Even though the predicted low for tonight is 32, the ground won’t be frozen so this old cultivator could still till the soggy soil.
Old Cultivator
Picture of the Day for June 18, 2015
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, round barns were promoted as an efficient design, with feed for a dairy herd stored in the middle and cows spread out around it. Round barns were not easy to expand for increasing herds and the mechanization of American agriculture was more suited to rectangular barn design so the round style was never as popular as the traditional style and few remain across the county and all stone construction are a rare find, which only one listed in Wisconsin.
Matthew Annala, a Finnish carpenter and stone mason, had a small dairy farm south of Hurley, Wisconsin, where he built a 24 inch thick stone round barn which took five years to complete with the help of some of his sons and neighbors. Only a little mortar was used since they relied on the mason’s skill of fitting the multi-colored stones together for a tight binding. The barn was completed in 1921 and continued to be a dairy barn and deliver milk to the region until 1973.
In 1979, Matthew Annala’s barn earned a listing on the National Register of Historic Places. A paragraph from the petition states, “The Annala Round Barn and Milkhouse…is significant for its design, its excellence in craftsmanship, and its associations with the area’s early Finnish settlement and with private dairy farming in Iron County.”
Annala Round Barn and Milkhouse
Picture of the Day for March 19, 2015
Astronomical winter ends today, but even though there is no snow on the ground, it doesn’t mean there won’t be more snow before winter is truly over. Especially since the robins aren’t back yet and the saying is that it’s not officially spring until “it has snowed on the Robins’ tail three times.” I think this old milkhouse would prefer not getting snowed on again three more times as it is probably as ready for spring as I am.
Astronomical End of Winter
Picture of the Day for August 20, 2014
While pretty weeds or wildflowers can spice up a scene, so can late summer flowers planted in a yard. The garden zinnia stems back to a native plant found in Mexico and a species sample was collected by Spanish botanists in 1789 and now there are many different cultivars of the zinnia flower. And it is hard to say which is older, this zinnia cultivar or the old milk and pump house, but they are both pretty.
Zinnias and Milkhouse
Picture of the Day for October 6, 2012
The round barn in yesterday’s picture had a milkhouse next to it, and many of the milkhouses were built of stone or concrete for better insulation so long after the wood barn is gone, the milkhouse may remain as testimony of a dairy farm which once existed.
On some farms the early milkhouse and pump house were in the same building and later milkhouses would be next to the barn after sanitary regulations required that the milk be stored outside of the stable area. Windmills would pump water to the cold water reservoirs which held the milk cans waiting for pickup.
Milkhouse of Yesterday
