Root cellar/cold box

I saw this idea from a Mother Earth news article. The original article ran in an edition from the 70’s. It’s not a root cellar, they called it a cold box. It’s just a 3’x5’ box, 3’ in the ground.

I built mine out of 1/2” plywood, wrapped the box in sub grade water proofing liner. Put plastic on the ground under it (thinking it would help prevent moisture) and covered it with pea stones.

I live in SE MI, zone 6. Last winter I have potatoes, onions, cabbage, squash, garlic and a few other things. Most of everything lasted us till mid-late January.

This year I added the foam panel insulation I had left over from my house siding project. Adding an extra r-4 value, I’m hoping it will give me a couple more weeks!

So far, I think it’s a really great, inexpensive idea if you have limited space and are looking to hold some hardy crops a little longer.

We did something similar to use as a fridge while we were building our house and living in a tent. It worked pretty well, although definitely not as well as an actual fridge!

My garbage can root cellar has kept potatoes into July. Probably because of the extra insulation on top. If you can get your top cover and exposed sides really well insulated, your box will probably keep stuff way longer.

It looks a lot easier to organize and access things than my garbage can. Is clearing snow off the top a hassle?

https://permies.com/t/140268/Garbage-root-cellar-success

I have an old fridge I was thinking about doing that with also but I’m not decided on that yet.

I built the back side (where the lid is hinged) like 6” taller then the front. With that angle and the plastic roofing the snow and ice just slides right off.

The biggest challenge is jumping down in there and climbing out. Maybe a little step stool would help.

Oh, you don't get much snow. That's nice. I've got three feet of snow on the ground at times, so I'd have to dig it out in between snowfalls...which I'd be too lazy to do.