Sunday, May 10, 2009

Vote for the Dairy Barn!

American Express-Partners in Preservation program is giving grants to historical Massachusetts landmarks that need funding for the preservation of these sites. Out of 700 applicants, they chose 25 and they are asking that you the public vote for which you think most deserves funding. The winner will be guaranteed a grant. Others will be reviewed by committees to decide whether they should get some of the funding.

So why am I writing about this? Because my high school's Dairy Barn is one of the 25 contenders. I attended Norfolk County Agricultural High School from 1994-1998. I was an Environmental Science major but had a special place in my heart for the Dairy cows and the Dairy Barn. The barn was built in 1919 and has been instrumental in teaching students about farm management. However, due to detoriation the barn no longer houses dairy cows and students are not allowed in. This gorgeous barn is now used only for the storage of hay.

I spent many many hours in this Dairy barn. I got to see a cow give birth, I got to feed the cows, milk them and even bond with them. In my Junior year, I selected a special Guernsey cow named Gemma to be my cow for the Spring show. I would go to the school on Saturday mornings to train with her and groom her. I clipped her, bathed her, cleaned her ears and nose, scrubbed her, shined her hooves and got her all gussied up for the show. Together we won 3 ribbons! I have so many special memories of her and they all tie together with that barn.

So I'm asking you, please vote for my high school's barn. Register on the website and you can vote for it once a day until May 17th. The more votes it gets, the better chance it will receive some funding. Unlike the other sites, the barn is used for educational purposes and does not get any outside funding from admission fees. So it really really does need your votes!




That's me at 16 showing Gemma the Guernsey cow at the 1997 Spring Show.


Here is Gemma and I again and you can see the Dairy barn and silo in the background.


My friends Kevin and Lisa outside the dairy barn. 5/3/09



Here I am petting Crystal the Guernsey. She's Gemma's great-grandaughter! 5/3/09


and have a Happy Mother's Day!

9 comments:

  1. I had tried voting when you wrote about this on twitter last week but it looked like you had to live in the area to vote or something? Maybe I was reading it wrong- I'll try again :)

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  2. You have to register your e-mail address. It's very easy to do and you don't have to be a local. I had a friend in Canada vote without any problems.

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  3. I live in Missouri and I just voted. I do hope the farm wins. I grew up on a farm (although we raised horses, swine, and cattle rather than dairy cows), so I would like to see as many farms preserved as possible!

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  4. Yay! Go barn! I live in Stockholm, Sweden and I'm a regular voter!

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  5. yay, I voted! I have no clue what I did last time that made me think you had to live in the area? Maybe just computer incompetence :)

    I know you aren't a fan of blog awards, but I got a friendly blogger award and I wanted SO badly to pass it on to you-- even if you don't accept it, I hope you won't mind that I wanted to give it to you!

    http://flapperdoodle.blogspot.com/2009/05/friendly-blogger.html

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  6. Thanks to you all who voted. It means a lot to me!

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  7. I just voted for your Dairy Barn, Raquelle. :) Looks like the carousel is currently the front runner. I never did like carousels...:(

    What's going to happen to all the buildings that lose this contest? I'd hate to see all these amazing buildings fade away.

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  8. Casey - Thanks for voting! If you look at the first paragraph of my post (I know it's sometimes easy to be dazzled by pictures of cows!), the winner of the contest is guaranteed a grant, and a committee will decide if the other sites will get some funding. So it's not one winner gets it all, which is very lucky for my barn since it's wavering between 7th and 8th place.

    They are basing that decision on public response, so please vote every day!

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  9. I was dazzled by the cute cows, actually. I love petting horses and cows. They are so affectionate. :)

    I'm glad you clarified that we can vote every day, I thought we were only allowed to vote once. I'll be voting again tomorrow for you!

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