If only I had known these pieces of “gingerbread” were in the barn, I would have sent pictures to the folks at American Pickers!
Look What We Found in the Barn!
In the early years of my parents’ marriage, my dad raised hogs on the farm. By the time I was born, their livestock farming days were over. I do remember a few stories that they would tell about life as livestock farmers.
One story involved a 600 pound sow that had somehow irritated my Dad. For the most part, my Dad was very even tempered and didn’t anger easily. I am not sure what the sow did or didn’t do, but whatever it was, the result was Dad picked up the sow and tossed it across the pasture. How far he really tossed it, I really don’t know. But if he was strong enough to pick it up, he was a pretty strong individual! The other story involved a sow and a mud puddle. Dad didn’t know why the sow was lying on the ground next to the puddle. He found out pretty quickly when he bent down to pick the sow up and got shocked due to the downed power wire in the puddle! Fortunately, he was not seriously hurt. I am not sure about the sow, though.
The hogs lived in the barn pictured above. Several times over the years, horses were boarded there also. We may have had a few cattle at one time too. After we no longer had livestock to house in the barn, the barn became a repository for various items for any number of reasons. The west side of it was full of lumber from a corn crib that my Mom had had taken down. There were old windows, doors, tires, 5 gallon buckets, even several tv sets in various places in the barn.
The Clean Out
I had put off cleaning out the barn. When I decided to sell the pizza business and put the property on the market, I knew I was facing a daunting task. With the help of several friends and my husband, we got things in shape enough to put the houses on the market and move to Florida in the fall of 2019. I knew I would need to go back to Illinois in the Spring of 2020 to finish clearing out the pizza building and the outbuildings on the property including the barn. I really didn’t realize how much was actually in the barn! Nor did I count on Covid 19 disrupting my timetable.
In late May, I traveled to Illinois to clear everything out. I really wasn’t looking forward to cleaning out the barn myself so I found a couple of guys to do the dirty work. I arranged for a trash roll off container, a metal recycling container and I made sure we had enough lighters to light the burn pile. One afternoon, I was working in the house when one of the guys comes running into the house. He wanted to show me what he found.
I almost started crying! I had no idea those large pieces of gingerbread were even in there! I don’t remember them being on the house but they must have been at one time. I was going to have a sale before going back to Florida, but those were going to go to Florida with me! At least that was my first thought.
I had arranged to sell the barn wood from the crib to one of my cousin’s granddaughters.
You can read more about that here: When they came to pick up the wood, they did some more exploring in the barn and they found more gingerbread!
I was simply amazed that these awesome treasures were in the barn. We ended up finding the two large matching triangle pieces, the large upright triangle, and two long linear ones. I was too overwhelmed to make a decision so they were safely locked up in the storage unit at the farm.
If only I had known those pieces of gingerbread were in the barn, I would have worked harder to send pictures in to American Pickers when they were looking for Central Illinois places to visit!
What Else Was in the Barn
I sold a number of the doors and windows at the sale that I had while I was in Illinois. You can read how my friend’s daughter used her door here:
The guys found this trough and several metal hog feeders.
I cleaned up this galvanized hog feeder and turned it into a 4th of July centerpiece! We also found the baseballs in the barn that I used in the centerpiece!
In another part of the barn, the guys found various sizes of tin. There were also two strips of copper.
I brought some of this tin and the copper strips back to Florida with me. I had found an artist in Punta Gorda to make several wall hangings out of pieces of barn wood and the tin. I am still planning on having her design a really stunning hall hanging!
The smaller piece of wood was actually a seat from a swing that my Mom had saved. One of my cousin’s played on the swing when her family lived at the farm in the mid 1940s.
From the Barn to Florida
The piece with the star fish hangs above my sideboard in our dining nook.
I sometime use one piece of barnwood as a tray for a centerpiece.
I had one of the long linear pieces of gingerbread cut into three pieces. The two matching ends are seen as a backdrop in the picture below. The framed sailor suit belonged to my mom as a young child. To learn how I framed it, please see this post: How to Display a Child’s Vintage Garment
The three spindles below came loose from the large triangle piece. I need to get them glued back in. In the meantime, I use them as decorations or accents in my dough bowls!
More barnwood projects can be found here: A Few More Barnwood Projects
To See More ideas for some of these barn finds, please see Architectural Salvage Decorating Ideas
The gingerbread pieces and tin will Not enter the Florida home!!
The gingerbread should be a go to Florida…priceless for sure! 🙂
Thank you, Jeanne! My Mom spelled her name the same way!
Wow, what great finds! I’ve never heard fretwork referred to as gingerbread before. It’s interesting how things are called different things in different countries. Congratulations on your finds. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for taking the time to read my blog! I am not sure where the term gingerbread came from !
The craftsmanship was so beautiful back then! Really great finds.
Oh my goodness, what treasures … so history in that barn. I wonder if the buyer of your beautiful family home would want to reinstall them on the house. If not, you should definitely take them to Florida! xo
Wow! How wonderful is all the great architectural salvage. I would be in heaven.
Wow! You have a treasure trove in that barn. I know it must be so much fun digging through it and finding so many treasures.
What awesome treasures to find. So many fun ways to incorporate into your home.
Thank you Sonya! I am thinking of where I can I put them! Cant wait to figure it all out!
Wow you found some super cool stuff!!! Love the architectural salvage.
Oh my goodness, what special treasures!
I love going through barns!! I have been searching about 3. My favorite is at my dad’s because he already loaded stuff onto the wagon. It is SO much fun to discover something new and put it in your house.
It is a lot of fun finding treasures!