The Family Farms

Earlier this week- I was sifting through still another forgotten stack of pictures, and I stumbled across an article that Dad had printed off.   The article dates back to 2005, when Richard was interviewed by the local paper (The Lacrosse Tribune) about a presentation he was giving to the Holmen Historical Society. 

Richard was a regular docent at Norskdalen-where his area of expertise was...farming!

As I re-read the article, my initial thought was "I should add this to the family blog".    So, thank-you to Paul Sloth for helping capture some of our family stories!   

Editors note:  The photos I have added are from a variety of sources and most feature the two family farms that Richard lived on during his childhood- The Maple Shade farm which Norman and Hazel purchased May 20, 1941 for $6000 (about $125k in 2024) and the Krueger farm in April 1949 for 12,000 (about $150k in 2024)

The sound of the single-engine milk separator still rings in Richard Granum's ears, the put-put-put echoing through the barn on the farm where he grew up, just outside of Holmen.  It's a sound he can never forget

It's just one of the many memories Granum has from the years he spent growing up around the barns on his family's farms.  He's taken to telling people he was born in a barn, considering the amount of time he spent in the ones in and around Sweden Coulee where his ancestors homesteaded after emigrating from Norway.

The article goes on to mention Richard's presentation on barn stories, scheduled for May 4, 2005 at the Holmen Historical Society's monthly meeting.  Oh how I wish he would have kept that script.    But, at least we have this article.

Mr. Sloth continues to write:

The barns weren't just a place of work.   Granum still remembers the hours he and his older brother spent playing in  the haymow of his family's barn, after the work was done.   The two boys would swing from the rafters into the piles of hay they had worked so hard to rake up.  Granum remembers sneaking behind the barn, out of sight, to smoke corn silk.  Smoking of any kind around the barns was definitely forbidden.  His mother, on more than one occasion reminded his Uncle Oris Granum not to smoke around the barn.

He also remembers learning to ride a bike on the driveway of a barn on his Aunt Esther and Uncle Henry's farm.  

The barns that still stand today are a testament to their strength and the fact that farmers depended on them for the success of their operations.   There was a sense of pride that came with keeping a barn freshly painted.  It was the least these building deserved.

" I think people used to take better care of their barns," Granum said.  

There was no shortage of things that could bring these giants of the countryside down:  tornadoes, lightening, and fire to name a few big ones.   

Granum remembers the skill it took to get the hay into the barn at just the right time.  If there was too much moisture, the hay would heat up and could ignite the dry timbers.

It's been decades since he's sweated his way through the countless family chores as he  did as a child, but he still has fond memories of barns.

The barns still stand on the land his parents and grandparents once farmed.   The barn on his parents' farm at the intersection of Highways D and M, east of Holmen is used by the current owners to board horses.  

The barn on what was once his grandparents' farm, north of Sweden Coulee is now the meeting place of Der Ferkel Club, a local sportsmen's organization.

Granum is glad to see people finding new uses for old barns.

"If we let these barns disappear from the landscape, then its not the country anymore," Granum said.

Granum, who moved back to the Holmen area in 1997, retired from teaching in the counselor education department at the University of Georgia.

 He now lives in the house his parents built, a few miles down the road from the farm on Highway D.   

There's no barn, but Granum lives vicariously through the people he talks with who still own them.

Nowadays, it isn't necessarily fire and tornadoes that barn owners have to worry about, even though they're still a concern.  It is more likely that barns will fall victim to the ravages of time and neglect.

In his travels abroad, Granum has visited barns in Norway and China.  He learned how distinct barns are in each country. Adding, "You can tell where you are by the barns you see."

Granum is also interested in the evaluation of the barn and the changes in architecture that came with advances in farming techniques.   He still remembers the stalls, in his parent's barn, that housed the family's team of horses.  The hitching post, where he tied the horses after working in the fields, still stands outside the barn.

Like many farm families in the area, the Granums had a diverse farm, but mostly they sold cream and later bulk milk from their herd of cows.

When the family sold the horses in 1943 to make way for the new Farmal H tractor, the space where the team of horses once rested was made into a home for more dairy calves.

Granum not only has fond memories of growing up in and around barns, he also has a special place in his heart for them, well one in particular.   Granum met his wife Audrey, who died 17 years ago, at a square dance in a barn at a 4-H summer camp in Green Lake, Wisconsin.

Audrey also grew up in a farming family-near Wolf River WI

Audrey, her sister Phyllis and her cousin Mona

The challenge for Granum will be trying to narrow down all he has to say to fit into 20 minutes he'll have for his presentation at the historical society.

Lucky for the Holmen community-Richard would present to the historical society on many other occasions

...this photo from probably one of his final presentations taken around December 2021

He hopes to get people to look at barns as something worth keeping around.  Not just because they have become a symbol of rural America but because they can have a life after the animals are gone and the hay has been cleaned out.

If just a few people think, "Hey, I can do that with my barn', that would be fine, Granum said.  

Editors Note:  What a treasure to find this article and to have a stranger capture our dad's voice!   Richard would go on to feature the family farms in many of his paintings.

In June of 2022...he would share with his son-in-law a bit of an update- noting that all that remains of the Krueger farm was the silo shell...and that he painted the first picture featured in this chapter from his memory...what a vivid memory he had!

Until next time...