Winn Happenings

Wide Open Space 2

2010-05-21T13:22:00.000-07:00

We hired a RATT (Rent A Team of Teens) from the youth group Daniel attends, to help us move the lumber from upstairs to downstairs. We are exceedingly grateful for their strong backs, cheerful attitudes and endless energy.

Dave Conlee - the fearless, wonderful youth group leader

Daniel and Dave carefully, neatly stacking!

Goin' out the big doors.... out and around

Big, and dirty, space.

Daniel Winn, Lawrence Timmons, Lucas Simpson

Sweeping, vacuuming and hammering down nails.

It is nearly impossible to capture this room with my little camera.

Wide Open Space

2010-05-21T12:52:00.000-07:00

We have successfully removed the grain bin/ramp form the barn loft, and moved the lumber downstairs. I am going to let pictures tell the story.

Hundreds of nails to remove and pick up.

Some beautiful 24 foot 2 x 12 boards!

The inside of the grain bins All the corners of the grain bins were lined with metal that came from the cans of linseed oil used to give the barn its first coat of paint.

Grain Bin Removal

2010-04-16T12:22:00.000-07:00

It has become increasingly obvious to us that we need remove the grain bins upstairs in the barn to make it all one big open room. Preston and Daniel have been working on it for a few months now, when they have time. It is hard, tedious work. We are accumulating quite a stack of nice lumber, which we are saving for some still to be determined project. My contribution to this project to to take pictures documenting, not really the destruction, but how it was constructed. It is bittersweet, to be sure, to be dismantling this bit of history.

First remove the hay chute,"stairs" and the top layer of the decking.

94 years if dirt, chaff, and oil

Back breaking work

Taking out the nails, stacking up the lumber

Now the second layer ... 1x6 shiplap

...and under that 2x12s, some of which are 24 feet long

Under neath all that is the grain bin structure,
for those of you who always wondered what it looks like:

Which feeds into these, downstairs

More to come ......

A Stairway

2010-02-15T18:00:00.000-08:00

The next project on our list of things to do with the barn was a stairway to the upstairs. Old ladders were the method of access to the wonderful space there, or the big doors through which the haywagon would pull into the upstairs to unload its cargo. Preston decided that his labor of love and hope Christmas gift to me would be STAIRS. He used lumber taken from other parts of the barn (horse stalls...) which we have removed. Much of this lumber is original barn construction Fir of amazing quality! We would not be able to afford to purchase such lumber today. I wonder if we would even be able to find it.

These stairs are along the south wall of the barn, on the dairy side.

Dad and Mom and Suzanne checked them out and pronounced them wonderful.

Dad was particularly pleased with how easy they were to use.

Then for Valentine's Day he finished the project by putting up railings and hand rail. All that remains to do is cleaning, some sanding to smooth the rough edges and maybe some stain to make the end cuts look old.

I love this new addition to the barn. It make the barn loft beautifully more accessible for work projects and events. I deeply love Preston's willingness to work hard on these projects and ask me for my opinion on what would look best.

