It’s taken three years but I got the barn cleared out. And “I got” means that I hired a strong young man to do it for me. We are three days into it and there will be a few more days next week, but the bulk of it is done.
Nagai-san started at the top and got rid of everything up in the hayloft by removing the loose-laid floorboards and dumping it down to the first floor.
I helped sift through the mountain of straw and sorted things into piles – ancient cardboard boxes, furniture, lumber, trash and things that might be good to keep.
Several generations of furniture went off to the dump. Mice had occupied it and heat hade degraded it. Some of it might have been salvageable, but furniture restoration is for other people.
Empying the hayloft really bothered the cats who have enjoyed it as a playground and napping spot for the last 14 months. Nothing bothers a cat more than change in routine. But we did find some neat stuff in the process of cleaning, and the light coming into the space now is wonderful.
The Kawasakis stopped by yesterday to have a look. Mr. Kawasaki stood and stared up into the loft with a grin on his face. I wonder if he has ever seen the space opened up like that? Maybe not since he was a kid.
I found out about the former inhabitants of the barn – two cows in one pen and calves in the other. If I understood the story right (it was accompanied by hilarious gestures for my benefit), his grandfather did cattle breeding by artificial insemination.
While bringing down the furniture and junk from the loft, there were also treasures. I knew there were part of a loom up there. We found a lot of parts and I might be able to rebuild it. I decided to keep the big bamboo baskets, too, as I love the craftsmanship that went into them.
And well, I kept a lot of things. The Tractorport is chockablock with old dusty wooden stuff that can be used in my art processes. I will clean it all and put it away in the new shed in the coming week.
Now that the barn is 85% empty, I can access and address the area that need fixing up for safety. For example, this corner of the calving pen has subsided a few degrees:
I have another friend/neighbor/expert coming to give me some advice on how to stabilise everything to a point where it will be okay to put off more extensive renovations for a few years.
You’ll be hearing more about the barn soon.
