Tag Archives: Barn

October 29, 2014 · 2:54 pm

Capturing the Splendid Fall

Although the weather has turned cooler the past few days, the month of October has been a series of one lovely fall day after another here in Minnesota. The temperatures were above normal, the sun was almost always shining, and the fall colors seemed more vibrant than usual. Like many, the weather drew me outdoors and I often found myself reaching for my phone to capture some of the beauty just outside my front door. All the photos below were taken with my iPhone 5s and edited in Instagram.

This first photo was taken in the evening and features a small border garden along our granary with Sedum and ornamental grasses. All of the red hues captured my eye.

Outside in the garden one morning, I stopped to take a picture after noticing the rays of sunshine highlighting the yellow maple, contrasted with the still-blooming shrub roses and Russian sage in my garden. The barn in the background was the perfect backdrop.

The lovely morning sunlight caught my eye once again a week or so later, as it lit up the Autumn Blaze Maple outside my bedroom window.

And finally, this picture is from the woods that surround our home, spilling down the hillside to the river and to our field. In the evening, as the sun would start to set, the warm light would shine through the yellow canopy of leaves and the scene felt so magical. For about a week, I made sure to step outside each evening to take in the spectacle of light.

Wherever you might live, I hope your fall has been equally as splendid. While the leaves have all fallen off the trees now, perhaps we will still be blessed with a few more days of warm temperatures and abundant sunshine. Once can always hope! 🙂

–Lynell

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Filed under Barn, Flower, Gardens, Photography

Tagged as autumn blaze maple, Barn, fall, fall color, fall flowers, Instagram, iPhone 5s, iPhone 5s photography, minnesota, ornamental grass, Photography

April 13, 2014 · 7:47 pm

One Week to the Next

This weekend was not exactly balmy, but it was warm enough to continue melting the snow. What a difference a week makes during spring in Minnesota! It was only 9 days ago when we were dumped on and school was canceled because of all the snow. (See my last post). Besides a few random piles here and there, all the snow is now gone. Hooray! (It is Minnesota though and more snow over the next month is a definite possibility).

Last weekend our vegetable garden had a foot of snow covering it. Today? No snow in sight and the rhubarb is even peeking out of the soggy soil.

The chickens were finally able to escape the coop and do some free-ranging after a long winter. They headed for a dirt pile that we have and got busy scratching and doing whatever it is that chickens do.

The warmer temps allowed us to get outside and start working on all those spring chores. I spent a lot of time walking around with my garden shears and cutting back various plants, like the Annabelle Hydrangea along the pole shed…

…And the ornamental grass, Sedum, coneflower, and miniature Joe Pye weed along the granary.

Jesse helped me clean up our raised beds with strawberries and blueberries. We raked out the dead leaves, pulled some random weeds, and raked up some pine needles to freshen up the mulch. This will be our third season with the blueberry plants and we are hoping that some of the big bushes finally produce a good amount of fruit.

We also found time to prepare for our baby chicks that are due to arrive some time at the end of next week. They will be inside the house in this box for the first five days so that we can keep an eye on them and make sure to keep them warm and drinking water.

Jesse also cleaned out the brood boxes for his beehives and they are all ready for the new bees. We are not exactly sure when to expect them, but likely at the end of April.

Spring is definitely rolling along here in Minnesota and we could not be happier. 🙂

–Lynell

A Winter Blast

Our progress towards spring suffered a setback last night, as we awoke to around 8-9 inches of fresh snow. School was canceled and we once again face the task of clearing and piling snow. Ugh! As discouraging as it is to see, with temperatures forecasted to reach into the 50’s and 60’s next week, we know this scene is only temporary. I decided to step out on to the porch this afternoon to capture a few pictures of the white stuff. One of the things I enjoy about blogging, and one of the primary reasons I do it, is that it allows me to document events like this from year to year. I always find it interesting to look back at pictures from earlier years to see evidence of late snowfalls and later proof that spring and summer eventually do arrive. Last year, we received a big snow fall on April 18th. A week later I posted and shared pictures of the dramatic changes that can occur in Minnesota during the spring time over a short period. (See the post here).

Below is a shot from our porch towards the river. Grudgingly, I must admit that it is a pretty sight today.

