Tag Archives: the barn project

A Perfect Mother’s Day Family Day

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The bricks get loaded one by one down the line

Yesterday was a great day for the family. Each and every year – my four sisters, brother, spouses, nieces, nephews and even great grand children gather up at my moms to have a work day as a mother’s day present  to our mom.  Weeds get pulled, the yard gets spruced up, the flowerbeds edged and mulched, a small garden gets planted – and more importantly -everyone has a blast!

Everyone - including the kids even get into the act of helping load

I don’t think there is a single person that views it as “work” – in fact – I think we all look forward to it!  It’s a chance to help and spend time with mom – work together – talk a lot – and of course – eat a lot of great food.

We got an extra bonus today,  because in addition to all of the yard work – everyone pitched in and took up the old brick floor of mom and dad’s barn we had torn down last summer.

And all the hard work pays off- a lot of great reclaimed brick waiting to make the barns new floor at the farm

We loaded up over 2000 bricks to haul to the far.  The reclaimed bricks will soon become the “new” floor for our barn. Everyone formed a big line and went at it – pulling up bricks one by one - passing them down the line and onto the truck – making a pretty tough job seem fun.

A beautiful sight at the end of the day…The truck empty of all brick!

Even the little kids got into the act – helping bring a single brick to the truck to have it loaded – and then playing in what became a giant sandbox of sand once the bricks were taken up!

So – at the end of the day today – it’s one more great memory for all of us – and once again making me so thankful to have such a great mom that created such a  great family.  Now…we just have to figure out how to get them all suckered into coming to the farm soon to help lay the floor! :) :)

Happy Mothers Day!

Barn doors are up! We have closure.

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Making Old New Again – Doors from Floors

Today was a big day for the barn – on went the front doors!  Who knew we would still be able to work on the barn like this through the winter.  The barn has been a project of epic proportions for Mary and I.  Taking 2 old barns, one of which was my Dad’s and creating a new one has been an incredible experience for the both of us.  It’s hard to believe that just last July – we began the long process of tearing down the first barn in Cardington, Ohio and hauling it back piece by piece to the farm.

Barn Door made from old barn flooring and siding

We have really tried to preserve the most we can of the two barns into the new one – and the front doors are a great example.   We used the siding and floorboards from the Cardington Barn to custom make our front and side sliding doors.

Cutting into the old wood that was once used 80 years ago – it’s easy to think about what it must have been like for craftsmen of the past.  It also gives us a great appreciation for them being able to do it without power tools!   The old wood is so dense and hard – we went through blade after blade on our saw just cutting through it.

We built the two doors at the house – then hauled them out to the farm and stained and painted them last fall – and then today – finally put them up!  It was such a great feeling to finally here the heavy sound of the rollers on the track once they were up – one more thing off the list!

The door are up and on the track!

We still have quite a bit to go on the barn – hopefully in the next month or two – if the weather continues to stay warm – we can get the  pergola attached to the left of the barn.  We are going to make that entirely from the old post and beams of the old barns, and hope  to create a big gathering area and put the outdoor kitchen under it as well.  But for today, we are just happy to see those doors up!

Recycled Barn with our doors – ALMOST DONE!!