What are You Eating from the Garden?

[Ridgerunner]

Growing up on the farm in Tennessee (Cumberland Gap area) we had a root cellar. It was a rock building built into the side of a hill. The top was concrete and had a small vent but the dirt went to the top of the walls. Privet bushes were planted on both sides for shade. There was a drain through a wall that led to the driveway outside, the floor was a clay dirt and it did need that drain. The door faced east but was shaded by the house when the sun was from that direction. It was not very tall, 6' at most.

We stored white potatoes and such in there. All Mom's canning was on the back wall. Sweet potatoes were not stored in there. Dad kept a box in a closet in the house for them. Sweet potatoes need it drier than that root cellar was. They would last a lot longer in that closet than they would have in that damp root cellar. We heated the house with a coal stove in the living room so that closet never got that warm in the winter. The whole house never got that warm in the winter.

When I was in Arkansas I built a wooden box for sweet potatoes and kept it in an attached garage. That garage probably never got below 60 in winter. The sweet potatoes lasted well into spring. The white potatoes did not store well at all.

 

[flowerbug]

I want want a root cellar and have for years! We grow most of our own vegetables and it would be great to not be canning potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions and carrots. Plus if I make it big enough I can store my canned stuff down there.
Right now I’m very grateful to live in small farming community where we haven’t lost as much of those skills yet. It’s still somewhat common to have a large garden or a well. But I’m afraid that a lot of these skills will die out after my grandparents and parents generations pass. As it is there’s already a huge knowledge gap between those generations.

if you store canned items with the metal rings on them you may not want them in a more damp area like a root cellar as they can rust.

for the various plastic, coated and one-piece lids this wouldn't be as much of an issue, but this past winter when i was nosing around i was trying to find some stainless steel rings and then talked myself out of that. we have plenty of rings now anyways so losing a few to rusting isn't that big of a deal.

i'd love a root cellar or more storage here, just no place to do it. the water table is too high and Mom doesn't want to make any big changes. we do have a crawl-space but it is way too warm down there (where the furnace is at) - it is actually warmer down there than it ever gets up here.

 

[Dahlia]

I ate some sprouts from my kitchen garden yesterday on a fish burger! There were alfalfa, broccoli, radish, and clover sprouts! Yum! In the last 2 years I've probably made 400 small batches! I grow them year around!

 

[Alasgun]

Our age and the project size/cost have kept me from building a bonified root cellar, however like @flowerbug we have a crawl space where the furnace resides. So at one of the corners where an outside vent is located, i built two wing walls that that make a 6x8 ”room”. These are simply 2x4framed walls that i covered with 2 inch pink board. There’s a door and a small light in there as well. i left an inch or so under the door for ventilation. Outside i built a sheetmetal cover for the vent opening that has a sliding door. I simply open or close the slider based on our ambient temp and keep potatoes thru the year and onions / pumpkins as long as they last. Still have a half dozen pumpkins down there.
the whole thing cost less than $150 and i can access it from in the house. It’s 47 in there this morning.

 

[Collector]

At my grandmothers house they poured a 8’x25’ covered patio. On one end they framed up an 5’x8’ section with if I remember correctly 2”x8” lumber and R30 insulation. Even during hot summers it stayed nice and cool in there and never froze in winter.

 

[Artichoke Lover]

Baked a butternut squash picked back August today. I’m really surprised it was in good shape since it’s just been sitting on our screened in porch

 

[flowerbug]

Our age and the project size/cost have kept me from building a bonified root cellar, however like @flowerbug we have a crawl space where the furnace resides. So at one of the corners where an outside vent is located, i built two wing walls that that make a 6x8 ”room”. These are simply 2x4framed walls that i covered with 2 inch pink board. There’s a door and a small light in there as well. i left an inch or so under the door for ventilation. Outside i built a sheetmetal cover for the vent opening that has a sliding door. I simply open or close the slider based on our ambient temp and keep potatoes thru the year and onions / pumpkins as long as they last. Still have a half dozen pumpkins down there.
the whole thing cost less than $150 and i can access it from in the house. It’s 47 in there this morning.

wow, i'm jealous/envious!

our crawl space is not accessible from inside the house so not easily used. it is very nice down there though. i have to get down there a few times a year to check on things and change the air filter on the furnace.

 

[Zeedman]

Our age and the project size/cost have kept me from building a bonified root cellar, however like @flowerbug we have a crawl space where the furnace resides. So at one of the corners where an outside vent is located, i built two wing walls that that make a 6x8 ”room”. These are simply 2x4framed walls that i covered with 2 inch pink board. There’s a door and a small light in there as well. i left an inch or so under the door for ventilation. Outside i built a sheetmetal cover for the vent opening that has a sliding door. I simply open or close the slider based on our ambient temp and keep potatoes thru the year and onions / pumpkins as long as they last. Still have a half dozen pumpkins down there.
the whole thing cost less than $150 and i can access it from in the house. It’s 47 in there this morning.

I may be doing something similar. My basement follows the upstairs profile - including two additions. One of those basement rooms is about 8' X 12', and has both a door & an outside window. It also has a vent from the HVAC which could be used for ventilation. I've long been considering converting that to a cold room, to use for seed storage. The room is dry; but for seed storage, and because there is living space above it, the project would require vapor barrier & drywall on all sides. It would also need some additional work to make it rodent-proof. Since that room is large enough to double as a walk-in cold pantry, maybe it's time to quit "thinking" and start "doing". (where's that 'kicking myself in butt' emoji)

 

[Artichoke Lover]

I wish I had an area I could turn into one but I don’t even have basement or crawl space. My dream would be to get an in ground tornado shelter big enough to double as a root cellar one day.

 

[Zeedman]

I wish I had an area I could turn into one but I don’t even have basement or crawl space. My dream would be to get an in ground tornado shelter big enough to double as a root cellar one day.

That sounds like a very sound investment in your neck of the woods... and not even a bad idea up here. My sister at one time owned a home where the front room of the basement was built to double as a storm shelter, with a concrete ceiling & brick walls closing it off from the rest of the basement. That concrete ceiling formed the floor of a porch directly above it. Clever construction IMO, something I would include in the plan if I were building a new home.