Fieldstone Farm, farewell to the barn

The old dairy barn at Fieldstone Farm is slated to be demolished next week.  The last calendar in the barn is from 1981, the newspapers in one of the apartments are dated 1978.  Ever since about that time, the barn fell into neglect...the roof wasn't kept up, and time and weather has had its way with the old barn.  Before it comes down, though, I couldn't help myself, and I went in for one last round of documentary photos.  The barn was used for both dairy cows and pigs, and had 2 apartments in it, which I assume house some of the farm workers.  It's an extensive property...290 acres remains from the original 1,000+ acres that Ruth Smith owned.  This is the end of an era for the farm in general, too, as the barn demolition is part of a bigger plan...putting the farm on the market.

Looking out from the front apartment to Rt 62 and the farmstand.

The front wall of the barn is completely detached from the building.

The double bed frame up in the loft of the front apartment.

This hand carved tree trunk served as the stairs to an upper bedroom in the front apartment.

Old breeding records.

"died in crate- before farrowing"

The smaller apartment above the center of the barn.

Paperwork left in the middle apartment.

The back of the barn.  The silo will be demolished, as well.

This collapsed a few months ago.  We were all home when it happened, which was kinda cool.  For a couple of hours, all we heard were pops, cracks, moans, and crashes.

Boze

Boze has become a great part of my life.  These photos are from the other day, when I brought the real camera to the barn.

Boze

I got my new horse today.  This is Boze.  :)

Annual Pilgrimage to Georgia

Usually, I get to Georgia two or three times a year...this time it was a full year before I got back down here.  Ugh.  Too long!!

I would have bought this to bring home, but the thought of getting thru the airport with it was daunting.

The house has an amazing array of brilliant colors!  If I'm a colorful girl (purple walls), Penny is downright ELECTRIC!

Penny says "draw something".  SO I drew home.  I miss the farm!

Her cat Huckabee is massive.  A Maine Coon Cat.

Allatoona Dam.  Day trip during the one 2 hour break that it didn't downpour (it rained 10 out of 11 days).

Penny's son is eying this river with significant hesitation.  It's flooded, the current is raging, and we (Penny and I- NOT the kids) were about to haul the kayaks over the steep edge, jump in, and careen down the river to the lake.  We made it.  But it rained heavily.

At one point we sheltered under the trees from the rains.  Then we decided we might be there for hours if we waited for the rains to end, and that wouldn't do for us to meet her husband for our 4pm pickup time at the lake.

Girls night out with Penny and her sister Catherine.

I discovered margaritas and martinis on girls night out.  No excess of drinking, but fun to try new things.

There was one other day that the rains didn't open up...and we went for a great hike and swim.  Such a nice spot!  Lots of forest, water, and wildlife.And the kids were pretty good sports about hiking.  I think we went 4 miles in the Georgia heat.

Ooh what a wonderful bug.  A couple of inches long!

Milo, the steadfast family dog.  Well, one of them.

If I were to read this mushrooms color language, I'd guess it's POISONOUS.  Whaddya think?

You can't see it, but there's a really fuzzy, small deer in this picture.

All of us were in braids.  It was too cool to NOT take a photo.

Even today, the last day, we got hit again by a huge storm that came thru as we were running errands.  The weather has been bizarre.  10 minutes after I took this, it was raining so hard there were flash floods and you couldn't SEE down the road.

Aaaaah.  Fish tacos!

The gardens are terraced.  I shot this from the tree house.  Great perspective.

Great swimming spot the day of the hike.  I loved the water.  Then, I stopped actually moving, and discovered that the fish nibbles on your ankles.  At least they weren't piranhas.