When Horses Pulled the Plow: Life of a Wisconsin Farm Boy, 1910–1929

2. The Farmstead and Farmhouse

32 The Farmstead and Farmhouse The farm was on both sides of the country road that passed by it. On one side was the barn and forty acres. On the opposite side was the house with the eighty owned acres and, in the early years, the forty rented acres. On the barn side were two fields separated by a lane and about twenty-five acres of pasture and woodland. The lane went from the barnyard to the pasture and woodland. The house side had about fifteen acres of pasture with some trees. The orchard and lawn space around the house occupied perhaps two acres. The owned cropland was divided into four fields; the most remote part of these was a half mile from the house. A lane ran between two fields to reach the area used mostly for pasture. Most of the fences along the road and along the line separating our farm from adjoining farms were woven wire, barbed wire, or a combination of the two. But still in use was rod after rod of the wooden rail fences built decades earlier. Two sides of one pasturewoodland had a total of about 120 rods of such fence. A second such area had 40 rods of rail fence on one side. Two other stretches of fence were rail. These rail fences were made from logs split into 2 33 12- or 14-foot lengths. The way the rails were laid resulted in a zigzag pattern. These fences, about 5 feet high, were strong enough to not be broken through by horses, cattle, or sheep. I learned how to maintain these rail fences by putting back rails that had been knocked off and seeing that each zig and zag was properly braced by a short piece of rail. These grayish, weathered rail fences were not only, in my view, an attractive feature of the landscape but good for wildlife—birds, rabbits, and other creatures. Grass and weeds could grow tall, and wild berries grew in the spots inaccessible by plow or cultivator because of the zigzag pattern. The Barn and Other Farm Buildings The barn was built parallel to the road about twenty feet from its edge. The barn had two levels. The framework for the upper level was made of massive beams and posts, which came from the trees growing on the farm when it was purchased. The beams showed the marks of the axes that had shaped them from logs. The whole framework was held together by ingenious use of mortises and joints, all held together by wooden pegs. Not a nail, bolt, or other piece of metal could be found in this framework. The framework was covered by wood boards running vertically. The nails that attached each board to the framework were unlike any commonly used today: square at the head and below. The upper level was set on a foundation of quarried stone and could be accessed from ground level because the barn was built on a slope. The Farmstead and Farmhouse 34 The upper level was more interesting and made the barn unique as compared with the other barns I knew in the neighborhood. Two large doors in the center of the barn faced the road so that a wagonload of hay or bags of grain could be pulled in by a team of horses for unloading. Next to these large doors was a small door to a small, windowless room. Here stood the De Laval cream separator used for separating cream from the whole milk. On one wall hung tools and such items as hoes and scythes. But here also hung a yoke for oxen, a reminder of earlier days when oxen, not horses, pulled the plows. Another reminder of the past was a cradle, the device with a scythe used for cutting grain at harvest time before the horse-pulled reapers (grain binders) were adopted. In back of this was a room for grain storage, if needed. In it was a fanning mill, used every spring before planting time. The grain to be used for planting was put in this device, which had a large fan, cranked by hand, and a set of screens. The fan separated the light kernels, not suitable for planting, from the heavy kernels of grain, which were planted. Off this room were three large grain bins in which the oats and barley, in separate bins, were stored...