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The Hardin County Farm Museum, founded in 1996, located at 203 N. Washington St., Eldora,  is one of many Iowa living history museums. On this 20-acre site is a dairy barn, a country schoolhouse, a country church, and a machine shed of farm equipment. The museum focuses on the period 1890 through 1950, with related farm equipment, agricultural practices, and the farm families during this time period. Founded in 1996, it is open the first Saturday of the month, April to October, from 7 am to 3 pm.

The barn, built between 1935 and 1940, was later used for hogs, chickens, and as a shelter for cats and dogs.

All are welcome to the pancake breakfast from 7-9:30 am on Saturday, September 7, 2024. Pancake breakfasts are held on the first Saturday of May, June, July, September, and October. The last event of 2024 will be a soup supper and barn dance, with live country music, on Saturday, October 5, 2024.

Pioneers heading across the Iowa prairies in the mid-1800s before roads existed might have looked for this plant called a compass plant that has leaves oriented in a north-south axis. Somehow they became aware of this marvelous plant with yellow flowers and how it could guide them in their travels.

It is a member of the sunflower family that can grow 12-15 feet tall by late summer, with a taproot of 12-15 feet. Below is another view of this amazing perennial, which does not produce flowers until after the second or third year of growth.

If you need a lawnmower, maybe a couple Babydoll Southdown sheep would be just the thing you need. This breed, a miniature version of the Southdown breed of sheep that originated in Sussex County, England, is often used in orchards and vineyards because they don’t disturb trees or other vegetation, but instead eat weeds and unwanted grasses.

They are popular as pets and for 4-H projects, are 18 to 24 inches tall, and weigh between 60 and 125 pounds. To protect them from predators they must be kept in a barn or a predator-proof area at night.

These sheep live in the 1948 gambrel barn in the Hudson area of Blackhawk County, which is also the home for chickens and cats. Pictured below is the barn, owned by Kent and Diane Wolfe.

What an idea! This grain bin art is found in Carroll County in the heart of the farming community of Coon Rapids. Owned by Todd and Charlotte Heck and painted by Mark Bauer of Bauer Painting, the bins were dedicated October 22, 2022.

The project, “Naturally Iowa Grain Bin Gateway”, began in 2018 when Coon Rapids was looking for an idea of large scale art to revitalize the downtown. After deciding on the grain bins they raised over $77,000 and it became the art project of the year.

Here are three views of this historic project. The bin on the left with the town name and Naturally Iowa includes two persons canoeing on the Middle Raccoon River among the cattails. 

The bin on the right has a family on bicycles followed by their dog. It is a bright sunny day as seen in the next photo, where the rest of the family and the dog can be seen.

The third photo features a mother and daughter dancing, a flock of geese, a windmill, and a father, the children, and their dog with a telescope to study the stars. 

Each bin, which contains corn or beans, is 40 feet tall and 30 feet in diameter, and is located at Highway Street and Sixth Avenue. They are situated along a branch of the BNSF (Burlington Northern Santa Fe) Railroad that passes through the city. What an outstanding project to enhance the image of the city as well as the area. (2024 photos)

Harrisdale barn, built in the summer of 1920, was a Gordon-Van Tine Company “kit” of pre-cut lumber shipped by rail from the Davenport company. It was actually the Harris’ family home during the summer of 1921, when their old house was torn down and the current house was built. Raymond Harris, Ardyth Harris Gillespie’s grandfather, hired help for much of the farm work while he served as “general contractor” for building the house. The home is as lovely as this brilliant reddish-orange roofed barn is today on this Heritage farm (150+ years in the same family). (2024 photo)

Today the barn is used for storing hay, straw, feed, and farm supplies. In the spring it also houses a flock of 15 Katahdin ewes and two rams. Currently there are 24 lambs (See 2024 photo below). Katahdin hair sheep, developed in the 1950s, are raised chiefly for meat. They grow a short, thick, coarse overcoat of hair for winter, which they then shed in the spring, leaving a softer, short coat of hair, as opposed to sheep breeds that have wool coats requiring yearly shearing. 

People driving by on a gravel road in Chickasaw County can admire this arched-roof barn that was saved and restored by owner Adolph Havlik, a farmer in north-central Iowa, at 1745 Cheyenne Ave., Ionia.

It was built in 1912 as a dairy barn by Adolph’s late wife’s grandfather, Nicholas Hugeback, and later was used for beef cattle. In 1953 it was damaged by a tornado and restored. Later, the foundation was replaced with glacier-deposited stones found in the area. Gray steel siding was installed in 2007, as well as a steel roof in 2021.

It serves as an example of the high regard farmers have for the barns built and used by their ancestors. (2022 photo)

There are many early stories of prairie fires racing across the countryside and the problems pioneers faced in fighting them. Sometimes their barns and homes were saved, but not always. Buckets of water, a plow, and rakes were all they had to fight the fires.

This photo was taken last week by my brother, Carl Kurtz, as he and a friend burned about fifty acres of this prairie on the farm in Marshall County that we own and that he has worked to reconstruct for the last 48 years. Fire is an effective tool for maintaining the health of prairies because it stimulates seeds to germinate and promotes growth and seed production.

This land was once virgin prairie before the pioneers plowed it and planted corn. Some was saved from being plowed, however, in order to harvest prairie hay for bedding and food for their livestock.

Now it is a diverse tallgrass prairie community of 120 species of flowers and 30 species of grasses and sedges. From a height of several inches in the spring to six to seven feet tall by fall, this prairie will be filled with the flowers, grasses, and nesting grassland birds until October. 

This early barn, built around 1905 by August Riemenschneider, was a wonderful home for his draft horses and driving horses, then later for cattle. Located in Marshall County in the northeast corner of State Center, it is just several hundred feet north of the rail line running east and west. August was a livestock buyer, and the train that sped by daily stopped to pick up cattle to ship to Chicago. (1931 photo courtesy of Craig and Mary Pfantz)

August and Josephine Riemenschneider also built a lovely Victorian house in 1904, not visible here. After the Riemenschneiders died, the farm changed hands several times before great-grandson Craig Pfantz and his wife Mary purchased the farm in 1994. The barn was in poor condition, thus the restoration process was long and expensive. It is now in pristine condition and is used for storage. (2012 photo below)  A longer story about this barn can be found on page 113 of Iowa Barns yesterday and today.

Farcour, a famous Belgian draft horse, lives on in the memories in Boone county and in his home where he was buried in 1921. He was a San Francisco World’s Fair champion and is remembered as a service stud with many famous progeny. See Iowa Barns yesterday and today, page 83 for more history of Farcour.

His great-grandson, Brooklyn Supreme, who weighed 3,200 pounds, achieved fame by being the world’s largest horse at one time. Below are two postcards of Brooklyn Supreme. The photo on the left was taken next to railroad tracks, with chutes in the background where livestock was loaded to be shipped by rail. His enormous size would mean that traveling by rail was the only option.

The postcard on the right, based on the photo on the left, was typical of postcards in the 40s and 50s, printed with an attractive scene and flowers to attract­­ buyers. C.G. Good, who owned both horses, hired Ralph Fogleman, in the white suit, to travel with Brooklyn Supreme around the country, charging spectators 10 cents for viewing this giant who died in 1948 at age 20.