Root Cellar

[feralgun]

I have a question that I would like to put out to all you good people. I don't know if it belongs here or not, so Moderators feel free to move it to the appropriate section.
The fall canning and harvesting season is well under way here and we have been putting up all that we can from our garden here, on the new to us, homestead. What we are finding out now is that we would like a place to store all of it that will be nice and cool. Even, cold enough to maybe hang some smoked meats. When I was a boy, my grandmother had a root cellar where she kept all this. It was in Michigan, and even in the hot, humid summers, it stayed nice and cool down there. We don't have one here and I have been running ideas through my head on building one. Does anyone have any suggestions on building one? I have access to heavy equipment and was thinking of basically digging out a large hole in the ground(square), and then constructing a room of the final dimensions that I figure out. and then covering it back over with about 4 or 5 feet of soil, with a stairwell leading down into it from ground level to the door. I know that with all the weight of the soil I will probably need to use steel I-beam posts for the upright framing and the roof joists, this is not a problem as I do have access to this material. What I would like to know is if anyone has something similiar, does it keep cool in the summer, do I need to make some kind of ventilation shaft, and anything else that I may need to know. Thank you in advance for any input on this. Sorry if this has been covered already elsewhere in this forum, I just have not found it yet. feralgun 419

[PrepLady]

The classic book on the topic is Root Cellaring by Nancy Bubel. It has ideas for plans, along with good instructions on how to use the root cellar once it's finished.

Try the archives on the BHM home page. Also try archives available on Countryside and Back Home, if possible. All the country-oriented magazines run articles on root cellars from time to time.

One thing that always bothers me is seeing pictures of canned goods being stored in a root cellar. Root cellars should be rather damp, which will make your canning jar lids rust. Canned goods are in the "cool but dry" storage category, along with grains and dried beans.

Good luck, and be sure to let us know how it turns out!

[feralgun]

Thanks for the info, I will be looking for a copy of that book.
I always thought that root cellars were cool but kind of on the dry side. My grandmothers' was this way and she stored her canned goods in it. Maybe it was just hers' that was this way, but I will be on the lookout for info that narrows it down. Again, thanks for the info. fg419

[docjered]

Always good to learn how to physically store each item in a root cellar. I tend to learn things the hard way sometimes, such as last fall when my favorite orchardist talked me into buying four bushels of storing apples. In this case, Arkansas Blacks. They are delicious and she swore they would last until spring if stored in a cool area of my basement, so I bought a lot and put them in a cool area under the stairs. Well, they started to rot. What I didnt know was that I needed to wrap each apple in newspaper so they wouldnt touch each other, and that I couldnt wash and wipe the apples first. So strike one, strike two, I was out four bushels of apples!