John and Cindy Barnhart bought an abandoned 7-acre farm southeast of Oregon and began growing vegetables on it. Open for business four years now and certified organic, Barnhart’s Stone Corner Farm Market is certainly about the land and the food, but it’s also about stewardship of a singular piece of local history.
Photography by Janet Fawcett. 
The farmhouse is original, built in the mid-1800s and owned by Civil War vet Virgil Reed, who started the rock collection and chiseled names, dates and places of pioneers and Civil War vets on some of them. (See old photos of the farm here.) A later owner got rid of the stones, but John has worked to bring them back. Rocks of many sizes and shapes form a wall and sculpture garden. They hang as ornaments from the trees that surround the house. Below: “Hen on Nest” and other finds.
Rocks aren’t the only collection on the farm.
To the right is one of the hen houses, new with classical music piped in at low volume. The hens sing along softly to the music. Stone Corner eggs are great, btw. The critters below are happy campers, too…
…and so are we.
Barnhart’s is open 4-7 weekdays, 8-6 Saturdays and Sunday 1-5, but not year round. They’ll close for the season sometime in October. Contact info is here.
Additional photos:
Larger version of the stone wall & house
