This photo was taken in 1957 around my birthday. I was seven years old. We had a snow storm on the day, March 26, and I am sure school was canceled. We lived on the farm in southern Iowa, near the town of Murray.
The red coat was one of my favorites. My older brother and I had matching coats, as that is the only style they sold at JC Penney's for young boys. I remember getting that fake fur in my mouth and it tasted badly.
The barn in the back was designed a lot like the ones that they called sheep barns. The center of the barn was a ground to ceiling mow and animals could have hay dropped down on them on either side.
There were milking stalls on the right side where dad hand milked the cows while the farm cats all watched and waited. In the summer the flies were thick and the cow would be swishing her tail to keep them off of herself and also to hit my dad in the face. My dad sat on a T shaped stool made from wood and the smell in the barn was always bad. The new hay that was put in the barn each summer, piled on top of ancient hay from years before always made the barn smell so much better.
The present owners left the roof of the barn to leak and it caused the whole barn roof to rot and fall down in the center.
The building to the left was a grainery. It was built special to hold shelled grain like corn, oats or beans. The walls and floor were lined with shiplap wood pieces that created surface which were smooth sanded wood. It was like a wood paneling placed horizontally on the interior. It helped to keep the grain very dry. The grainery was moved by the new owners so they could drive their big tractors through by the barn. Because of the moving of the grainery in 1970 to a bad location at the top of a hill the wind caught it and sent it rolling down the hill, destroying it.
You can see the barn in the background here on the right and the grainery behind me, the guy in shorts. The year must have been around 1967, ten years later than the photo above. My dad took great pride in his buildings and he had his sons keep them painted up every few years.
Dad and mom of course are in front. Jesse T. Burgus, 1918-2000, Zella M. Burgus, 1919-2008.
Back row: Starting left, Dwight, 1947-2008, Rex 1943, Ron, 1941, and Larry, 1950
I need to relocate this photo and scan it as it is much clearer looking that what I have shown you.
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12 comments:
I enjoyed your farm pictures and description -- I've never been on a farm. I am so tired of snow, but your snow picture is my favorite. I had a red (girls) jacket at one time too.
What a nice descriptive story about your farm. It reminded me so much of visiting my uncle's dairy farm in Illinois. I can still smell the barn so many years later. Thanks for the memories.
Nancy
Ladies of the grove
I like old stuff ! Please keep up with good work !
I grew up on a farm too. I don't think ever we had as much snow as in your first photo but we did get snowed in quite a lot in the winter! Jo
A shame the new owners weren't particularly barn savvy. That seems to happen all too often. New owners take over and the barns start to rot and tip. Had this happen around where I live too. The saddest were the lovely hop barns that stood for decades and then simply began to implode. I miss them. Thanks for remembering good times.
They are lovely and a little sad memories just like memories are. You look nearly buried in the snow, good to wear a red "visy" coat. It is sad that so many nice barns, part of the history of the country are torn down or not cared for. It also seems that family farms are in a fast decline as the multinational, global oligarchs have taken over and destroyed in this process so much.
Perhaps one day, fresh milk, good wholesome food is available again from smaller producers who do care about food, do not want to amass great wealth just want to have a happy and good life with a decent income. Larry do you think this is utopia?
Larry,
I love the way you tell a story. I didn't grow up on a farm, but your description made me feel as if I had could have been there.
I posted a snowy picture today, too...but your snow is deeper! lol Look at you up to your waist! How cute.
Great memories Larry. And your memory of the taste of the fake fur brought a whole flood of childhood taste memories back to me. It looks as though, in addition to sepia images and sepia objects, there could be something called sepia smells.
As schoolboy I worked on a local farm at harvest time and if very good got to drive an old Fordson tractor. No interesting barns there. Fascinating post, Larry
oh brrr that snow; we are headed north and hopw it is all gone now after our respite in AZ, NM and now TX. Just browsing some Sepias...I adore photos of old barns and farm scenes...this fit that
Wonderful photos and narration as usual Larry! And twin calves also, I have never see that before..I felt a little sad on the last picture, seeing date of birth with that of death..They came, they made a mark, and they went, but Larry keeps them in memory..good onya mate!!!
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