Near Poy Sippi, Wisconsin.
MY FONDNESS FOR BARNS, for photographing them, never wanes.
Along Wisconsin State Highway 21.
When I fit my eye to the viewfinder, swing my camera lens toward a barn and click, it’s as if I’m clicking my heels together and flying into my past.
Also along Wisconsin Highway 21.
I am trudging down the barn aisle, leaning into the wheelbarrow heaped with ground corn. I am scooping that feed by the shovelful to top silage pitched from the silo and parceled before the Holsteins’ empty stanchions.
Near Poy Sippi, Wisconsin.
Later, as milk pulsates into milking machines and Dad has poured the milk into a tall thin pail, I am lugging the precious liquid to the milkhouse, handle biting into my chore-gloved hand.
Another farm near Poy Sippi.
Memories come into focus—the golden booming radio voices from ‘CCO, the slap of a cow’s tail, hot urine splattering into gutters, cats swarming around a battered hubcap, the stench of manure, taut twine snapped with my yellow jackknife and prickly alfalfa itching my exposed wrists.
An old-fashioned farm along Wisconsin Highway 21.
But, mostly, I see my farmer dad in those barns I photograph.
© Copyright 2013 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Lovely. As always. Thanks for sharing your memories.
You are welcome. Snow in parts of Iowa and Wisconsin today, FYI.
Boo hiss.
You make me miss the farm and exploring the out buildings:) Great Captures – Happy Week!!!
A girl after my own heart, you are. The country never leaves our hearts.
I will always be a country girl at heart:)
I like barns and farms, too! My Grandson and I will pick out “our” farms as we drive by them. He is in first grade and one day he was all serious and says, Grandma, I’m the only farmer in my class. Yup, he says!
That is precious–“the only farmer in my class.” You need to write that down.
You know you share your love of Barns, Loved all the photo’s and the memories of the days you had…back on the farm.
Thank you, Jackie. I can never get enough of barns.
It’s lovely that these images remind you of your father. Your images are stunning. They certainly look like winter is on the approach xx
Thank you, Charlie. I took these photos when my husband and I traveled to northeastern Wisconsin in mid-October, toward the end of fall. The landscape has changed significantly since then. Here in southeastern Minnesota, all the leaves have fallen from the trees, yards are brown, crops are harvested and a light dusting of snow dusts the ground. Plus, temps have already plummeted to single digits F. Yes, winter is settling in for the next six months.
This post was a delightful trip down memory lane. Thanks. I really miss my Grandpa’s old barn. Picture #2 looks much like his did.
Marilyn, I’m always delighted to take readers like you back in time and back to the farm. Glad you enjoyed this post.
Those are great! I like the second and last photos best! 🙂
Those two images you selected show farm sites as they all mostly were at one time. I tend to be drawn to those also.
Oh your barn pics bring back my childhood memories too. My early childhood days were spent in northern Ohio and a couple of those barns resembles my grandfather’s. The #2 and #4 barn looks alot like his. Thanks for stirring the memories….
You are welcome. Some of the barns I photographed are most definitely old style and that’s why I was particularly drawn to them.
This weekend, workers are dismantling the old weather-worn barn near me. I hate seeing it go.
http://t.co/ZTCSqiuGWL
http://t.co/qhU8vCsT4h
Thanks for sharing those barn photos. So sad to see all these old barns falling into heaps. I hope parts of the barn are being recycled.
Yes, they’re recycling the barn boards, so in essence, the barn is being revived.
Excellent.
I love barns. Having grown up in the Pacific Northwest, I have always loved traveling through eastern Washington and Oregon, marveling at the beautiful barns. Then, when I traveled in the eastern states, I came to appreciate the differences in barn architecture. Barns so rock!
I totally agree. Barns do rock.
Thanks for sharing your memories!
You are most welcome, Greg. And thanks for stopping by.
My uncle had a big dairy farm, or at least it seemed to me. Plus my cousins lived like they were in a barn themselves. But. there are times I miss it.
“My cousins lived like they were in a barn themselves…” Interesting observation and I’m uncertain what you mean by that.
Reblogged this on Floyd, Times Are Changin and commented:
America is a different place than it was. Even where my father grew up is under water. Like it never existed, now a reservoir.
Yes, America certainly has changed. Quite different from my years on the farm decades ago. I’m sorry to hear that the place where your father grew up is under water now.
It’s not just country barns, either. I’ve already photographed hundreds of small barns here in my small New Hampshire city, I call them urban barns, since most were essentially carriage houses (a term that’s become a tad overblown, even though some here are nice homes and apartments). Makes me wonder about all the hay the horses needed and what happened to the resulting manure.
Thanks for keeping the faith.
I enjoyed reading your comment about those small in-town New Hampshire barns. I don’t see many of those in Minnesota.
Cherish what we have, in all the variety.
Precisely.
Beautiful! I grew up outside of Poy Sippi (in Pine River) and drove by these farms all the time. Now I’m way out in Oregon. Makes me miss home.
