The Barn

The barn is the largest building on my farm. Yes, it is bigger than my house. It would be nice to make the barn into a house. The barn is very important because it is a place to store things used on the farm. Some of the tools stored are for my garden and yard work. I also store my saddles and tack there. Tack is what I use on and for the horses. I have a room just for tack and feed. I have my saddles, bits, heas stalls, halters and all sorts of things I may use with the horses. In the "tack room' I have two feed barrels for the horses grain and other containers for chicken, geese , duck and guennie food. They all enjoy corn. In the winter the corn helps them keep warm. Corn produces sugar and carbohydrates and in turn keeps their body heat up. The chickens lay fewer eggs in the winter. The days are shorter as they require a certain amount of sunlight for laying eggs. The ducks do not seem to care if the days are shorter. I found a nest of duck eggs in the horse stall. I have stalls to keep horses in. Sometimes I may put another kind of animal in one if the need arises. Right now I have the two baby horses each in their own stall. They are in there to be out of the harsh weather we have been having. It has been colder than usual. Right now it is snowing. It is really cold. If kept in a stall they are assured of getting the proper amount of feed they need for growth. They are growing like weeds. I brush and work with the babies in the stalls and in that confined area makes it much easier. One time Delaney my riding mare got her hooves trimmed and it was cut too close. Much like trimming your fingernails. Anyhow she could hardly walk so I bought large bags of pine shavings to make a thick layer on the floor of her stall so she would not put pressuer on the sore hoof. I worked out just fine. She got well in a few days and was back out in the pasture like new again. In the barn I hand up old tools used in the barn over 50 years ago. The barn was used to store hay. At other times it had tobacco hanging in the rafters to dry. In the spring when I do not have hay in the loft I have it set up like a living room with a couch and rockers. It is a great place to be in the spring or any time of year. I do a lof of self expression in my barn. I am a patrotic person as well.

I brought in one of my female goats when she was about to have a baby and put her in a small stall. I kept food, water and hay for her. There is a certain sound a goat makes when she has a baby. I know it when I hear it. I have helped deliver many goats and love being there to help the baby come into the world. Here is Julie with Cesar right after he was born. When he got bigger he went into the pasture with his mom and other goats.
Here I am in the loft of my barn. You can see the may bales of hay in here. It is very important to buy good hay. Bad hay can make your animals sick or kill them. Horses are very sentive to hay and any mold that may be there. I use my old hay for bedding for other animals in the winter. Sometimes I put the hay in my garden for keeping weeks down and keeping moisture in.

At the holidays I put a tree in the barn with lights on it. Last year I hung the icecicle lights in the barn too. It is a pretty scene at night and the people who drive up my road like seeing the lighted tree at night. I was at the fruit market and was talking to a lady there and another lady spoke up and said "you are the lady with the tree lit up in the barn" I said yes. She told me how she and her grandchildren loved seeing it. That makes me very happy.

Here you see Delaney with her head over the gate when she had to stay in here becaue of her hooves. She did not like it but she had to recover so she would be able to walk on her sore hoof.

She got well and was out in not time at all.