3 barns and counting

Since Ruth Holladay's column about us on February 17th, we have been to see three barns. Though none have been quite right for our initial need, each has some value in it's beams, posts, braces and other members.

First, thanks to the three new friends who have considered offering their barns to us.

So far none is complete enough to allow us to reconstruct an entire barn with it. One is too small, one is too damaged by weather, and one has a block wall for the first level, so we'd need to construct another wall on our site to support it.

As one travels the state it is not unusual to see old barns in the countryside. Many of these are in terrible states of disrepair. What a shame.

Today, a family farmer is faced with many problems trying to stay on the farm. Very few can make a living without working "in town" to supplement their farm income. Some work another job so they will have insurance coverage for their families.

It is costly to maintain farm buildings, and, with property taxes rising across Indiana, it's not surprising that many farm families must choose other expenses before putting money into their old barns. The result is that small problems soon turn into large ones and the barn slowly begins to deteriorate.

When much of a barn is damaged the number of useful pieces is reduced, but the cost in time and equipment needed to dismantle it isn't. In fact, when parts of a roof or loft are ruined by weather, dismantling them requires more equipment and planning than taking down a "healthy" building.

Further, the damaged pieces must be disposed of, a potentially costly and/or polluting effort. One could cut up the damaged parts and use them for fire wood, but, remember, we're moving to a site with enough renewable potential fire wood to last our whole community forever.

So, the search will continue. If you know of a barn, especially an historic barn, that is in danger of being pushed over and buried or burned by its owner, please let us know.