Nikki, welcome. I’m pleased to meet a former Poy Sippi area resident. My husband and I discovered Poy Sippi within the past year when we detoured through the town to get to Appleton, where our second daughter lives. Be sure to read this post I published 10 days ago about an antique shop in Poy Sippi: https://mnprairieroots.com/2013/11/20/antiquing-in-wisconsin-a-stop-in-poy-sippi/
You should recognize a few buildings. I’d love to hear back from you.
Very nice. There’s a charm old barns possess that captivate me. I wrote about that charm some time ago. Take a look.
http://triggerfishcriticalreview.com/cliche-by-s-thomas-summers/
An absolutely beautiful poem. You nailed it. Readers, be sure to check out S. Thomas Summers’ barn poem.
Thanks, Audrey. Please, call me Scott. I’ll be back. God bless.
You are welcome, Scott. And I’d love to have you back in the comment section.
Lovely pictures. 😀
Thank you kindly.
Thank you so much for sharing. I felt like I was walking through that old barn with you, perhaps on a chilly Winter late afternoon, thinking of the warm kitchen stove and the cup of hot chocolate waiting after the chores. Silent
What a nice thought–a mug of hot chocolate. Usually, after chores, it would be suppertime and meat, boiled potatoes, gravy and a hot vegetable awaiting me, my dad and siblings.
Reblogged this on ipomaven.
Glad you enjoyed the post.
Very sweet! You have to love Poi Sippy ( Hawaiian Barn Version)
I do love that name, Poy Sippi, Wisconsin. Thanks for introducing me to the Hawaiian version.
Barns are way more interesting than….grain elevators which is a dying heritage architecture in Alberta. But even so, people paint the elevators, etc. It is a piece of local history.
I appreciate old grain elevators, too. They are also vanishing here in Minnesota.
Stark contrasts in the American heartland.
Indeed. Thanks for stopping by.
Nice to find your site. I grew up in Waseca, Minnesota on a farm, (hosted the National plowing contest in 1965!). I will explore more of your blog. Thanks.
Well, I live in Faribault, but grew up in Redwood County, much further to the west. Two of my sisters and their families live in/near Waseca. Welcome. Glad to have you here.
Well it was great reading about the barns.. read about my experience in a hill station too…
http://nilanjanalahiri.wordpress.com/2013/11/30/the-trip-to-shillong/
your comments and suggestions are welcome
Thanks for stopping by.
it was just great..so had to stop.. 😉
Thanks again.
Sorry but when I mentioned my aunt and uncles farm I meant their house always seemed a mess, especially upstairs. Still I miss that and at the end of the day were playing baseball among other things.
Ah, thanks for the clarification.
Wow. I love these photos. I really need to get to Wisconsin on my next visit to America. I’m from Australia, and we really don’t have as many barns (our farms are very different over here). Thanks for the images.
Wisconsin, especially, has some fabulous barns, attributed perhaps to the state’s abundance (or once abundant) of dairy farms.
Great photos Always loved pictures of barns.
Thank you. I always find myself drawn to photographing barns.
Nice pictures. No wonder they make good cheese.
I’m laughing at your second sentence. Yes, lots of great cheese in Wisconsin.
When I lived in the country, I loved the old barns as well. I particularly liked coming across one that was abandoned and then wandering thru it. The smells, the creaky floorboards, the slightly scary stairs (scary b/c you never knew if one was going to break away as you stepped on it) or the feeling of being on top of the world as you looked down from the loft. I live closer to town now, but I still take rides back into the country quite often just to relax and feel my breathing slow down. Thank you for sharing these wonderful photos.
~Debbie
You and I sound like kindred spirits, Debra. Thank you for sharing your perspective on barns and why you personally appreciate them.
This is beautiful. Thank you for sharing your memories and lovely images with us.
You are most welcome.
I love the descriptive way you write 🙂 Thank you for posting!
This post, in particular, possesses a certain poetic approach. When writing such a descriptive piece, I try to engage all of the sense. All too often, we focus on the visual. And there’s so much more to descriptive writing than the visual. I wanted to take you, my reader, inside that barn with me.
I’m particularly fascinated with old-broken down barns. There’s a lot in Canada, for some reason. They sure seem to have their own atmosphere.
Barns are such a link to the past and, I think, because they are disappearing at an alarming rate, hold a special appeal.
are they?
In my opinion, yes. Fewer farmers, especially those with animals, equals abandoned barns and those buildings eventually falling apart.
There’s still 300 of the 600 bales to put in the barn. It’s 8:30 am and already 90 degrees. I started mowing yesterday morning as soon as the dew was off. It was 103 yesterday and we were raking at 2;00 pm. This was before we had haybines and swathers. My brothers are in the barn stacking, I’m unloading the trailers onto the elevator, pacing, the sweat, the smell of perfect alfalfa. I think you have the concept— Barns! Beautiful!
You clearly know barns, and the definition of hard word. I appreciate your detailed account of making hay and getting those bales into the hayloft.
I love barns. We have one in our backyard that we use as a garage.
Excellent. I always love hearing that barns are being used rather than abandoned.
