root cellar?

[mroe21877]

my small garden which consisted of several raised beds produced a surprising amount of veggies last year. surprising probably because it was my first time with a garden after leaving Jersey. This year we are putting in about a 100x50 garden with a wide variety of greens, root veg, corn etc.

The tentative goal is to produce enough to avoid buying most of it. I am still hung up on storage of the crops though. anyone have a root cellar or use a different method?

 

[Mace Canute]

Back when I was on the farm, we started to store the root vegetables (mostly carrots and potatoes, the odd time parsnips, beets were always canned) in a cistern in the barn. We had installed a pressure system and so didn't need the cistern for water storage, in fact that's where the pressure system went. The temperature was quite cool, 42 degrees at the most IIRC and very high humidity; there was about 4 inches of water on the floor at all times because the drainback for the hydrant above was into the cistern. We never had such good luck with the veggies keeping. They stayed solid as the day they came out of the ground for months. The potatoes tended to get a little on the sweet side come the following summer, apparently some of the starch was converting to sugar.

 

[twall]

When I was a kid, we always had a garden. We always had more veggies than we could ever eat, too.

My mom would blanch them (just bring the veggies to a boil, then drain), and freeze them. Much better than canning. Gives the "fresh veggie" taste, even in the coldest winter months. We always used an upright freezer (mom said a chest freezer "froze them too hard" [would give a freezer-burned taste]).

We'd store potatos, winter squash, and yams in the root cellar.....with dad's aging (homemade) wine........

Maybe that's why it's called a 'root' cellar? To store 'roots'? Dunno really how it got it's name.....just a thought.

 

[mroe21877]

I think the sturdier stuff could be vac sealed. the blanching idea is a good one. Ill find out come fall. The area my house is in was all corn fields years ago. Since then the area i am going to use was never touched. Its just grass and clover now and tons of worms. SHould be good soil.

 

[Egon]

Maybe that's why it's called a 'root' cellar? To store 'roots'? Dunno really how it got it's name.....just a thought.

Root vegetables usually store well in a proper Root Cellar.

Potatoes may make it through the year till the new ones are ready.

Cabbage stores best as sauerkraut.

Peas, beans, corn, beets and similar vegetables are easiest frozen.

Cucumbers keep well as Dill Pickles.

Ahh, why babble on when the information lies at one's fingertips on the internet.

 

[Gods Country]

A pressure canner can be your best friend.

 

[czechsonofagun]

There are quite few DIY for root cellars on youtube and the internet.
I was thinking about one myself, since I need place to store my wine

But I didn't get past wondering what kind of building permit would beloved Fauquier ask for in the case of root cellar.

 

[3nickles]

the woman that owned this farm had to buy her potaoes for the first time in 80 + years when she sold to us.She used to select the biggest and best for next years seed potatoes and the ones we harvested the first year were so big that one potato was sufficient for a meal.Sadly I lost that strain the year the barn blew down cause I didn't plant a garden that year.

 

[RobertBrown]

I know absolutely nothing of root cellars. In the summer I hit water at 3' below grade or less. The digging is easy, no rocks, mostly sand and organic matter. Underground structures can and would solve a lot of problems we have here with the temperature in the summer but it's not feasible.
I would think it would depend on where you live and the type of soil you have, frost line and drainage.
These variables may preclude you from such a consideration. At the very least they will greatly influence the cost of same.

 

[mmurphy]

Some things work better dehydrating. I love to dehydrate my sweet onions, peppers, and still learning on the tomatoes. I do think the tomatoes would be much better canned or froze. I am still learning with dehydrater, just have to quit eating the bounty while putting it away!

 

[Duffster]

A pressure canner can be your best friend.

Ditto.

 

[forgeblast]

Amazon has a few good books out there on root cellars but most of the info in the books can be found on line.

 

[dmccarty]

I searched last week about root cellars and found a quite a bit of information on the web. We want a cellar for food storage, storm cellar and a place to make cider and beer.

Later,
Dan

 

[adjusterr]

I couldn't dig a root cellar, or cave, as the water table is very high in my area, lots of springs and artesian wells, I solved the problem by digging into the side of the mountain on which I live. I put up poured concrete walls and top slab and piled dirt on both sides. The front is exposed to date but is protected from the sun by a polebarn roof. The top slab is still uncovered as I'm considering a smoke house on top of the "cave" So far I have only kept apples and potatos but they kept very well. The floor is about 10" of rough gravel. Also, don't give up on dehydration, this past year we dryed a lot of apples, tomatoes, okra and beans and have really enjoyed them. With a good dehydrator, we slice the items thin, place them on the six shelves set the heat and forget about for a few days. When the items are dry, put them in a ziplock and your set for the Winter. My Lady puts the tomatoes directly into soups, stews etc or places the item in a small amount of water to re-hydrate them. Best apple pies ever.Good luck.

 

[forgeblast]

Adjuster can you post a pic of what it looks like.
Where i would like to build mine it would be in the side of a sloped hill. I will have to dig it out and then build it up.
how big is your cellar too.
thanks

 

[DAY]

"Root Cellar" crops can also be left in the ground over the winter. Give them a good covering of 'mulch'- compost/ straw, etc, to keep the frost away. Here in eastern PA we are digging red beets right now, and they are mighty tasty. Carrots ditto. Potatoes should be dug, and stored in a cool place.
I've seen folks that have buried 55 gal barrels, with an insulated lid, as a root 'cellar'. Some crops shouldn't be stored with others; do the Google thing to learn more.

 

[dmccarty]

During my root cellar search I saw where people had used an old fridge kinda buried into the side of a hill as well as someone who just dug out the side of the hill for the cellar.

When I looked at this a year or so ago I found "fancier" examples were people had buried an old bus.

Some of the root cellars on the web worry me regarding their structural safety.

Other options besides "root cellar" are storm shelters. Some septic tank companies make a storm shelter that is nothing more than a larger septic tank with more human friendly access door.

The idea I have is to dig a wide trench, something like 24 feet wide and 30-40 feet long in an area where we have a slight slope. Then build a 12'x24' PT structure in the trench and back fill with a gravel on the floor and sides for drainage followed by the spoil dirt from the trench.

One of the problems with this idea is that we would like a green house. Logically it follows to build the green house on top of the cellar. Design creep has shown its ugly head. Then there that money thing. Permits. Time.

Here is a manual for permanent wood foundations. There is more info on the web including building workshops.

http://www.wwpinstitute.org/documents/PWFmanual001-400.pdf

Later,
Dan

 

[Chuck52]

Drying is good for lots of stuff. Dried tomatoes are great. Drying concentrates the flavor. Lots of "gourmet" uses for them. Plus, if you dry them correctly, you can just stick them in a bag and store at room temperature. I plan to dry a lot more tomatoes this year than I have in the past because we really like them. We also dry apples.

Chuck

 

[mroe21877]

some really good ideas here. maybe ill try to bury something and use that or overwinter some. I think my biggest dilemma is hte humidity issue which i suppose is why root cellars work so well.

 

[dmccarty]

some really good ideas here. maybe ill try to bury something and use that or overwinter some. I think my biggest dilemma is hte humidity issue which i suppose is why root cellars work so well.

If your problem is getting humidity, you can use gravel for the cellar floor and throw water on the gravel. The water should flow down into the gravel but still provide humidity to the cellar.

Later,
Dan