My grandpa built one in the early 70’s, as he grew a big field of dent corn for his cows. He would get me and my brother out in the corn field as children and work us until noon. Then he would take us to the local country gas station right up the road ( we would sit on the tailgate and hold on), and buy us an orange soda and a paper bag full of candy for a dollar! Precious memories!
I notice it is built with the sun in mind The one side faces the sun to evaporate moisture faster while the unloading/shucking side is in the shade to work in. Very brilliant to work with nature and the terain that way
The grainery at my great grandparents was originally built in the 1800s and it had a corn crib on one side that had the wire in it while the other side had tongue and groove boards on the inside of it for barley and wheat or whatever they grew that year. The center had an open area for various belt driven equipment. There was a main shaft overhead that went out to a covered shed part where the tractor or engine would sit and the belt would come down to that. They had things well thought out.
I grew up in central Nebraska and my grandfather's corn crib had a tool room through the middle with two corn cribs on either side. the cribs were at the outside of the structure and the tool room was the part under the peak. What I remember most was the cobs were placed in a smaller shed close to the house and the "cob burner" was a cast iron stove in the kitchen. The top of the cob burner always had a tea kettle of hot water for tea, doing dishes or heating bath water. The steam from the kettle also kept the stove from drying out the air too much, as winters in Nebraska are very dry. That old cob burner was the only heat in the house until they put in a propane heater in the main room between the bedrooms. The main room was where the adults ate during family gatherings, where the Christmas tree was placed and where my grandmothers quilt frame stayed during the colder months. Your corn crib brought back memories of my grandfather's farm and a wonderful childhood. Thank you so much.
I remember daddy built our corn crib in our barn facing the outside walls , we would drive the corn in side the barn shuck it and toss the corn into the cribs through the crib doors. That worked great. We had the yellow corn milled locally as feed for the hoggs and chickens. That was the good ole days life was so much simpler. Thanks Justin.
Yep, a few cats were always around, and sometimes a little dog who's job was varmint control. Sometimes they were companion animals to, but they earned their keep.
My grandfather’s corn crib was a hewn log crib. The door was high off the ground. I remember being amazed at how easily he twisted the dried corn off the cobs with his hand. I was little and tried to do the same, but my hands weren’t tough and it hurt too much. Watching this makes me want a little corn crib on my farm.
I really enjoy seeing these old structures and learning more about them. I know folks used to use them here too. Some had a spot for the corn in the bottom and a spot for peanuts in the top. I am a fan of corn meal mush. I’m also a fan of hot water cornbread which starts out as mush. I’m pretty much just a fan of good eats! 😋 Looking forward to your first live tonight! See ya there!!
Great explanation! I’ve seen the structures, but never understood how they were used. I’ve read lots of history and novels that mentioned corn shucking parties. Seeing the visual structure and hearing your explanation as you walked through the crib tied it all together for me. Thanks for taking the time to explain it all.
In my area a shucking and quilting "bee" was held around Thanksgiving. The corn was harvested a little before then. The men and boys would go to the barn or crib and build a fire to stay warm while the ladies and girls stayed inside and some would work on quilting or cooking for the communal meal. This gave the ladies the opportunity to show off their needlework and/or cooking skills.
I really love your videos. I love history & learning how they did things in the past. You never know if you need to know how they did things in the past to survive the future.
Oh my goodness. I' m 66 and remember mom talking about the corn crib on the farm she grew up on in central OK. it's nice to have a visual to accompany my verbal description with your explanation. Thank you
Great video! My folks were from Ohio, but moved to Arkansas in 1954. Our corn crib was inside the barn. I was a small child, but I still remember it. Lightening struck our barn, and burned it down. Daddy was sick then, and we never rebuilt it. He had to have both legs amputated, and our farming stopped. God bless you Justin.
Beautiful, I like the natural color. My Grandfather always kept his painted red. His were not as long but they were double sided. With the outer walls slanted outward. So the top of the cribs were twice as wide as the base. This was in Minnesota so I suppose the slant was used to keep snow off the outer walls. Probably the paint helped with visibility in the snow too.
