On the day that the barn was to arrive at the Youth Farm Bible Camp, I (Mark Wurtz) was talking to someone very knowledgeable about the barns and farm program of the Mennonite Youth Farm Complex. His name is Henry Goertzen. Henry has been working at the farm since the 1950s. He is in the shop daily making sure everything is put in place. In the summer he is often seen doing landscaping work and fixing the fence lines. He is a very important part of the complex, a link from the present to the past.
Henry was telling me that their were nine barns on the yard at one time. A dairy barn, horse barn, pig barn, two chicken barns, and a few large barns used as granaries and pump houses. After the chat we had, we received in our office a digitalized version of the documentary "God Giveth the Increase". This was filmed in 1956 &1957 on 16mm Film. I will have to share the story of how we found it and brought it "back to life". Editing needs to be done in our office before it can be viewed, however, I was able to take some still shots from the video. Here is one showing what the yard looked like in 1957.
In 1957, the farm provided milk for all of Rosthern. Here is some shots off the horse and wagon that were used to haul the milk to town. The video shows milk being delivered in the town of Rosthern.
Here are a few more stills captured from the video showcasing some of the buildings that use to be on the yard.
So you can imagine our thrill at having this video from the past arrive to the camp at the same time that the barn arrived. It was very exciting. We also have video of the barn moving down the highway and coming onto the site at the Youth Farm Bible Camp. We are hoping to have this video done for viewing at our upcoming fundraiser - this Saturday - 10:00am at the Camp Quonset.
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