More Oswego Country Barns

There was such a positive response from a previous issue on Country Barns And Other Stuff that I thought I would do a follow-up for you.

It was fun driving around the Countryside looking for old barns that might be photo-worthy and there were so many of them that it was hard to decide which ones to include in this issue.

George Van Steenbergh using a sidebar

A friend of mine, Cathie (Van Steenbergh) Cich, grew up on a dairy farm on Potter Road in Mexico, NY. Her father, George Van Steenbergh, used to own the now Behlings Orchard in Mexico, New York. These three black-and-white photos are courtesy of Cathie Cich.

The Behlings purchased the dairy farm from Mr. Van Steenbergh in the early 1970's, and have been using it to grow apples, pumpkins, and fruits and vegetables. Several dairy farms in our community are now being used for growing other products such as Christmas trees, or they have been broken up into smaller parcels for the construction of new houses.

Hay is a very important crop for farmers. They use it to feed the animals and it's also used for bedding for the animals. Farmers would use a side bar to cut the hay (see first picture above). After the hay was cut and dried, another piece of equipment would be hooked up to the horses (gentle giants) to rake the hay. And the families always prayed for no rain after they cut it so it would dry properly. The two most important factors of haying was timing and weather conditions. The nutrient values in the hay are much higher earlier in the season. Plants put most of their energy in the plant early in the season which provides starches, proteins, and minerals.

Thanks Cathie for sharing your photos with us.


More barns in winter. . .

A few weeks ago I was on my way to an appointment when I drove by the farm below. The sun was shining the sky was a bright blue, no clouds in the sky, but I didn't have my camera with me. If I had the time, I would have gone back home right then and there to get my camera, but I didn't want to be late for my appointment. So a few hours later when I got home, I asked my husband if he wanted to go for a ride to get some photo shots for my blog post. The first thing we did was travel up the road to get a picture of this barn. By then the clouds moved in and the sun was fading in and out of clouds. I was a little disappointed that I wasn't going to get the shot I wanted with the bright blue sky in the background. When I got home and loaded the pictures on the computer, I was really surprised to see how nice the photo came out. The dark clouds on the horizon really adds to the drama of the picture.

1.  Ft. Leazier Road, Mexico, NY

I guess you can compare photo opportunities to life. . .when you think something looks really great or is going to be wonderful, if you wait long enough or it changes for some reason, sometimes it's just better than what you originally thought it was going to be.

2.  Kranz Road, Mexico, NY

3.  County Route 28, Town of Richland

4.  State Route 13, Town of Albion

5.  Barn converted to residence

6.  County Route 26, Town of Amboy

7.  County Route 26, Town of Amboy

8.  County Route 26, Town of Parish

9.  County Route 23, Town of Constantia

10.  Redfield Street, Constantia

11.  Lower Road, Town of Constantia

12.  Redfield Street, Constantia (horse is looking out the door on the left side of the barn)

13.  Lower Road, Constantia

Hope you liked your tour of some of our Oswego County Barns.

Feel free to leave a comment. . .