Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["art corbit" <art_c@cox.net>]

Well insolated above ground structures can be used but they contain a lot
less moisture than an in-ground root cellar. If you air dry your potatoes
before you put them in the old refrigerators and freezers they should keep
pretty well as long as they are not opened very much in real cold weather.

We have a big problem down here in the Arkansas River valley with water
rising in root cellars. Most cellars and storm shelters here have steel
linings to keep the water out. What part of the Ozarks do you live in?

Art


----- Original Message -----
From: "Uriel" <uriel@nasalam.org>
To: "Healthy soil and sustainable growing"
<livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Saturday, July 22, 2006 6:50 AM
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] root cellars


> Where I grew up in SW Washington the water table was too high for
> cellars.  Instead, we had a room back in the wood shed that had walls
> about a food thick and filled with sawdust.  Even the door was filled
> with sawdust.  It worked quite well and kept various kinds of produce
> cool in the summer and protected in the winter.  My mother would put
> down surplus summertime eggs in water glass (sodium silicate) to keep
> through the winter.  Tomato plants would be pulled whole just before the
> first frost and hung upside down.  The tomatoes would continue to ripen
> through the fall and early winter.  Where I  now live in the Ozarks the
> ground is solid rock in places so I'm experimenting with a different
> kind of 'root cellar' -- old refrigerators and freezers filled with
> straw to hold potatoes, carrots, etc.  I'm curious to see how it works.
>
> Uriel / SW Missouri
>
>
> > From: "TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>
> > To: <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
> > Sent: Friday, July 21, 2006 4:08 PM
> > Subject: [Livingontheland] root cellars / Looking for advice on a few
topics
> >
> >
> >
> > "Root cellars are nature's way of storing fruits and vegetables. And
they
> > can be excellent storage areas for other things as well. A hundred years
> > ago root cellars were one of the few ways they had of keeping things
cool.
> > People not only put potatoes and carrots in their root cellars, but
their
> > preserved meat, milk and cream, fruits and vegetables - literally
anything
> > they needed to keep cool. Even though root cellars didn't get nearly as
> > cold as a refrigerator during summer months, root cellars generally were
> > and are 30 to 40 degrees F cooler than daytime summer temperatures."
> >
> > complete article at http://waltonfeed.com/old/cellars.html
> >
> > Root Cellar Basics complete page at
> > http://waltonfeed.com/old/cellar4.html
> > # Temperature is your most important interest
> > # Your second most important consideration is humidity
> > # Air circulation
> > # How big of a cellar should you build?
> > # Shelves
> > # What kind of root cellar is right for you?
> > # Construction methods
> > # Using your root cellar
> > # Vegetables and their optimum storage conditions
> >
> >
> > paul tradingpost@lobo.net
> >
> > Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes.
> > --Henry David Thoreau
> > *********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********
> >
> > On 7/21/2006 at 2:04 PM Dianne Palmer-Quay wrote:
> >
> >
> >> Finally, does anyone know anything about root cellar type storage in
the
> >> South?  My crawl space is about 74 degrees now (outside highs are the
> >>
> > upper
> >
> >> 90's) which is where I am storing the surplus potatoes and winter
squash
> >>
> > >from this year's garden.  But that temperature is too warm (according
to
> >
> >> the books).  Any ideas how I could create a cooler space without a
> >> refrigeration device?
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
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> >
> >
> >
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> >
> >
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