The Gray Barn

A barn hidden by the trees that are now growing up around it and through it.

Its easy to drive by this barn and never notice it as it is neatly camouflaged by the trees and grass.
I was walking on the road and noticed it.

A small apple orchard sits nearby and at one time this barn held cows, milk and apples.

This barn is empty and falling down and probably will disappear from the landscape within the next few years.

Barn & Chicken Tractor Views

I went on a little field trip the other day to visit with some friends who built a chicken tractor and got their first chicks. Six red Comets.

The view from their living room is typical of Vermont:  Barns, green lush grass and small mountains.

Their home made chicken tractor reminds me of a Conestoga Wagon.
Complete with a covering to provide shade and some protection for the chicks.

This chicken tractor has wheels on the front with handles on the rear like a wheelbarrow and is easily moved to a new spot every day.

This  chicken tractor will be featured in the Tour D'Coop this summer.

There will be 5 or 6 coops on the tour and a few chicken tractors.  PLUS there will be lots of gardens to oogle over, various livestock species and other interesting details.

Have you ever gone on a Tour D'Coop ?

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Winter Barn Wednesday

This barn sits on a hill overlooking the mighty Connecticut River Valley and is witness to the growing and harvesting of hundreds of acres of corn, hay, pumpkins, fiddleheads and other diverse crops.
For over 200 years this barn has seen many changes and been well used.
It now has a small herd of Dexter cattle that take shelter in it on rainy, bitter cold days.

From a mile away the barn still looks large. I estimate that it is over 300 feet long.
It was once a very active dairy barn in its day.

Click on the photos to enlarge and enjoy them.

 

Such a majestic old barn, built by settlers and pioneers to this valley 2 centuries ago.

The hand hewn beams and siding were cut from the woodlot that once surrounded it.

The land of this farm has suffered the land acquisition by railroad, highway and tax lots.

But the biggest loss will be this barn when the rain rotted beams start to collapse on each other.

Note the big wet spot on the side of this barn.

 

The roof on this side still looks good.

But age and lack of repair are starting to take its toll.

 I drove up the highway on the front side of the barn to get a closer look at the water damage.

 

As I got closer, it got worse. I saw where the beams are already buckling over the windows.

 With no place to pull over I did some drive by clicking.

 

Front looks good.

I plan on going back in better weather and somehow walking over to the front and the "other side" of the barn, where the cows are.

It is a narrow road with no where to pull over, so I will have to find a willing volunteer to drive by and drop me off.

Well worth it to document this classic barn before it falls to the ground.
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Cows, Barns & Emus

Lots of things falling down around me this week.....

As I drove down the road, the wind blew this tree down right in front of me.

I was lucky, but the speeding motorcyclist coming in the other direction was not.

A few miles later I discovered that one of my favorite old barns had come down in last weeks blizzard.

The heavy wet snow broke its last timber. 

Built in 1824

The wind is causing some complications around here. But the best thing about this wind is that it is drying out the fields and we were able to put most of the herd out to green grass!!

Look at those happy faces!

One of the more unusual experiences was seeing my first, newly hatched Emu chicks.  They are some really weird looking birds.  Here are 4 of them fresh out of the incubator and under the brooder lamp.

I really wanted two of them, but could not afford the price... so I came home with two of them in a different kind of "package."

I am unable to get the photo to display correctly, but you get the idea...

I had Emu burgers for dinner and they were incredible.

A beef producer friend of mine named a calf after me. There is no greater honor, in my book.

Here is a photo of the Janis calf.

That is one heck of a cute calf, if I do say so myself!

Can you guess the breed ?