Barn Charm: The Rest Of The Story...

Omigosh! I got so busy outside all day that I nearly forgot it's Tuesday and time for Tricia's Barn Charm. I've been so excited to tell you this story that I can't believe I nearly forgot to post it. If it weren't for the chigger bites, I'd probably still be out there - so I guess I'm thankful for chigger bites???

Maybe you remember when I posted this open air barn to Barn Charm sometime in March.

A majestic old barn not far from Le Rustique in the heart of
Smallville, between Rosebud & Owensville.

Well a couple weeks ago, Big Daddy made his tractor decision and purchased a New Holland from Rosebud Tractor Company, owned by brothers John and Matt Estes. When Matt delivered the tractor and the all-important implements Big Daddy couldn't live without, he spent a few hours with us talking Tractor 101 and the virtues of brush hogging. And how can you have that conversation without talking about farms?  John and Matt both live within minutes of us where, in addition to running their tractor business, they also raise cattle with their dad on the original family farm.

As soon as Matt described how they can watch 4th of July fireworks from four different towns up on the big hill where the power line runs behind their old abandoned barn, my brain clicked into gear. "That's your barn?" I squealed. [Well, I'm not really a squealer, but I was pretty excited just the same.]

Big Daddy and I told him about Missouri BARN Alliance and Tricia's Barn Charm. And then - Sweet Serendipity, How I Love You! - he invited us to "go on up there and take all the old wood you want, just be careful it doesn't fall down on you, and call John at the store ahead of time so he can alert Dad so he won't have to get off his new toy [a bulldozer] to come check on you."

And of course we took him up on his offer.

We drove up from behind and realized it's even more air-conditioned than we thought.

This door immediately caught my eye, and my mind
began racing for ways to use it  fully intact.

Here's Big Daddy assessing access to the hayloft.

And here's the hay loft, complete with collapsed hay bales and growing grass.
But still, the structure is beautiful to me.

All those reachable gorgeous weathered planks are still pretty
well-protected beneath  tightly secured tin panels.

Another door, more tin panels - and aren't those panels interesting?

 

And here is why it wasn't possible to start dismantling
tin panels to retrieve those upper planks - the
whole thing might have collapsed on us.

Here is the sum of what we took. There are five doors with rotted
bottoms and a handful of odd-sized pieces of loose wood.

The haul is stacked in our barn. I love, love, love
the color of weathered barn wood.

Five doors awaiting a new purpose.

Of course I had to ask Matt why they stopped using that old barn and why so many Missouri barns like it have been left to deteriorate. His explanations made sense, so I did a little historical research - and to keep this blog from becoming the size of War and Peace, I'll write about in the next day or two.

When I sent my thank-you note, I told John & Matt to call us as soon as the wind takes it down so Big Daddy and I can come help them clean up, stack wood and, of course, get a few of those long straight planks. As exciting as that would be, in my heart I hope the old barn stands in defiance forever.

Linking up with Tricia's

Barn Charm ♥86♥