“There is no more satisfying structure in the whole world than a well-built old American barn, just as she stands.”

E.B. White

I have many fond memories of being raised on the Verus F. and Rita A. Eldringhoff family farm just outside of Hermann, Missouri.  Most of the days I spent wandering around as a very young girl, involved a daily trip to hang out at the farm barn where everything seemed to revolve around.

My dad taught me how to milk a cow and hold the teats of the milking cow.  What I also learned is my herd of cats and kittens, LOVED the fresh cow’s milk I would squire right into their faces and mouths.  Dad would laugh and yell hey, the milk bucket Donna not the cats.  I did that hit and miss, literally.  It was fun teasing Dad with my fondness for the cats who were supposed to be “mousers” vs. my best friends.  You know sometimes it was lonely on the farm being the youngest of six so the cats became my imaginary family so I had to give them breakfast from the milking cows, right?  I think that Dad’s request to not feed my kitties was “Udderly” ridiculous…..ha ha my farm sense of humor or lack thereof.

My Dad taught me to respect the farm and the barn and the generations of farmers who worked the land before us.  A certain level of gratitude and respect to those hardworking people is paramount when you are carrying on tradition on a family farm.  We stepped into a beautiful family farm that we purchased when Dad and Mom moved to Hermann from Rhineland, Missouri which is across the Missouri River from Hermann.  Mom said she was tired of being “flooded” out and said “Dad, it’s time to move.”

Mom told me a story about the floods in the Rhineland, Missouri bottom.  One specific flood hit them hard, as they lived in the river bottoms along Highway 94 where the Katy Trail is located.  The two story farm house sat in the low fertile plains of the river bottom and proved to be good except when the big rains came, a levee may have broken and Missouri River waters poured into the fields, the creeks rose and the river backed up into those same fields.  This last flood they survived was so severe Mom said they moved everything to the second floor and lived there for a short while the water ran “through the main level of the home”.  Can you imagine how scary that would be?  My Mom was also terrified of water, especially running water, so I can see why she said TIME TO MOVE DAD.

The stories that folks tell their children and grandchildren are just as an important part of history as the crossing of the Delaware were to George Washington.   These stories that I listened to many times, sometimes way too much (ha ha) are the fabric of my being and my upbringing.  My sisters and brother, being the youngest of six children would tell you some very different stories because of the 17 years age spread between me and my eldest sister.

I remember one family trip of the siblings to Table Rock Lake to finish up the settlement of Mom’s estate, and how memorable the stories were.  One particular story sticks in my mind as we sat around the kitchen table, five of the six kids, my brother Junior Eldringhoff, couldn’t make it.   Keep in mind that all of us six kids, Judy, Clara, Vera, Janet, Junior and Donna have the same mother and father, however, by listening to the rendition of how Mom and Dad raised us and the in depth conversation poured out, you would think we all had completely different parents.  I guess as the family grew, the level of discipline and way of parenting changed pretty dramatically.  Let’s put it this way, it would be a great conversation to have with your siblings and have a lot of laughs about ‘things back then’ scenarios.

Barns function and form on the farm:

Barns were built and existed to solve very real problems for farmers and have since the soil in America was walked on our first settlers.  Some of the key reasons barns are the HEART OF THE FARM is to house the animals, who are the life blood of the farmers for milk, butter, meat and much more.  Barns are as much an integral part of the family farm as a tractor and the plow.  Each item that the family farm had in its simplistic form played a key note in the musical symphony of making a living and feeding their families.  Some key usages of the family barn are:

• Animal shelter and production like milking. 
• Crop storage and feeding.
• Vehicle and implement shelter and repair.
• Any combination of these functions.

Taking a nice leisurely drive in the country or rural settings is something urban dwellers love to do and often triggers dream of days gone by.  That rural landscape is a source of romance for many and yet few understand the history and importance of that old rickety barn that appears to be way beyond its usefulness.  As the technology of farming changed – particularly during the 1940s – so did the shape and form of barns.  Some farmers built dairy or milking barns for their cows with hay storage on the second floor to feed them. Some even had small living areas on the second floor for the hired help to live as well.  Other barns would house the horses in an area away from the milking herd of cattle. 

Historically, our local German farming families would build the family barn first and many times it was built better than their own houses because the barn was so important to putting food on their tables and feeding the community of neighbors.

Barns also served as social functions by having barn dances and barn parties.  Many times it was the largest building in the community so the hay bales were the seating areas and the broomed off floors became the dance floors.  The dances were held before the hay crop was harvested as the floor would have space to enjoy the music and dance. Local farmers and residents who owned a musical instrument would gather, and the music would start.   The nice thing about these dances was the community and fellowship that developed.  The term “neighbor” was the way of life in the rural community just as it is today.  The pot luck dinners were special as the women would bring their specialty and favorite food to share with the rest of the farming community. 

