Photo Courtesy of
Phaff Portrait Studio.

Jan holds a B.A. in English from Albion College; an M.A. from Nazareth College, Kalamazoo; and has studied holistic health through Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo and program evaluation at the University of Illinois-Chicago.

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Farm Girl

My passion for heritage barns and farm life, go back to having grown up on a dairy farm in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula where my parents had award-winning Holsteins. The farm had been in Dad’s family since the 1880s and had Dad’s health held out it would have stayed that way. The barn was built by my grandfather. Dad always said that the hardest part about leaving the farm was leaving the barn. After we sold the farm in 1969, the herd was sold and eventually, the neglected house, lonely barn, and 40 acres were split from the tilled land and woods. A couple bought the parcel and remodeled the house but to my horror, in the 1990s they destroyed the barn with its hand-hewn beams and pegged construction. Just like that. Gone. A 1960s addition to the barn was turned into a second residence.

Dad passed away in 1995 without knowing the barn had been destroyed. It would have grieved him to know what happened to Coralan Farm. When I return to the U.P. now I am no longer drawn to the farmstead because the changes have made it someone else’s home and there comes a time to move on. I continue encouraging others to save their barns and share their stories. In fact, a newly-published book by Jerry R. Davis, Michigan Barns, Et Cetera, Rural Buildings of the Great Lake State, shares exquisite line drawings and stories of some Michigan barns. Some of these barns live on, others are skeletons or memories. But the stories have been captured and that in itself has value.

(For information about Jan’s professional credentials and availability see also, Coralan Communications page. To learn more about barn preservation, visit www.barnlady1.com)