I had only seen one of this type in our area and it had a matching crib on the other side of the aisle. Most cribs in our area are just the square type. The family farm had 2 that were about 14 ft square and a big one in the barn . Only animal corn, we never shucked.
I have to admit this starting to be my favorite channel 👍👍👍 I'm new to the internet never owned a computer in my life haven't had this here phone long.. my grandson Drake is trying to learn me up on it ..🤝
WE NEED people like you Mr. Metcalf to show these videos on how it used to be done. Soon people like it or not may have to go back to such things. Better know now and learn than to learn it later. My grandparents and great grandParents lived in the Appalachia mountains and they used to talk about how it was then. Community coming together and helping one another. Thats how it should of stayed. Thank you for your videos and teaching and telling everyone the knowledge the older parents knew and we have lost. This needs to be learnt again. thank you
I sent a reply, saying I hope to see you at 8:00. But while cleaning up supper dishes, I realize that this episode was made two years ago so I’d be a little late on seeing you at 8 o’clock.🙃 when I was younger, my older brother would always tell me that I was dumber than a box rocks. I think I agree.
Very interesting! I never seen one. I lived in the city all my life, occasionally I went to the country but not enough to learn things. Thank you for sharing! God bless!
A lot of farms when I was a kid (50 years ago) had corn cribs. In most cases they were just pole barn/sheds with a concrete or gravel floor and sides covered in wood snow fencing. Many times the farmer would put a piece of tin roofing around the bottom to keep rain water from splashing back into it. If they had thought of it they had an enclosed shed on one end or side so they could shell and grind it. Otherwise they took it to the main barn or granary to do that. You still see them on some farms, but very few have been used since farmers went away from pickers and to combines and bins for drying and storing. In fact very few farmers in my area raise grain for feeding their livestock any more. They sell what they raise, often on futures market, and then buy feed and grain for feeding their animals. Sort of caught at the fluctuating prices when they buy and sell. Not the wisest position in my opinion
I grew up in Missouri and would see these structures (sorry, city-boy from St. Louis) throughout the state in my times of local discovery, and never knew what they were. Since you've started your Mill kick-starter and bringing in many of the homesteaders I follow, my awareness and (late) education of these basic and essential infrastructures has blossomed. Thank you for sharing and wish you the very best.
Very interesting walk through, history lesson and functionality explanation, not to mention the narration and camera work. Ya done good son, ya done good. Keep up the good work. ;o)
That's a fancy corn crib with a place to park the tractor and wagon to keep it outta the weather. I need to go check on mine. It's attached to the small milkin' barn. I know it probably needs some work. Ain't done anything to it in years. Be a shame to lose it.
Love history. My grandmother’s corn crib was in her barn but this is great history. Will watch replay of your live tonight as will probably not be home from worship to watch live. If you’re on eastern time, might catch it though. Look forward to watching it.
The ones I remembered growing up in WV were in the shape of a V. It was explained to me that the reason they were built that way was to keep the rain off the sides. That hardware cloth wouldn't keep the rats out down here in FL. We've got roof rats down here that chew through metal. Metal roofing, metal siding, Nothing will stop them.
I ran across one of those one time hunting I didn’t know it was a corn crib it had a bunch of old growth lumber sitting up in the loft haha I believe I thought it was hog stalls but that’s because there was old pens built around the outside of it
You have some the most interesting videos. I love history especially the history of how our ancestors lived and worked. I am planting extra corn this year for making grits and flour and to help feed the chickens. It's more work, which I don't mind, but I am looking forward to this next step in being less dependant on the grocery store. I am not ready for a large corn crib but after seeing this I think I can build a smaller one( with one of my son's helping). I always learn something useful when I watch your channel. Thank you so much for sharing.
@@metcalfmills5679 I have read some of the Foxfire books when I was younger, they are hard to find now. About 8 or 9 years back I went to a FoxFire exhibit in Rabun County and it was very interesting. My youngest son and I would love to live there and we drive up to Clayton often. I've lived up around Boone, NC when I worked for Samaritan's Purse for a while and spent a couple of years in WV but I think North East Ga mountains are some off the most beautiful I have ever seen.