Nonetheless, I am hoping that it looks very different by next week. I am SO ready for winter to move along so that I can get outside and into my gardens. Spring cannot come soon enough!

I hope spring has arrived in your neck of the woods!

–Lynell

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Filed under Miscellaneous, Outbuildings

Tagged as Barn, farm, Minnesota winter, Outbuildings, river, snow, spring, winter

February 21, 2014 · 12:34 pm

Snowy Sunrise

We received another 10 inches or so of snow yesterday through this morning. The wind is howling and the snow is drifting quickly. School was canceled, yet again. I was unsuccessful in making it out of our driveway this morning for work and got stuck in a three-foot snow drift. There really is no point in complaining about the long winter any more though. It is old news.

So, since I cannot think of anything very positive to say about Minnesota, our winters, the weather, etc., I thought I would just post this picture I took this morning. I took it with my iPhone 5s and did a quick edit in Instagram.

Hope you are staying warm and out of the howling winds. Spring will come eventually, right?

–Lynell

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Tagged as Barn, Instagram, iPhone 5s, iPhone 5s photography, Photography, snow, sunrise, winter

October 26, 2013 · 3:06 pm

Seeing RED

The thing that I like least about blogging is the writing part. Sometimes I just do not have anything particularly interesting to say.

The thing that I love about blogging is the pictures. I love to take pictures. I love to see other people’s pictures. And I love to share my pictures.

So, that’s exactly what I am going to do in this post – just share a few of my pictures. As I looked at the latest collection of my shots, I noticed a lot featuring various shades of red. Below are just a few.

Our prairie-fire crabapple tree outside the kitchen window is full of red fruit and reddish leaves.

red
A closer-up view of the fruit. And notice the red granary is in the background.

My Autumn Joy Sedum plants have turned a very dark pinkish-red. Even after several hard frosts, they are still looking good.

Some leaves from one of our many Autumn Blaze Maple trees around here. While many other trees have shed their leaves, these are hanging on to theirs for now.

While walking through the woods behind the house to mark small maple trees for transplanting next spring, I came across this red fence post. It is a remnant from the previous owners who once had cattle in the woods around the house.

Our singular Amur Maple tree is showing off some nice shades of red.

And one of my favorite sites around here…our red barn.

A view of two of the brilliant-colored Autumn Blaze Maples.

And last, but not least, here come the guys across the field on our Razor – Jesse on the left and our youngest behind the wheel. Ok, this picture does not really fit into my “red” theme, but I like it anyhow. And there are some red trees in the background. 🙂
We have spent today starting our preparations for winter. Jesse started his first round of the leaf battle and I stayed inside to remove screens and wash the windows. I want to make sure I have clear and unobstructed views when the snow starts to fall. 😦

–Lynell

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Filed under Barn, Daily life, Granary, Outbuildings, Photography

Tagged as autumn color, autumn joy sedum, Barn, fall color, granary, Photography, prairie fire crabapple tree

October 15, 2013 · 6:10 pm

Morning Light

We left town last Friday morning for a long weekend out at West Point to visit our two cadets and to attend the Homecoming football game. As we were heading out the door on our way to the airport, the sun was coming up and it was just one of those sunrises…the pink, orange and yellow kind.

Jesse encouraged me to snap a few pictures with my iPhone. The barn against the sky was just too pretty to go undocumented. I did a quick edit in Instagram to lighten it up.

The weekend went by in a flash and we are back at home again on the farm. Our cadets are coming home this upcoming weekend for a visit over a long weekend for them. It will be nice to have everyone at home, even if it is only briefly.

–Lynell

Where we love is home – home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.

-Oliver Wendell Holmes

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Tagged as Barn, Instagram, iPhone 4s, iPhone photography, Photography

February 24, 2013 · 12:20 pm

Bat Removal and Relocation: Part I

We have a fairly healthy bat population in the hay loft of our barn. On summer evenings, we have stood near the barn and counted well over one hundred bats leave for their evening feed. In northern Minnesota a common bat type is the small brown bat. We have seen a few of our bats up close in the barn and they seem to be the size and description fitting the small brown bat.

Not everyone is comfortable with bats flying overhead at dusk or later sitting around the bonfire, but we have never had any problems. I think everyone is aware of how beneficial bats are for controlling mosquito and bug populations by eating as many as 5,000 bugs each night. Since our hobby farm is located along the Rum River, which has many stagnant backwater ponds, we would like to keep the bats around the farm doing their insect patrols.

