The Granary Chronicles
"You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage:
but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself."
-C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Our Story
When Joe returned to the family farm in the summer of 2019, he planned to move into the old granary building that he and his brother had begun renovating several years before. We had been dating for 6 months. I remember sharing with my mom my excitement for Joe's plan, gushing about his manliness, adventurous attitude, and countless handyman skills. She simply looked at me with a smile that held some sort of prophetic motherly instinct, and said, "Mm-hm, I bet he's planning for y'all to live there when you get married."
We were engaged less than a month later.
And sure enough, in weighing our options for the future, we realized we both were deeply drawn toward settling in Minnesota,
farming together, and calling the granary home. What motivated this desire? Was it the Holy Spirit? Or maybe stubbornness?
Stupidity? Being in-love? Being poor? A mutual childhood idolization of "Little House on the Prairie,” “Farmer Boy” and “Old Yeller”?
A combination of all these things?
Probably so.
Call it what you will, once we set on the idea, we never looked back. And both of our families supportively (though perhaps somewhat dubiously) grinned their approval….
Origins
A granary is traditionally a simple storehouse for threshed grain that has been harvested from the farm. Raised off of the
ground to protect from moisture and unwelcome critters, granaries have been around since the earliest agricultural civilizations.
Very common in the midwest crop-lands, they can range from simple shacks to tall and elaborate barns. With the
advance of technology and the development of more effective grain-storage methods, many have lost their ordinary purpose and have been converted into simple sheds or have fallen into disrepair. The specific granary at Ryndaville Dairy was built off-site and
transported to its present location in 1931. To say that it has seen a good deal of Rynda farm and family life so far would be an understatement, and now this will continue for years to come!