South End of Barn Repair

2009-09-22T17:04:00.001-07:00

The end of the barn that faces the south has been needing attention for years. Windstorms, sun, rain, snow have taken their toll. Trim was falling off, siding splitting, and window doors falling apart. So why haven't we done anything about it? One reason was time, another the height. We solved the time issue this summer by Preston deciding not to get an summer job. A decision that has its drawbacks financially, but had benefits in a myriad of other areas of our lives. One of which was projects in the barnyard. It took all summer to gather the courage to tackle the sound end. This meant renting scaffolding and climbing up on it. It was hot, tiring work replacing siding and trim, climbing up and down the scaffolding, and keeping your concern about being 40 feet from the ground under control. Near the end, when Preston was having to climb the highest and was wearing down God provided encouragement. This was the point of the project where there was 4 scaffolding moves to finish the last little bits of painting....at the top. One evening Daniel called from football practice to ask if he could go watch the girls volleyball game in Milton-Freewater. Preston said "Sure, after you come and help me move the scaffolding" Daniel countered with, "Can I bring some friends to help?" Preston agreed. Daniel brought 3 of his football player friends (who also wanted a ride to the volleyball game). They helped that night and agreed to come back the following night and help again. Thank you Jacob, Matt & Elliot. (My only regret is that I didn't take pictures. ) Then the last day Preston finished up what needed to be done where the scaffolding was about the middle of the day, he was going to wait until Daniel got home to move to the last area that needed painting, but our pastor Bill Dobos dropped by, and helped him move the scaffolding to the final area. The following morning I was able to help him take it down for the last time and load it up to take it home. AHHH what a FEELING to have this job done!! Everyday we & especially Preston gets to see that view of the barn and have a deep sense of satisfaction and pride from a job well done. I believe that his ancestors from Jesse Z. Winn to the present were keeping Preston's & Daniel's (and others) guardian angels on their toes and are smiling. Following are pictures that give you a feel for the size of the project

Before: notice missing trim around windows, the singles tuck into a hole in the siding to plug a bird hole just below the top most window, the damaged window doors ......

It Is Finished!!!

Scaffolding is load.

AHHHHH

Barn- South End Door Repair

2009-09-07T15:51:00.000-07:00

The south end of the Winn Barn is the side that gets the harshest weather. The wind, rain, snow and sun beat on this face. Because of that the siding, trim and window take a beating and are showing some serious signs of wear. Trim had fallen off, and the teardrop siding had many holes in it. It is time to do repairs. We had been able to find used teardrop siding, that was an exact match, in the last couple of years at Hippo Hardware in Portland, Oregon in anticipation of the need to do this project. The glass windows had already been replace in order to try to stanch the flow of pigeons and other birds. That was done early on because it could be accomplished from the inside of the barn, thereby not requiring extreme measures to reach them.

The sliding door on the eastern most side of the face was beyond repair. It was early on the list of repairs, mostly because it was at ground level. Preston determined that it was best to remove it and replace it with a walk thru door. My only stipulations was that there was no new wood showing, and that it fit in with the rest of the building.

This is the track that the door slid on, the supporting boards underneath it were weakened and not fully carrying the weight of the door or the track, making it difficult to open and close the door.

Before he could remove the track Preston had to deal with the wasp nests. It makes the work area a little calmer. I think he went through four cans of wasp spray before he was comfortable with the situation.

Track down, now for construction!

Framing was done with recycled lumber from other places in the barn where we removed dividers or adaptation to the structure that are no longer needed. We don't want it looking new.

The siding find at Hippo Hardware came in really handy on this project.

Framing is done, as well as repairing worn out siding, now for the new door.

Olympic Stain: Navajo Red and Navajo White

The newly constructed split doors are leaning up on the end of the barn ready to be hung, while Preston works on painting trim. These doors were entirely constructed from the good wood out of the sliding door that was removed.

Looks pretty good, don't you think? The only problem is we didn't originally use the Navajo White paint. The white is just too stark.

I love how it looks like it has always been there from the inside.

Barnyard Improvements- Steps

2009-07-28T08:47:00.000-07:00

The largest part of the Barnyard is bi level. For the young, physically fit, work boot wearing person traversing the slope is not problematic. Wedding party members in dress shoes and guests with mobility challenges is a different matter. I have been concerned about making it easier for our more delicate guest by adding steps for quite some time. Preston was reluctant to mess with his lawn mowing routine and adding obstacles to the area. I maintain that it would reduce his work load and add more to mine: more flower beds and less lawn. Of course, getting the steps put in would probably add more to his work load. That might be why he was dragging his feet.

Then there is the decision making:
Where do the steps go? Between the two old locust trees and away from irrigation lines
How big should they be? 5 feet wide to comfortably accommodate at least two people and fancy dresses
What materials should we use? Redwood 4x4 stacked two high and re-bar.

Our pastor and friend Bill Dobos came by to check on us, and got in on some of the work. removing the sod.

almost done... my back is killing me...

