Norman Bone

Neither ahead of himself nor behind

By Francis Carlet and Thomas Gilson
Photographs by Thomas Gilson

March 1977

The Bone Family Farm is a small farm located on the side of a hill in South Ryegate. A dirt road curves up the hill and separates the barns from the house, sugarhouse and garage.

Norman Bone is 74 years old, with a short strong build, a reserved manner, and a face which, though angular and weathered, is predominantly gentle. His facial expressions are subtle, and as reserved as his mannerisms: A wry grin appears at the sight of a Jersey eyeing a whole bale of hay; or slight wince, at the mention of the market value of land that “isn’t worth its price.”

We walked across the road to the barnyard – a small area enclosed by sheds, fence, heifer barn and the main barn – through an open gate to the ramp leading into the barn. The cement ramp parallels the side of the barn; at the top, a large doorway enters at the corner of the building.

Clicking open the handmade wire latch we stepped into the barn.

The two rows of stanchioned Jerseys (about 24) face a wide aisle down the center. Hay is dropped from the loft into the center of the aisle. At one end, windows look out to the barnyard: At the opposite end is a large door for silage to be brought in from the outdoor bunker silos. Grain is distributed from a wooden cart wheeled through the aisle.

The cows stand on wooden floors. Behind them, the manure trough and the original trap door manure removal system is still in use. The barn is of post and beam construction, the ceiling and walls entirely covered with narrow white-washed boards. Each Jersey is held by a wooden stanchion and has a separate partitioned feed stall. The light from the many windows reflects the gold color of Jerseys and the aged wood where the cows have rubbed away white-wash: The barn has a remarkable quality of cleanliness, order, simplicity and quiet.

Norman’s grandfather moved from Scotland to the Whitehill farm in South Ryegate in the mid-Nineteenth Century. His son, Archibald Bone, Norman’s father, bought the present farm shortly after the turn of the century. Norman was born on the farm in 1902, grew up there and except for the years spent at college in Ohio and several years immediately after college, when he taught school, he has spent his entire life on this one farm.

Walter, Norman’s son and partner in the farm operation, was sitting in the barn before the window light preparing equipment for the coming sugaring season. Last year was not a particularly good year for their new sugaring operation, but this year Walter anticipates better production. This year he plans to use plastic tubing and retire the sap buckets.

Through the years the farm has gone through many changes. The original barn was expanded. In the adjacent hay storage barn, Norman built a silo which is completely contained by the barn. It stands close to a doorway at the side of the main barn for easy access.

A more recent project was the building of two bunker silos at the back of the main barn. Each of these is about 12 feet wide by 49 feet long and 15 feet high. The walls and floor are concrete with a short wooden wall on top of the conrete wall. The gable roof is wood framed and covered with galvanized sheet steel.

The large door at the back of the barn leads directly to these bunkers and is easily accessible with either the bucket loader or wheelbarrow. The entire project, including hand mixing the concrete, was done by Norman and Walter.

Norman recalled that around 1908 electricity first came to the center of South Ryegate. But it was not until about 1940 that the farm was electrified. There was little need for electricity before that. Kerosene lamps were adequate for light.

A compressor for the milking system was handled by a small gasoline engine, which Norman noted “wasn’t always dependable.” He said it was similar to the first washing machine his wife had – it often took longer to get it working than to wash the clothes by hand.

Similarly, about the same time (1940), Norman said, farm equipment came on the market designed for the tractor and did not work well with horses. He mentioned a side rake that worked against the horses and was difficult to turn on the side of a hill. Around 1940, Norman bought his first tractor.

“I’ve still got it,” he said.

Before bulk tank milk cooling, when milk cans were commonly used, Norman stored the evening milk in the cans, immersed in cold water until morning. The morning milk was similarly cooled and promptly delivered.

As time went on, milk had to be kept at a colder temperature, requiring large quantities of ice throughout the year. Norman described cutting ice from his own and a neighboring pond.

Since we expressed an interest in ‘old methods’, Norman took us to the nearby heifer barn where he showed us two grain flails that had been around as long as he could remember. He still uses these for soldier beans. The flail is for threshing grain by hand. It consists of hardwood branches: One is a handle, about four feet long, attached by a leather strap to a shorter heavier branch, called a swipe or swingle, which swings freely. The entire stalk with grain is placed on a flat surface or on the ground. Norman demonstrated. The flail is swung overhead against the stalk, the impact separating the grain.

After the demonstrations, Norman began his mid-day barn chores. He went to the center aisle, and climbed a hinged ladder to the hay loft. From the loft he dropped five bales of hay. He spaced them along the aisle and began cutting and pulling through the baling twine. At the end stanchion he carefully hung the cut twine on a nail. With his pitch fork he began moving back down the aisle, slowly separating the hay, and giving each cow both her portion of hay and an affectionate word or touch. He spoke of a cow recently lost that had taken a fall. He grieved more for the loss of a member of his farm family than the loss of the marketable product of that cow.

Norman moved through the barn at his own deliberate pace, cleaning after a cow, checking and tending a new calf. Slowly, gently, carefully he tended the animals and his barn, neither ahead of himself nor behind.