This Old Barn
Donation protected
You see it every time you come to the farm but odds are, you probably haven’t spent much time looking at it. Our old timber frame barn, the welcoming face of Bread & Butter Farm, dates back to the late 1800’s. It’s the mammoth centerpiece of our farm hub, and it’s where we started out milking dairy cows 12 years ago. We have always had visions of restoring it and have long dreamed about this barn as a place where the community could gather and a relic of days of old worth restoring. But as happens when running a farm, the day-to-day has noisily taken priority, and our old barn has waited, patiently, for its turn in the sun.
This summer we discovered that the front face, the north side (the face that you see when you come down the driveway), was about to fall in on itself. We had to move quickly to fix it. This catalyzed our long delayed decision about what to do with This Old Barn. We couldn’t kick this can any further down the road, it was time to decide - are we going to keep this building up and revive it to truly be used as we envisioned it 12 years ago, or would we need to make the heartbreaking decision to let it come down, ending an era? WIth so many financial burdens always on the list, the barn has always fallen short as a space to invest in. But, time was of the essence and, as they say, for This Old Barn, it is now or never.
This is where you come in. It’s time to finally save our old timber frame barn. Will you join the effort to make this community space vibrant once again?
-------------------------------------------
When we first arrived on this farm 12 years ago, to visit the land and to see if this was the place where we would attempt to make our community farm business happen, our minds were full of hopes and dreams and - of course - worries. We had a lot to consider in trying to decide whether a farm business was viable here. With all the many considerations flying around our heads, This Old Barn stood out to us. This late 1800’s beauty was a structure we would rely on in our first many years - as we started this farm by selling milk and milking cows in its basement. The Leduc Family, the previous farmers/owners, told us many stories of this barn, and together we have worked to piece back together the history of this barn.
In the beginning, with no money to spare, we knew right away we had to invest what we could to keep it standing. In years one and two, we had metal strapping installed to tighten it together to keep it standing. The good news was that the foundation was in great shape, as were many of the several hundred year old posts and beams holding it all up. Twelve years later we are thankful that we put in those straps, as they are what have kept this old beauty still upright.
When we learned that the north face was in such rough shape, we brought back in some friends, expert timber framers and folks knowledgeable about these old barns. Once again, we were relieved to learn that the foundation is still in great shape, the roof is holding strong, and the old posts and beams are doing well. Really, to make the barn a usable space for community gatherings and educational lessons, we have a great starting point! We also learned more about the structure. We think it was built in the late 1800’s - likely sometime between 1860 and 1880, and many of the posts and beams inside were more than 100 years older (some more like 150 years older than that), having been brought in from other barns in the area from the early 1700’s! We started identifying the types of wood used, imagining the large ash, elm, hemlock trees that once stood and were harvested to make this barn. We imagined the huge community gatherings that must have occurred where neighbors came together to dig this monstrous foundation and build the stone foundation and to raise the enormous timbers, all by hand. Needless to say, we became incredibly inspired to put the time, energy and money into this beauty once and for all to not just keep her standing, but to renovate her to the point of being able once again host our community!
As we did so, we learned about the Vermont Historic Barn Preservation Grant Award Program and decided to apply for one of their grants. To receive these grants, you can apply for $15,000 as long as you can show a matching amount. We had a few of our timber framer friends come out and do a more thorough assessment of the needs to repair the barn and make a game plan for how we would spend the $30,000 if we were able to get this grant and fundraise the remaining $15,000. So, here we are! We are going all-in on repairing this beautiful barn and are thrilled to launch our matching fundraiser campaign to try and raise $30,000 to restore This Old Barn so that we can use this beautiful space once again! And we are asking you, our community, to help us with this effort to make it happen!
Any level of donation will help us towards our goal. If we receive the grant, we do need to then match that amount of $15,000. If we do not receive the grant, we will use whatever amount we raise strategically to improve the structure to a usable space.
Here are the priorities and how we would spend the money.
Clean up and shore up the stone foundation (re-mortar the gaps in foundation) - $2,000
Shore up the posts and beams that support the flooring - $1,500
Pull in a few more of the posts that have slipped out, tighten and reinforce some of the posts - $2,000
Completely overhaul the flooring - $16,000 to $20,000
Fix up the holes in the siding, put screens in the upper windows, put in a proper door and staircase to make an entryway, fix and make safe the huge sliding door, put in a few windows to allow in natural light - $4,000
Put in simple lighting - $1,000
If we surpass our goal and raise more than $30,000, there is so much more that we can do to make this barn even better! We have additional dreams about what is possible if we surpass the fundraising goal.
The hopeful end result: A three-season space where we can support a wide variety of community gatherings, including concerts, dances, space for teaching for our kids programs, workshops for adults, community meals, rentable space for private events, CSA pick-ups during inclement weather, and so much more!! There are so many uses that we can imagine.
We dearly hope that you will join this campaign and help us restore one of the few remaining beautiful old barns in our region and our state. We hope that this community effort will be something that our community as a whole will be able to enjoy for generations to come! Please help us save This Old Barn!
