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!