Nice work ....Looking good, but ... I really think we need one more step.

Now it just needs the flowerbeds on either side, and steppable plants on the walking surface. I think I will transplant more plants from my yard into this new project.

First Wedding

2009-07-28T06:12:00.001-07:00

Reception at the north end of the barn

The breezy conditions made setting up for the reception interesting.

Ceremony on the ramp

Simple decorations.. plants hung on the railing and vine wreaths on the doors

The bride and father waiting for their cue

The weather for the ceremony and meal was very pleasant. The photographer was thrilled with the cloudy weather, the wind calmed down and everyone had a wonderful time.

The caterer set up inside, out of the wind.

The DJ moved in when he heard there was a bad thunderstorm coming. It was actually in Walla Walla, but... it is better to be safe than sorry. I am happy we had a place for them to move to.

The wind picked up again so the dancing was moved inside. During the 2-3 hours the guests danced we did get thunderstorm activity and a great rain storm.

Farmer on the Roof

2009-07-27T15:45:00.000-07:00

The Barn roof is in need of repairs. In January of 2008 we had a horrendous windstorm that took off two pieces of ridge cap. Since then we have lost singles from the ridgeline. Preston has dreaded this project for over a year and a half.

This last week he was finally able to muster the courage to take his maiden voyage to the top of the barn roof. He began by scouting around the farm for a good, long rope... for his lifeline, and a good ladder. Our friend and pastor, Bill Dobos has a good ladder so he went to check with him about borrowing it. While there he asked him about rope. Bill loves to backpack and other dangerous recreational activities. Much to Preston's pleasure Bill had a climbing rope AND harness. This project was looking safer! Daniel rigged up a belaying harness from a webbing tie down Preston keeps in his pickup. So.... up the ladder with climbing harness firmly installed, leather worker belt loaded with nails and hammer, the ridge cap handy and a few shingles (at my insistence) close at hand. The first order of business is to secure one end of the rope around one of the cupolas. Daniel was on the other end of the rope as the anchor man.. letting out rope or taking up slack as the need arose. He has had a little bit of belaying experience with YD Adventures at Oregon Camp Cedarbrook. He knows that you keep the rope snug to prevent a long fall. Preston was not amused by the snug fit while trying to work. He kept asking for more slack than Daniel was comfortable giving. A little test of wills there. :) I hoped that the rope was short enough to prevent Preston from hitting the ground.. should he fall.

Now to get to work. Preston thought it was going to be a quick job of nailing the ridgecap back in place. I, on the other hand, knew that there were some singles that had blown off. I could see the holes inside the barn and had seen the shingles laying on the lawn. I suspected that the pigeons were using these holes in the roof as access to our barn. I wanted them closed up!

Sure enough, when Preston got up there he found about 2 hours of work replacing missing shingles, reinstalling the ridgecap and hammering nails back into the cupolas

One of the areas he had to put numerous shingles was on the south end of the roof. The hole there was a veritable freeway for pigeons.

Preston was able to get the job done and there was no mishap!
Praise God for His protection!
We are very happy that project is off the ToDo list!

Barnyard Improvements- Landscaping

2009-07-27T11:13:00.001-07:00

I thought you might like to see some of the growth and improvements at Winn Homestead. It is an encouragement to me when I compare old and current. I hope you will enjoy it too.

The alley way on the west side of the barn before ramp repair,
cleaning up the debris and weeding.

The following pictures were taken in May of this year and show some of the improvements.
My goal is to make it a pleasant resting place. I transplanted plants from my home yard: Hostas, Tickseed, Coral Bells, Ferns and others. We also purchased SliverLace Vines, Lemon Grass, Dragon Leaf Begonias (and other misc. plants of interest, I have a weakness for pretty plants...kind of like some women collect jewelry.)

We put bark down to control weeds, mud,and improve moisture retention..... besides... it looks nice.
We moved a park bench into the shade of the new ramp
July 27, 2009
I am pleased that all of the plants are still alive and growth has been better than expected. I see that some plants are gets more sun and heat than I originally realized. I may have to give more thought to the plant I use in this area. But... I think I will give it more time... see what it looks like next summer.

