Veggie people

Our barn is kind of huge. And it is a major part of the farm complex around here. In fact, it was the subject of the very first post down here on the farm.

Back when we bought the place, we weren't really sure what to do with the barn -- the debate was whether we keep it, and sink some money into it, or we tear it down, and sink money into building a new, smaller, more manageable barn.

Well, it looks like we are going the preservation/restoration/re-creation route. We had four different people come look at the barn, and all four said that besides the north foundation and a couple of holes in the roof, the barn was in pretty good structural shape. In other words, if we took care of those problems, we could stop the structural bleeding, and begin to think about how we could affirmatively convert this old dairy barn into a veggie palace.

This week, the crew finished work on the north foundation.

The local old barn guru did the work, and we are very pleased. As Susannah said after viewing the finished product, "It just looks a lot safer." And it is.

And my farm mentor Richard has helped us think about how we can start to more efficently use the barn for veggies. So we have a lot to mull/work on this winter.

The barn work also brings us to an interesting milestone -- we have now spent about 4 times as much on the barn, as we have fixing up the house. When we were looking for a farm years ago, a real estate agent said, "You can always tell horse or sheep people because the barn is nicer than the house." I guess the same might be said for us veggie people too.