…I’m rereading Steinbeck’s THE GRAPES OF WRATH
and the family is butchering the shoats on the night before
they leave for California. It put me in mind of the hog
butchering, and my ma boiling the scalding water
and afterwards making soap in the big kettle that sat
on the edge of the barnlot when I was a girl...
The barn had big doors that opened on both sides
so the team and wagon could drive in with the hay or
corn or oats, and drive out the other side when the wagon
was empty...the floor boards on the barn floor below the
hay mow were over 12 inches wide.
It was probably built around 1880.