Now we take the time and space to slow down, connect with nature, enjoy our neighbors, and embrace the peace and happiness of our small-town living. Before we had the stress of our jobs and living in urban communities. Heather said, "Living here has changed us both. I've found several projects I've enjoyed working on in the Chatt Hills country side, including the Three Silos Farm. Heather changed careers and after receiving her yoga certifications, opened her Serenbe Yoga + Bodyworks studio. Keith said, "Since living here, we've become 'encapsulated' in the community. This community seemed to have all that we loved about the country as kids, with the amenities we've come to love as adults." After living our adult lives in urban neighborhoods, we didn't realize how much we missed our small-town roots until we started coming to Serenbe. Heather said, "We both grew up in small towns - he was from two hours north, I was from three hours south. One of the homes in Serenbe they had long admired came on the market and they purchased it, making Serenbe and Chatt Hills home. In 2017, fate brought the couple to Serenbe for good. Over time they met and befriended many of the neighbors and soon Heather felt more at home there then in their in-town neighborhood. They enjoyed the nature trails and the wellness offerings, as well as the shops, restaurants, and galleries similar to those amenities in Virginia Highlands. When the top unit was not rented, the couple visited Serenbe and sampled a taste of what it might be like to live there. When Heather came home from work that weekend and he told her about the property, she joked, "Some people buy a new book my husband buys a new property."Īs it turned out, the new property was a blessing in disguise. After visiting the property, he made an offer and closed the deal. In 2015, he saw a post for a mixed-use property for sale in the Serenbe Hamlet 30 miles south of their home. While Heather continued her career working for Delta Airlines, Keith looked for his next project to feed his self-proclaimed type-A personality. With their kids grown and in college they moved to Virginia Highlands, an in-town neighborhood in Atlanta known for its walkability and many amenities. Grey Bruce photos by author, silo interior and Glen Huron photos by Jim Campbell.Heather & Keith Ruth looked forward to the next chapter in their lives when Keith retired from his public accounting career in 2013. Note the different construction in the bottom third.Īrthur, Eric Witney, Dudley. Steel-banded precast concrete silo, Grey Bruce.Silage may be unloaded from the bottom with a power operated unloader and must be removed at a certain rate per day to prevent spoilage.Ĭoncrete silos are very difficult to remove so they often stand as memorials to vanished farms. Having an enclosed bottom prevents air from entering. The base is typically sealed with organic matter such as dirt or soil but may also be closed with canvas, paper or plastic. Silos contain a closed top and well as a sealed bottom. In addition to steel and clay tiles (porcelain), some silos are made from masonry and wooden components. This was in 1885 so I suggest that the statistics could be quite different today. In an article dated 1885 by Professor Wrighton in the Journal of the Royal Agriculture Society he writes that in an ordinary farm of 100 acres, a silo 18 feet wide and 18 feet high would hold about 100 tons of corn silage and that 1 acre is capable of producing 12 tons. Steel-banded modular precast concrete silo near Glen Huron Ontario. The first vertical silo in the Americas was built in 1873 by Fred Hatch in McHenry County: Illinois.Īs we moved into the early 20 th century, they were often built with clay tiles or concrete reinforced with steel rods. The first tower silos were built with vertical wooden tongue and groove staves wrapped in iron hops or wooden cribs. Green fodder (silage) became part of the Ontario Agriculture scene about 1880. The farm where I spent many a long summer had a drive shed and hen house but no silo.Īn old definition: “a pit or tight structure in which green crops are pressed and kept for fodder undergoing fermentation”. Silos, piggeries, carriage houses, drive sheds, hen houses, smoke houses and the corn crib. The barn being the masterpiece, other adjuncts made up the farm. What are these creatures and why are they still here long after the barn and, alas, the house has disappeared? When I travel on the back roads of Grey Bruce, I often see these seemingly abandoned silos. I am not a writer, but have a deep concern and interest in the preservation of barns and outbuildings.
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