Building Memories (BM) uses personal experiences and relates them to topics of importance to building.
This BM explores Amish life in Viroqua, Wisconsin.
For many years my son Danny and I used to have an annual tradition of taking a 2-to-3-day fly fishing-backpacking trip into the wilderness of Summit County, Colorado. In the summer of 2022, we re-invented the trip and went to the Driftless area of Wisconsin. We rented a VRBO just outside the town of Viroqua, which had a great food scene, supported by dozens if not hundreds of organic, sustainable farmers and ranchers (both small and medium size) that surrounded the town. The town had also become an incredibly diverse town, with citizens of all stripes. From old farmers and ranchers to young new age, organic farmers and ranchers. Visiting fly fishermen like us, transplanted techies who came in at the beginning of Covid, weekend vacationing families with 2nd homes coming up from Chicago, Madison and Milwaukee to a healthy community of Amish.
Near the VRBO we rented we passed a working Amish crew raising a shed or barn. I believe the purpose of the structure was to house equipment for the farm and be both a workshop & light manufacturing area for anything the enterprise needed for its operations.
The foundations walls appeared to be concrete masonry units, raised to a main floor level approximately 4’-0” above grade. The building was located near the road (for access), Based on the topography of the area, the site was relatively low compared to the surrounding area. I suspected they raised the floor to ensure flood waters would not be able to trespass into the building.
They used a combination of power and hand tools and a simple wood framing system which included pre-manufactured trusses. In the short visit with the construction crew, it appeared that much of the material was re-purposed, with only a limited amount of the lumber being purchased new for this project. Silver metal shed roofs and red aluminum siding provided the exterior envelope and a simple but pleasing aesthetic.
I suspect all the labor was free, and families simply traded their labor back and forth as each family-initiated projects that required more labor than they could individually provide. I am sure the structure is finished by now and I suspect based on the free labor and re-purposed materials, I suspect they delivered a working facility of ~ 5000SF for under $30,000. If they get 20 years of production out to the facility before it begins to fail and requires updates, renovations and repairs, it will have proved to be an excellent investment.
On another note, approximately ½ mile down the road, we purchased bread and cookies from a family’s roadside food stand. Both were outstanding and made me wish we had a few of these family run, food to table, food stands within ½ mile of my house.