My grandfather had/has one of these on his place. Did you forget to say the corn was partially dry when they put it in there? Or did your people pick husk and crib it wet? We did it mostly dried corn from the stalk to the crib!
I found this incredibly informative. Now I'm wondering how the Native American folk dried their corn for food. They didn't have livestock so they didn't need nearly as much. But, you best believe that some of their settlements rivaled that of the Egyptians during the same era. Any idea or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Justin, could you detail how mush, grit and corn bread is made - maybe that a video 🙂. And what's are the differences between yellow and white corn. I'll check locally but all I seen grown is yellow corn.
Hey buddy just drove don't worry about it you'll get her next weekend hopefully I can figure out how to get in touch with you to work on my mail this is Old mountain Man Jimmy
im glad i found your channel. what part of western nc are you in? im in franklin, use to live in bryson city. i remember log corn cribs but this seems like a good design
oh, okay lots of history there! i have an pld book of photographs, the face of appalachaia by barnwell, and many stories and photos are from madison county. i have a lot of videos to catch up on!
I'm guessing they had to grow twice what they actually needed, because of what the rats and mice would eat, out of the crib!! Guess I should have watched the entire video, before I commented lol
My grandfather would put black snakes in the corn crib. Whenever he would see one, he'd catch it and haul it out to the corn crib. Nature's rodent trap.
My grandpa built one in the early 70’s, as he grew a big field of dent corn for his cows. He would get me and my brother out in the corn field as children and work us until noon. Then he would take us to the local country gas station right up the road ( we would sit on the tailgate and hold on), and buy us an orange soda and a paper bag full of candy for a dollar! Precious memories!
Thank you so much for sharing this memory with us. I so enjoyed hearing it.
I notice it is built with the sun in mind
The one side faces the sun to evaporate moisture faster while the unloading/shucking side is in the shade to work in.
Very brilliant to work with nature and the terain that way
You can read most building here. That was most of the time a factor seems like.
The grainery at my great grandparents was originally built in the 1800s and it had a corn crib on one side that had the wire in it while the other side had tongue and groove boards on the inside of it for barley and wheat or whatever they grew that year. The center had an open area for various belt driven equipment. There was a main shaft overhead that went out to a covered shed part where the tractor or engine would sit and the belt would come down to that. They had things well thought out.
Thank sounds like a great idea. Thank you for sharing this with us!
Our corncrib was always the jail when we were pretend playing! Thanks for bringing back fun memories on the farm.
Thanks for sharing, glad you enjoyed!
I grew up in central Nebraska and my grandfather's corn crib had a tool room through the middle with two corn cribs on either side. the cribs were at the outside of the structure and the tool room was the part under the peak. What I remember most was the cobs were placed in a smaller shed close to the house and the "cob burner" was a cast iron stove in the kitchen. The top of the cob burner always had a tea kettle of hot water for tea, doing dishes or heating bath water. The steam from the kettle also kept the stove from drying out the air too much, as winters in Nebraska are very dry. That old cob burner was the only heat in the house until they put in a propane heater in the main room between the bedrooms. The main room was where the adults ate during family gatherings, where the Christmas tree was placed and where my grandmothers quilt frame stayed during the colder months. Your corn crib brought back memories of my grandfather's farm and a wonderful childhood. Thank you so much.
Thank you so much for sharing this with us!
This made my day!
I remember daddy built our corn crib in our barn facing the outside walls , we would drive the corn in side the barn shuck it and toss the corn into the cribs through the crib doors. That worked great. We had the yellow corn milled locally as feed for the hoggs and chickens. That was the good ole days life was so much simpler. Thanks Justin.
Thank you for sharing this with us Ricky! It sure was.
I’m glad you explained how the corn was protected from rats. I was wondering how they were controlled.
Yeah that is how. I wouldn’t imagine too many made it with slim pickens for cats and dogs.
