Six Fall & Halloween Builds from Old Farm Plans

Short version: six of our restored plans turn into something good for October with no structural changes. The salt box becomes a self-serve trick-or-treat station, the range shelter a roadside pumpkin stand, the slatted bin a set of porch crates, the cattle bunk an apple-bobbing trough, the dog house a haunted house for the front lawn, and the greenhouse-coldframe a fall greens frame that keeps salad coming past the first frost. Each one is still a working farm build in November.

The fall porch has moved away from plastic and inflatables. This year's front steps are all about natural materials and things that look made: weathered crates, heirloom pumpkins in cream and sage, dried wheat, corn stalks and hay bales. Two Halloween ideas have also grown up. One is the self-serve candy station, so the household can sit on the porch, or go out, while the treats hand themselves out. The other is the harvest party with old-fashioned games in place of a haunted maze. Every build below comes from a plan we already restored, and every photo shows that plan's structure as drawn.

1. The Trick-or-Treat Station: from the Livestock Salt Box

The Livestock Salt Box is a roofed, open-front box, 36 in wide, 18 in deep and 36 in tall (91 × 46 × 91 cm), on four 6×6 posts. That is a candy station already. Its little gable roof keeps a drizzle off the wrappers. The 1×6 lip along the front stops the candy from spilling out, and the plan's three 12 in (30 cm) bays give you three kinds of candy with no extra work.

• Height: the plan puts the box bottom 18 in (46 cm) above the ground, which is right for small children. For a station that has to stand on a patio or path, build the posts on two 2×6 cross feet in place of the buried posts.
• Light it: a battery lantern hung under the roof ridge, and jack-o'-lanterns around the posts.
• After Halloween: plant the posts by a window and it is the plan's bird-feeder station for the rest of the year.

2. The Pumpkin Farm Stand: from the Summer Range Poultry Shelter

The Summer Range Poultry Shelter is a 10 × 10 ft (3 × 3 m) steep A-frame on skids, with a ridge about 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) high. Leave off the netting and it is a roadside stand with a roof over the produce. The eaves are low, 2 ft 10 in (86 cm), so it is a stand you browse from the outside, like a market tent. Because it sits on skids, you can drag it to the end of the lane for pumpkin season and back to the pasture in spring.

• Shelves: one 2×10 plank along each side, on cleats between the posts at about 20 in (50 cm). Keep the heavy pumpkins on the ground in straw.
• Porch size: want it on the porch instead? The Haunted Pumpkin Stand is our 4 ft Halloween mini of this shelter, with a fanged gable and a bat under the ridge.
• Dress it: corn stalks tied to the front posts, bushel baskets and a plain wooden cash box. Self-serve stands work on trust, so keep the box small and empty it often.
• Check first: some counties and townships need a permit for a roadside stand, or limit how close to the road it can sit.

3. Pumpkin Porch Crates: from the Slatted Wooden Pallet Bin

Stacked crates at different heights are the most-copied fall porch idea of the year, and the Slatted Wooden Pallet Bin is the original slatted crate. Full size, it is a field bin, 47 × 40 in and 36 ⅝ in tall (119 × 102 × 93 cm), built with thin vertical slats on rails over a skid base. For the steps, use the same slat spacing and rail layout at a smaller size.

• Porch size: our Graveyard Crates mini plan builds the big crate 25 ½ × 18 in and 17 ¼ in tall (65 × 46 × 44 cm), plus a medium and a small one for the steps above it.
• Fill them up: put an upturned bucket or a block inside, so you need only a top layer of pumpkins, not a whole crate of them.
• Palette: cream, sage and white heirloom pumpkins, rust mums and dried wheat look better than one bright orange.
• A ready-made porch plan: The Graveyard Crates is this bin as a Halloween mini, in three sizes, with slats that end in points like an old cemetery railing.
• Build one at full size too: it is the bin the pumpkins come home from the patch in.

4. The Apple-Bobbing Trough: from the Cattle Grain Bunk

The Cattle Grain Bunk is a 12 ft (3.7 m) plank trough on braced 4×4 legs, 2 ft 6 in (76 cm) high, with feed access from both sides. That is the right height for children to lean over without kneeling in wet grass, and long enough for six or eight to play at once.

• Waterproof it: lay one sheet of new, clean pond liner or heavy polyethylene into the trough. Fold the corners, don't cut them, and staple it only along the top edge, above the waterline.
• Fill: the trough is about 5¾ in (15 cm) deep inside. Fill it 4 in (10 cm) deep: the apples float and nobody's head goes under.
• Keep it clean: use fresh water for each group, and give everyone their own apple afterwards. Apples on strings hung from a rail are the dry version.
• After the party: line it with landscape fabric, fill it with potting mix, and it is the raised salad table from the plan's remix page.
• Short on space? The Graveside Bobbing Trough is a 6 ft Halloween mini of this bunk, with a tombstone at each end.

5. The Haunted House: from Dog Houses, Three Designs

Paint the gable dog house from Dog Houses, Three Designs matte black and it becomes a tiny haunted house for the front lawn. Type A is 4 ft × 3 ft 1 in (122 × 94 cm) with 19 in walls and a 29 in peak. Its peaked doorway, 9 ½ in wide and 14 in tall (24 × 36 cm), is just the right size for a small jack-o'-lantern to glow out of.

• Paint: exterior latex in a flat charcoal, rubbed back on the edges with sandpaper so it looks old.
• Light: use a battery candle or an LED in the pumpkin. The National Fire Protection Association recommends flameless candles in jack-o'-lanterns, and this one sits inside a wooden box.
• Afterwards: it is a dog house, or an insulated winter den for outdoor cats. Repaint it, or keep it black for next October.

6. The Fall Greens Cold Frame: from the Greenhouse-Coldframe

This is the fall build that pays you back. The Greenhouse-Coldframe is a set of film-covered wooden panels. Laid low over a bed, they make a cold frame. Stacked, they make a walk-in greenhouse with a 7 ft 8 in × 5 ft 3 in (234 × 160 cm) footprint. Sow cold-hardy greens in late summer and cover them in October, and they keep growing well past the first frosts. Many will hold through winter for cutting.

• What to grow: spinach, kale, lettuce, chard, mâche and Asian greens. Sow them about six to eight weeks before your usual first frost, so they are well grown before the days get short.
• Vent it: on a sunny day, even a cold one, a closed frame overheats in an hour. Prop the roof vent in the morning and close it mid-afternoon to keep the warmth in for the night.
• Hard frost: throw an old blanket over the glazing on the coldest nights, and take it off in the morning.

Which to build first

Short on time before the 31st? The porch crates and the trough are one-day builds. The cold frame should go in first if you garden: every week it is up in October is another week of salad in December.

Frequently asked

Do I need to change the plans?

No. Each build is the plan as drawn, plus things you set on it or in it: shelves, a liner, paint. The porch crates are the one exception, which we suggest building smaller than the field bin.

Is a self-serve candy station safe to leave out?

Put it where you can see it from a window, fill it with wrapped candy only, and bring it in at the end of the evening. A roof over the box keeps damp off the wrappers.

Can I still use the builds for their original jobs?

That's the point. In November the stand goes back to being a shelter, the trough to a feed bunk or salad table, and the salt box to a bird feeder.

Photographs are illustrations of the builds made from our restored plans; dimensions are from the original USDA drawings.