Rural Gardening: New! What's the craziest thing ever (done) WITH a chicken?, 1 by Glenda_Michigan

Glenda_Michigan wrote:
Bridiglily, I like the boutonnieres too. They were very cool. I wouldn't have thought about using them but with it being fall, they were perfect. Funny thing happened to the groom's boutonniere though - the bride, groom, and the photographer went back into the woods to take some photos with the sunlight streaming down through the trees. While back there, at some point, Kenny's boutonniere fell off. They didn't notice it right away but once they did, they tried looking for it. They never found it; it looked like everything else lying on the forest floor. It just blended in.

Backyard Hens, I can see you doing everything you told us about! What fun! Glad to hear I'm not the only one engaged in "creative uses for a chicken"!

Jerseyridgearts, they are a very sweet couple; both kind and loving people. They're perfect for each other.

Cottage_Rose, thanks! I LOVE barns and although it looks like it's done, our bank barn is still in the process of being restored. The north and east sides still need to have the new siding put over the old siding and the windows installed. Barnwright-historians date the barn as being built around 1885-90. It has the original wooden hay rail at the roof's peak; shortly after 1900 barns were built with metal hay rails. I still need to go the township hall and go through the old records to find what year(s), back in the 1800's, the taxes were increased on our parcel because that will give me a clue when the barn was built. …You wouldn't know it now, but our barn was literally about 2-3 storms from caving in and falling over because the original stone foundation had failed and was quickly falling in. With the backside bowing out, the whole barn was leaning hard towards the east! We had 4 different barnwrights look at it before we decided to go ahead and try to save it. Since the restoration of the barn was started, beams have been pulled and winched back into place and squared up like it was originally, the barn was lifted up into the air - supported ONLY by stacks of cribbing underneath it (it's a wild site to see a barn "floating" in the air), rot in some of the beams was cut out and replaced by experienced timber framers, a new roof put on it, a new foundation was poured underneath it, the outside of the barn wrapped in a black Ty-vac type of fabric, and new siding nailed over the Ty-vac and old siding so that the outside looks new but the inside is still original and old, new doors made and mounted with new hardware.... just for starters. Restoring an old barn is not for the faith of heart! I got some guidance from the Michigan Barn Preservation Network (www.mibarn.net) that works with Michigan State University and many historical organizations here in Michigan. Restoring a barn is quite expensive but for those of us who love OLD barns, preserving a piece of American history is priceless. Again, we LOVE our old barn! She is a beauty! …Our grandkids can't wait for her restoration to be completed. They want the barn to be their new clubhouse! Cool, huh? ;) They'll make some great memories playing in our new-old barn!

PS: Here's a picture of our barn while she was up in the air, supported only by cribbing! Wild huh?

This post was edited to tell you that the man leaning against the cribbing is my wonderful husband. I thank the Lord for him every day. He's my best friend...


This message was edited Oct 19, 2006 11:09 PM