Build a simple root cellar
Our hosts for the upcoming root cellar learning party on November 1st (email:mcollATcommonroutes.com) chose this plan for us to work from.
Although I dream of a root cellar big enough to accommodate crocks of sauerkraut as well as crisp apples and crunchy carrots, this looks doable for the city. I’ll be coming with my questions about what to store where- don’t apples release some kind of gas? How tightly can you pack stuff?
Apparently my grandparents use to store vegetables in a pit lined with straw through the winter and the snow acted as insulator. I’m guessing that the challenging element for Vancouver will be site selection and that all important drainage ditch.
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My research has implied that a can set at a slight angle is better - it allows for a bit of drainage if there is a leak or liquid released due to spoilage - and the hole needs to be less deeply dug. Whole bales of straw can be used over the cover if they’re available.
So a friend mentioned in passing that old fridges and freezers can be turned into great in-ground cold storage facilities by burying them lying down. Has anyone ever heard of this done or seen it work? It sounded pretty great, ready made and especially that part about reusing the big clunky old things that get ripped out at alarming rates in countless kitchen renos and tossed into recycle streams and, ultimately, the landfills…they’re insulated, have handy lids with seals to keep out water and rodents…but then I wondered, would the airtightness be a problem? how to get around that? and what about the nasty refrigeration chemicals? can the refrigerants be removed safely before putting the fridge/freezer in the ground?
is this a totally crazy idea or could it fly?
any thoughts or comments ?
Found two links that might be of interest
How to Make a Deep-Freeze Root Cellar
http://www.ehow.com/how_5806_make-deep-freeze.html
Root Cellar Links
http://energysmartideas.com/blog/2008/07/10/root-cellar-links/
Cheers,
Al
More links to wide range of topics:
KTLO - Keep The Lights On - How to reboot a crashed civilization
http://delicious.com/KTLO
This list is an internet meme. It shows up on public websites and forums around the world. The information is valuable and worth repeating and saving, but the original source is hard to track. Take what you like and leave the rest.
http://votesolar.livejournal.com/2007/12/16/
Cheers,
Al
I grew up in a house in the Okanagan with an enormous root cellar in the backyard - it was lined with shelves and we kept veggies and fruits and canned stuff in there. My dad dug it out of a bank just outside the basement door, but I don’t remember how he reinforced the walls and ceiling. I do remember LOTS of spiders, though. It had a single bulb light, (so there was electricity somehow) and a lockable door. Looking back, we had the deluxe model. Sweet.
My grandparents converted the old coal storage room in the basement of their saskatoon house into a root cellar - worked great with the thick cement walls, and the only way in was through a small hole they hacked through one wall.
So the day after the learning party (Sunday), we checked hole and there was indeed about 6cm of water in the bottom of the garbage can. So it seems the water table is now above the level of the clay strata. We will keep monitoring the water level and let you know.
I was at the library yesterday and the latest issue of Harrowsmith Country Life had a short feature about a town called Elliston, Newfoundland that is the “Root Cellar capital of the world!” Some great photos! The cellars’ interiors are a steady 4 deg C throughout the year - hm, just like a fridge!
http://www.rootcellars.com/ is their website with groovy photos, etc. They happen to have loads of photos and an essay including interviews with old-timers about how they built the cellars - in the ground, in a hillside, or on top of the ground. Very clever! Also, I read that the area is plagued by bedrock at the surface (i.e., no top soil) so they grew food wherever there was a pocket of soil and put a root cellar nearby - so the cellars aren’t usually near their houses, which were built on rock.
Clearly, no groundwater issues there!
40 What Do You Do with 134 Root Cellars?
Elliston, Newfoundland and Labrador, is on the map, thanks
to its unique collection of root cellars.
By Tom Cruickshank (Harrowsmith Country Life Mag, October/Nov 2008)
The water continued to rise, especially after a rain fall. The water topped at only a few inched below ground level. Perhaps we dug into a stream. Whatever the cause, it was an unsuitable spot for a root cellar and quite likely an unsuitable storage otpion for this climate.
In the end, we filled in the hole (a.k.a. the well) and built a wire storage box for the garage and now store potatoes, carrots, beets, apples etc. in it.
We continue to have hope for the guinea pig veggies that sleep in the sand box and in the mounded trench in one of the garden beds. Time will tell.
Lovely read!love your site!!
SJ
Loved your site
Have a good day
steve from Barrire BC
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