"Competition for land — to rent or buy — has grown cutthroat and overwhelming, a matter of networking and schmoozing (at church, at the local coffee shop, while selling seed) worthy of the corporate boardroom. (Some here tell of people who call the widows of farmers who have died days or hours earlier, hoping to secure land.)"

Hey! I love barns! I'm going to build myself a barn some day, even if I don't need it!

I remember when men use to paint Mail Pouch,etc., advertisements on barns, a vanishing act, some barns are taken down for the beams, some American chesnut, the boards are used for wainscoating on 45 degree angles, OW, I would like to have an old fashion barn, the Amish do a bang up job, use hand tools, and very reasonable.

I have attended a few Amish barn building weekends.

Ow,

Have you ever seen a round barn?

Yes, Have you ever seen a 4 story barn?

I have seen both round barns and four story barns, though not in America.

If any of you guys are going to raise a barn, I'm an experienced carpenter, so I'd be glad to lend a hand if I can make it to the area.

But this reminds me building a barn is essentially made possible through a community effort, and as a result , needs tight-knit rural communities - something that is slipping away in America. Isolationism may be a political issue for people like Ron Paul, but it also seems to be a growing personal issue in America...

Or maybe its that thanks to modern communications technoloy the social groups we form are geographically decentralized.

http://www.americasheartland.org/episodes/episode_111/round_barns.htm

The farm I grew up on had a two story barn, stalls, feeders, and grain bins underneath, the upper, one could stack bales, 50 across, 40 deep, and 35 high, still leaving both ends open for ventilation, had attached horse stalls, with tack room on top. We had two smaller barns in adjacent pastures, a lot of work; but times one will never forget. Barns held enough hay and grain to winter 56 head of black angus, 4 work horses, and 3 riding horses used for fence mending in hard to get to places.