Blogs

Discover stories, insights, and technical know-how from barn owners, preservationists, and OBP experts dedicated to keeping Ontario’s barns standing tall.

All things Ontario Barns

Island Barn Mystery: Part 4 of 4

by Everyday Lillie Continued from Part 3: Ice Harvest Method Why Our Little Bay? Our island is in a large sandy bottomed bay with depths of about 10 to 20 feet in the area. We were trying to...

“Field Work” at the MOD

by Jim Campbell, Duntroon: OBP Director/VP “Driving out of town,as landscapes blur by,fond memoriesof childhood visits to a family farm:the barn, the land, the grass,the space,timeless slowness,come...

Island Barn Mystery: Part 3

by Everyday Lillie Continued from Part 2: Ontario’s Ice Trade Ice Harvest Method The process of ice harvesting involved cutting large blocks of ice from the frozen surface of the lake and transporting...

Island Barn Mystery: Part 1

by Everyday Lillie. (Editor’s note: During this hot spell, I thought it may be perfect timing to share Lillie’s story.) Our island cottage is located in a bay dotted with many other small...

If These Barns Could Speak: Part 1

by Shonna Giles, Member of Ontario Barn Preservation. If the old barns could speak and tell stories, what would they say? I am writing a book about the colourful and diverse rural history of Ontario...

Remembering Jenny Phillips

by Laura Brown, OBP Administrative Assistant and Volunteer Jenny Phillips, previously our Regional Representative for Middlesex, Elgin, Chatham Kent, Essex and Lambton, passed away on January 18...

Documenting the Loss of Old Barns in Sombra Township

Posted by Darrell Randell, OBP Member and Regional Representative A long-time volunteer at the Sombra Township Museum, the late Charlie Grant, undertook a project to photograph every barn within the...

Worked at Well: The Stable Pump

by D. B. McCowan, P.Eng. (bmccowan@netrover.com) An old wooden pump sitting in Bill McCowan’s (1923-2018) barn in Pickering probably came from the Robert McCowan (1855-1931) farm on Kingston...

Traditional Barns in Quebec: Part 2 of 2

by Arthur Plumpton, member of OBP The genesis of nineteenth century traditional barns Part 1 looked at the traditional agricultural...

Traditional Barns in Quebec: Part 1 of 2

by Arthur Plumpton, member of OBP You may have wondered about the architectural similarities and differences amongst heritage barns in Canada and the perspectives for their preservation The...

The Old Barn Model: The Final Product (Part 3 of 3)

by Hugh Fraser, OBP President for 2023-2024 In the first blog of this series, I described my serendipitous meeting with John Ness at Canada’s Outdoor Farm ShowTM in September 2022. He volunteered...

The Old Barn Model: The Swing Beam Barn and Its Challenges (Part 2 of 3)

by Hugh Fraser, OBP President for 2023-2024 In the first blog of this series, I described my serendipitous meeting with John Ness at the Outdoor Farm Show in September 2022. After studying a scale...