Of Pigs and Barns

Jul
23

Sausage and Patty packed their bags and made the trip to their new pig pen in the meadow bottom this weekend.
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They went down in a cat carrier, one at a time. 52’s original suggestion was that he stick them in the back of his truck and that I climb in there with them. I don’t think so. I think he was just kidding, but I’m not sure. He wanted to live, so he wrangled them while I took pictures.

Patty, in a contemplative moment.
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The old pen was then scraped out using the tractor and returned to its former goat annex glory. (The goats love to sit in a dog house in there.) Clover wanted to drive the tractor.
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She’s such a farm girl.

The pigs moved into a lovely brand new pen in the middle pasture of the meadow bottom. It sits near the creek (for easy water-scooping to fill their bowl) and is shaded by the trees to keep them cool. It’s built on a high spot so it will stay dry.
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The pen is made of extra-large pallets. Wire around the bottom and up the sides prevents them from rooting out.
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Soon they’ll be big enough that they won’t be able to escape from under the pasture gates and we’ll let them free-range (at least part-time). I don’t like to keep animals in confined spaces. They just look healthier (and happier) when they can get out in the fresh air and fresh grass.

The first idea had been to use this large concrete slab that sits nearby.
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The slab was here when we got here and we’ve been told it was used in the past for a pig pen. However, my barn dream made its siren call and this 24 foot by 24 foot slab is now destined to be a barn foundation.
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I want a barn built from wood, not one of those modern aluminum structures I see quite often.
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I want a barn that looks old from the beginning, as if it was always here. I want to paint a quilt square to mount on it.

I love old barns.

The older, the better.
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I want one.

Sorry, piggies.





Comments

  1. Box Call says:

    Suzanne I know exactly what you mean about old barns. They are glorious, from a time that may never be seen again in our history. The amount of wood used in old barns can’t really be accomplished anymore with the cost of lumber in America. You almost have to find an old barn, tear it down, and then replace the wood that is rotten in it. Huge post and beam construction is costly because we can’t cut that type wood anymore in our national forest. I just love the vastness of an old barn. When I drive thru rural country I always marvel at how the barns probably cost more than the farmer’s house. Now that is having your priorities in order.

  2. Bev says:

    Love the picture of Clover on the tractor. She is very cute.

  3. CindyP says:

    Love, love, love old barns! When Mom and I take our monthly trip downstate, I take a different rural route every time…searching out new old barns to take a picture of. I’m glad she’s seat belted in, sometimes it’s a quick stop! 😆 I’m going to frame them in old barn wood to make a display on one wall.

    Old barns were made of hemlock, and I’ve found it to be very cheap here. Ask around at lumber mills. Or find a barn that’s going to be torn down and have the teenagers tear it down for the wood! 😆 Good luck with your barn dream, I can’t wait for that step!

    And does Miss Clover know she can’t drive from that side? 😆

  4. missy says:

    Hey…I know that barn. We’ll have to do an old fashioned barn raising complete with lemonade and picnic when the time comes!

  5. Wheezay says:

    I love old barns and houses..they stories those walls could tell..

  6. Su says:

    Old barns carry a story with them, and modern metal structures have nothing to compare.

  7. SarahKoski says:

    I can only imagine that the metal barns are really hot in the summer and really cold in the winter.

  8. Melinda says:

    The metal ones are hot in the summer and cold in the winter..I have one..:( And YES I DID want an old barn..
    Being originally from Pennsylvania that is what I grew up with..Just like the ones in WV. :hissyfit: Oh to redo!!! :no:

  9. B. Ruth says:

    Oh Suzanne…..
    That’s not a white-spotted tick (dog tick) on piggys butt in picture one is it?….

    PS…could be a freckle I guess…since it is a little fair skinned on that side of it’s rump!
    PSS…hardly room in the cat carrier for it to curl it’s tail..huh!
    You really should’ve road down in the back of the truck with ’em!
    PSSS…..what a “squeal” that would’ve been…Oh, to be a fly on the tail-gate!……..ha

  10. B. Ruth says:

    Edit…check….

    mispell….(rode)..down in, etc…

    PS…or my language short cut..road down road!…ha
    PSS…I’d never be able to twitter…err…tweet…

  11. Angie says:

    There are 2 buildings on our farm that are very special to me, my grandaddys tobacco barn (I was probably 12 or 13 when I realized it was really pronounced “baccer barn”) and a small building that was the kitchen when they were separate from the houses. I can walk in them and look at the wood and imagine a time and place when things were so much simpler. :clover:

  12. Flatlander says:

    When we bought our farm there were barns, sheds old chickencoop etc.
    I fell in love with them..and the place was sold before I had seen the house..who was beautiful too..if you could see beyond all the work.

    My barn is old and everybody keeps telling me to bulldozer it and built a new one or put at least metal siding on it…uhhhh I DON”T THINK SO, the barn is mine, nobody touches it. :pirate:

  13. trish says:

    I love the picture of Clover too! The pigs look happy and that is all that matters!! Fun on the farm.

  14. vlemonds says:

    I love old barns too, but so many of them around look like they’d collapse if you looked at them too hard. People around here don’t seem to care about taking care of them. Heathens!

  15. SuzieQ says:

    Sausage and Patty would probably prefer not to be on concrete, too hard on the feet and they have four each! :dancingmonster:

  16. monica says:

    Oh I love barns! You have a gift for capturing the essence of their beauty!

    Is it a good idea to water animals from a creek close by to animals? I would hate to see someone get a terrible parasite from them drinking contaminated water!

  17. Runningtrails-Sheryl says:

    They will love their new quarters! lol! She is such a farm girl and so cute at it, too!

  18. cranberry says:

    One of my favorite things, old RED barns, sans the lovely tin siding of course. I adore the stalls, the gigantic eat-your-head barn spiders, the memories that I imagine they once held… oh and the loft where you can go up and sleep in the hay (not thinking about the lovely little mice running around when you are dead asleep with your mouth open) – :pinkpig:

  19. Carol says:

    How’s about a hex sign from PA dutch country for the barn?!?! Then make some shoe fly pie and whooppie pies and post the recipes here!
    Dang, now I’m homesick for PA!

  20. Carol says:

    p.s.: I love the first picture, the one of the piggie ‘tocks!

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