I am pleased with this little area to the north of the barn. The micro irrigation system we put in the alleyway, and extended to this area, really helped the sedums and creeping phox thrive. I also added some ornamental grasses and red dianthus to provide height and interest.

This picture of Tim and Kendra (son-in-law & daughter) was taken August 2008 and shows the size of the Lavender at that time.

The following pictures were taken July 2009. Our winter was a fairly harsh one this year. Early this spring I thought I had lost at least 2 or 3 of the the Simplicity roses. But they came back and are doing wonderfully! I think I will protect them a bit better this winter.
The Lavender has grown well. The honeybees have thoroughly enjoyed them. I have also seen hummingbirds enjoying my flowers! I have been able to harvest some of it's fragrant blossoms for arrangements in my home as well as preparing them to give away at Bridal Shows.

The Windmill another place that shows plant growth.

8/2008

7/2009

The Silverlace and Virginia Creeper are really taking off.

There just might be leaves above the reach of nibbling deer this fall.

This is an area we planted last fall. There are supposed to be 3 large Rose of Sharons, with white blossoms, in the back as the back drop for the rest of the bed. Our winter nearly killed them. I had given them up for dead and we purchased 3 more. When Preston began to dig them out he found the faintest sign of life. We decided to let them live. This what they look like 7/2009.
Not the 3-5 foot bushes we bought, but very much alive.
Let's hope they do better this next winter.

This little willow tree..didn't look much like a willow tree last summer....

This summer it is actually taking on the shape of a willow tree.
Ahhh, a potential resting place in the shade of a weeping willow!

The water trough planters of 2009.
I am very thankful for SoilMoist, which makes it so I don't have to hand water these planters everyday!

There is nothing like a summer evening with the irrigation running!
Notice the cottonwood trees in the background.
Last year they were hardly visible. They have grown too.

Yes, they are along the upper fence in this picture.

We acquires some old farm treasures to create landscaping interest. I am looking forward to working these into the plantings.

Two old scythes

Old mower

two bottom plow

May Improvements- Floor

2009-07-25T11:50:00.000-07:00

Since April we have accomplished many big and small improvements.
One of the big ones is the wood floor on the ground floor.
Since a picture is worth a thousand words I will let pictures to the lion's share of the talking.

Several FFA Slaves help with this project and learn a little about
floor joists, sub flooring and using a hammer.

This is our 1x4 tongue and groove salvaged from an elevator in Helix

Daniel and Preston installing the floor. Thank goodness for a nail gun.

It would have been an all summer job without it.

We were thankful for this floor on June 6th.
Our first paying event, a wedding, used this area.
The day was blustery, thunderstorms were predicted and building.
The caterer moved inside because it was level and out of the wind.

The dancing was moved inside to avoid the wind and rain.

Barn Floor

2009-04-13T15:19:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it is the middle of April and I have yet to post anything here for 2009. I will be giving every effort to blogging more often for the remainder of the year. However, I wouldn't advise holding your breath in anticipation. Life just seems to take time.

Last fall Preston found some 1"x4" Tongue and Grove flooring that had been taken out of an old grain elevator in Helix. He came home very excited about its potential for the floor of the horse side of the barn.

About that time we received some very discouraging information regarding the State and County Building Codes. Something about ceiling clearance, soil to wood distance, jacking up the barn to put in pressure treated lumber on top of the concrete walls ... which caused us to turn our focus to cleaning the upstairs and remodeling it for use.

Once again Building Codes, regarding the required number of toilets (6) for a building the size of our barn brought those plans to a stand still. We are currently contemplating and praying about how to proceed with those plans. We would welcome your prayer for wisdom in these matters.

