Keeping a refrigerator working in a cold environment

I heard that they don’t make a refrigerator/freezer that can be used in a cabin that is allowed to get cooler than 55 degrees. We have been turning our thermostat down to 50 degrees when we leave so it might get that cool for a week or more. Sometimes the freezer section gets above freezing when we do that — the fridge part stays at 35 degrees okay, but it doesn’t run long enough to get the freezer cold (I guess this is a common problem). All kinds of people keep fridges in garages and on back porches — I don’t think most people know how to operate a fridge/freezer properly or safely. Most of the information I have found on the Internet on this subject has been very lame. What to do?

Gordon Hoffman
Lewiston, Idaho

You might try an older refrigerator. I know several people who have older fridges in their unheated garages/lightly heated cabins that work, both fridge and freezer. I’ve been told that modern refrigerators’ manufacturers figure that NO modern people would use a fridge in a lightly heated home; they are built for “normal” living conditions. — Jackie

Early Fall weather

I wanted to share with you how well the Bill Bean tomatoes have done this year. We actually got a 3 pound tomato too! We couldn’t believe it! It is a very meaty tomato, and has a great flavor. Have you ever heard of or grown an Italian heirloom (I believe) called Purple Plum? They are a smallish pear shaped tomato with a smoky flavor. If you are interested in trying them, I’ll be happy to send you some seeds. I am also wondering if you have noticed anything unusual with the weather this year. I live in So Indiana, and I feel we are having an early fall this year. And I mean REALLY early. A few of us noticed about 3 weeks ago, lots of leaves on the trees just turning yellow, or completely brown, and then falling off. Other trees are starting to change color. And even though I got a late start in my garden this spring, everything is coming to the end of its life cycle and begging to be harvested. It’s so weird. I’ve never seen such an early fall. All the leaves on my winter squash plants have completely withered away, and the same is happening with the Hopi squash. Should I harvest them now? We are still having 90 degree days here. I will say that it has been a mild summer for us, with a cooler spell mid summer for a couple weeks. But weatherwise, we didn’t seem to experience any stressors. It’s just got me perplexed. I thought you might have some insight.
 
Lisa Graves
Georgetown, Indiana

No, I haven’t grown Purple Plum tomatoes and would LOVE some seeds to give a try next year. I’m tickled that your Bill Beans are doing so well! I’m harvesting some right now. MMMMmmmmm! Yeah, this year is “different” alright! I know first we got 17 inches of rain, then heat and drought. The rivers are as low as I can remember right now and our leaves are falling, too. Are your Hopi Pale Grey squash bluish gray yet? If not, I think I’d leave them a bit and see if they get enough nutrients through the remaining vines to go ahead and mature. If not, harvest before it frosts hard. They’ll keep over a year even if immature and they still taste good although not as good as if they had matured. I think our weather is just in one of those weird cycles. — Jackie

Freezing eggplant

Is there any way to save/freeze/dry eggplant until the tomatoes are ripe to use in marinara? The tomatoes are just starting to ripen. Not sure how many will actually get to ripen before frost since I am seeing scattered gold on the locust and cottonwoods. A few willows look like they are changing too.

Thank you for all the info on canning & drying squash. I canned 30 quarts on Sunday and Tuesday last week in addition to giving away a lot. I am now resorting to drying. I did try drying broccoli for the first time and green beans. Really a huge space saver. Drying jalapenos, bell pepper and Fresno chilis now as well as 2 racks of squash. Obviously, I have been on “vacation!” I have several quarts of potatoes canned. Can they be sliced and dried or would it be better to wait on fresh potatoes although I am not even seeing blossoms yet. I have gotten finished canning my 1/4 beef and will be getting another 1/4.

Julia Crow
Gardnerville, Nevada

Yes, you can freeze your eggplant. Just pick and quickly bring inside, peel and slice about 1/2 inch thick. Blanch for about 4 minutes, then plunge into ice water to quickly cool. Drain very well, pack into freezer containers to exclude as much air as possible, then freeze.

We’re getting leaf color changes too and the birch are losing their leaves. It SO feels like FALL! It sounds like you’re plenty busy now. So are we! Wow, so much food — how great that is.

I’d wait and dehydrate fresh potatoes as your canned potatoes are already “put up.” Sometimes potatoes don’t bloom at all. We’ve had that happen in the past and still harvested great potatoes. You can peek under a hill with your fingers to see what’s going on. Will did that and pulled out a big fat potato.

Oh yes, beef! We’re thinking of that too, having four steers ready to go this fall. We’ll keep a half and sell the other three and a half sides/quarters. The steers look so nice and fat on good pasture. I can hardly wait! — Jackie

6 COMMENTS

  1. Zelda,

    Yes you can and it works with regular eggplant, often even better than Japanese eggplant. I’d freeze it as it doesn’t hold too well in the fridge. You can also bread eggplant slices and freeze them that way for later recipes.

  2. Regarding refrigerators at low ambient temperatures. I have made various refrigeration units run inside of refrigerated spaces. For example an ice machine running in a refrigerated Farmers Market in Decatur Georgia. The refrigeration cycle, the Rankine cycle, tends to collapse when head pressure on the high side drops from a drop in temperature. There has to be a difference in pressure of a certain amount in order to cause a difference in temperature. What I do is control the air flow through the condenser coil on the refrigeration unit. This controls the cooling of the condenser coil. This makes the temperature stay up and the head pressure stay up. I have a unit that senses the temperature of the condenser coil and controls the speed of the fan motor. I use similar controls to help units run outside in all weathers and yet deliver refrigeration inside. A modification then added to the refrigerator or freezer will allow it to run at lower ambient temperatures in a cabin.

  3. Freezing eggplant: Can you cook it up as you would for your recipe, freeze it or leave it in the fridge, and add tomatoes later? I make eggplant ragu with Japanese eggplant and my tomatoes aren’t ripe yet so I’m just partly cooking the eggplant and freezing it, will thaw, heat it and add tomatoes when they ripen. If your tomatoes don’t ripen you’ll have the partly cooked eggplant ready to use. This works on Japanese eggplant, don’t know if it will on regular size eggplant.

  4. As to having fridges and freezers outside or in cool temps……… Last year we actually saw 3″ of ice on troughs overnight (first time I have ever seen that in N. Central TX). For the last several years we have had fridges and freezers outside! YES outside! Zero in the winter and triple digit in the summer. Yes, they work harder, but they work!

  5. Oh yeah…we are in upstate ny and have noticed the leaves turning for weeks now too. We usually have such dry weather in August that we don’t have to mow our lawn for weeks…not this year. The other thing is that this past weekend it was so humid it felt like July/aug. weather…maybe sept. will be dry. The other weird thing was that the tomatoes stayed green forever…the plants are loaded but they are just now starting to ripen. I have canned one batch of salsa so far. I don’t have enough ripening for sauce yet.
    Maybe it is an elnina year:)

  6. I don’t remember where I read this but potatoes don’t need to flower to make potatoes. They make them anyway…I think it is a big misconception for new gardeners. I am with you Jackie…just poke your fingers down in the dirt and check to see what you have. I do that early in the season before the plants flower at all to get the small potatoes to use as salt potatoes or for salads before they get big enough for bakers.

Comments are closed.