Yep, a few cats were always around, and sometimes a little dog who's job was varmint control. Sometimes they were companion animals to, but they earned their keep.
My grandfather’s corn crib was a hewn log crib. The door was high off the ground. I remember being amazed at how easily he twisted the dried corn off the cobs with his hand. I was little and tried to do the same, but my hands weren’t tough and it hurt too much. Watching this makes me want a little corn crib on my farm.
Thank you for sharing this with us. Corn cribs are easy to build and don’t require a lot of materials if built small.
I really enjoy seeing these old structures and learning more about them. I know folks used to use them here too. Some had a spot for the corn in the bottom and a spot for peanuts in the top.
I am a fan of corn meal mush. I’m also a fan of hot water cornbread which starts out as mush. I’m pretty much just a fan of good eats! 😋
Looking forward to your first live tonight! See ya there!!
Thanks Lea! And thank you for sharing. See you there!
Good to see the old crib. Noticed what appeared to be a groundhog hole under the door, little rascal. Thanks Justro for the video
Glad you enjoyed Rick! Yeah I think so..
Great explanation! I’ve seen the structures, but never understood how they were used. I’ve read lots of history and novels that mentioned corn shucking parties. Seeing the visual structure and hearing your explanation as you walked through the crib tied it all together for me. Thanks for taking the time to explain it all.
I am glad to hear this, thank you! So glad that you enjoyed and that I could help
In my area a shucking and quilting "bee" was held around Thanksgiving. The corn was harvested a little before then. The men and boys would go to the barn or crib and build a fire to stay warm while the ladies and girls stayed inside and some would work on quilting or cooking for the communal meal. This gave the ladies the opportunity to show off their needlework and/or cooking skills.
I heard of a corn crib but did not know what it looked like. Thank you. God bless.
Thank you and God bless you as well
I really love your videos. I love history & learning how they did things in the past. You never know if you need to know how they did things in the past to survive the future.
Thank you Kelly. Glad that you enjoy. It is good to know how to do.
Oh my goodness. I' m 66 and remember mom talking about the corn crib on the farm she grew up on in central OK. it's nice to have a visual to accompany my verbal description with your explanation. Thank you
You’re welcome Janet, glad you enjoyed
Very interesting Thank you for sharing. - Melanie
Glad that you enjoyed it!
I did enjoy the video, thank you for sharing. Looking forward to the live this evening. Have a blessed day.
Thank you Opal! Glad you enjoyed!
Great video! My folks were from Ohio, but moved to Arkansas in 1954. Our corn crib was inside the barn. I was a small child, but I still remember it. Lightening struck our barn, and burned it down. Daddy was sick then, and we never rebuilt it. He had to have both legs amputated, and our farming stopped. God bless you Justin.
Aw thank you for sharing this with us Toni ❤️
God bless you as well
Thanks for sharing 👍💯🏆
Thank you!
Beautiful, I like the natural color. My Grandfather always kept his painted red. His were not as long but they were double sided. With the outer walls slanted outward. So the top of the cribs were twice as wide as the base. This was in Minnesota so I suppose the slant was used to keep snow off the outer walls. Probably the paint helped with visibility in the snow too.
I had only seen one of this type in our area and it had a matching crib on the other side of the aisle. Most cribs in our area are just the square type. The family farm had 2 that were about 14 ft square and a big one in the barn . Only animal corn, we never shucked.
I have seen the big cribs with a hallway. Thank you for sharing this with us!
I really liked the video you are so comfortabe to listen too.
Glad you enjoy
I have to admit this starting to be my favorite channel 👍👍👍 I'm new to the internet never owned a computer in my life haven't had this here phone long.. my grandson Drake is trying to learn me up on it ..🤝
Aw thanks brother! I appreciate you.