Preston turned his attention to using the flooring to put a "new" look in the "Sleeping House" which we will be calling the Groom's Cabin. (See September 2008 blog for pictures)

But... Hope Springs Eternal. With the occasional warming of outside temperatures and intermittent sighting of flowers bravely pushing through the late snows Preston began again to dream of his barn floor. He went back to forming up the footings and purchasing sacks of pre-mixed concrete. He started out mixing the concrete in my new PVC wheelbarrow. I was dismayed, but then figured if he ruined it I would get a new one. Preston and Daniel discovered just how hard that kind of work is. They came in exhausted, sore and wondering just how long it will take to get that floor in there.

Preston then decided to hire a RATT. (Rent A Team of Teens) from Daniel's youth group to help with the mixing and pouring of the footings. Their leader, Dave Conlee, knew where there was an electric cement mixer. With the young and strong teens and the mixer the work load was much lighter, and the footing were poured and curing!
The next project was the floor joists. Preston and Daniel along with another RATT and some FFA slaves that stage was well under way. They even got some of the subflooring in.

Of course you have to feed hard working teens to keep them going!

This is the last project our dog Mannie was able to participate in. He really enjoyed all the activity and being able to be in the middle of it.

A White Christmas!!! Really?

2008-12-19T15:32:00.000-08:00

We have been blessed with a week of winter weather, with more winter weather predicted for this next week. We have begun to hope for a White Christmas. The only white Christmas I can recall in recent years was created by fog. Definitely not snow.

small spruce tree by the road

We were delighted (Daniel , Preston & I) to have the first storm (Saturday) to be snow falling straight down. The trees and landscape were beautiful... a sight we don't often get here because in Eastern Oregon the wind blows! But, alas, Wednesday the wind started blowing, we were disappointed, but found it interesting to watch the drifts being created. The swirling and sinking snowflakes give the ususally unseen wind clear visibity. I thought you might enjoy seeing our drifts.

North end of the our house

The East side

South Side

West Side

The culvert drift in front of the barn in which Daniel built a snow cave.

What a wonderful, beautiful, new world we have outside!

old Douglas Fir

Old Locust

Cleaning UP

2008-10-16T20:57:00.000-07:00

The upper level (which we call upstairs, but is really upladder because there are no stairs) was designed to store hay for the animals fed on the ground level. Lately we have been focusing our attention on cleaning up the upper level of the barn. It is a rewarding task because I can always see where I have been. It can also be very discouraging because there is soooo much more to do. I will let pictures tell the story.

BEFORE

Daniel is helping Preston rig up a tarp to control the "sweepings" we send "down the chute".

We then loaded up the straw, chaff, dust, pigeon poo and the like, in a wheelbarrow and carried it away.

Notice the wood wall from the floor up about 4'-5'. This was not original in 1916, but added in the 40's when the Winns were storing dry peas in this side of the upper level.
We decided to go back to orginal 1916.

This is what we discovered behind the wall.
Bird nest

Layers of chaff and straw accumulated over 50 years
We shared our fun with a friend.
Pam Long (aka Curley, Curlew.... Swan) came for a visit and cheerfully donned insulated coverall (it was 23 degrees that morning) and dust mask to join us at our "play".
You are always welcome to come play with us!
We believe in the old adage "Families that work together stay together."
Isn't that the way it goes?

This is what we are working with now. Just hours (day, weeks, months, who knows?) of vacuuming, scraping and digging up dust and dirt from the corners and crevices.

2008-09-25T19:17:00.000-07:00

"The Sleeping House", the small building George Robert Winn (aka PA & my father-in-law) slept in as a boy, with his brother Peyton. PA recently reminisced about this place: He carved the name he wanted to be called into the wood- "Bob", there were screens all around...lots of fresh air, he woke up to snow or frost on his bed covers & there was a small woodstove to take the chill off those cold winter nights.

As Daniel and I made our way painting this old, and somewhat tired, farm building this summer we discovered carvings in the siding PW+JA, BAJ+JC & EFW and a big blockish R. Wouldn't it be fun to see back in time when those were so fervently carved. I can surmise that the R is Robert, and PW is Peyton Winn, and EFW must be Ellen, Bob and Peyton's sister, but who are JA, BAJ & JC? This little building isn't standing exactly straight, and the floor is not level, but....oh.....the stories it could tell!

