Inside my father's workshop

Inside My Dad's Workshop: Finding Beauty in Humble Places

Arnold's Welding Glove

Inside My Dad's Workshop: Finding Beauty in Humble Places

Arnold's Welding Mask

Inside My Dad's Workshop: Finding Beauty in Humble Places

Single Flint Spark Lighter, photo by Darla Hueske

Inside My Dad's Workshop: Finding Beauty in Humble Places

Open ended "S" curved wrench. Made in USA.

Finding Beauty in Humble Places

Rusted tin siding

Inside the Majestic Red Barn

Inside the Majestic Red Barn

Galvanized Metal Milking Pail Every morning. Every night. The chore of carrying a pail of ground feed to each cow, as it stood in the stanchion to be milked was a big task. Calves had to be individually fed, sometimes with a pail with a nipple on the side until they learned to drink out of the pail.

Inside the Majestic Red Barn

Water Spigot in Milk Room Cleanliness is next to Godliness. Cleanliness in handling milk was priority. The milk separator room was cleaner than any kitchen. It was equipped with a water spigot and a good concrete floor, which slanted toward a drain.

Inside the Majestic Red Barn

Surge Bucket Milker stainless steel canister After milking each cow, the person in charge of milking that cow would carry the stainless steel container to the milk room. The fresh raw milk was poured from the milking bucket into a large square stainless steel holding tank before it was run through a cream separator.

Inside the Majestic Red Barn

Nier Feuerhand Firehand Barn Lantern During the winter season, most of the barn chores were done with the aid of a kerosene lantern. Keep in mind that a lit lantern in a barn of highly flammable materials could be a very dangerous. Lest we forget Mrs. O’ Leary’s and her cow!

Inside the Majestic Red Barn

Electric light switch From lanterns to electricity. When electricity was extended to the rural areas at the end of the 1930s, farmers' daily life changed. With electricity in the barn, farmers no longer milked cows by dim, flammable kerosene or gas lanterns. You could go to the barn, turn a switch and have light all over.

Inside the Majestic Red Barn

Electric outlet With electricity in the farmer's workplace, there was a surge of farm equipment powered by electricity. Electricity powered big things like yard lights that lit up the barnyard in the dark morning hours and small things like the machine that separated cream from milk making a big job a little easier.

Quonset: Metal Storage for a Modern Age

This is the first of several Quonsets that my father constructed on the farmstead. I’ve always loved the clean lines and riveted steel. This Quonset housed farm machinery, grain, and even summer parties that were interrupted by sudden downpours of rain.

Outhouse on the Prairie: Finding Beauty in Humble Places

From Halloween pranks and other mischievous antics, oh, tell me a story about the humble outhouse.

Wood and Cast Iron Singletree: Finding Beauty in Humble Places

A singletree is a wooden or metal bar used to balance the pull of a draught horse on the harness when pulling a vehicle.

Section Line Road: Finding Beauty in Humble Places

The section line road will take you cross-country, through pastures, through fields, and on short cuts to town. From the time you learn to drive, which is about 10 years old, you learn to traverse the backcountry roads in all seasons: dirt or clay, gravel or scoria, blocked with snow or covered with water.

Vang Church: Finding Beauty in Humble Places

photo by Darla Hueske