Atlas E Missile Site

Last night for Enrichment night we visited Atlas E Missile Site. Don and Charlene Zwonitzer are members of our ward here in Sidney. They moved to Kimball about 13 years ago. Their home is VERY unique: an abandoned missile silo! The couple has spent the past 13 years making the site a self-sufficient haven. Their goal is to be completely self-sufficient. They have definitely reached that goal and more. Char estimates they can harbor all their family plus 20 people for a year inside the silo. Don is an electrical engineer so he has the whole place rigged with property alarms, solar panels, batteries, wind power, and generator power. The blast bay is converted into a steep greenhouse of 10 shelves. Char makes all her own fertilizer with a worm farm and compost. Her tomatoes are huge. She is enjoying a large crop of garlic this year too. There are two places where they could even have their own trout pool!

The silo has two sides, one for "working" and storing and the other is the living side. Pretty much they had to follow the plans for when the silo was operating like kitchen, bathroom, etc because the entire complex is concrete and renovating is very difficult. Both Don and Char have their ham radio licenses and an impressive set up. Their place is heated by a corn stove using dent corn, it costs them only $55 per year to heat the place. I think Char said they have about 5,000 lbs of wheat alone! I could go on and on about all the cool gadgets inside their home...

They give tours around the year. I found some pictures of the site on the internet. Wonder of wonders I forgot my camera and purse this trip. Too tired to think straight!!!

Check here: http://missilesitehome.com/MissileSiteHome.html