This summer Preston found some used fir 1x4 tongue and groove lumber (salvaged from an old elevator near Helix) and determined it would be great flooring material. When progress on the floor in the barn came to a standstill, because of potential building code hurdles, Preston decided that The Sleeping House would be a great place to use this wood. He put it on the floor and walls. When he was done the cabin looks pretty darn good. We will leave the rafters as they are (including the big ol' nails that, I suspect, were used to hang clothes on). I like how it looks old.Preston is going to add trim to the corners and few other "finishing" details, we will give it all a light sanding and maybe some sealant finish.... oh... and I need to vacuum the cobwebs & dust.

I am going to plant some old fashioned iris and daylilies around it to perk it up a bit on the outside.

I think this little building is standing a little taller today, what do you think?

We are hoping that it will have many more stories to tell as a Grooms Cabin.

Meeting County Code: Parking

2008-08-28T20:52:00.000-07:00

One of the stipulations for our Barn Project is parking areas. The county code says we must have one parking space for every 200 sq.ft. in the barn(that would be about 24 spaces), and it must be graveled . Overflow parking must be non-flammable and not bare dirt. We talk to our local excavator C & D Thacker about bidding for this job. We are counting on strong wheat prices to pay for it all.

We now have a beautiful, graveled parking area south of the barn. Gravel parking

The overflow parking is north of the Barn Yard
When we asked what was nonflammable and not bare dirt the county suggested grass... irrigated grass. We already have 2 acres of irrigated grass we have to irrigate and mow. We didn't want more of that. We opted to use bare rock (not flammable, and not bare DIRT). We think it makes a nice parking area.
Looking East
Looking west
Thacker is "walking" the rock in to smooth it out a bit.

This is where the rock came from.
The Winn Rock Pit now has a really deep hole.

Family Weddings

2008-08-26T19:50:00.000-07:00

August hasn't been good for progress at The Barn. We have had the fun of spending time with the Perisho family at three family weddings! The amazing part is that all 6 of "us kids" (now, we all like to think that we are kids, sometimes act like we are kids, but our bodies keep telling us differently... pictures do too!) have been able to be at all the weddings.

Priscilla, Me, Lesta Cyndi, Lura, Bert

This is what we looked like about 40 years ago.

The first wedding was Priscilla's son Erick. 2:00 P.M. on August 2nd at Caldwell Friends Church.

Erick & Karen Smith

The 2nd was Lura's son Jacob. 6:00 P.M August 2nd at Boise's Capitol City Christian Church. His bride, Samantha was shy... I couldn't get her to come out from behind the cake :)

Maybe it was because Jacob's aunts were so crazy and unruly at the rehearsal dinner. We got to sing a fun old song "Sweet Violets" together. We had the best time working together on the rehearsal dinner.

Work, Singing & Good Food... always a great combination for memories.

Then August 14th Lesta's son Forrest married Elizabeth at Old Laurelhurst Church in Portland, OR. That had to be the hottest day of the year. But that didn't hamper all the fun of being with family and friends

Horse Side Cleaning

2008-07-26T18:54:00.000-07:00

We have mucked out the horse side of the barn. It was quite a chore. Daniel and I worked about 2-3 hours a day for 7 days. There was no reason to hurry through the job. Dust, and heavy lifting, pitchforks, shovels and wheelbarrows.

My arms, and shoulders can only take so much at a time.

After we moved the feeding trough, (I am saving it to use in some creative fashion... somewhere. Ideas anyone?), the Pine Car Race Track (to Jess and Granella Thompson's barn :) Thank you!), tables, and other junk, it was time to remove the straw and manure.

My hard working partner, and the muscles of the the job. Daniel, 15 year old, cheerful, and generally willing worker.

