Silo Memories

When I was a child we had a grain silo on our farm. I remember we were Strictly forbidden Not to go near it. It wasn't until the movie "Witness" that I realized how horrifying it would have been to be caught in one!

But I did dearly love to sit and watch the combine pull up to the silo and listen to the auger begin to churn as it pulled the grain up out of the bin and slowly pour it into the top of the silo.

If the silo was empty would could see through the side window as it began to fill. It was like being a fraction of the size of the hourglass and watching the grains of sand fall from the top. It would form that perfect cone and then trickle down the side making the cone grow bigger and bigger, but always perfectly a cone.

If the silo was very full at all though, the window was closed and we only watched it pour into the top.

I remember sitting mesmerized watching the auger spin and pull the grain up. It defied gravity and get it really went nowhere. The auger spun but it didn't actually move upward, so how could the grain move upward? It's one of those funny things that you can know but never really get. It still blows my mind if I think about it much!

Anyway, it was fun beginning the silo in the painting and having some of those memories come out and have a space in the forefront for a while.