To end the ‘red barn’ week which should have ended yesterday with the seventh red barn so this is a bonus barn for the red barn week, but then this barn at first glance doesn’t seem like it would qualify as a red barn. Weather and time has removed most of the red paint and former crispness that this old barn once would have showcased. It is very rustic, just not very red anymore.
Faded Red
Another old red barn with a pretty stone silo but I wonder with the one corner of the roof so low to the ground, how many kids climbed up on the roof and maybe used it as a tobogganing hill.
Low Red
The ‘red barn’ week had winter and summer scenes so today picture will be a red barn in the autumn.
Hundreds of years ago, many farmers would seal their barns with linseed oil, which is an orange-colored oil derived from the seeds of the flax plant. To this oil, they would add a variety of things, most often milk and lime, but also ferrous oxide, or rust. Rust was plentiful on farms and because it killed fungi and mosses that might grow on barns, was very effective as a sealant. It turned the mixture red in color.
As European settlers crossed over to America, they brought with them the tradition of red barns. In the mid to late 1800s, as paints began to be produced with chemical pigments, red paint was the most inexpensive to buy. Red was the color of favor until whitewash became cheaper, at which point white barns began to spring up.
Autumn Red
Today’s red barn is a special red barn to me since it is my grandfather’s barn. It has definitely seen many years of use and I have heard many interesting tales from the aunts and uncles about what they did in the barn. A cowboy singing group, the Ringling 5, has a wonderful song called “Grandpa’s Barn” and you can listen to it with the link below the picture.
Grandpa’s Barn
The sun is shining today and the bright, white snow sure makes the red barns stand out more. I had shingled the roof of milkhouse which is on the other side of the big barn twenty five years ago (when I was much younger!) but at least it wasn’t the big barn roof as that has a farther drop to the ground.
Red, White and Blue
As I continue the ‘red barn’ week, today picture is a lot of red barns and while not a rustic as an old red barn would be, it is a fitting picture for today as these red barns are on my parents farm and today is my dad’s birthday. When they purchased the farm (before I was born), all the barns and buildings were white but after a couple of tornadoes removed a couple of the barns, they were replaced with red ones. When it was only one red and the old white barn, it was easier to know where to go but now it is the middle barn or the back barn which works fine until my brother decides he needs another barn for his machinery. So would the middle barn become the ‘old’ middle barn and would the new one become the ‘way back’ barn? Maybe they should have different names but my brother is not quick in naming things and that is why one of his bulls were named Gertrude since my sister named it since my brother didn’t hurry up fast enough!
Lots of Red
Another barn for the ‘red barn’ week and it appears there are couple of rocks in the field that haven’t been picked yet but they are a little small so easy to be overlooked!
Red and Rocks
There might be some people with red, blood shot eyes this morning if they were ringing in the new year last night so I thought today’s picture should be a red one but since it is the new year, that it also had to be ‘new’ and ‘red’ so this new red barn can start off the red barn week.
Happy New Year Everyone!
New Red Barn
One last ‘old’ picture for the old year ending. It looks like this old fence list is counting down to the new year with 2 old steel fence posts and then one old wooden post. But of course the new year here will not be a warm fall day but a cold, white winter day with temperatures starting out around -10F and wind chills down to -23F – a refreshing start to the new year.
Old Fence Line
This barn wall and hinges definitely fit into the ‘old’ week theme. With one hinge already broken, I wonder how long the rest will last or before the wood rots away. With the nails bent over and double nails instead of screws, the fix-it job probably would not have gotten an A in a school woodworking shop class!
Old Hinges
