The other day Ivan asked me if I knew why barns were, generally, painted red.
Of course, I had to say that I didn’t, because who knows stuff like that? Certainly not I.
Do you?
Ivan told me the farmers painted their barns with the blood of livestock from their farm. Ok. Right! Uh huh. Sure.
Turns out, he is right. As usual.
I Googled it, and came up with a couple of different answers.
In turns out that wealthy farmers painted their barns with red paint mixed with linseed oil, and the blood of a recently slaughtered animal, which changed the color from bright red to a darker, burnt red.
Initially, however, barns were painted with a protective varnish, usually containing linseed oil, lime, or iron oxide, which, when drying in the sun, changed the color to the red ochre seen today.
Continuing on this theme, barns painted black, usually only in the Southern states, retain heat, and usually contain tobacco. The heat helps the tobacco dry faster, causing less waste from mold, and mildew growth. Nowadays, however, farmers growing tobacco use fans, and other means to keep their tobacco dry.
Now that you know all of that, please, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves. It ain’t over yet.