While the barn has stood empty and mostly unused, we have slowly been making progress in removing calf pens and cow stanchions so that we can use the space for more garden and farm storage. The bats are mostly self-contained in the loft area of the barn, but from time to time a few of them end up in the lower area. In addition, the gaps in the floor boards of the hay loft allow bat guano to sprinkle down. So we decided that if we are going to continue to upgrade the barn, the bats needed to be relocated. Here you can see the thick layer of bat guano collecting on the hay loft floor.

Here is the main entrance for the bats into the hayloft. You can see the heavy use around the hay-fork rail where they have worn off the paint from all the flights in and out.

Although building a bat house is pretty straight forward and something we expected we would do ourselves based on plans in our “Country Wisdom & Know How” book from Storey Publishing, we also didn’t want to miss the opportunity to install the bat house before they began to return from migration. We found a design we liked from a bat conservatory organization in Michigan (www.batconservatory.org) that uses the proceeds from the bat houses to fund their projects. Here is a picture of the bat house we ordered that has the capacity for up to 300 bats. At the bottom there is a green landing mesh that is easy for the bats to land on when they are returning to their roost. box2

In the next picture you can see the tight crawl spaces that the bats like for roosting. When they pack themselves into these tight spaces it helps to retain their body heat and keep each other warm in cold weather.

Our Storey book article on bats recommended “seasoning” the new bat house with guano so that it has a familiar scent. The process was to collect some guano from the hay loft and mix it with some water to create a slurry that could be poured into the bat house. This seemed kind of gross to us, but if it helps to make the bats feel comfortable in their new home then, why not?

Here is our new “well-seasoned” bat house, ready for installation.

Our research indicated that to have the best chance for relocation, the new bat house should be located as close as possible to the current bat entrance. Well, that would be high up in the peak of the barn. The extension ladder wasn’t quite long enough, so in typical farm fashion, I placed the ladder into the bucket of the tractor. This type of work isn’t for everyone. We did luck out and it was a glorious warm sunny date for February. Even warm enough to wear a short-sleeved shirt!

In order to have hands free for climbing the ladder, we attached a rope to the bat house so that it could be lifted up once I was comfortably positioned at the top.

Up comes the bat house to its new location.

It was a little dicey to hold the bat house in place and manage the screws and screw gun all at the same time. Note to self: next time start the screws in pilot holes before climbing the ladder!

Here goes nothing…..do not stand under the ladder in case I drop something!

The installation is now complete. It would be nice to have positioned the bat house a little higher, but when you are on the top of the ladder it apparently seems high enough.
The next question to answer is whether or not the bats are hibernating in the barn or if they have migrated to somewhere warmer for the winter. Since our barn has no heating or cows keeping it warm in the winter, and since there is no evidence of bat sounds on warm winter days, we believe that our bats have migrated for the winter and will return in early spring. Our research didn’t offer any definitive answers on hibernating versus migrating for small brown bats, so we will have to keep an eye out for them inside the barn. If there are bats that become trapped in the barn, then we will have to install a one-way entrance so that they can get out but cannot come back in.

Now, what are we going to do with all those other openings in the barn wall that the bats can come through? Guess we have to start plugging them all. Small brown bats can crawl through holes as small as 3/8 inch in diameter, so every hole needs to be plugged or covered. A sunny day is perfect for finding all the openings. Where to begin?

We decided that it would be easiest, low-cost, and fairly unobtrusive visually to install wire mesh over the openings – especially since there were some very large openings! We had a large roll of wire screen mesh leftover from the screened porch when we built the house. I save everything!

Wire screen mesh can be cut easily with a sharp sheet rock knife along a straight edge. I cut strips that were 6-8 inches wide the length of the screen and then installed them over the openings using a staple hammer. I used a lot of staples to make sure that the bats couldn’t find any new ways into the barn.

We will likely not have covered every possible entrance, but we hope that enough have been covered that the new bat house looks more attractive and they make that there new home.

We should know in a few weeks whether we have been successful!

