How do you move a barn?

[Dave Lehnert]

Just ask the Amish.

[Warren Lake]

They are pretty neat people. They work together while we are all divided up. Mennonites friends of my sisters husband built her shop, Great quality work. Ive been on back roads different areas west of me and some still drive on the side of the road in horse drawn buggies. No Etests, no recalls no rising gas prices and no computer chip shortage.

I think this young fellow likely got turfed out though after he did his first you tube.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOfZLb33uCg

[Roger Feeley]

My grandmother had a detached garage that was built in the model T days. Her late 40’s car was longer and the garage was just barely big enough. The only way she could ge sure that the door would close is to bump the back wall every time she parked. There was no connection between the framing and the foundation. So little by little, she would move the garage off of the foundation.

Every year or two, my dad would collect his sons and take a car jack and some stakes over to grandmas house to jack the garage back on to its foundations.

[Dave Fritz]

How the English move a barn. https://apnews.com/article/wisconsin...71fb8b82e03620

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Some Amish and Mennonite farms in our state have gone organic. They are doing as good of a job farming organically as they do on everything else they do. It is very uplifting to me. There is also a group that is allowed to use some types of modern equipment. Their workshops produce amazing inventions and modifications.

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[Roger Feeley]

The video is amazing. How many of us could muster 200 strong backs like that? I might be able to call on 10 at best.
Theresanold saying that men don’t have friends. Men have wives that have friends.

[ChrisA Edwards]

Notice at the 3:12 mark. There's a guy inside the barn, being carried, obviously directing things inside.

[Dave Fritz]

Evidently the Amish are organized into communities, each electing their own bishop. The bishop is the rule maker so there's a variation among communities regarding rubber tires, tractors, telephones etc. We have friends that are in a very strict community while their Amish neighbor has a bobcat and a telephone etc. Each person in the community seems to have a specialty. My friend fixes Maytag Washing machines that are driven by a Briggs and Stratton motor. When I visit he always asks about the weather forecast. The weekly shopper used to have the weeks weather published but they stopped doing it so he doesn't really have a source anymore. Amazing how he's able to plan things by looking at the clouds and experience. They get along fine and are probably making more money that most farmers these days.

[Charlie Velasquez]

The video is amazing. How many of us could muster 200 strong backs like that? I might be able to call on 10 at best.
Theresanold saying that men don’t have friends. Men have wives that have friends.

Meh, 200 strong backs are way overrated. This guy moved a barn by himself.
(barn moving starts at the 2:00 minute mark)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-K7q20VzwVs



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[Thomas McCurnin]

+1 as to Warren's comment. I was in a restaurant in Intercourse, PA and witnessed a very heated, shouting, finger jabbing in the chest argument between an Amish and Mennonite. The subject was whether it was appropriate to kill a Possum on Sunday.

I was fascinated by the heated argument, because I never thought there was any controversy. When I started to intervene, the restaurant owner, quickly grabbed my arm and escorted me away from the fray, as if me adding my wiseguy two cents would cause a riot.

I remain mystified as to the issue of killing, trapping, or cooking Possums on Sunday.

[Warren Lake]

Everyone knows Granny Clampet was the expert on Possum Soup. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fsz-BDtbz8U


Also she had a weather beetle in a match box and was more accurate at forcasting the weather than the Meteorlogical Society. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upNUqWXgpIc

[Michael Schuch]

When I move something heavy and clumsy I usually prefer to work by myself if at all possible because a helper is usually more likely to cause problems and injuries than to actually be of assistance. There are a few people that I trust to only do what I direct them to do and not suddenly decide to help because they think it is needed even through they were not asked to do a specific task. I can't imagine coordinating a couple hundred guys to do what they are told and not what they think is best! Pretty amazing watching them all work together in harmony! That video highlights good communication as much as it does the team work.

If that were the army they would have all raised the barn above their heads in unison yelling out a cohesive "HUT!" immediately before gently lowering it into its final resting place (just as a bit of showmanship! lol!)

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

I have Amish within a mile of here. Quiet folks, don't bother anyone, unless you are next door and they need a ride, then they are always knocking. Had my wrap around porch built by Amish, and my fenceds put in by Amish. Hard workers. The last crew here for the fences got real upset when they found out I could understand most of what they were saying. The boss came by Friday afternoon to pay them. When he got out of the truck, I shook his hand and said "Wie bish Du?" (How are you? ) Guess they just assume we English don't understand them. He looked at me like I had just slapped him. Then he asked me "Kannst Du Deitsch schwetze?" (Can you speak Deistch, a dialect of Deutsch/German) "Ja, mein Grossmutter habt mir gelehrt." Yes, my Grandmother taught me. The crew only spoke English for the remainder of their days on the job. The rivalry between the Mennonites and Amish gets pretty intense. They kids play a form of dodge ball using baseballs. Amish vs the Mennonites. When they throw that ball. they throw hard as they can and have broken bones. However, they sure get togther and help out at the local volunteer firehalls. They serve as firemen, work the fund raisers and donate heavily. The women donate lots of quilts for the firehalls to sell to raise money.

[William Fretwell]

The lack of a foundation for the barn suggests they move it quite often.