word pictures from the barn raising

[Donn Hewes]

Well, the Barn raising is today which is one week since the fire. The first floor of a new dairy barn is already constructed in block, and yesterday poles where going in for a new shed. here are just few quick images that stuck for me as I spent the day working there yesterday.

A sweaty pair of Belgian horses hooked to a wood wagon bring loads from the mill to the giant piles in front of the new barn. Thousands of board feet cut since last week. The horses stand unattended while a bulldozer pushes the chard wood, bent pipes, and busted concrete of the old barn into a pile near by, clearing more room to stack green siding and flooring. The tongue of the wood wagon has a deep black char on the top and one side.

About twelve young Amish boys have been directed to put siding on an end wall so it will be ready to stand up with siding on. The are told to follow my instructions! The first thing they do is try to use a long level to keep the boards running straight. This probably worked the last time they saw it done as the wall was built and the level could keep the siding plumb. I suggested we use tape measures to keep both ends even with the end of the wall. Then I just carried the boards and let them put them on.

Final one: Under the boards, scraps, chainsaw dust on the new hay floor of the barn are two faint red chalk lines. They are the only physical representations of how this floor will be transformed into a giant hay barn. Very few words are spoken. Fifty or more people are working finishing trusses, cutting more than one hundred rafts, and preparing to pour concrete floors down stairs. More workers are putting lines on each siding board so that they are handed up with all the nails already started. Those red lines speak powerfully to me about community and culture.

[Jay]

Thanks for these great word pictures, Donn. It feels good to be reminded of the communities we are a part of, both near and not so near. It helps to restore my sense of “we do have company and others do approach things in similar ways to (each of)us”. We can and do work together like at the field days and also when someone has a need as in the barn or other immediately pressing need. Here’s to friends and community. Jay

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