WE NEED people like you Mr. Metcalf to show these videos on how it used to be done. Soon people like it or not may have to go back to such things. Better know now and learn than to learn it later. My grandparents and great grandParents lived in the Appalachia mountains and they used to talk about how it was then. Community coming together and helping one another. Thats how it should of stayed. Thank you for your videos and teaching and telling everyone the knowledge the older parents knew and we have lost. This needs to be learnt again. thank you
Thank you so much for this. I hope that I can help in some way ❤️
I sent a reply, saying I hope to see you at 8:00. But while cleaning up supper dishes, I realize that this episode was made two years ago so I’d be a little late on seeing you at 8 o’clock.🙃 when I was younger, my older brother would always tell me that I was dumber than a box rocks. I think I agree.
Very interesting! I never seen one. I lived in the city all my life, occasionally I went to the country but not enough to learn things. Thank you for sharing! God bless!
Glad you enjoyed. Thank you and God bless you as well
@@metcalfmills5679 thaank you so much!
Thank you need to build one. Times are going to get tough.
Thank you
That would be perfect for hang curing my garlic and onions!
It surely would Victoria.
A lot of farms when I was a kid (50 years ago) had corn cribs. In most cases they were just pole barn/sheds with a concrete or gravel floor and sides covered in wood snow fencing. Many times the farmer would put a piece of tin roofing around the bottom to keep rain water from splashing back into it. If they had thought of it they had an enclosed shed on one end or side so they could shell and grind it. Otherwise they took it to the main barn or granary to do that. You still see them on some farms, but very few have been used since farmers went away from pickers and to combines and bins for drying and storing. In fact very few farmers in my area raise grain for feeding their livestock any more. They sell what they raise, often on futures market, and then buy feed and grain for feeding their animals. Sort of caught at the fluctuating prices when they buy and sell. Not the wisest position in my opinion
I agree, thank you for sharing
I grew up in Missouri and would see these structures (sorry, city-boy from St. Louis) throughout the state in my times of local discovery, and never knew what they were. Since you've started your Mill kick-starter and bringing in many of the homesteaders I follow, my awareness and (late) education of these basic and essential infrastructures has blossomed. Thank you for sharing and wish you the very best.
Thank you for sharing! I’m glad you enjoy
Corn was Life, Bro.
Still is.
Still..
Very interesting walk through, history lesson and functionality explanation, not to mention the narration and camera work. Ya done good son, ya done good. Keep up the good work. ;o)
Thanks Steve. So glad that you enjoyed!
That's a fancy corn crib with a place to park the tractor and wagon to keep it outta the weather. I need to go check on mine. It's attached to the small milkin' barn. I know it probably needs some work. Ain't done anything to it in years. Be a shame to lose it.
I agree HaH! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for showing us this awesome corn crib. These videos are priceless. It helps us get ideas for projects at our own places.
That makes my day! Thank you so much!
Good video Justro!
Thanks Skip, glad that you enjoyed!
I’m gonna try and make it tonight! I believe that’s 7 o’clock central
Love history. My grandmother’s corn crib was in her barn but this is great history. Will watch replay of your live tonight as will probably not be home from worship to watch live. If you’re on eastern time, might catch it though. Look forward to watching it.
Thank you for sharing. We could not get live to work. We will try again soon.
The ones I remembered growing up in WV were in the shape of a V. It was explained to me that the reason they were built that way was to keep the rain off the sides.
That hardware cloth wouldn't keep the rats out down here in FL. We've got roof rats down here that chew through metal. Metal roofing, metal siding, Nothing will stop them.
Thank you for sharing.
I have heard about them and I am glad we don’t have them here!
I ran across one of those one time hunting I didn’t know it was a corn crib it had a bunch of old growth lumber sitting up in the loft haha I believe I thought it was hog stalls but that’s because there was old pens built around the outside of it
Thank you for sharing this with us Trevor.
Saw you on Deep South Homestead. New subscriber
Thank you! Danny & Mrs Wanda are the best
You should do a short video to demo corn shucking since lots of people won't know what it is.
Thank you, I did one but not detailed. I will try to do that, thank you!
Lookin’ forward to seeing you tonight. Central time?
Thank you, it will be eastern.
Love corn cribs! I came for the live stream, guess Y’all are having technical difficulties… catch ya later.
Apologies SL. We could not get it to work. We will try again soon.
