On a breezy day like today, I wonder how many storms and changing seasons this old log barn in upper Wisconsin has seen. Not sure if the owner had limited paint or time, but definitely gives a different look to it.
Log Barn
Picture of the Day for July 10, 2015
The very long L shape barn has some interesting features and the dual silos by the door caught my eye. After the barn wasn’t used for farming anymore, it was family style restaurant having an all you can eat breakfast, and then used as shops with the last sign on the end of the barn advertising antiques. A third wing was added at some point to form a T shape barn but now the barn seems to be abandoned once again.
Dual Sentinels
Picture of the Day for June 30, 2015
After a long winter and before the barn would be filled with the new crop of hay, the barn would become our playground when we were kids with all kinds of activities including swinging on ropes tied to the beams. Now most old hay lofts remain empty with the use of round bales and other storage methods, or in the case of this year, there hasn’t been many good hay drying days to put up hay.
Playing in the Barn
Picture of the Day for June 1, 2015
Although some harvesting of hay was happening last week, it is doubtful any hay will be going through the upper hay loft door on this barn since only a small percentage of hay is put up as loose hay anymore and this old barn styles don’t work for the big round bales of hay.
Retired Barn Loft Door
Picture of the Day for May 4, 2015
With a nice small pond in front of the barn, I wonder if there have been ducks and geese visiting the inviting water this spring.
Barn Nestled Near Pond
Picture of the Day for April 23, 2015
Generally my barn pictures are outside shots since I am shooting from the road, but once in a while I get to venture inside an old wooden barn. Each barn in unique with knot holes letting light seeping through or how it is built.
This barn has a rare piece of loose hay equipment called a “mower” and not a mower that cuts hay, but a platform which distributes the hay. Most older barns had a system of pulleys and tracks for the hayfork to raise the loose hay up from the wagon to the barn haymow and across the barn and tripped to drop the hay to the floor. The platform of the mower tips to either side to dump the hay closer to the side walls so required less pitching by hand when stacking the loose hay in the barn.
The exact year when this platform mower was added to the barn is unclear but the article I found about the mower was in the November 1921 issue of the Popular Mechanics magazine. The platform mower can be seen in the upper right corner and a closer view in the second picture.
The Haymow
The Platform of the Mower
Picture of the Day for November 10, 2014
Watching the snow come down this morning makes it look more like Christmas than approaching Thanksgiving. I suppose some are happy to see the snow but I’m not ready for snow yet this year.
Winter Is Coming
Picture of the Day for November 5, 2014
It is another November gloomy day with rain and snow flakes flying in the air and so soon this barn will have fields of white instead of fields of green grass.
Changing Weather
Picture of the Day for September 19, 2014
There are more signs summer is coming to an end with the chill in the air and fall colors being to show more. Autumn is a pretty time of the year but it fades to quickly and the long winter is around the corner.
I wonder what the P stands for on the barn. Was it the first letter of the farmer’s last name or farm name? I wonder if it stood for Peterson like my great, great grandfather’s name.
The Red P Barn
Picture of the Day for August 22, 2014
Old silos sometimes take on a green look when vines inch their way up and cover them but in this case the vines are climbing on both ends of the barn with wild cucumber vines climbing by the round hay bales.
Surrounded by Green
