The Old Barn

The Old Barn

This Old Barn has had many jobs in the 42 years that we have lived here.  From the house it was the view that filled our windows.  

It has housed hogs from birth to market, the lean-to was an open shelter for the horses to come and go. After the hogs were gone the inside space became a blacksmith shop for my husband and many friends who would frequent it.  


The floor was broken cement, the walls were fragile cement block, and the tin roof rusted and leaking. After it became the Blacksmith shop the ceiling was lowered to keep it warmer and lights were hung, but it always felt like a dark cavernous hole to me.  

After adding on to our pole barn, my husband slowly but surly moved everything from the little white barn to the new space.  Horses now long gone, we no longer needed the lean-to.  Although it did become a place to store stuff, there is never a shortage of stuff around here!

One fine day a year it was time to take down the Old Barn.  In two days you couldn't tell it even existed in this space.  The cement block and floor became the broken foundation to the barnyard drive.  Once gravel was dumped and sifted down into the broken foundation, we had a big place for the activity of a new blacksmith shop and my studio traffic.

Once the barn was gone, we felt naked and exposed to the world, although we have no close neighbors.  Our view from the house then became a view of critters that moved around beyond that Old Barn.  The small field directly behind that Old Barn had become our wildlife area.  We began to see deer moving and even a coyote now and then.  Rabbits run, tunnel and have babies there.  We often hear pheasants calling from those tall grasses.  Milkweed blooms and even some thistles, both providing a place for Monarch butterflies and Goldfinches. 

Every morning this last week we have seen a Red-Tailed hawk perched on a tree branch, we have seen other hawks glide over this area in search for the next meal.  Ten deer passed through from the pasture, they held up there, becoming invisible in the brown grasses.  We never saw these things when the Old Barn was there. 

 I love the open view now, it's not that I'm exposed anymore, it is nature is exposed to me, from the window of our house.