~ The Bread & Butter Farm team
TIMELINE:
Campaign Launches - October 8th
Work Party to clean up the top floor - Saturday, Oct, 23rd - Hot Meal will be served! 9am - 1pm - (Meal served at 1 p.m.) - RSVP via this form
Grant Application Due - November 1
Find out if we got the grant - January 2022
Begin work on the barn - January 2022
Project completed by May 2022
This summer we discovered that the front face, the north side (the face that you see when you come down the driveway), was about to fall in on itself. We had to move quickly to fix it. This catalyzed our long delayed decision about what to do with This Old Barn. We couldn’t kick this can any further down the road, it was time to decide - are we going to keep this building up and revive it to truly be used as we envisioned it 12 years ago, or would we need to make the heartbreaking decision to let it come down, ending an era? WIth so many financial burdens always on the list, the barn has always fallen short as a space to invest in. But, time was of the essence and, as they say, for This Old Barn, it is now or never.
This is where you come in. It’s time to finally save our old timber frame barn. Will you join the effort to make this community space vibrant once again?
-------------------------------------------
When we first arrived on this farm 12 years ago, to visit the land and to see if this was the place where we would attempt to make our community farm business happen, our minds were full of hopes and dreams and - of course - worries. We had a lot to consider in trying to decide whether a farm business was viable here. With all the many considerations flying around our heads, This Old Barn stood out to us. This late 1800’s beauty was a structure we would rely on in our first many years - as we started this farm by selling milk and milking cows in its basement. The Leduc Family, the previous farmers/owners, told us many stories of this barn, and together we have worked to piece back together the history of this barn.
In the beginning, with no money to spare, we knew right away we had to invest what we could to keep it standing. In years one and two, we had metal strapping installed to tighten it together to keep it standing. The good news was that the foundation was in great shape, as were many of the several hundred year old posts and beams holding it all up. Twelve years later we are thankful that we put in those straps, as they are what have kept this old beauty still upright.
When we learned that the north face was in such rough shape, we brought back in some friends, expert timber framers and folks knowledgeable about these old barns. Once again, we were relieved to learn that the foundation is still in great shape, the roof is holding strong, and the old posts and beams are doing well. Really, to make the barn a usable space for community gatherings and educational lessons, we have a great starting point! We also learned more about the structure. We think it was built in the late 1800’s - likely sometime between 1860 and 1880, and many of the posts and beams inside were more than 100 years older (some more like 150 years older than that), having been brought in from other barns in the area from the early 1700’s! We started identifying the types of wood used, imagining the large ash, elm, hemlock trees that once stood and were harvested to make this barn. We imagined the huge community gatherings that must have occurred where neighbors came together to dig this monstrous foundation and build the stone foundation and to raise the enormous timbers, all by hand. Needless to say, we became incredibly inspired to put the time, energy and money into this beauty once and for all to not just keep her standing, but to renovate her to the point of being able once again host our community!
As we did so, we learned about the Vermont Historic Barn Preservation Grant Award Program and decided to apply for one of their grants. To receive these grants, you can apply for $15,000 as long as you can show a matching amount. We had a few of our timber framer friends come out and do a more thorough assessment of the needs to repair the barn and make a game plan for how we would spend the $30,000 if we were able to get this grant and fundraise the remaining $15,000. So, here we are! We are going all-in on repairing this beautiful barn and are thrilled to launch our matching fundraiser campaign to try and raise $30,000 to restore This Old Barn so that we can use this beautiful space once again! And we are asking you, our community, to help us with this effort to make it happen!
Any level of donation will help us towards our goal. If we receive the grant, we do need to then match that amount of $15,000. If we do not receive the grant, we will use whatever amount we raise strategically to improve the structure to a usable space.
Here are the priorities and how we would spend the money.
Clean up and shore up the stone foundation (re-mortar the gaps in foundation) - $2,000
Shore up the posts and beams that support the flooring - $1,500
Pull in a few more of the posts that have slipped out, tighten and reinforce some of the posts - $2,000
Completely overhaul the flooring - $16,000 to $20,000
Fix up the holes in the siding, put screens in the upper windows, put in a proper door and staircase to make an entryway, fix and make safe the huge sliding door, put in a few windows to allow in natural light - $4,000
Put in simple lighting - $1,000
If we surpass our goal and raise more than $30,000, there is so much more that we can do to make this barn even better! We have additional dreams about what is possible if we surpass the fundraising goal.
The hopeful end result: A three-season space where we can support a wide variety of community gatherings, including concerts, dances, space for teaching for our kids programs, workshops for adults, community meals, rentable space for private events, CSA pick-ups during inclement weather, and so much more!! There are so many uses that we can imagine.
We dearly hope that you will join this campaign and help us restore one of the few remaining beautiful old barns in our region and our state. We hope that this community effort will be something that our community as a whole will be able to enjoy for generations to come! Please help us save This Old Barn!
~ The Bread & Butter Farm team
TIMELINE:
Campaign Launches - October 8th
Work Party to clean up the top floor - Saturday, Oct, 23rd - Hot Meal will be served! 9am - 1pm - (Meal served at 1 p.m.) - RSVP via this form
Grant Application Due - November 1
Find out if we got the grant - January 2022
Begin work on the barn - January 2022
Project completed by May 2022
Organizer
Corie Pierce
Organizer
Shelburne, VT