not so lean farm (yet)

I'm in the middle of reading this book by Ben Hartman, The Lean Farm. It speaks volumes to me. Motivated, one of the first things on my to-do list is to get rid of excess "stuff". Junk. Things that might be able to be used some day, but probably not. So a couple weeks ago, my sister called and asked if I wanted to go to a farm auction with her and her husband. The tiny little voice saying "no, you don't need anything, shouldn't buy anything, don't have room for anything, are trying to get rid of things" was drowned out by my resounding "yes!". Therefore I went and I bought. More stuff. Three pallets of stuff. You can't go to an auction and not buy, can you? Isn't there some sort of law against that? At the very least, it's un-natural.

I bought:

A pallet of pavers. No lie, that very morning before I ever even got the auction call, we had started digging out an area in front of the barn door in order to be able to lay a gravel base for some as-yet-to-be-purchased pavers to sit on. I now have a mud-free entry to the barn. And life is good. Wahoo.

please don't look at how badly the barn needs new siding - but aren't those pavers great?

A pallet of five giant, crusty, old windows. They are beautiful, and measure roughly 3x4 feet each. I am amassing quite the window collection. Why? There are projects in my head that want to be made real, that's why.

A pallet of sweet old barn doors. Admittedly this was an impulsive, emotional purchase. One which could not be defended except to say that they have so much character that I had to have them. In light of the aforementioned book, this purchase was just a tiny bit embarrassing. Recently I decided to measure the barn door that got the new pavers, thinking a pair of these lovely old doors just might fit that space, when I looked up and saw the front-yard-gate-posts-without-a-gate. I measured. They fit. They are perfect. Rustic, welcoming, and a look I never in a million years envisioned.

add a latch, slap on a fresh coat of paint, and we're good to go!

this door, this door. I am in love with it. wooden handle, wooden latch, how old must it be? maybe this one will fit the barn. and by the way, that's not a split in the wood on the latch - that cut-out creates a bit of give so the latch can be lifted and then the tension causes it to spring back into place. simply wonderful.

Every once in a while it all comes together.