Storing Veggies in Sand

Hello friends

Years ago my wife's grandfather told me about how his family used to store vegetables, like carrots, in a pile of sand over winter. I thinking about giving it a shot... but in a different way. My thought is to build a large box, line it with burlap (filled with damp sand of course) put vent holes in the sides and top, and then insulate the outside wall and top with bales of straw. This would be in my unheated pole barn and hopefully keep it from freezing. I'm in zone 5b/6a. So it get's pretty cold here.

My question to y'all is, has anyone done the sand storage or any variations similar to my idea? Or if you know of any videos you could send me links to, that would also be appreciated.

thanks!

That process, or a closely related one is called clamp storage. If you look around here in the food preservation and root cellars forums, or Google for it elsewhere, you'll find lots of info.

why would you use DAMP sand? I am picturing root vegetables like potatoes, carrots, etc. and damp sand would make them sprout or rot I guess. But dry sand sounds quite clever - hard for larger insects to penetrate, though ants might like it fine. The burlap also sounds unnecessary if it is to be dry. But what do I know?

Thank you, Christopher! I was hoping there was a term I could search for this storage technique. Ive got a good deal of reading and video watching to fill the rest of winter now.

Cade.
I’ve read a few things about using damp sand for this technique. Not wet. The damp sand is supposed to prevent the veggies from drying out (don’t need any shriveled up carrots). Too wet and they’re likely to rot or as you said sprout.
The burlap was to allow air flow from the vents and prevent sand from pouring out.

This technique is new to me but proven for hundreds of years. Always an adventure!

    When I moved into my current home in western MA, there was several steel trash cans full of sand in the "root cellar" (a section of the basement that had a low ceiling and dirt floor that was insulated from the finished portion of the basement. The room stays between 55°f-60°f throughout the year and was used for root storage by a previous owner. I haven't tried storing roots in sand myself, but with our humidity here, I would guess the sand stays naturally cool and damp without adding any water. I eat most of my roots fresh or leave them in the ground outside.
From what I've read, it seems that the most important function of the sand in to keep the roots from touching each other. I would imagine that staring with and empty container and adding layers, each covered with sand to ensure the roots are separated would be ideal.

I used to store carrots in buckets of sand in the garage.

“Root cellars are great places to store food because of the stable, cool temperatures that essentially act like natural refrigerators.” If you can, ferment, dry, freeze dry, or pickle what you grow, a root cellar is a great non-electric option.

I tried leaving them in the ground with bales of hay on top to prevent freezing.  Funny results, it snowed so much that year that I couldn't find them to dig them up.  When I could see the row later, they were cored out hollow shells, eaten  by rodents, who also liked the nonfreezing environment.
A)  mark the location if not inside a building
B) rodent proof the container

Zachary Bertuzzi wrote:Hello friends

Years ago my wife's grandfather told me about how his family used to store vegetables, like carrots, in a pile of sand over winter. I thinking about giving it a shot... but in a different way. My thought is to build a large box, line it with burlap (filled with damp sand of course) put vent holes in the sides and top, and then insulate the outside wall and top with bales of straw. This would be in my unheated pole barn and hopefully keep it from freezing. I'm in zone 5b/6a. So it get's pretty cold here.
My question to y'all is, has anyone done the sand storage or any variations similar to my idea? Or if you know of any videos you could send me links to, that would also be appreciated.
thanks!

My mom & dad did, and it worked OK. The main thing is to make absolutely sure that you do not have a carrot with a bad spot. Do not wash or scrub the carrots: the soil/sand they grew in is actually better. Don't ask me why but that's what my dad said: I think it cakes on the carrots, giving them more protection. Also, sand can be abrasive [CF. carrots with a bad spot]
The other thing is that you do not want to store them all in one group: [If one group goes bad, the others are still fine].
For practicality, you might want to use homer buckets, fill them [like half the length of your carrots with damp sand, or even the soil they grew in], plant your carrots vertically, making sure they do not touch each other, then finish filling the bucket with damp sand. Store the buckets down in an unheated basement, because you do want them cold. In buckets, they are also easier to bring up of the basement and use. Alternately, if you have lots of snow, pile snow on the whole works, loosely, but under a tarp so you can gain access even in the cold of winter... Snow is a great insulator. In zone 5-6, store them under a tarp, then pile snow. Under a lot of snow, they should not freeze. Obviously, if you have an unheated building, that will be better than under snow to retrieve them!
Technically, carrots are biennials, and so, in their natural habitat, they can stay in the ground and come back the second year to make flowers and seeds. So it takes a lot to freeze a carrot in the ground! The only reason I don't do is is we have moles, rabbits, field mice... you get the idea.
Around March, those carrots will start getting hairs on their roots and you may want to can them then.