Sun and silo
We haven’t had much sun lately, but it came out for the top half of the day today. What a difference sunshine makes, if you have any choice at all, you certainly can’t stay indoors (especially in front of a computer!). In my slow and steady exploration of all the many parts of the barn not used in tiny farming, I snapped a shot of the silo at the south end, looking quite imposing in the bright light, kinda industrial, and still in good shape. This is an old concrete silo, about 40′ (12m) high, used mainly for silage (partially fermented crops used for livestock feed). It was last filled around 15 years ago, when this was a full-fledged dairy operation. Field corn was chopped up and blown up the tube on the left. Packed in, the corn would start to ferment, which helps preserve it for winter feed. Cows apparently love silage! At times, the silo was also used to store dried corn (the kernels) for feed. Hmmm, wonder how to reuse a silo…
Somewhat related posts: • Chickenhouse inspection • Corn • Chickens arrive! • View from the other end • Barnyard at night
Melinda said,
January 17, 2008 @ 1:22 pm
Mike, I have been avidly following your blog for some months now, and just wanted to let you know how much I enjoy it! I love the little nuggets about the farm that you share every day. Someday when I have a little more time I will visit your forum, as it is a wonderful idea. But for now, just wanted to say thank you for the inspiration!
Katie said,
January 17, 2008 @ 7:35 pm
Way to go on the reuse idea! Haha.
Great picture with the contrasts…
Katie at GardenPunks
Mike (tfb) said,
January 18, 2008 @ 10:20 am
Melinda: Thanks! Your blog looks like it has lots of good reading. So far, I read your fleeing from the city intro and spent some time looking at the pictures. What am I going to do about blog reading when things get busy?
Rick said,
January 18, 2008 @ 12:31 pm
Mike,
I have been following your blog for a while now and finnaly feel like I have something to add.
One of the more interesting uses for old farm silos I have come across is as observatories for amateur astronomers.
http://ottawa.rasc.ca/articles/meier_rolf/rmeier_obs/observatory.html
Also have seen them converted into living space. Some folks recomend them as hot tub enclosures.
What have you done with your silo?
And i just had to include this link as it has some awesome new silo uses,
http://www.lancasterdomes.com/photos.htm
Hope you can use some of these suggestions and don’t forget to keep taking pictures.
Rick
Jason Kramer said,
January 19, 2008 @ 2:48 pm
I don’t know what you can do with an old silo like that but it sure does look good on your farm. Really adds character especially knowing it has been there for some time. Looking forward to see your garden coming into bloom.
Kramer
Mike (tfb) said,
January 20, 2008 @ 11:23 am
Rick: Thanks! All of those links were great. There’s so much you can do on a farm, especially an “old-style” family farm with barn and outbuildings. As you usual, it’s a case of so much to do, so little time… My next step on the silo is to see what it’s like inside… (BTW, I turned one your URLs into a link—”What have you done with your silo?”—’cause it was so long as an URL it was sticking out… I don’t usually touch people’s comments, hope you don’t mind!)
Jason Kramer: I checked out your blog. It’s really good, I was reading for half an hour! I really enjoy the detailed description of what’s going on. Even as I’m learning about small-scale veggie growing, the livestock side is on my mind. I particularly like the idea of rotating grazing sections for the cattle. It looks like you just started your blog, hope you keep up the detail through the year!! (BTW, on the whole, I’m pretty sure people in Canada like bacon, and pork chops, too! :)