Root Cellars: Sustainable Storage Solution for Root Crops During Winter

If a suitable sustainable solution is used, such as root cellars, root crops can still be enjoyed over the winter.

Root Cellars

Root cellars were thought to be useless because of modern refrigeration, but they have come back because of a resurgence in interest in food security, gardening, and even ecological living.

According to Treehugger, one of the best ways to preserve the harvest is to store crops in a root cellar. Making a room where veggies may be kept at the ideal temperature and humidity is not difficult. Throughout the fall, winter, and early spring, keeping vegetables in a root cellar can be a crucial tactic in small-scale farming, whether it's for the homesteading family's consumption or for selling to consumers.

Sustainable Storage Solution

Natural Cooling

A root cellar is a type of natural cooling-based underground food storage space. Root cellars, like refrigerators, are maintained at a steady temperature of about 32 degrees, which allows them to keep food, but they also have other advantages. Food can remain fresher for a longer period of time in root cellars because they can maintain high humidity levels.

The release of ethylene gas produced through vegetables and the development of microbes both decrease when temperatures are kept cool. Produce doesn't freeze or degrade, so it stays fresher for longer.

Soil as Insulation

The soil preserves plants from freezing and the wetness prevents fruits and vegetables from drying up due to evaporation, which is why most root cellars are dug into the earth. Although the amount of time that food will remain fresh in a root cellar might vary greatly, since there is frequently more space than in a refrigerator, it's simpler to use things up and keep track of them while they're still in the root cellar.

Does Not Need Electricity

Because they don't require power to operate, root cellars have recently become very popular. A lot of individuals now have a resurgence of interest in having a root cellar because many are prepared for natural disasters. However, root cellars have benefits that can be enjoyed even by those who are looking for inexpensive ways to store their food.

Root Crops, Fruits, and Alcoholic Beverages

While \any fruit or vegetable can be preserved in a root cellar, they are commonly used to store root vegetables like carrots, potatoes, parsnips, rutabagas, or turnips, which is how they received their name. Since heat can make home-canned products rot, root cellars are another great place to keep their jars of food.

The fact that wine, beer, and other alcoholic beverages are preserved so well in root cellars due to their temperate environments provides a supplementary function for them. Any home would benefit from having a root cellar because it is a tried-and-true technique of storage, Growing Sustainability reports.

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Three Types of Root Cellars

According to the Almanac, there are three different kinds of root cellars: the garbage can, the hole-in-the-ground cellar, and the basement root cellar.

The northeast corner of the foundation walls can serve as two of the sides of your subterranean root cellar, which is the ideal approach.

Digging horizontally or deep into a hillside is another possibility outside the house. This alternative, a cellar dug into the ground, needs efficient drainage; sandier soil performs better. A higher slope is advantageous because water will flow away from your hole as it descends.

Using a metal rubbish can or barrel will assist keep water out of the cellar during the winter. Dig a hole that is slightly bigger than the garbage can's diameter and deep enough to ensure the can's lid rests 4 inches on the ground, the Almanac reports.