Houses on the Farm

As I was clearing my driveway of snow…again, a cold wind from the southeast managed to slip beneath my coat and find bare flesh at my middle the bottom of my shirt meets the top of my pants. It pulled me back to a time when using the outhouse in the winter was something I dreaded. Not only was the trip to that old weathered, two-seated shanty dangerous going down a series of cement stairs, it was the lack of a handrail when the steps were covered in snow or ice that doubled the threat of a fall.

The outhouse was only one of the many houses loated on my grandparents Ray and Becky Miner’s farm. As with most farms the main buildings were the barn and farmhouse. Barns came in all shapes and sizes with a variety of colors. Farmhouses were similar, two-storied with four rooms downstairs and four up. Their house had a front and back porch that ran the length of the house. Bedrooms claimed the upstairs with kitchen, dining room, sitting room, and a parlor downstairs that perched over a full basement where the huge beast of a coal furnace lurked.

Another necessary farm house was mentioned at the beginning of this article, the outhouse. I’ve addressed the necessity and the disadvantages of this small building summer and winter times in previous blogs.

There was also the hen house or chicken coop, where farmers kept their chickens. The first reason was for their egg laying capacity. Eggs were often sold to supplement the farmer’s wife’s ability to feed and clothe the family. When they grew old they were eaten, fried, in potpies, or made into sandwich spread.

The smoke house was a loosely sealed building where smoke from smoldering fires could be introduced to cure hams, bacon, and sometimes sausage. It often was used as a tool repository for the rest of the year.

Although my grandparents never had a summer house, many farms had one to keep the heat out of the kitchen when meals were prepared keeping the main house cooler during the hot summer months. My grandparents did have a spring house, not as in the season, but to cover and protect the water for the farm. The cool flowing water from some spring houses was used to keep milk and foods from spoiling.

Most farms had other outbuildings, but they weren’t called houses. For instance, the pig pen or sty, a machinery or tool shed, and a corncrib are but a few.