Jan 1, 2010
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- 921
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- Western Pa
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- LS R3039, Power King 1614, Simplicity Soveriegn 75th Aniv model.
Very nice pictures and a great story. Thanks for sharing!