Beautiful pictures. We don’t have any that kind in France
Every country, I’m sure, has distinct rural architecture. I’m delighted I could show you some of Wisconsin’s barns.
such a pretty view!
I love rural views, especially of barns.
Absolutely beautiful photos. Congrats.
Thank you.
I have barn memories of my farm in Illinois. Great times!
Yes, barns hold many memories and I’m glad you have some of great times therein.
[…] happened across a blog by a writer/photographer who posted a photo-essay here in which she has captured numerous barns. Her blog is titled Minnesota Prairie Roots and by the […]
i love barns! Something about them makes me feel home!
I am meeting a lot of barn lovers here in the comment box. Thanks for stopping by.
Reblogged this on MikeSight and commented:
I love barns!
It seems there are a lot of us barn lovers out there.
It is my one dream to have a barn
Dream on until your dream becomes reality.
I love it! thank you for bringing back the memories I had when I had horses long ago – the cold winter air in the barn, I could see my breath as I threw hay down the loft at feeding time, the horses nickering for their grain, cleaning the stalls. All of it was hard work but left me with the most peaceful, satisfied feeling when I went home. Thanks again
From your comment, I see you can totally relate to my barn memories. Love Wisconsin, BTW.
So excited for you!!! Be inspired my friend. 🙂
Thank you.
I loved this. I grew up on a farm in Iowa. I remember the smell of oat straw in the winter as we’d shake it out for bedding for the pigs in the winter. I’ve told people that and they’ve looked at me like I have 2 heads. That smell and the smell of hay when you’d walk into the barn on a cold winter day…I’ll probably never smell such again, but i have, and treasure, the memories. Thanks for letting me relive a few today.
Well, then, those two-headed people have never had the pleasure of working in a Midwest barn. Your description of shaking out a bale of oats straw is in my memory bank, too, except I was preparing bedding for cows. Thank you for sharing that sweet memory. I don’t think anything quite beats the earthy smell of freshly-mown alfalfa in a field, except perhaps the smell when you walk into the barn. I hope that someday you can return to your Iowa roots and once again walk through a barn.
i grew up in a town of 4,500-5,000 people during the 1950s in a town called Durand, in michigan which is the railroad center of the state. my little town was surrounded by farm land. i worked on farms baling hay … maybe the hardest work there is. i’m obsessed with the 1950s. i have crystal clear memories of growing up during this age which i think of as the golden age of america. i feel privlaged to have grown up during this period of our history when small towns were the center of life before shopping malls destroyed the downtowns of small town america. i could go on and on … my goal in life at this point is to bring to the world, what it was like to grow up during this golden age. so …. your photos mean a lot, lot to me. i know what it’s like to be inside of those barns … the cats, the tractors, the light, the tools, the hay loft. it’s all too beautiful and i thank you for sharing. i’m not supposed to do this but, there are two chapters in a series of stories called ‘Sailing With the Wind” where the barn is a cental ‘character’ in the story. i know i’m not supposed to do this but … i’m telling you because i think you might enjoy what you read NOT because i’m trying to promote myself. thank you again for your visions. K.S
You are most welcome and I’m happy to meet another enthusiast for that time period and the simpler way of life. Baling hay is hard work, for sure.
It sounds like you have some wonderful memories. And no problem with plugging those stories here. That passes the test of what’s allowable in my comments section. Thank you.
I keep seeing myself walking along peaceful beautiful lanes and the beautiful things of my childhood. I’m going to follow you.
Happy to have you aboard as a reader. Welcome.
Hello,
I ran across you blog on old barns
And I just wanted to say,that I think it is wonderful
I truley enjoyed the beautiful photos, nd the story.
I love riding around in the country and finding old brns and building,and photgraphing them
I think they are amazing treasures.
I agree, these old buildings are amazing treasures, which need to be preserved in photos if not otherwise.
I also have a photo blog at mclaymern.wordpress.om
And i have photos of old barns on it
I didn’t add stories though,but i think the photos are very good ones,,
And thank you for leting me enjoy your blog!
Always happy to share my photos with readers. Thank you, also, for preserving barns via your images.
If you like barns come to the south. We have lots of barns here 🙂
That’s good to hear.
There is no shortage of barns, yet, in Minnesota or neighboring states.
I love your photos. Takes me back to my own experiences on our Minnesota family farm. Thank you for sharing these.
You are welcome, Laura. Always happy to take readers back to the farm.
The sounds, sights and smells you describe take this old granny way back. Thanks for the memories
You are most welcome. I am so thankful I can recall, and write about, those details from years ago.
Audrey, it’s so nice going down memory lane with you. I spent my childhood on my grandparent’s riverside farm in southern New Jersey. The memories of that time are warm and cherished.
It sounds like you have some wonderful memories from that farm. I always thought a farm along a river would be picturesque and charming.
Reblogged this on Cristian De Leo and commented:
Fotos y Recuerdos de Minnesota
Me sentí caminando por el rodaje de una película Norte Americana en los años 80.
Por: Audrey Kletscher Helbing
i love barns they are so pretty
That they are. Glad you appreciate barns like so many of us.