You have some the most interesting videos. I love history especially the history of how our ancestors lived and worked. I am planting extra corn this year for making grits and flour and to help feed the chickens. It's more work, which I don't mind, but I am looking forward to this next step in being less dependant on the grocery store. I am not ready for a large corn crib but after seeing this I think I can build a smaller one( with one of my son's helping). I always learn something useful when I watch your channel. Thank you so much for sharing.
That’s great Jill! Where are y’all located?
And yes you can!
@@metcalfmills5679 Toccoa Ga
That’s great! I love Rabun County, I would think Stephens is great too. And Foxfire helped make me❤️
@@metcalfmills5679 I have read some of the Foxfire books when I was younger, they are hard to find now. About 8 or 9 years back I went to a FoxFire exhibit in Rabun County and it was very interesting. My youngest son and I would love to live there and we drive up to Clayton often. I've lived up around Boone, NC when I worked for Samaritan's Purse for a while and spent a couple of years in WV but I think North East Ga mountains are some off the most beautiful I have ever seen.
My grandfather had/has one of these on his place. Did you forget to say the corn was partially dry when they put it in there? Or did your people pick husk and crib it wet? We did it mostly dried corn from the stalk to the crib!
It was harvested around Thanksgiving here, after it had dried in the field for a while. Thank you!
I found this incredibly informative. Now I'm wondering how the Native American folk dried their corn for food. They didn't have livestock so they didn't need nearly as much. But, you best believe that some of their settlements rivaled that of the Egyptians during the same era. Any idea or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
I have never thought about that. You can braid corn shucks and hang it up. They may have done that..
Son...when you were 15 out there building that corn crib...I was proud of you...but I'm your pappy
Ha ha! Thank you so much
@@metcalfmills5679 Your welcome son...I'm sorry I had to walk out on you and momma
I’ll be there, maybe have to go put the chickens in around 8:30 your time but it only takes me about 5 mins.
Thanks RR
Hi Justin, could you detail how mush, grit and corn bread is made - maybe that a video 🙂. And what's are the differences between yellow and white corn. I'll check locally but all I seen grown is yellow corn.
I will do that Audrey. Thanks for the great question! If you need to know before hand just let me know.
Hey buddy just drove don't worry about it you'll get her next weekend hopefully I can figure out how to get in touch with you to work on my mail this is Old mountain Man Jimmy
Hey Jimmy! Can you email?
@@metcalfmills5679 I will try to get someone to do it for me
im glad i found your channel. what part of western nc are you in? im in franklin, use to live in bryson city. i remember log corn cribs but this seems like a good design
Madison Co
oh, okay
lots of history there! i have an pld book of photographs, the face of appalachaia by barnwell, and many stories and photos are from madison county.
i have a lot of videos to catch up on!
I've seen these and never knew what they are. How did the people keep weevils out of the corn?
The couldn’t in warm weather . Thank you!
Where is the live stream Justin?
Could not get it to work. Our apologies. Will try again soon.
I hope I will see you at 8:00
Any problems over there with bears robbing the corn crib? If so how do you armor against that?
Nope only if it is left out. They shouldn’t tear into a crib…hopefully 😬
I'll try my best to show up but i have to feed the animals and i usually finish around 8:30
Hope you can make it!!
So did they shuck the corn before putting it up in the corn crib?
Yes
Do you sell any seed ? I will buy some if you can send info?
I sell the Hickory King Corn, Jimmy Red Corn
I'm guessing they had to grow twice what they actually needed, because of what the rats and mice would eat, out of the crib!!
Guess I should have watched the entire video, before I commented lol
Yep, ha ha!
My grandfather would put black snakes in the corn crib. Whenever he would see one, he'd catch it and haul it out to the corn crib. Nature's rodent trap.
@@horticultureandhomes lol What an innovative solution!!
Thank you for sharing this with us!
💖
Thanks a bunch!!
where I come from
Thank you
But corn won't grow at all on Rocky Top.
Dirt's too rocky by far.
That's why all the folks on Rocky Top,
get their corn from a jar.
That’s right Toby!