Our tools. Shovels of all kinds, pitchforks (2 sizes), rakes, broom, a reasonable wheelbarrow, and "The Monster" wheelbarrow. The Monster is heavy empty, very heavy. Put a load in it and ....it is impossible to keep under control. The first day we worked Daniel lost The Monster over the ditch bank. He had the fun of retrieving it in typical 15 year old boy fashion. Tie a rope on it and drag it up with the pickup. The advantage of the monster is it's indestructible. After that experience we used a very long and heavy piece of lumber as a wheelbarrow stop.

We broke a wheelbarrow ( the reasonable one) during this project, and a rake, and......

Once we got the fluffy straw off the top, some area had more of it than others, it was hard pack layers of dried manure and straw. Some more decomposed than others. We loved it when it came up in large chunks, it was rewarding, and challenging to see if you could get the whole chunk, no matter how big, to the wheelbarrow without breaking it. Some of the chunks were 3 feet square(or bigger). The pile Daniel is standing on came from one of the seven stalls.

This picture shows how deep we dug in some places. When we got to rocks or soil we figured we had gone far enough.

How it looked when we hauled the last wheelbarrow load out.

Now it is time for hosing down the walls, ceilings, stalls & window frames to get the cobwebs, bird nests, dust, and manure.

Preston and Daniel replacing one of the many broken windows in the barn this last winter. It gives you a feel (shiver) for the cobwebs.

And now..... nice and "clean"

The initial cleaning is complete. We still want to pressure wash and finish vacuuming with my new Wet/Dry Shop-Vac.

It isn't perfect , but definitely an improvement.

It looks like when the water dries up I need to do some raking of stuff that floated to the surface during the hose down.

We are discussing what to do on the horse side. Do we put down wood chips, rock, pour concrete or build a wood floor. Preston is leaning heavily toward building a floor.

Waay Before Pictures - Barn History

2008-07-16T20:20:00.000-07:00

These are pictures of the barn in it's early years.

The fact that there are horses in the pictures suggests to me that they are very early days. The barn was built in 1916 when horses were still being used for farming.

In the 1930's the Winn's got their first tractor. Horses quickly became obsolete.

Barn Yard

2008-07-16T14:24:00.001-07:00

These "before" pictures were taken by photographer Gary Hamburgh. Doesn't he have some beautiful shots of the barn and the clouds!

I don't think you can see it but much of the area around the barn was on a slope. Nothing was level or smooth.

In front of the barn is a runoff ditch that rarely has water in it.

The first thing we did was bring in a bulldozer (CD Thacker Excavating) to create some level areas. They laid culvert in one section of the ditch and covered it up so we could create another large smooth area.to the south of the barn.

This area had lots of weeds and behind the barn were piles of rolled up fencing wire, fence posts and more "stuff" that accumulates in a barnyard. Before the excavators came in we sorted through all of the stuff and stored what could be used at some point, and took the rest to the dump.

Even with all that work, when Thackers started moving soil around he found remains of machinery. Bear in mind the Winn's have historically kept a clean farm. They aren't ones to keep piles of stuff around. It was interesting what we found under the surface.

Introduction to Barn Project

2008-07-15T10:18:00.000-07:00

The Winn Barn built in 1916 is without question the most underused asset on the Winn Century Farm (1875). We are currently working to rectify that situation by cleaning it up, and making slight modifications, in order to make this beautiful building a place where people will have memorable events.

This blog will be directed to those who would like to follow the progress and development of this project. I will occasionally throw in miscellaneous Winn happenings that are either helping or hindering that progress. My goal is to share our excitement in big and little step of progress.

When we started the barn had many items of little value and numerous decades old cobwebs, (do those things ever disintegrate on their own?), mice and their turds, many layers of cow, chicken, pig, and sheep poo mixed with straw and urine. Yep, a lovely concoction!

We made several trips to the dump with junk, and sold some stuff at a yard sale, torn down, now unneeded, fences or dividers that were erected in a typical farmer style. (lots of baling twine and wire) I started hosing down the cobwebs, and poo. Much work later the "dairy side" of the barn is now presentable.