Le Farm: You can thank your lucky stars for red barns...

My barn is painted a dingy green...a rather horrible green, very close to olive, which we all know only looks great on a toothpick leaning against the inside of a martini glass.

So, on a whim, I decided that it needs to be painted.

...Red!

...Barn Red!
Specifically, a cool but deep tone of a medium dark cherry red.
{So I'm particular about my colors...I know what I want!}

I believe every farm needs a red barn.
Period.

In rare form, I decided to search pictures of red barns for divine inspiration on just the right medium dark cherry red.
{I am a visual learner.}

And, by consequence, I stumbled upon the big question that was out in cyberspace being asked,
"Why are most barns painted red?"

I thought about that and said to myself,
"Self, why are most barns painted red?"
Hmmmmm. I came up with a few reasons of my own but searched on.

Red Ochre, which is ferrous oxide, is plentiful in the earth.
(In days past, people used what they had, and went for the cheapest solution on the farm. In fact, most of what they did had purpose and I always assumed barns were painted to preserve the wood...and because barns are supposed to be....red. Duh.)

The real reason red ochre is plentiful has to do with atoms, nuclear fusion and the abundance of these atoms, released by dying stars in the universe, chemically linking up as larger compounds.

Wait...WHAT?

You can read a very detailed excerpt in this link:

https://plus.google.com/+YonatanZunger/posts/EfmdR6VWvRM

Zunger explains :

"The only thing holding the star up was the energy of the fusion reactions, so as power levels go down, the star starts to shrink. And as it shrinks, the pressure goes up, and the temperature goes up, until suddenly it hits a temperature where a new reaction can get started. These new reactions give it a big burst of energy, but start to form heavier elements still, and so the cycle gradually repeats, with the star reacting further and further up the periodic table, producing more and more heavy elements as it goes. Until it hits 56. At that point, the reactions simply stop producing energy at all; the star shuts down and collapses without stopping.

As soon as the star hits the 56 nucleon (total number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus) cutoff, it falls apart. It doesn’t make anything heavier than 56. What does this have to do with red paint? Because the star stops at 56, it winds up making a ton of things with 56 neucleons. It makes more 56 nucleon containing things than anything else (aside from the super light stuff in the star that is too light to fuse).

The element that has 56 protons and neutrons in its nucleus in its stable state? Iron. The stuff that makes red paint."

OK, then...thanks for that.

I also discovered another excerpt online, in a bit more conventional explanation so your eyeballs don't cross:

"Beginning with the earliest American settlements and continuing into the 18th century, most barns weren't painted at all. Early American barn builders took sun exposure, temperature, moisture, wind, and water drainage patterns into account when placing and building barns and seasoned the wood (that is, they reduced the moisture content) accordingly. The right type of wood in the right environment held up fine without any paint.

Towards the end of the 18th century, these old school methods of barn planning and building fell by the wayside. People sought a quicker, easier fix for preserving their barns—a way to coat and seal the wood to protect it from sunlight and moisture damage.

Farmers began making their own coating from a mix of linseed oil (a tawny oil derived from the flax seeds), milk and lime. It dried quickly and lasted a long time, but it didn't really protect the wood from mold and wasn't quite like the "barn red" we know today (more of a burnt-orange, really).

The problem with mold is that it decays wood (and, in large quantities, can pose health risks to people and animals). Rust, it turns out, kills mold and other types of fungi, so farmers began adding ferrous oxide (rusted iron) to the linseed oil mix. A little bit of rust went a long way in protecting the wood, and gave the barn a nice red hue.

By the late 19th century, mass-produced paints made with chemical pigments became available to most people. Red was the least expensive color, so it remained the most popular for use on barns, except for a brief period when whitewash became cheaper and white barns started popping up. (White barns were also common on dairy farms in some parts of Pennsylvania, central Maryland and the Shenandoah Valley, possibly because of the color's association with cleanliness and purity.)

Throughout Appalachia (a historically poorer region), many barns went unpainted for lack of money. In the tobacco regions of Kentucky and North Carolina, black and brown barns were the norm, since the dark colors helped heat the barn and cure tobacco. Today, many barns are still painted the color traditionally used in a given region, with red still dominating the Northeast and Midwest."

Read the full text here: http://mentalfloss.com/article/23278/why-are-barns-usually-red#ixzz2WCoXaU6R

--brought to you by mental_floss!

So, apparently, there are some really interesting and intriguing explanations on why barns
are painted red.
{In case your "self" ever wondered.}
My reason for it is less about history and scientific explanation and more about aesthetics.
{...and getting the color I want!}

Enough words, show me some pictures!

Here is my cute little barn's "before" shots:
Many of the original posts and beams are from 1869. The thickness of the wood beams and the quarter sawn cuts are amazing. In all it's beauty, it still substantiates my calling it dingy.
{So sorry, my cute little barn, but you are one ugly baby.}

My "Le Farm" logo is barely visible and that just can't be!
It needed a revival.