Barns and Structures

My Dot on the Map: Too Late

/ Pat / 12 Comments

Yesterday I posted on the work farm, owned by the Barn Doctor. A couple of weeks ago we found this barn while driving north from Homer, Michigan. I think it is beyond the help of the Barn Doctor.

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This makes me really sad, to see a barn starting to fall down. The new barns are steel sided, single story pole barns and just don’t have the personality and beauty of these old wooden barns. We drove to Grand Rapids today, up M-50, and the countryside is dotted with beautiful wooden barns – usually red but also white, brown, sometimes yellow or grey. I think I’ll have to take the drive by myself so I can stop and take photos to my heart’s content. Hubby is wonderful about stopping and offered several times but I have a hard time getting lost in my quest for the perfect perspective if I know he is waiting in the car.

My Dot on the Map: Work Farm

/ Pat / 31 Comments

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We happened upon this interesting farm on our photography excursion last week. Don’t know exactly where it is except somewhere in the southeast corner of my dot on the map. Roll up your sleeves and enjoy your visit.

I was excited to see that there are people to tend to the ailments old barns tend to experience. Like us, their joints weaken and the outer structure sags.

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This old wind mill is still standing but not working very hard. It has an interesting structure which now serves a purpose of giving me pleasure.

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Julie was further down the fence photographing the two horses in the field. This one was curious (I think) and did a lot of prancing and posing. Or maybe it was just telling us something we couldn’t hear.

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I love this curved fence that defines the barn yard from the distant fields and frames this side of the barn. What beautiful barn windows.

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I worked hard to capture the personality of this farm. I guess you can’t be on a work farm without expecting to work hard. We left before they asked us to clean the horse barn. For us city folk, living on a farm seems like the simple life, but to those who work the farm, life is anything but simple or easy.

Foggy Morning Barn

/ Pat / 12 Comments

I decided to leave a little early yesterday morning to take some photos of a barn that has been calling to me for some time. It was another one of those foggy mornings and the sun was just beginning to burn its way through.

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The other end of the barn isn’t faring as well. I think they are salvaging some of it – I hope so.

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At first I thought it very sad, but then I remembered that I am donating my organs when I die. These barns have such beautiful lines and were built to last – but not forever. They are wood and are expensive to maintain once the farm is no longer active so there are a lot of decaying barns dotting the countryside, the wood rejoining the earth. Some people have the energy and vision to find uses for various elements and materials. A friend has been collecting the huge beams from barns that are being demolished to use in a cider mill he is breathing new life into.