–Jesse

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Filed under Animals, Barn, Outbuildings

Tagged as Barn, bat conservation, bat house, bat relocation, bat removal, bats, organization for bat conservation

April 19, 2010 · 6:44 pm

Township Cleanup Day

Every spring in Minnesota, townships have a spring cleanup day when residents can bring in various items to dispose of, including old appliances, electronics, mattresses, batteries, tires, scrap metal, etc. The township charges a fee for some of the items, but allow disposal of a limited number of items free of charge.

In celebration of our township’s cleanup day this year, we decided to resume the barn project and tear out the cattle stanchions and miscellaneous piping to haul in for scrap metal disposal.

We have owned our farm for a decade now and we have never done anything with the inside of the barn, besides stash things that do not belong anywhere else. Prior to us purchasing the place, many years had passed since any animals occupied the barn. Needless to say, it is a real disaster.

Continue reading →

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Filed under Barn, Kids, Outbuildings

Tagged as Barn, barn renovation, cattle stanchions, Kids, stanchions, township cleanup

January 21, 2010 · 2:29 am

To renovate or tear down? That is the question.

This old round-top barn on the property was one of the primary features of the old farmstead that we fell in love with. We had all kinds of fantasies about how we would use the barn: for horses, a sports area in the hayloft for the kids, a workshop…

After purchasing the property, we had a barn straightener come out to evaluate the structure and give us some advice. His conclusions were mixed. The barn was still salvageable, but was in need of paint, a new roof, a new foundation, and straightening. Because we were short on time (we were moving to Sweden for a two-year expatriate assignment) and money, we decided to have it painted and the windows replaced to preserve it for a later decision.

We returned to the farm from our expatriate assignment in the summer of 2003. Our friendly old barn stood there waiting for us and for our decision on her fate. Facing the reality of the money necessary to completely restore the barn was discouraging and seemed like a poor investment. On the other hand, the barn is what gave our little farm its character. Being two farm kids, it’s what drew us to this place from the beginning. We discussed having it burned down at some point by the local fire department, but our soft spot for this structure just kept us putting off any final decision.

In the spring of last year, we experienced a nasty day with high winds gusting in from the south. As I stood inside looking out the kitchen window, I could see shingles flying over the barn after peeling off the southern-facing roof. With the yard littered with old asphalt shingles, I knew that a decision would soon be necessary about the fate of the barn. The barn’s deterioration would now be quickened with the more seriously compromised roof.

After some inquiry to the insurance company, we realized that we would have some coverage for the damage caused by the wind storm to the roof. We started gathering information and quotes on the costs of repairing the roof. Although not the most visually appealing alternative, we concluded that the most economical approach would be to have a new steel roof put on the barn.

Prior to having the new roof installed, we hired the barn straightener to shore up the barn structurally. The process took about two weeks. He moved it gradually over the two weeks by bracing, pulling, and cranking it back to an upright position. New lumber was installed inside to strengthen the structure further and hold it in its new “straight” position.

Finally sitting straight and tall, the barn was ready for its new roof. The first step in installing the new steel roof was to put cribbing across the old roof to level everything out. The cribbing is an efficient way to quickly cover the many sags in the roof.

The whole roof was eventually covered in the cribbing.

The roofers then began installing one sheet of metal roofing at a time. Brave, brave men.

Rain or shine, they just kept working their way across the roof putting on the steel…

Until they finished the entire roof. Our old barn now stands straight and tall with a new roof, waiting for us to find the time and money to take the next steps. It might take many years to make any more progress, but at least our decision has finally been made. We will keep the old round top barn that we fell in love with a decade ago.

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Tagged as Barn, Outbuildings, Renovation

January 12, 2010 · 12:38 am

Winter Walk

Due to the cold temperatures and the heaps of snow that were dumped on us over Christmas, we spent a lot of time around home and inside the house during winter break. Despite the frigid weather, we were determined to get outside for fresh some fresh air. We went for a walk down to the meandering river that runs through our property. Our dog Sofie came along, happy to be with us.

The river is always quite unpredictable and we never make any assumptions about its safety. We felt fairly confident that it would be frozen quite thoroughly, but still proceeded cautiously as we walked along the ice up the river. The only questionable areas we found were along the edges and around downed trees.

The areas of ice that were not covered with snow were covered with beautiful ice crystal formations.

During the summer months, the farmstead is not visible from the river bottom. Taken from the far side of the river, this picture shows our barn through the trees.