Our Eldringhoff family farm was a multi-functional farming operation.  We had many specialty buildings, much smaller than the family barn that were built and used for a very specific purpose.  As an example, we had a chicken house where the chickens were raised, eggs were gathered for shipping off to the local hatchery for producing baby chicks.  We also raised feeder chickens, butchering between 20-25 a day after Mom got home from a full day at the cap factory where she sewed all day long.  We had two freezers on the porch that were full of great freezer ready food for the family and also the large amount of farm hands we hired during peak spring planting and harvest season in the fall.  My job was to cook five meals, yes FIVE MEALS a day for the men folk.  Yes, they were all men.  I would bring them their mid morning and mid afternoon snacks in the milk buckets covered in big towels, walking to wherever they were farming all over the place.  Gotta love being the youngest of six and the only one at home to help my Dad and brother out keeping the family farm going.  It was a ton of work and we worked from sunrise to sunset.  I didn’t think it as fun at the time but I would not have traded it for anything else in this world. I learned so much about work ethics, family, morals and too many things to mention them all.

Another smaller building we had was the corn crib, we at that time only raised animal corn on the cob and this is where it was stored.  We placed it next to the chicken house so the chicken could keep the kernels of corn cleaned up that would fall through the cracks of the crib.  On the farm, every animal has a purpose and a reason and they all “clean up” after each other.  The corn crib was the baby, infantile version of what would become the “grain bins” of modern day.  The corn crib was build with slated walls so the cobs of corn could ‘breathe’ and dry out properly and not mold.  Mold is not a good thing for animals to eat nor be exposed to on the farm.

As Dad and my brother began to buy more equipment, we then had to have machine sheds to store everything to keep it out of the weather as farmers always take great care of their tools and equipment.  If it didn’t work, we didn’t eat and the crops would rot in the fields.

Eventually we also added hog barns, and hog sheds where we raised feeder pigs to sell on the livestock market.  Those hogs and pigs ended up on the cooler shelves of many of your grocery stores.  Thank a farmer when you eat pork steaks, pork chops, burgers and a whole lot more great meat.

With the modernization and larger equipment invention, larger parcels could be tilled and harvested meaning storage of finished crops was critical.  Since all the harvests across the country came in at the same time and the market would be flooded with product the prices would be driven downward and farmers would make no profits.  Thus the “grain bins” were created.  Guess what, your BNB is a modern grain bin used for corn storage.  Although these two “housing bins” I purchased brand new from a local farm service provider because I wanted you to enjoy something brand new that didn’t have crop and corn dust inside of it from years of usage on the farm.  Local elevators or cooperative farm groups were created as well so the farmer could have a place to sell their crops, corn, beans, sorghum, silo and more.  This production created a commodity market for public trading of world wide grain sales.  These grain silos and cooperatives were always built by a major river and along the railroad tracks so that the crops could be transported across the country to feed the people.  Remember farmers FEED THE PEOPLE, ALL THE PEOPLE.  I know I am biased about that fact. 

Dad said “God only made one batch of land, so take good care of it.  AND you can’t eat concrete or blacktop so don’t go putting too much of that down on God’s batch of land.”  

All of this modern day securitization of crops and worldwide commerce came from the family barn, and the family grain bin that you see and admire as your drive through the hills and valleys of our rural community.  All of this came from the blood, sweat and tears off the back of the local farm family.  With that being said, THANK YOUR LOCAL FARMING FAMILY when you see them.  

Here is some information I found Written by Bill Ganzel.

There are also regional differences in barns and outbuildings. In the south, winters are milder, and so there was generally little need for large barns to house animals. They were simply allowed to stay outside over the winter months. Barns in the south were smaller and more specialized. For instance, tobacco farmers built special structures to cure their tobacco leaves. 

In the 1940s, farming underwent a technological revolution. Almost all farmers retired their horses, and so they no longer needed to house them in horse barns. The structures were adapted to other uses. Stalls were ripped out. Doors were widened so that tractors and larger implements could be driven in, repaired and protected from the winter snow. 

As more and more farmers specialized, growing only one crop or producing only one kind of livestock, barns were adapted to those functions. Grain farmers began putting in more and more grain bins.

When the mechanical corn combine was introduced, corncribs that had protected corn on the cob were replaced by corn drying bins housing tons of corn kernels until market conditions provided the best price for the farmer. 

When automatic hay balers were introduced, all of the technology used to hoist loose hay into the second floor haymow via ropes and pulleys was obsolete. Motorized conveyor belts would haul bales into the mow. Later, large round bales protected themselves – especially when they were automatically wrapped in plastic – and they were left in the field. The bales became their own barns.After the 1940s, the rural outbuildings that were left became utilitarian metal buildings, replacing the graceful wooden barns. And for many urban dwellers, some of the romance left the country. Yet, former U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser still finds poetry in old barns. In his poem “Riding the Bus in Midwinter” Ted looks out and imagines what would happen if a barn “could loosen itself from its old foundations and start out rocking and creaking over the fields…”