ninjapoodles
Enjoys Recycling
I have stuffed every bit of freezer space I have full of summer's produce, and am cooking up the last of last year's venison and wild turkey as fast as I can to make more room. It's pretty much a given that we're going to have to add at least another small chest freezer in the basement just for meat, both because of Alex's hunting and the chickens and turkeys we'll be processing. I've just started to learn canning, and have put up everything I could this year water-bath canning (I've not had the nerve to try pressure-canning yet, maybe next year).
SO. I just finished reading the book "Root Cellaring." It's a good reference, and fairly thorough, with lots of different ideas about root cellaring. But one thing that it does NOT cover is climate. As in, where you live. I've been asking around, and I can't find ANYONE who keeps a root cellar around here. Surely Southerners have done and still do this?
We live in central Arkansas, and have very little of what I'd consider "real" cold weather. Yes, we have occasional, isolated ice-storms, and maybe one half-hearted snowfall a year, but nothing lasting. Would it just be a waste of time to try this?
We have a basement, but it's a finished basement, and heated. One thing I thought of was walling off small corner, around one of the high windows, and insulating it as a "cold pantry." Another option would be if there was any way we could utilize the existing smokehouse on the property. It's a small cinderblock building, with one small hole in one wall that could easily have a grate installed over it to keep critters out. But would that stay cool enough?
I keep reading that temps need to stay as close to 32 degrees as possible, and VERY little of our winter is that cold.
To just add to the complications, and further limit our options, we live on a rocky mountainside. Digging would be a major ordeal, but if we had some idea that it would be effective, we could hire a backhoe to dig out a hole in the side of the hill. Obviously, it would be MUCH preferable to use an existing structure, but it might just be too warm for that.
Does anyone have any thoughts on this? PLEASE help! I'd love to have something in place by next year, so that I can grow potatoes and sweet potatoes and beets and carrots and things and store them over winter!
SO. I just finished reading the book "Root Cellaring." It's a good reference, and fairly thorough, with lots of different ideas about root cellaring. But one thing that it does NOT cover is climate. As in, where you live. I've been asking around, and I can't find ANYONE who keeps a root cellar around here. Surely Southerners have done and still do this?
We live in central Arkansas, and have very little of what I'd consider "real" cold weather. Yes, we have occasional, isolated ice-storms, and maybe one half-hearted snowfall a year, but nothing lasting. Would it just be a waste of time to try this?
We have a basement, but it's a finished basement, and heated. One thing I thought of was walling off small corner, around one of the high windows, and insulating it as a "cold pantry." Another option would be if there was any way we could utilize the existing smokehouse on the property. It's a small cinderblock building, with one small hole in one wall that could easily have a grate installed over it to keep critters out. But would that stay cool enough?
I keep reading that temps need to stay as close to 32 degrees as possible, and VERY little of our winter is that cold.
To just add to the complications, and further limit our options, we live on a rocky mountainside. Digging would be a major ordeal, but if we had some idea that it would be effective, we could hire a backhoe to dig out a hole in the side of the hill. Obviously, it would be MUCH preferable to use an existing structure, but it might just be too warm for that.
Does anyone have any thoughts on this? PLEASE help! I'd love to have something in place by next year, so that I can grow potatoes and sweet potatoes and beets and carrots and things and store them over winter!