Good Morning!
I have purchased a cabin in the woods on about 5 acres in zone 6 (Central Ohio). I moved in about 6 months ago. I have little to no experience with most things that are DIY. I grew up in heavily populated cities so, the opportunity to learn how to human was never really in front of me but, now it is.
I have started growing anything I can in two hugelkultur beds. Now, I need to think about how to store the fruits of my labor when harvest season comes around.
Currently, I live in a cedar cabin that came with the property. It is quite small and has very little room for storage. As well, I currently do not have any type of storm shelter and hoped the root cellar could double as a storm shelter if needed (tornadoes). Eventually I hope to build an earth berm home to live in permanently. Obviously, I’m going to need some practice so, I thought building a root cellar would be the best practice, and very much needed.
I don’t exactly know where to start. The most difficult part of this adventure is the decision paralysis that accompanies my lack of knowledge. I often find if I just set about doing something, things kind of work out as I go. However, I don’t want to just start digging and find myself staring at a massive hole for weeks because I can’t decide on the next step.
Just an FYI, I do not have earth moving equipment. Thus far, everything I have accomplished has been with hand tools and time.
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Hopefully, the site of the future root cellar.
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The site is fairly shaded and the door would face NW.
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Another angle, there is a bit of a hill which I hoped would be perfect to dig into.
Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner
We were in a similar situation last year. A substantial root cellar is very much in our plans, but greater priorities abound as we build out our homestead and we found ourselves needing a fairly quick, affordable and achievable way to store a bumper crop of potatoes. It may have even been here on Permies that I learned of trash can root cellars, and decided to try it. It works amazingly well for our climate (4b) and as an interim root veggie storage spot.
Nothing trashy about it - essentially you bury a steel trash can to its top (purchased new for the purpose in our case) in the coolest area you've got and line it with a base layer of rocks (to manage moisture) and then layer with straw and your veggies to the top, packed close but not touching. Some folks drill holes in the can for ventilation but our climate is so wet in the fall that we decided on small holes at the top only. We built an open sided framework over it with a roof on top to keep off the snow and make getting potatoes in winter easier.
We finished the last potato in April and they were all as perfect as the day I put them in back in September, minus a couple of fingering potatoes that went soft. Really impressed that such a low-tech solution worked so well, and gave us a bit of breathing room to build a proper root cellar later on. Good luck with your new spot!
Thank you Anne and Rio. Great suggestions.
I am now rethinking my plan. I actually have an old chest freezer that is no longer in use. I’m thinking of burying that and using as a temporary root cellar for this year. Other than adding a base layer of rocks and then straw, would there be any other modifications needed? I read on some other forums of similar ideas but there needed to be some type of ventilation. Any chance there is a video, forum or literature that would tell me how to install the right type of ventilation for the system?
My larger concern would be what burying the freezer could do to the soil and, once I no longer needed it, how difficult would it be to remove? Or…is the trash can method better for this situation all around? I assume there isn’t the same pollutant concern with a couple steel trash cans as there is with an old freezer.
I just purchased the Mike Oehler package (books and DVD’s). I’m going to do some more research and work on a plan for next year which would incorporate a root cellar into a future wofati-type build. I plan to build a modest home with the root cellar attached, that would also relieve my storm and tornado concerns.
I very much appreciate all input I receive. If I wasn’t drowning in responsibilities, I would already be at the boot camp gaining the confidence and abilities I desperately need. Some day I will be there. Some day.
The buried chest freezer idea works well as a temporary solution. Ventilation is the main thing to sort — a couple of PVC pipes through the lid, one near each end, lets air circulate and stops moisture building up inside. Some people add a small mesh screen over the pipe openings to keep rodents out. The insulation is already built in which is the main advantage over a trash can.
Leaftide.com — track your fruit trees, veg & everything in between
My first thought about burying a freezer is how cool will an insulated freezer get?
Part of the beauty of having a root cellar in the ground is that the ground will have a cooling effect.
Digging a hole to put the freezer in is another consideration and thus for removal. Sounds like a lot of work to me.
Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner
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