Category: rural landscape

The barns on family farms found throughout Ontario used to house the farmer’s hay and straw in the upper part of the structure. There would be a trapdoor to make it easy to toss bales of straw for bedding, and hay for eating down into the lower level where the animals lived. The stored hay and straw provided a good measure of insulation.

But these days instead of labour intensive rectangular bales, modern farm equipment forms the hay into enormous disks that are stored together in the shape of a giant tube and wrapped in plastic to protect them from the elements.  

Which is why so many barns can be seen decaying in the rural landscape of southern Ontario.  You can get a glimpse of the modern building where the animals live just behind this one.

The barns on family farms found throughout Ontario used to house the farmer’s hay and straw in the upper part of the structure. There would be a trapdoor to make it easy to toss bales of straw for bedding, and hay for eating down into the lower level where the animals lived. The stored hay and straw provided a good measure of insulation.

But these days instead of labour intensive rectangular bales, modern farm equipment forms the hay into enormous disks that are stored together in the shape of a giant tube and wrapped in plastic to protect them from the elements.  

Which is why so many barns can be seen decaying in the rural landscape of southern Ontario.  You can get a glimpse of the modern building where the animals live just behind this one.