The Iowa Barn Foundation’s Spring Barn Tour is June 22-23 in Dubuque and Clayton counties. Here’s a story I wrote about it – and the annual fall tour – for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Click here.

Midwest Traveler: Iowa barn tours tell the story of the state

So many barns, so little time: Two annual Iowa events inspire dreaming of country life.

By Betsy Rubiner Special to the Star Tribune

MAY 16, 2019 — 5:47PM

PHOTOS BY BETSY RUBINER • SPECIAL TO THE STAR TRIBUNE

Red barn or white barn? Wood barn or stone barn? My husband and I have long debated these hypothetical questions on meandering drives through rural Iowa, admiring tidy farmsteads and dreaming — only dreaming — of a life in the country.

But I found myself debating between a standard rectangular barn, a rare round barn or an even rarer square barn after visiting well-tended examples of each during Iowa’s annual All-State Barn Tour, a free, self-guided event featuring 85 restored barns dating from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s.