Our Barn

Our barn was built in the 1890s, and it's been serving our farm ever since. In the coming months we'll update you on the preservation work that's being funded by Barn Aid proceeds and sale of Barn Aid CDs. We expect it will take a year or two to complete all the required repairs, but we know it will be worth it!

In the mean time, we've posted some photos of the barn and the preservation project in our photo gallery.

If you have any specific questions about the preservation project, send us a note at [email address is inactive].

WINTER, 2001

Once the barn was straightened and bolstered it was roofing time. December was approaching fast, but we were blessed with favorable weather. The warm days meant we made great progress on roofing the barn, which was desperately needed.

Many of our barn's bigger problems began with its old roof. The structure leaked like a Ken Starr investigation, and all that moisture had taken a toll on the beams and posts that hold up the barn. We were keen to spare the barn another winter's worth of ice and snow, but when we started receiving bids for the new roof we weren't sure we could afford one. Contractors estimated that installing the roof would cost from $10,000 to $20,000. It was starting to look like another leaky winter.

Fortunately for us, family and friends came through once again. Mike and Noah (professional roofers, among other things) agreed to delay a few jobs to work on our barn. And thanks to those of you who have been buying and promoting our CD, we actually had some money in the account to pay them.

It takes a long time for two guys to roof a 120-foot barn, but Mike and Noah made amazing progress before the weather turned cold. Tin can be installed faster than shingles, and Mike and Noah can really fly when they get going.

They started on the north side of the barn, where weather had done the most damage to the old roof. After laying down tin on the lower ridge and installing a hip cap, they set to work restoring our barn's distinctive cupolas.

Mike found that the spires on top of the cupolas were badly rotted, so he designed and built new ones. He enclosed the old spires within the new ones, so the original spires will remain part of the barn. We think it's a nice touch.

We thought our barn would need all new gutters, but closer inspection revealed that repairs and rehanging would set the gutter system straight. That's good news, because it saves us both time and money.

SPRING, 2002

With the north side of the roof and cupolas done we set about finishing the south side of the roof. We replaced the milk house roof, installed a cap on the peak of the barn, and suddenly - well, perhaps not so suddenly at that - our barn has a handsome new roof.

SUMMER AND FALL, 2002

In the summer we'll repair siding, replace windows and start painting the barn. Eventually the sides will look as good as the new roof. We'll also patch the stone foundation. The guys from Stitt Preservation left us their special recipe for mortar, and we're ready to take this on ourselves in order to save some money.

As you can see from our Winter Roofing slide show, the farm's silo is in bad shape. We'd love to preserve the silo; it looks great (even in its current state), and it would be a lot of work to tear it down. The trouble is, it's connected to our barn, and it tends to drain water into the barn's footings -- the last thing we need. We're thinking about putting a new roof on the silo this year, and disconnecting it from the barn to solve the drainage problem.

Thanks to all of you for your good thoughts and great support. We'll keep updating this site so you can watch our progress.