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If you live in all but the warmest places in the US, you can store your taters, onions, beets, carrots, apples, and other root-type produce for most of the winter, underground. If packed properly, nearly all of it will stay fresh and edible. Trouble is, most people equate "root cellar" with a large room built of cement blocks built into the side of a hill...an expensive and time-consuming project. Others try to section off a portion of their basement (where the furnace is) and find it too warm; the vegetables rot.
Here's a neat idea for a cheap, fairly quick solution to the problem: burying barrels. This guy places his vertically, but it's easier to place them diagonally into the ground, and mound them up:
Anyone interested in any type of root cellaring, should pick up a copy of the "bible": Root Cellaring by Mike and Nancy Bubel. They'll get you thinking, alright! Imagine going through winter with many pounds of vegetables and fruits stored away, within easy access!
Placing it diagonally might make it easier to get things in and out of it too.
I agree. We are currently using plastic 32-gallon barrels placed diagonally. A lot less digging, and easier to get into. We just pile earth and hay over the barrels. Until we get a real cellar dug and built, this works fine.
Not a bad idea, especially if you have several barrels as that would keep the products separate.
In my country where the freeze line can go 4+ feet deep, it can be problematic to keep a constant temperature for food storage, we usually have to have at least 2 feet of soil covering the top and sometimes still have to put straw or some other insulator over them.
I'm kind of lucky in my work house because I have an unfinished basement, not even a cement floor, a glorified crawlspace really, but it works pretty well as a root cellar with the house on top providing insulation, and no furnace or heat source down there, stuff keeps pretty good.
I still use a lot of dehydrating for much of my produce, (saves space and last a long time in vacuum packs), and canning, but some stuff like spuds really do well in the cellar.
Good Idea with the barrels, they actually might make a good cache up at the cabin if I put something over the lid to keep out the bears.
Our Maine home literally has no basement -- it's up on piers. Kinda tough for a bear of any size to get under there. That's where the barrels are!
Did you put it on piers due to potential flooding? I have an old log cabin on my hunting land that is at risk for flooding every spring. I could move it to higher ground, but a less desirable location, or put it on piers. I haven't checked on the costs but my initial thought is that moving it would be a lot cheaper. Your thoughts?
Did you put it on piers due to potential flooding? I have an old log cabin on my hunting land that is at risk for flooding every spring. I could move it to higher ground, but a less desirable location, or put it on piers. I haven't checked on the costs but my initial thought is that moving it would be a lot cheaper. Your thoughts?
No, we are in no danger of flooding where we are in Maine. But there is a lot of frost heave up there, and full basements are not only costly, but usually have moisture issues. We wanted a solid, dry, insulated, and rodent-proof barrier between the house and the ground. It is skirted with insulation board. We knew we wouldn't need space for a heater, water heater, or laundry, as all that is in the house.
As for your situation, moving the cabin is one solution, but could be costly. If it isn't too big a structure, try to get an Amish shed company to send out one of their delivery trucks, or at least a "mule", to lift and move the building. House-movers are quite pricey!
Depending on the size and construction of your cabin, it isn't that hard to rent some house jacks, put some bunks under the cabin once its raised, put in your piers, then lower the cabin back down.
Just raising even a moderately sized building isn't difficult if its got a good joist. Making sure its supported well so its safe to work under, not a huge problem.
Moving a house off a basement and taking it down the road, now THAT is a pain in the buns
In my country where the freeze line can go 4+ feet deep, it can be problematic to keep a constant temperature for food storage, we usually have to have at least 2 feet of soil covering the top and sometimes still have to put straw or some other insulator over them.
Here in Texas I understand trying to keep a constant cool temperature, in fact, we want it as low as we can get it. So what is the problem with freezing?
Here in Texas I understand trying to keep a constant cool temperature, in fact, we want it as low as we can get it. So what is the problem with freezing?
The problem with freezing is, if you don't keep your root veggies either covered or below the frost line, they could freeze. That will ruin them. But I can see where states like TX would have a problem getting that temp down to the 40-ish F level, which makes for good storage.
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