Hot Hints For Storing Your Stuff

Image Gallery A refurbished pole barn looks nice enough to call home. Photograph by Oscar H. Will III

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“It’s not big enough!” was the first thing my dad said when I told him I was building a new equipment shed.

“But you don’t even know what size it is,” I protested.

“Doesn’t matter. It’s not big enough!”

Dad was right. No matter what we’ve bought or built for storage on our little farm in southeastern Pennsylvania over the past 22 years, it’s never quite big enough. That happens sooner, rather than later, since there is an endless and ever-growing list of stuff to get under cover and protect from the elements. Storage is an age-old problem down on the farm.

“It will not always be summer: Build barns,” Hesiod, the ancient Greek poet, admonished in his Works and Days nearly 3,000 years ago.

Not just any old barn buildings will do, though. To the ancient Romans about 160 B.C., Marcus Cato the Censor said: “Build in such a way that the farm buildings will not find fault with the farm nor the farm with the buildings.”

More recently, Gene “The Contrary Farmer” Logsdon offered this sage advice while out standing in our empty fields just after we bought our acreage: “Before you build anything, consider considerably.”

In other words:

• STOP.
• LOOK.
• And THINK about it.

Then think again, long and hard. Figure out exactly what you want to do – and keep in mind anything else you might want to do – long before you sink that first shovel in the ground.

Do you want a place for tractors and other farm equipment, firewood, straw and hay, canoes, maybe a sailboat or an airplane? Are you going to keep livestock? Whether it’s chickens, sheep, horses, pigs or beef cattle, each breed requires something a little different (learn more about providing shelter for your animals in this month’s Country Vet department). How about antiques, both cars and furniture? Do you dream of having a root cellar or walk-in cooler? What about an “in-law apartment,” an art studio or office, a craft or sewing center, recording studio, a woodworking shop or a state-of-the-art machine shop for restoring old tractors and cars?

What you plan to store will help determine the design and location of your building, its size, the type and number of doors and windows, ventilation, need for water and electric, heating or cooling, and the building materials themselves.

“Whatever your particular situation and goals, plan the whole farm situation as objectively and as far into the future as possible. When designing facilities, allow as much versatility as possible for future changes,” advises the Northeast Regional Agricultural Engineering Service (NRAES). NRAES is a consortium of agricultural engineers from land grant universities in the Northeast. Midwest Plan Service (MWPS) is its counterpart in the Midwest. The two groups offer plans for all sorts of do-it-yourself projects, from simple hay feeders for sheep to modern swine nursery facilities. Titles include Wiring Handbook for Rural Facilities (MWPS No. 28, $20), and Pole and Post-Frame Building Handbook (NRAES No. 1, $14). (See Web Sites)

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