Our old milkhouse stands close to the road in a state of decay. Of course current zoning rules make it impossible for anyone to build a structure a mere six feet from the edge of our road like this shed. But this was erected a long, long time ago. Back when it was built farmers would carry their milk cans from the barn up to a milkhouse, usually built with a well or spring-fed water circulation to keep the milk cool. The farmer or a neighborhood delivery wagon driver would collect the cans and bring them to the local creamery. The road was a dirt road (actually, our road remained a dirt road long after the era of milk cans and wagons had past), so things like maintaining clear highway shoulders didn’t matter much.
![](https://b2717065.smushcdn.com/2717065/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/milkhouse-road-side.jpg?lossy=2&strip=1&webp=1?w=1200)
The shed is decaying back into the ground, the roof rotting and the sills decomposing. In one way of looking at it, the shed is just an obsolete, zoning non-compliant eyesore. From another vantage, it’s a gracefully decaying antique, all the more precious because we know it has degraded to the point where it can’t remain standing much longer, so we appreciate it for its ephemerality.
![](https://b2717065.smushcdn.com/2717065/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/milkhouse-windows.jpg?lossy=2&strip=1&webp=1?w=640)
1 thought on “Optimally Dilapidated”
Thanks for sharing that poem, Dave.
Beautiful words of wisdom in a crazy time. I deeply appreciate what you said and what you are doing! We are going to get a few chickens of our own this spring. ?