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I am hoping I can put other things than potatoes in them......because as a Type II, most types of potatoes aren't good for me.
We had one in Maine - after the tomato harvest (we had about 10 plants which did spectacularly) I put all the non-ripened tomatoes left at the end of the season down in the cellar, in paper bags. They ripened slowly and were almost as delicious as if picked ripe.
Feasibility of a root cellar depends a lot on where you live-- You need to keep the floor above the water table, yet deep enough so that enough of it is below the frost line to keep the internal temps 35- 50 deg or so. ....You need enough top soil to accomplish that without having to blast you way into bed rock (unless you like that sort of thing).
Larger ones are tough to dig by hand (small ones are tough enough).. If you can't do the excavation yourself, expense can run up fast. It's best if you have a hillside to exploit, but you can compensate by earth-berming.
Cinder block or used RR ties are easy enough to build walls with. The used RR ties make a better roof than other lumber, and pretty cheap. Cover it with plastic liner before back-filling.
You can fit about 100 lb of potatoes in a 30 gal plastic trash can and use that as a mini- cellar appropriately buried.
In the Texas Hill Country, we don't have a frost line. We also don't have much in the way of dirt; it's mostly limestone. The upside to limestone is the water drains away within minutes/hours of a heavy rain, and it's diggable. The downside to limestone is it takes fairly large equipment to dig. The only time folks blast around here is the quarries to produce commercial limestone products.
Takes a fairly deep hole or lots of rock/dirt (gotta buy the dirt) infill to get a decent root cellar, because we're trying to get it down where it stays cool in the extreme Texas heat. Not easy, not cheap, but can be done.
If I was stinkin' rich, I'd have two cellars. One would be the storm shelter and storage for the stuff that emits gasses that mess with other stuff. The other would be the root cellar for the stuff that doesn't emit gasses that mess with other stuff.
But instead, we've been saving up to buy a freeze dryer. It's the best solution for our situation, being many, many thousands cheaper than digging. Once properly freeze dried, that food will last at least 25 years and will taste a heckuva lot better than the commercial freeze dried meals that all taste like badly dried bell peppers and some kind of hospital cleanser...
Tamara, you might want to look into a small freeze dryer yourself. Once processed, the food will be there in your pantry when you need it. Some water to rehydrate, and it's just like fresh. It's certainly cheaper than trying to dig into the limestone...
..........But instead, we've been saving up to buy a freeze dryer. It's the best solution for our situation, being many, many thousands cheaper than digging. Once properly freeze dried, that food will last at least 25 years and will taste a heckuva lot better than the commercial freeze dried meals that all taste like badly dried bell peppers and some kind of hospital cleanser...
Tamara, you might want to look into a small freeze dryer yourself. Once processed, the food will be there in your pantry when you need it. Some water to rehydrate, and it's just like fresh. It's certainly cheaper than trying to dig into the limestone...
I am not sure if it is just a "Bingo" since it will involve at least an electrician to do it right....so not to burn down the house.
You are correct. I tend to overlook that, since my world (my line of work, but I am retired now) is drowning in electricians. Yep, it has to be done correctly.
You could just get a kit from Harbor Freight that's all just plug in for a few hundred that would handle a freeze dryer and you just plug the components together.
A $70 dollar battery and a $30 inverter to plug into and you're good to go.
Not that complicated once you know how many watts you need and you can tailor your system to your needs.
You could just get a kit from Harbor Freight that's all just plug in for a few hundred that would handle a freeze dryer and you just plug the components together.
A $70 dollar battery and a $30 inverter to plug into and you're good to go.
Not that complicated once you know how many watts you need and you can tailor your system to your needs.
I just took a look at the power consumption, and it will be more than $70 for the battery.
I just looked at one, at random, from a few years ago, and it said to expect 1320W for 24-36 hours. From what I remember of listening to someone, that seems a little higher than what they said, but just the same, it means you would need a fairly extensive system, to run off grid. Even looking at 1300W for 30 hours, that comes to 39KWH.
I just took a look at the power consumption, and it will be more than $70 for the battery.
I just looked at one, at random, from a few years ago, and it said to expect 1320W for 24-36 hours. From what I remember of listening to someone, that seems a little higher than what they said, but just the same, it means you would need a fairly extensive system, to run off grid. Even looking at 1300W for 30 hours, that comes to 39KWH.
I've got a couple of those systems around the place, and the Harbor Freight 12 volt 35 amp hour batteries run about $75.
Making a bank of them and adding extra solar cells is till a lot cheaper than one of those Patriot "solar generators" that can run a refrigerator.
For my pumps I use 200 watt panels to charge a bank of 4 batteries, and using a 12 volt water pump, it works just fine, and I don't have anywhere near the sun they do in Texas.
But if you want to spend more money for the same thing, be my guest.
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