The Journey Home Begins

One of my fondest childhood memories is standing at the very back of the hay barn during the summer, watching a thunderstorm roll in over the back fields.  I loved standing there, waiting for the rain to break through, knowing that I was perfectly safe.  The barn has weathered countless storms in the nearly one hundred years it’s been standing there.  It’s weathered many in my lifetime alone and will stand resolutely through more lightning strikes, blizzards and even the odd hurricane that finds its way this far north.  Though built in the early 1900’s, the barn has a level of craftsmanship that many of our modern buildings are lacking.

 The axe marks on every beam relay the care and time that went into the building.  The wooden pegs that hold each beam to its neighbor are fit so exactly in each of their holes it almost looks like they were a knot in the board to begin with, put there by nature rather than a farmer.

The barn has had near misses with an earthquake and a tornado, but the real threat to its rafters and floorboards, its pegs and hinges is the current situation of farms in this area. 

According to the USDA, New York “lost 23 percent of its dairy farms in five years, from 2001 to 2007. In 2007, the state had nearly 5,700 dairy farms, down from nearly 7,400 in 2002.”  And since then, farms have continued to close their barn doors, to be replaced by developments, strip malls or become harbors for invasive species.

The farm I grew up on in Chester, NY is part of an exclusive club in Orange County, New York.  Once full of farms to supply New York City with fresh produce, meats and dairy products, Orange County’s farms have continually disappeared since the advent of industrial farming and the importation of food. 

To lose a farm that has been in operation since the 1700’s would be a shame that goes beyond the addition of more McMansions onto our landscape.  I believe there is another way to save the farm.  A way that is sustainable, respectful of the land and successful financially as well as in terms of personal fulfillment.

This blog is about my journey to learn how to do that.