If you have ever traveled through the upper midwest (and it is probably true in many other rural parts of the country), then you've probably seen old grain bins scattered across the countryside, many of them relics left over from the days of the small family farm. As farms grow in acreage and size, so have the grain bins. This has left many of the smaller grain bins unused and unneeded.
So, could these old grain bins be re-purposed? We think so :)
As we work to revitalize our dilapidated old farmstead, we have formulated many different ideas. We keep feeding a myriad of dreams we have for this place. Some, we've axed before implementing. Others are on the back burner until we complete the house. Most, well, they just get adjusted a bit...
Take for example, our silo. One of our past ideas involved building a guest-house in our old silo. It's a perfectly solid and straight structure. It could be five 200sqft levels of un-square guest house awesomeness! As we've examined certain details of that endeavor, like how to add a proper door or egress windows, the task proved to hold more than we were ready to take on right now (currently, we are entertaining the idea of indoor climbing wall, although I am sure there are plenty of other ways to spin it!).
Enter, our future grain bins.. This Saturday, we begin dismantling three grain bins off-site, so that we can transport them to our farmstead. Image, 400 sqft (200 sqft/level times two levels) of inexpensive interior space, per bin. Tiny house meets the farm! Discrete, off-grid, low maintenance, self-sustaining structures. How about having a place available for someone to stay in hard times or times of transition in their life? Maybe it'd be nice to have a place for distance family, friends, or fellow Steamians, to stay when in the area.. Now imagine adding a couple of grain bins to an existing farmstead. Nothing out of the ordinary, right? Completely discrete and not out of place at all!
What would you do with a grain bin on your property? Have any out-of-the-box silo ideas?
-Jeremy
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