Same old freezer, new purpose

[andehens]

We have used old freezers and fridges for livestock waterers after taking the doors off, of course! Also had one I used for feed storage and my husband gave it away!

 

[FarmerDenise]

Sounds like some great idea's. We have a defunct refridgerator sitting next to the well house, maybe we should put it on the north side of the house to use as cold storage and or grain storage. I just wonder if things would get moldy, since those things are usually pretty airtight.

 

[miss_thenorth]

Sounds like some great idea's. We have a defunct refridgerator sitting next to the well house, maybe we should put it on the north side of the house to use as cold storage and or grain storage. I just wonder if things would get moldy, since those things are usually pretty airtight.

We use an old freezer to store our animal feed. We drilled in two holes for circulation, b/c it will get moldy. Then we glued some metal screen over the holes to prevent rats/mice from getting in. this has worked successfully for us for almost two years now.

 

[cknmom]

I am going to post on freecycle today!! We have been talking about making a root cellar for two years and have been trying to decide the best way to do it. This sounds perfect. I will have to run it by DH first (of course). Feed storage is also a wonderful idea!

Monica

 

[ORChick]

I have a friend who has had major back problems for years, to the point that she couldn't garden anymore at ground level. She has a number of old chest freezers, with the tops off, in her old veg. garden, filled with soil (actually, I think she put something else in the bottom, and only half filled with soil), and has a thriving veg garden now, and doesn't need to bend over to tend it. Looks a little strange, but works really well.

 

[karanleaf]

Actually Tank- now that I have looked it up it was an old fridge instead of a freezer.

Here are the steps from Root Cellaring -

Remove motor, shelves and crisper drawers. Dig a hole a foot bigger in each direction than your fridge. Throw rocks in bottom of hole for drainage. Put fridge on its back in the hole. The door will now swing up like a chest freezer. The top surface of the fridge should be at or slightly below ground level. Fill in around fridge with loose soil. Pack your veggies in the fridge. They used baskets and wooden tubs. You can also use the wire shelves you took out to seperate things. After you have it filled you can either cover it withhay bales, boards, tin or bags of leaves to keep out the winter cold. You may also find you need to run a small vent pipe/hose into the fridge for some fresh air.

Those are the books directions. I personally would run the vent hose before I back filled with the loose soil. I sure would not want to have to dig all that back out.

Be sure to remove any locking devices so a child can not become trapped.

Wow I have been asking this question on this forum and TEG and just found this thread. I will show this to DH and see if he believes it is for us. We live in a moble home and are in the process of moving small buildings and clearing the area to start on the foundation for our Straw Bale home so this would be (Ihope) temporary storage soulation.

Thanks 2 Dream

Karan

 

[TanksHill]

Karen,
I was going to tell you about this but never had time to post it. I have had the idea rolling around in the back of my head for a while. My food storage in in my garage, which is under my house. Not that great in earthquake country. I need to find a hill side I can dig into. Always another project.....

 

[big brown horse]

Yea!! Karenleaf you did it for us!! I am also going to freecycle to scrounge for a broken freezer. Root cellar, here I come!

 

[jenlyn9483]

We used to have a large one that we kept our livestock food in growing up. I have on question, Does it keep ants out? I have a problem with ants getting into my sweet fead. I could probably find one easily on craigslist or freecycle.

 

[chickenchalupa]

i found a fridge on craigslist that doesn't work and it's free. Should i take it? It would be pretty hard to dig a hole big and deep enough for it to fit.