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Appelt barn at Martin continues to be used

tSubmitted Photo The barn on the Robert Appelt farm was built by a former owner around 1935.

MARTIN — This barn and farmstead is located northeast of Martin, North Dakota. My parents, Emanuel and Pearl Appelt, purchased this farm in 1947. They moved here with their four children.

This barn was built around 1935 by a former owner. My parents milked cows and sold their cream to a local creamery in Harvey, North Dakota. They also grain farmed.

Later in years, my wife and I moved back to the farm where we raised our six children. We bought the farm from my mother after my father passed away. We increased our dairy herd and purchased electric milk machines and milk tank. Our milk was picked up every two days.

In the summer, we put up our hay into stacks, and in the fall we hauled it and put it in the barn with hay straps, praying that the ropes did not break while pulling it up into the hayloft in the barn. Eventually we started making the small bales which we stored in the hayloft. Our children helped haul the bales and they also enjoyed playing in the loft making forts and swinging from the ropes.

One of our sons is taking over the farm now. We do not milk cows anymore but raise beef cattle and grain farm. We still use the barn, mainly in the spring when our cows are calving.

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